We've ranked the best ruby books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
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1
Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby
Sandi Metz
5.0
The Complete Guide to Writing More Maintainable, Manageable, Pleasing, and Powerful Ruby Applications Ruby's widely admired ease of use has a downside: Too many Ruby and Rails applications have been created without concern for their long-term maintenance or evolution. The Web is awash in Ruby code that is now virtually impossible to change or extend. This text helps you solve that problem by using powerful real-world object-oriented design techniques, which it thoroughly explains using simple and practical Ruby examples. Sandi Metz has distilled a lifetime of conversations and presentations about object-oriented design into a set of Ruby-focused practices for crafting manageable, extensible, and pleasing code. She shows you how to build new applications that can survive success and repair existing applications that have become impossible to change. Each technique is illustrated with extended examples, all downloadable from the companion Web site, poodr.info. The first title to focus squarely on object-oriented Ruby application design, Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby will guide you to superior outcomes, whatever your previous Ruby experience. Novice Ruby programmers will find specific rules to live by; intermediate Ruby programmers will find valuable principles they can flexibly interpret and apply; and advanced Ruby programmers will find a common language they can use to lead development and guide their colleagues. This guide will help you Understand how object-oriented programming can help you craft Ruby code that is easier to maintain and upgrade Decide what belongs in a single Ruby class Avoid entangling objects that should be kept separate Define flexible interfaces among objects Reduce programming overhead costs with duck typing Successfully apply inheritance Build objects via composition Design cost-effective tests Solve common problems associated with poorly designed Ruby code
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The Well-Grounded Rubyist
David A. Black
4.9
Developers discovering Ruby quickly learn that this elegant object-oriented language is a powerful alternative to traditional static languages like Java or C++. It runs in most operating environments and can handle virtually any programming task you throw at it. Ruby code is clean and clear. Best of all, Ruby is dynamic, which means that it's designed to react at runtime to changes in an application's environment or requirements. And with the new language features in the long-awaited Ruby 2, Ruby has truly come into its own.
The Well-Grounded Rubyist, Second Edition addresses both newcomers to Ruby and those Ruby programmers who want to deepen their understanding of the language. It begins with the basic steps to getting a Ruby program up and running and goes on to explore sophisticated topics like callable objects, reflection, and threading. Whether the topic is simple or tough, the book's easy-to-follow examples and expert author David A. Black's lucid explanations give you immediate confidence as you build your Ruby programming skills.
This totally revised second edition includes coverage of features that are new in Ruby 2, as well as expanded and updated coverage of aspects of the language that have changed. New topics include keyword arguments, lazy enumerators, and Module#prepend. Updated areas include the new regular expression engine, program file encoding, and changes to the behavior of core classes and methods.
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Programming Ruby 1.9 & 2.0
Dave Thomas, Andy Hunt, et al.
4.7
Would you like to go from first idea to working code much, much faster? Do you currently spend more time satisfying the compiler instead of your clients or end users? Are you frustrated with demanding languages that seem to get in your way, instead of getting the work done? Are you using Rails, and want to dig deeper into the underlying Ruby language? If so, then we’ve got a language and book for you!
Ruby is a fully object-oriented language, much like the classic object-oriented language, Smalltalk. Like Smalltalk, it is dynamically typed (as opposed to Java or C++), but unlike Smalltalk, Ruby features the same conveniences found in modern scripting languages such as Perl and Python.
The combination of the power of a pure object-oriented language with the convenience of a scripting language makes Ruby a favorite tool of intelligent, forward-thinking programmers.
The Pickaxe contains four major sections:
An acclaimed tutorial on using Ruby. The definitive reference to the language. Complete documentation of all built-in classes, modules, and methods. Complete descriptions of all 97 standard libraries. This is the reference manual for Ruby, including a description of all the standard library modules, a complete reference to all built-in classes and modules (including all the new and changed methods introduced by Ruby 1.9, 1.9.2, 1.9.3, and 2.0¹). It also includes all the new and changed syntax and semantics introduced since Ruby 1.8. Learn about the new parameter passing rules, local variable scoping in blocks, fibers, and the new block declaration syntax, among other exciting new features.
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Design Patterns in Ruby
Russ Olsen
4.7
Praise for Design Patterns in Ruby
"Design Patterns in Ruby documents smart ways to resolve many problems that Ruby developers commonly encounter. Russ Olsen has done a great job of selecting classic patterns and augmenting these with newer patterns that have special relevance for Ruby. He clearly explains each idea, making a wealth of experience available to Ruby developers for their own daily work."
--Steve Metsker, Managing Consultant with Dominion Digital, Inc.
"This book provides a great demonstration of the key 'Gang of Four' design patterns without resorting to overly technical explanations. Written in a precise, yet almost informal style, this book covers enough ground that even those without prior exposure to design patterns will soon feel confident applying them using Ruby. Olsen has done a great job to make a book about a classically 'dry' subject into such an engaging and even occasionally humorous read."
