Magic Lands

The American West conjures up images of pastoral tranquility and wide open spaces, but by 1970 the Far West was the most urbanized section of the country. Exploring four intriguing cityscapes—Disneyland, Stanford Industrial Park, Sun City, and the 1962 Seattle World's Fair—John Findlay shows how each created a sense of cohesion and sustained people's belief in their superior urban environment. This first book-length study of the urban West after 1940 argues that Westerners deliberately tried to build cities that differed radically from their eastern counterparts. In 1954, Walt Disney began building the world's first theme park, using Hollywood's movie-making techniques. The creators of Stanford Industrial Park were more hesitant in their approach to a conceptually organized environment, but by the mid-1960s the Park was the nation's prototypical "research park" and the intellectual downtown for the high-technology region that became Silicon Valley. In 1960, on the outskirts of Phoenix, Del E. Webb built Sun City, the largest, most influential retirement community in the United States. Another innovative cityscape arose from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and provided a futuristic, somewhat fanciful vision of modern life. These four became "magic lands" that provided an antidote to the apparent chaos of their respective urban milieus. Exemplars of a new lifestyle, they are landmarks on the changing cultural landscape of postwar America.

Amber can hardly believe her luck. She has a new job, great friends, no parents and has even managed to find the time to date. Incredibly, The Magic Lands are reasonably peaceful. Or are they? With Morrigan around trouble is never far away. Why does Amber seem to be having more close calls than usual? Who is the mysterious figure in black? And why is The Protector ignoring all the signs that say trouble is brewing? It's not long before Amber realizes that by ignoring her instincts, she's not only risking her own safety but also the lives and freedom of everyone in The Magic Lands.

2 Magic Lands novels in one omnibus! Ray's people spend their entire lives in a floating world. They are born, live, and die in this water-soaked place. Now Ray and Tall must go into the wilds alone and return with one of the great ones to prove themselves and to win the hearts of the girls they love. But their paths are much more challenging than either ever imagines.

Wonderful companion handbook for students! Contains the complete text of the original book, "Journey Beyond the Beyond: Magic Lands #1," plus student activities, review questions, vocabulary builders and more. Teachers around the US are starting to discover Robert Stanek's books and if you want to use the books in your classroom, this wonderful guide can help you every step of the way. Beyond being entertaining, the stories offer important life lessons. But most importantly, they learn that people who are true to each other and themselves can succeed.

Complete with author biography, author interview, vocabulary builders, cooperative learning and critical thinking activities, discussion questions, unit tests and other unit activities. Teachers around the US are starting to discover Robert Stanek's books and if you want to use the books in your classroom, this wonderful guide can help you every step of the way. Beyond being entertaining, the stories offer important life lessons. But most importantly, they learn that people who are true to each other and themselves can succeed.

Bestselling Series! Over 1,000,000 Ruin Mist books sold! A Ruin Mist: Magic Lands novel! Tall's people spend their entire lives in a floating world. They are born, live, and die in this water-soaked place. Now Tall must go into the wilds alone and return with one of the great ones to prove himself and to win the heart of the girl he loves. But Tall's path is much more challenging than he ever imagines, for on his journey he will unravel clues to the disappearance of his best friend, Ray, and those clues will lead him to the stone land. Though the stillness of the stone land makes Tall landsick, he must continue on--not only for Ray's sake, but also because Ray is said to be the one hope of his people against an oppressive ruler.

Bestselling Series! Over 1,000,000 Ruin Mist books sold! A Ruin Mist: Magic Lands novel! Join Ray on his journey of adventure and discover the magic lands today! This powerful fantasy novel will delight the young and the young at heart! Exercise your mind and the power of your imagination while embarking on a journey of discovery unlike any other. Following the village elder's advice, Ray leaves his home village, setting out for the place lost and deep where he will find a companion for his journey to the stone land and where he will discover that there is no easy path.

Teenager turned superhero Billy Batson struggles to balance school and superheroics! (Guess which one is more fun?) But when Shazam unlocks a shocking secret deep within the Rock of Eternity, it challenges everything he knows about the worlds of magic and his family’s future as its champions! Speaking of family, Billy’s father in trouble, and he’ll have to not only use the power of Shazam to help him, but also fend off the lethal team of Dr. Sivana and Mr. Mind! Collects Shazam #1-11 and #13-14.

Georgia Peach Award Nominee • Florida Teens Read Award Nominee • ABC Best Books for Young Readers • Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year • A Junior Library Guild Selection • Hugo & Locus award finalist In Other Lands is an exhilarating novel from bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools - friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world — even if it means giving up your phone. Excerpt: The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border — unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and — best of all as far as Elliot is concerned — mermaids. "What’s your name?" "Serene." "Serena?" Elliot asked. "Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle." Elliot’s mouth fell open. "That is badass." Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world. Chapter illustrations by Casey Nowak.

Whether seen as a land of opportunity or as paradise lost, the American West took shape in the nation's imagination with the help of those who wrote about it; but two groups who did much to shape that perception are often overlooked today. Promoters trying to lure settlers and investors to the West insisted that the frontier had already been tamed-that the only frontiers remaining were those of opportunity. Through posters, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and other printed pieces, these boosters literally imagined places into existence by depicting backwater areas as settled, culturally developed regions where newcomers would find none of the hardships associated with frontier life. Quick on their heels, some of the West's original settlers had begun publishing their reminiscences in books and periodicals and banding together in pioneer societies to sustain their conception of frontier heritage. Their selective memory focused on the savage wilderness they had tamed, exaggerating the past every bit as much as promoters exaggerated the present. Although they are generally seen today as unscrupulous charlatans and tellers of tall tales, David Wrobel reveals that these promoters and reminiscers were more significant than their detractors have suggested. By exploring the vast literature produced by these individuals from the end of the Civil War through the 1920s, he clarifies the pivotal impact of their works on our vision of both the historic and mythic West. In examining their role in forging both sense of place within the West and the nation's sense of the West as a place, Wrobel shows that these works were vital to the process of identity formation among westerners themselves and to the construction of a "West" in the national imagination. Wrobel also sheds light on the often elitist, sometimes racist legacies of both groups through their characterizations of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans. In the era Wrobel examines, promoters painted the future of each western place as if it were already present, while the old-timers preserved the past as if it were still present. But, as he also demonstrates, that West has not really changed much: promoters still tout its promise, while old-timers still try to preserve their selective memories. Even relatively recent western residents still tap into the region's mythic pioneer heritage as they form their attachments to place. Promised Lands shows us that the West may well move into the twenty-first century, but our images of it are forever rooted in the nineteenth.