--Peter Cooper
"This book renewed my interest in understanding patterns after a decade of good intentions. Russ picked the most useful patterns for Ruby and introduced them in a straightforward and logical manner, going beyond the GoF's patterns. This book has improved my use of Ruby, and encouraged me to blow off the dust covering the GoF book."
--Mike Stok
"Design Patterns in Ruby is a great way for programmers from statically typed objectoriented languages to learn how design patterns appear in a more dynamic, flexible language like Ruby."
--Rob Sanheim, Ruby Ninja, Relevance
Most design pattern books are based on C++ and Java. But Ruby is different--and the language's unique qualities make design patterns easier to implement and use. In this book, Russ Olsen demonstrates how to combine Ruby's power and elegance with patterns, and write more sophisticated, effective software with far fewer lines of code.
After reviewing the history, concepts, and goals of design patterns, Olsen offers a quick tour of the Ruby language--enough to allow any experienced software developer to immediately utilize patterns with Ruby. The book especially calls attention to Ruby features that simplify the use of patterns, including dynamic typing, code closures, and "mixins" for easier code reuse.
Fourteen of the classic "Gang of Four" patterns are considered from the Ruby point of view, explaining what problems each pattern solves, discussing whether traditional implementations make sense in the Ruby environment, and introducing Ruby-specific improvements. You'll discover opportunities to implement patterns in just one or two lines of code, instead of the endlessly repeated boilerplate that conventional languages often require.
Design Patterns in Ruby also identifies innovative new patterns that have emerged from the Ruby community. These include ways to create custom objects with metaprogramming, as well as the ambitious Rails-based "Convention Over Configuration" pattern, designed to help integrate entire applications and frameworks.
Engaging, practical, and accessible, Design Patterns in Ruby will help you build better software while making your Ruby programming experience more rewarding.
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Ruby Under a Microscope: An Illustrated Guide to Ruby Internals
Pat Shaughnessy
4.7
Ruby is a powerful programming language with a focus on simplicity, but beneath its elegant syntax it performs countless unseen tasks.
Ruby Under a Microscope gives you a hands-on look at Ruby's core, using extensive diagrams and thorough explanations to show you how Ruby is implemented (no C skills required). Author Pat Shaughnessy takes a scientific approach, laying out a series of experiments with Ruby code to take you behind the scenes of how programming languages work. You'll even find information on JRuby and Rubinius (two alternative implementations of Ruby), as well as in-depth explorations of Ruby's garbage collection algorithm.
Ruby Under a Microscope will teach you:
How a few computer science concepts underpin Ruby's complex implementation How Ruby executes your code using a virtual machine How classes and modules are the same inside Ruby How Ruby employs algorithms originally developed for Lisp How Ruby uses grammar rules to parse and understand your code How your Ruby code is translated into a different language by a compiler No programming language needs to be a black box. Whether you're already intrigued by language implementation or just want to dig deeper into Ruby, you'll find Ruby Under a Microscope a fascinating way to become a better programmer.
Covers Ruby 2.x, 1.9 and 1.8
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Metaprogramming Ruby
Paolo Perrotta
4.6
Everyone in the Ruby world seems to be talking about metaprogramming--how you can use it to remove duplication in your code and write elegant, beautiful programs. Now you can get in on the action as well.
This book describes metaprogramming as an essential component of Ruby. Once you understand the principles of Ruby, including the object model, scopes, and eigenclasses, you're on your way to applying metaprogramming both in your daily work and in your fun, after-hours projects.
Learning metaprogramming doesn't have to be difficult or boring. By taking you on a Monday-through-Friday workweek adventure with a pair of programmers, Paolo Perrotta helps make mastering the art of metaprogramming both straightforward and entertaining.
The book is packed with:
Pragmatic examples of metaprogramming in action, many of which come straight from popular libraries or frameworks, such as Rails. Programming challenges that let you experiment and play with some of the most fun, "out-there" metaprogramming concepts. Metaprogramming spells--34 practical recipes and idioms that you can study and apply right now, to write code that is sure to impress.
Whether you're a Ruby apprentice on the path to mastering the language or a Ruby wiz in search of new tips, this book is for you.
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99 Bottles of OOP
Sandi Met
4.6
"Everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it." Likewise, everyone has an opinion about what good code looks like, but those opinions don't help you create it. This book fills that gap. It explains the process of writing good code, and teaches you to achieve beautifully programmed ends by way of extremely practical means. What It's About
99 Bottles of OOP is a practical guide to writing cost-effective, maintainable, and pleasing object-oriented code.
It explores:
Recognizing when code is "good enough" Getting the best value from Test-Driven Development (TDD) Doing proper refactoring, not random "rehacktoring" Locating concepts buried in code Finding names that convey deeper meaning Safely altering code by following the "Flocking Rules" Simplifying new additions with the Open/Closed Principle Avoiding conditionals by obeying the Liskov Substitution Principle Making targeted improvements by reducing Code Smells
What Makes It Unique?
We are practical people. We love beautiful code but we're committed to getting things done. 99 Bottles of OOP enables both of these desires. It teaches a practical technique for getting things done that leads, naturally and inevitably, to beautiful code.
This book contains an extended refactoring, and it details the rationale behind every change. It is a hands-on workbook rather than a list of theoretical ideas. It explains how to use the principles of object-oriented design to guide, not just the final arrangement of code, but each decision about what line of code to write next.
It teaches the theory of what good OO looks like, but even better, it supplies step-by-step guidance about how to achieve it. Who Should Read It?
The lessons work for programmers with a broad range of experience, from rank novice to grizzled veteran. The code examples are written in Ruby, but this book is not about Ruby--it's about object-oriented programming and design. Regardless of your background, applying these techniques will make your code easier to understand, simpler to change, and more satisfying to contemplate.
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Agile Web Development with Rails: A Pragmatic Guide
Dave Thomas, David Heinemeier Hansson, Leon Breedt, Mike Clark, Thomas Fuchs, Andrea Schwarz
4.6
Rails is a full-stack, open source web framework that enables you to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications, but with a twist... A full Rails application probably has less total code than the XML you'd need to configure the same application in other frameworks. With this book you'll learn how to use "ActiveRecord" to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. You'll learn how to use the "Action Pack" framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, implement web services, and create dynamic, user-centric web-pages using built-in Javascript and Ajax support. There are extensive chapters on testing, deployment, and scaling. You'll see how easy it is to install Rails using your web server of choice (such as Apache or lighttpd) or using its own included web server. You'll be writing applications that work with your favorite database (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and more) in no time at all. You'll create a complete online store application in the extended tutorial section, so you'll see how a full Rails application is developed---iteratively and rapidly. Rails strives to honor the Pragmatic Programmer's "DRY Principle" by avoiding the extra work of configuration files and code annotations. You can develop in real-time: make a change, and watch it work immediately. Forget XML. Everything in Rails, from templates to control flow to business logic, is written in Ruby, the language of choice for programmers who like to get the job done well (and leave work ontime for a change). Rails is the framework of choice for the new generation of Web 2.0 developers. Agile Web Development with Rails is the book for that generation, written by Dave Thomas (Pragmatic Programmer and author of Programming Ruby) and David Heinemeier Hansson, who created Rails.
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The Ruby Programming Language
David Flanagan, Yukihiro Matsumoto
4.5
The Ruby Programming Language is the authoritative guide to Ruby and provides comprehensive coverage of versions 1.8 and 1.9 of the language. It was written (and illustrated!) by an all-star team:
David Flanagan, bestselling author of programming language "bibles" (including JavaScript: The Definitive Guide and Java in a Nutshell) and committer to the Ruby Subversion repository.
Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, creator, designer and lead developer of Ruby and author of Ruby in a Nutshell, which has been expanded and revised to become this book.
why the lucky stiff, artist and Ruby programmer extraordinaire. This book begins with a quick-start tutorial to the language, and then explains the language in detail from the bottom up: from lexical and syntactic structure to datatypes to expressions and statements and on through methods, blocks, lambdas, closures, classes and modules.
The book also includes a long and thorough introduction to the rich API of the Ruby platform, demonstrating -- with heavily-commented example code -- Ruby's facilities for text processing, numeric manipulation, collections, input/output, networking, and concurrency. An entire chapter is devoted to Ruby's metaprogramming capabilities.
The Ruby Programming Language documents the Ruby language definitively but without the formality of a language specification. It is written for experienced programmers who are new to Ruby, and for current Ruby programmers who want to challenge their understanding and increase their mastery of the language.
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Eloquent Ruby
Russ Olsen
4.5
It's easy to write correct Ruby code, but to gain the fluency needed to write great Ruby code, you must go beyond syntax and absorb the "Ruby way" of thinking and problem solving. In Eloquent Ruby, Russ Olsen helps you write Ruby like true Rubyists do-so you can leverage its immense, surprising power. Olsen draws on years of experience internalizing the Ruby culture and teaching Ruby to other programmers. He guides you to the "Ah Ha!" moments when it suddenly becomes clear why Ruby works the way it does, and how you can take advantage of this language's elegance and expressiveness. Eloquent Ruby starts small, answering tactical questions focused on a single statement, method, test, or bug. You'll learn how to write code that actually looks like Ruby (not Java or C#); why Ruby has so many control structures; how to use strings, expressions, and symbols; and what dynamic typing is really good for. Next, the book addresses bigger questions related to building methods and classes. You'll discover why Ruby classes contain so many tiny methods, when to use operator overloading, and when to avoid it. Olsen explains how to write Ruby code that writes its own code-and why you'll want to. He concludes with powerful project-level features and techniques ranging from gems to Domain Specific Languages. A part of the renowned Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series, Eloquent Ruby will help you "put on your Ruby-colored glasses" and get results that make you a true believer.
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The Ruby Way: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)
Hal Fulton
4.5
Using real, well-written code examples, this book provides solutions to specific tasks that one needs while honing Ruby programming skills. This practical "how-to" handbook, written by experienced programmer Hal Fulton, has been updated to not only explain the newest features of Ruby, but also to show how people use Ruby today, including coverage of Ruby on Rails.
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Exceptional Ruby: Master the Art of Handling Failure in Ruby
Sydney Finkelstein
4.4
Writing code that works is hard. Writing code that handles unexpected errors and still works is really hard. Most of us learn by trial and error. This short book removes the uncertainty. With over 100 pages of content and dozens of working examples, you’ll learn everything from the mechanics of how exceptions work to how to design a robust failure management architecture for your app or library. Whether you are a Ruby novice or a seasoned veteran, Exceptional Ruby will help you write cleaner, more resilient Ruby code.
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Refactoring: Ruby Edition, Adobe Reader
Jay Fields, Shane Harvie, et al
4.4
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Metaprogramming Ruby 2: Program Like the Ruby Pros
Paolo Perrotta
4.4
Write powerful Ruby code that is easy to maintain and change. With metaprogramming, you can produce elegant, clean, and beautiful programs. Once the domain of expert Rubyists, metaprogramming is now accessible to programmers of all levels. This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the bestselling Metaprogramming Ruby explains metaprogramming in a down-to-earth style and arms you with a practical toolbox that will help you write your best Ruby code ever.
Dig under the surface and explore Ruby's most advanced feature: a collection of techniques and tricks known as metaprogramming. In this book, you'll learn metaprogramming as an essential component of Ruby and discover the deep, non-obvious details of the language. Once you understand the tenets of Ruby, including the object model, scopes, and singleton classes, you're on your way to applying metaprogramming both in your daily work assignments and in your fun, after-hours projects.
Metaprogramming Ruby, Second Edition makes mastering the language enjoyable. The book is packed with:
Pragmatic examples of metaprogramming in action, many of which come straight from real-life gems such as Rails.
Programming challenges that let you experiment and play with some of the most out-there metaprogramming concepts.
Metaprogramming "spells"--33 practical recipes and idioms that you can study and apply right now, to write code that is sure to impress.
This completely revised new edition covers the new features in Ruby 2.0 and 2.1, and contains code from the latest Ruby libraries, including Rails 4. Most examples are new, "from the wild," with more recent libraries. And the book reflects current ideas of when and how much metaprogramming you should use.
Whether you're a Ruby apprentice on the path to mastering the language or a Ruby wiz in search of new tips, this book is for you.
What You Need:
Ruby 2.x, Ruby 1.9, or a recent version of JRuby.
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Ruby Cookbook: Recipes for Object-Oriented Scripting
Lucas Carlson
4.3
Why spend time on coding problems that others have already solved when you could be making real progress on your Ruby project? This updated cookbook provides more than 350 recipes for solving common problems, on topics ranging from basic data structures, classes, and objects, to web development, distributed programming, and multithreading.
Revised for Ruby 2.1, each recipe includes a discussion on why and how the solution works. You'll find recipes suitable for all skill levels, from Ruby newbies to experts who need an occasional reference. With Ruby Cookbook, you'll not only save time, but keep your brain percolating with new ideas as well.
Recipes cover:
Data structures including strings, numbers, date and time, arrays, hashes, files and directories Using Ruby's code blocks, also known as closures OOP features such as classes, methods, objects, and modules XML and HTML, databases and persistence, and graphics and other formats Web development with Rails and Sinatra Internet services, web services, and distributed programming Software testing, debugging, packaging, and distributing Multitasking, multithreading, and extending Ruby with other languages
At Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau reflected on simpler living in the natural world. By removing himself from the distractions of materialism, Thoreau hoped to not only improve his spiritual life but also gain a better understanding of society through solitary introspection.
In Walden, Thoreau condenses his two-year, two-month, two-day stay into a single year, using the four seasons to symbolize human development—a cycle of life shared by both nature and man. A celebration of personal renewal through self-reliance, independence, and simplicity, composed for all of us living in “quiet desperation,” Walden is eternal.
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Recommended by Emma Watson, Donna Dickenson, Emily Thomas, and 5 others.
Donna Dickenson
He discusses how the original ideals that America was founded on were being compromised, and how massive industrial interests were starting to dominate. [source]
Emily Thomas
The beginning is hard going. Once you get past that, then suddenly you’re into these beautiful and inspiring descriptions of nature. [source]
Joan Boixados
In case you were deceived and expected me to name Walden by Henry David Thoreau, you should read it too if you haven’t, it obviously is the inspiration to Walden Two. :) [source]
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Confident Ruby
Avdi Grimm and Sandi Met
4.3
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The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
4.3
-- Ward Cunningham Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process--taking a requirement and producing working, maintainable code that delights its users. It covers topics ranging from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques for keeping your code flexible and easy to adapt and reuse. Read this book, and youll learn how to *Fight software rot; *Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge; *Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code; *Avoid programming by coincidence; *Bullet-proof your code with contracts, assertions, and exceptions; *Capture real requirements; *Test ruthlessly and effectively; *Delight your users; *Build teams of pragmatic programmers; and *Make your developments more precise with automation. Written as a series of self-contained sections and filled with entertaining anecdotes, thoughtful examples, and interesting analogies, The Pragmatic Programmer illustrates the best practices and major pitfalls of many different aspects of software development. Whether youre a new coder, an experienced programm
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Recommended by Jeff Atwood, Hadley Wickham, and 1 others.
This book is about the craft of software development, and thinking about how to produce good code. [source]
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Ruby the Red Fairy (Rainbow Magic, #1)
Daisy Meadows and Georgie Ripper
4.3
The seven Rainbow Fairies are missing! Rachel and Kirsty search for one in each RAINBOW MAGIC book. Read all seven books to help rescue the fairies and bring the sparkle back to Fairyland!
Fairyland is home to seven colorful sisters. Together, they are the Rainbow Fairies! They keep Fairyland dazzling and bright. But when evil Jack Frost sends them far away, the sisters are in big trouble. If they don't return soon, Fairyland is doomed to be gray forever!
Rachel and Kirsty discover Ruby the Red Fairy in the pot at the end of the rainbow. Can they help find the rest of her Rainbow sisters . . . before it's too late?
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The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
4.3
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does--or does not--say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
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Recommended by Bianca Belair.
Bianca Belair
For #BlackHistoryMonth I will be sharing some of my favorite books by Black Authors 7th Book: The Hate U Give By: Angie Thomas @angiecthomas The movie was really great, but it just hits different when you read the book! https://t.co/rxMH5Uu6JN [source]
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Learn to Program
Chris Pine
4.3
It's now easier to learn to write your own computer software than it has ever been before. Now everyone can learn to write programs for themselves--no previous experience is necessary. Chris Pine takes a thorough, but light-hearted approach that teaches you how to program with a minimum of fuss or bother. Starting with small, simple one-line programs to calculate your age in seconds, you'll see how to have your webpage send you email, to shuffle your music more intelligently, to rename your photos from your digital camera, and more. You'll learn the same technology used to drive modern dynamic websites and large, professional applications.
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Rails AntiPatterns: Best Practice Ruby on Rails Refactoring
Chad Pytel / Tammer Saleh Pytel…
4.3
The Complete Guide to Avoiding and Fixing Common Rails 3 Code and Design Problems As developers worldwide have adopted the powerful Ruby on Rails web framework, many have fallen victim to common mistakes that reduce code quality, performance, reliability, stability, scalability, and maintainability. "Rails(TM) AntiPatterns"identifies these widespread Rails code and design problems, explains why they're bad and why they happen--and shows exactly what to do instead. The book is organized into concise, modular chapters--each outlines a single common AntiPattern and offers detailed, cookbook-style code solutions that were previously difficult or impossible to find. Leading Rails developers Chad Pytel and Tammer Saleh also offer specific guidance for refactoring existing bad code or design to reflect sound object-oriented principles and established Rails best practices. With their help, developers, architects, and testers can dramatically improve new and existing applications, avoid future problems, and establish superior Rails coding standards throughout their organizations. This book will help you understand, avoid, and solve problems with Model layer code, from general object-oriented programming violations to complex SQL and excessive redundancyDomain modeling, including schema and database issues such as normalization and serializationView layer tools and conventionsController-layer code, including RESTful codeService-related APIs, including timeouts, exceptions, backgrounding, and response codesThird-party code, including plug-ins and gemsTesting, from test suites to test-driven development processesScaling and deploymentDatabase issues, including migrations and validationsSystem design for "graceful degradation" in the real world
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23
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake
4.3
Now a Broadway musical!
Roald Dahl's iconic story of a little boy, a golden ticket, and a fantastical chocolate factory has been adapted into a wonderful new musical. This edition has a great new cover featuring the musical's poster art and a foreword by Jack O'Brien, Tony Award-winning Director.
Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
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Recommended by Tilly Burn.
Tilly Burn
because you believe Roald Dahl and trust him and because you know he tells a good story, you immediately accept that he’s telling you to root for Charlie Bucket. And you’re like, Yeah, sure. Here we go! [source]
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Effective Ruby: 48 Specific Ways to Write Better Ruby
Peter J. Jones
4.3
If you're an experienced Ruby programmer, Effective Ruby will help you harness Ruby's full power to write more robust, efficient, maintainable, and well-performing code. Drawing on nearly a decade of Ruby experience, Peter J. Jones brings together 48 Ruby best practices, expert tips, and shortcuts--all supported by realistic code examples. Jones offers practical advice for each major area of Ruby development, from modules to memory to metaprogramming. Throughout, he uncovers little-known idioms, quirks, pitfalls, and intricacies that powerfully impact code behavior and performance. Each item contains specific, actionable, clearly organized guidelines; careful advice; detailed technical arguments; and illuminating code examples. When multiple options exist, Jones shows you how to choose the one that will work best in your situation. Effective Ruby will help you systematically improve your code--not by blindly following rules, but by thoroughly understanding Ruby programming techniques. Key features of this concise guide include How to avoid pitfalls associated with Ruby's sometimes surprising idiosyncrasies What you should know about inheritance hierarchies to successfully use Rails (and other large frameworks) How to use misunderstood methods to do amazingly useful things with collections Better ways to use exceptions to improve code reliability Powerful metaprogramming approaches (and techniques to avoid) Practical, efficient testing solutions, including MiniTest Unit and Spec Testing How to reliably manage RubyGem dependencies How to make the most of Ruby's memory management and profiling tools How to improve code efficiency by understanding the Ruby interpreter's internals
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré
4.3
Harry Potter is leaving Privet Drive for the last time. But as he climbs into the sidecar of Hagrid’s motorbike and they take to the skies, he knows Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters will not be far behind.
The protective charm that has kept him safe until now is broken. But the Dark Lord is breathing fear into everything he loves. And he knows he can’t keep hiding.
To stop Voldemort, Harry knows he must find the remaining Horcruxes and destroy them.
He will have to face his enemy in one final battle. --jkrowling.com
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Ruby Best Practices
Gregory T Brown
4.3
How do you write truly elegant code with Ruby? Ruby Best Practices is for programmers who want to use Ruby as experienced Rubyists do. Written by the developer of the Ruby project Prawn, this concise book explains how to design beautiful APIs and domain-specific languages with Ruby, as well as how to work with functional programming ideas and techniques that can simplify your code and make you more productive. You'll learn how to write code that's readable, expressive, and much more.
Ruby Best Practices will help you:
Understand the secret powers unlocked by Ruby's code blocks Learn how to bend Ruby code without breaking it, such as mixing in modules on the fly Discover the ins and outs of testing and debugging, and how to design for testability Learn to write faster code by keeping things simple Develop strategies for text processing and file management, including regular expressions Understand how and why things can go wrong Reduce cultural barriers by leveraging Ruby's multilingual capabilities This book also offers you comprehensive chapters on driving code through tests, designing APIs, and project maintenance. Learn how to make the most of this rich, beautiful language with Ruby Best Practices.
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Growing Rails Applications in Practice
Cory Jensen, Jonathan Rabe, et al
4.2
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Charlotte's Web
E. B White and Kate DiCamillo
4.2
Don’t miss one of America’s top 100 most-loved novels, selected by PBS’s The Great American Read.
This beloved book by E. B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." This paper-over-board edition includes a foreword by two-time Newbery winning author Kate DiCamillo.
Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.
E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. It contains illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.
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Recommended by Mary Burkey.
Mary Burkey
One thing that was also very nice was having a title that’s for younger children recognized as a truly stellar audiobook, because sometimes people think that audiobooks are to help kids learn to read and not for them to fall in love with literature. And that’s what the audiobook recording of Charlotte’s Web does. It lets young kids and their parents revisit a beautiful title and fall in love with the book. [source]
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29
Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the Unsolved Murder of a Doctor, a Secret Laboratory in New Orleans and Cancer-Causing Monkey Viruses Are Linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK Assassination and Emerging Global Epidemics
Edward T. Haslam
4.2
This new updated edition is not only hard cover for long life, but it contains an additional 25 pages of revelations from the author including documents from the FBI, CIA, CDC, and NOPD, plus the actual crime scene photos of the Mary Sherman murder. You’ll see why we say this is the “Hottest cold case in America.” The 1964 murder of a nationally known cancer researcher sets the stage for this gripping exposé of medical professionals enmeshed in covert government operations over the course of three decades. Following a trail of police records, FBI files, cancer statistics, and medical journals, this revealing book presents evidence of a web of medical secret-keeping that began with the handling of evidence in the JFK assassination and continued apace, sweeping doctors into cover-ups of cancer outbreaks, contaminated polio vaccine, the arrival of the AIDS virus, and biological weapon research using infected monkeys.
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30
Through My Eyes
Ruby Bridges, Margo Lundell
4.2
In November 1960, all of America watched as a tiny six-year-old black girl, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. An icon of the civil rights movement, Ruby Bridges chronicles each dramatic step of this pivotal event in history through her own words.
Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there’s still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly. This coming-of-age true story is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been in middle school, and especially those who have ever had a bit of their own dental drama.
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32
Looking for Alaska
John Green
4.2
The award-winning, genre-defining debut from #1 bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
First drink First prank First friend First girl Last words
Miles “Pudge” Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.”
Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.
John Green’s stunning debut marks the arrival of a stand-out new voice in young adult fiction.
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Recommended by Angel Dei.
Angel Dei
My favorite John Green book 😭😭 https://t.co/Aqkvmuu9Q5 [source]
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33
The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name
Sally Lloyd-Jones
4.2
If you are a parent, grandparent, pastor, or teacher looking for a way to teach the children in your life about God’s “Never Stopping, Never Giving up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love,” look no further than The Jesus Storybook Bible.
What makes The Jesus Storybook Bible different from every other Kids’ Bible?
While other Kids’ Bibles contain stories from the Old and New Testaments, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible, pointing to Jesus as our Savior. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will clearly see that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation—and at the center of their story too.
The Jesus Storybook Bible:
• Visually brings scripture to life for children
• Contains 21 stories from the Old Testament
• Contains 23 stories from the New Testament
• Presents the best-loved stories of the Bible in an easy-to-understand format
• Shares how Jesus is at the center of our story
• Features the award-winning illustrations of Jago
• Features the beloved, bestselling writing of Sally Lloyd-Jones
• Is the perfect Kids’ Bible for any age up to 6th grade
For the past ten years, The Jesus Storybook Bible has been the trusted and preferred starting point for thousands and thousands of parents, grandparents, and pastors to teach their kids about the Bible. The beautiful, award-winning illustrations of Jago connect with the bestselling writing of Sally Lloyd-Jones so that the text of Scripture visually comes to life in the minds of children. The Jesus Storybook Bible contains 21 stories from the Old Testament and 23 stories from the New Testament, presented in an easy-to-understand way that makes learning about the Bible as fun for younger children, preschool and below, as it is for older children, kindergarten to sixth grade.
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34
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
Martin Kleppmann
4.2
Many forces affect software today: larger datasets, geographical disparities, complex company structures, and the growing need to be fast and nimble in the face of change.
Proven approaches such as service-oriented and event-driven architectures are joined by newer techniques such as microservices, reactive architectures, DevOps, and stream processing. Many of these patterns are successful by themselves, but as this practical ebook demonstrates, they provide a more holistic and compelling approach when applied together.
Author Ben Stopford explains how service-based architectures and stream processing tools such as Apache Kafka® can help you build business-critical systems.
* Learn why streaming beats request-response based architectures in complex, contemporary use cases * Understand why replayable logs such as Kafka provide a backbone for both service communication and shared datasets * Explore how event collaboration and event sourcing patterns increase safety and recoverability with functional, event-driven approaches * Apply patterns including Event Sourcing and CQRS, and how to build multi-team systems with microservices and SOA using patterns such as “inside out databases” and “event streams as a source of truth” * Build service ecosystems that blend event-driven and request-driven interfaces using a replayable log and Kafka's Streams API * Scale beyond individual teams into larger, department- and company-sized architectures, using event streams as a source of truth
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35
The Rails 3 Way
Obie Fernandez
4.2
"The Rails(TM) 3 Way" is a comprehensive resource that digs into the new features in Rails 3 and perhaps more importantly, the rationale behind them. --Yehuda Katz, Rails Core The Bible for Ruby on Rails Application Development Ruby on Rails strips complexity from the development process, enabling professional developers to focus on what matters most: delivering business value via clean and maintainable code. "The Rails(TM) 3 Way"is the only comprehensive, authoritative guide to delivering production-quality code with Rails 3. Pioneering Rails expert Obie Fernandez and a team of leading experts illuminate the entire Rails 3 API, along with the idioms, design approaches, and libraries that make developing applications with Rails so powerful. Drawing on their unsurpassed experience and track record, they address the real challenges development teams face, showing how to use Rails 3 to maximize your productivity. Using numerous detailed code examples, the author systematically covers Rails 3 key capabilities and subsystems, making this book a reference that you will turn to again and again. He presents advanced Rails programming techniques that have been proven effective in day-to-day usage on dozens of production Rails systems and offers important insights into behavior-driven development and production considerations such as scalability. Dive deep into the Rails 3 codebase and discover why Rails is designed the way it is--and how to make it do what you want it to do. This book will help youLearn what's new in Rails 3 Increase your productivity as a web application developer Realize the overall joy in programming with Rails Leverage Rails' powerful capabilities for building REST-compliant APIs Drive implementation and protect long-term maintainability using RSpec Design and manipulate your domain layer using Active Record Understand and program complex program flows using Action Controller Master sophisticated URL routing concepts Use Ajax techniques via Rails 3 support for unobtrusive JavaScript Learn to extend Rails with popular gems and plugins, and how to write your own Extend Rails with the best third-party plug-ins and write your own Integrate email services into your applications with Action Mailer Improve application responsiveness with background processing Create your own non-Active Record domain classes using Active Model Master Rails' utility classes and extensions in Active Support
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36
Rails 4 Test Prescriptions: Build a Healthy Codebase
Noel Rappin
4.2
Does your Rails code suffer from bloat, brittleness, or inaccuracy? Cure these problems with a regular dose of test-driven development. Rails 4 Test Prescriptions is a comprehensive guide to how tests can help you design and write better Rails applications. In this completely revised edition, you'll learn why testing works and how to test effectively using Rails 4, Minitest 5, and RSpec 3, as well as popular testing libraries such as factory_girl and Cucumber. Do what the doctor ordered to make your applications feel all better. Side effects may include better code, fewer bugs, and happier developers.
Your Ruby on Rails application is sick. Deadlines are looming, but every time you make the slightest change to the code, something else breaks. Nobody remembers what that tricky piece of code was supposed to do, and nobody can tell what it actually does. Plus, it has bugs. You need test-driven development, a process for improving the design, maintainability, and long-term viability of software.
Containing both practical code examples and discussion of why testing works, this book starts with the most basic features delivered as part of core Ruby on Rails. Once you've integrated those features into your coding practice, you'll learn how to use popular third-party testing tools such as RSpec, Mocha, Cucumber, and factory_girl. You'll test the component parts of a Rails application, including the back-end model logic and the front-end display logic. Using Rails examples, you'll learn how to use testing to enable your code to respond better to future change. Plus, you'll see how to handle real-world testing situations.
This completely revised edition contains a new tutorial, as well as new examples throughout the book. Many chapters, including the JavaScript chapter, have undergone major changes to reflect new tools and new practices. And there are brand new chapters on testing for security, and testing external services.
What You Need: Ruby 2.1, Rails 4
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37
Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)
Michael Hartl
4.2
“Ruby on Rails™ 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example by Michael Hartl has become a must read for developers learning how to build Rails apps.”
—Peter Cooper, Editor of Ruby Inside
Using Rails 3, developers can build web applications of exceptional elegance and power. Although its remarkable capabilities have made Ruby on Rails one of the world’s most popular web development frameworks, it can be challenging to learn and use. Ruby on Rails™ 3 Tutorial is the solution. Leading Rails developer Michael Hartl teaches Rails 3 by guiding you through the development of your own complete sample application using the latest techniques in Rails web development.
Drawing on his experience building RailsSpace, Insoshi, and other sophisticated Rails applications, Hartl illuminates all facets of design and implementation—including powerful new techniques that simplify and accelerate development.
You’ll find integrated tutorials not only for Rails, but also for the essential Ruby, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SQL skills you’ll need when developing web applications. Hartl explains how each new technique solves a real-world problem, and he demonstrates this with bite-sized code that’s simple enough to understand, yet novel enough to be useful. Whatever your previous web development experience, this book will guide you to true Rails mastery.
This book will help you
Install and set up your Rails development environment Go beyond generated code to truly understand how to build Rails applications from scratch Learn Test Driven Development (TDD) with RSpec Effectively use the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern Structure applications using the REST architecture Build static pages and transform them into dynamic ones Master the Ruby programming skills all Rails developers need Define high-quality site layouts and data models Implement registration and authentication systems, including validation and secure passwords Update, display, and delete users Add social features and microblogging, including an introduction to Ajax Record version changes with Git and share code at GitHub Simplify application deployment with Heroku
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38
Effective Testing with Rspec 3: Build Ruby Apps with Confidence
Myron Marston
4.2
Build and maintain quality software with RSpec, the popular BDD-flavored Ruby testing framework. This definitive guide from RSpec's lead developer shows you how to use RSpec to drive more maintainable designs, specify and document expected behavior, and prevent regressions during refactoring. Build a project using RSpec to design, describe, and test the behavior of your code-whether you're new to testing tools or an experienced developer.
RSpec has been downloaded more than 40 million times. Find out how to use this influential Ruby testing framework to iteratively develop a project with the confidence that comes from well-tested code. Effective Testing With RSpec 3 guides you through developing a Ruby project with RSpec, and then explores the individual components in more detail.
First, learn the basics of installing and using RSpec. Then, build a real-world JSON API, using RSpec throughout the process to drive a BDD-style outside-in workflow. Apply an effective test strategy to write fast, robust tests that support evolutionary design through refactoring. The rest of the book provides the definitive guide to RSpec's components. Use RSpec:: Core's metadata to slice and dice your spec suite in flexible ways. Dig into RSpec:: Expectation's matchers, which can be composed in flexible ways to precisely specify expected outcomes and get good failure messages that help you quickly diagnose the problem. Write fast, isolated tests with RSpec:: Mocks test doubles while pushing your code toward simpler interfaces.
The authors, with a combined 20 years of automated testing experience, share useful, actionable testing advice that will help you have a fun, productive testing experience.
What You Need:
To follow along with the book, you'll need Ruby 2.1+. The book will guide you through installing RSpec 3 and setting up a new project to use it.
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39
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle
4.2
THE all-time classic story, from generation to generation, sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds! Have you shared it with a child or grandchild in your life?
One sunny Sunday, the caterpillar was hatched out of a tiny egg. He was very hungry. On Monday, he ate through one apple; on Tuesday, he ate through three plums--and still he was hungry. When full at last, he made a cocoon around himself and went to sleep, to wake up a few weeks later wonderfully transformed into a butterfly!
The brilliantly innovative Eric Carle has dramatized the story of one of Nature's commonest yet loveliest marvels, the metamorphosis of the butterfly. This audiobook will delight as well as instruct the very youngest listener.
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40
Ruby Pocket Reference: Instant Help for Ruby Programmers
Michael Fitzgerald
4.2
Updated for Ruby 2.2, this handy reference offers brief yet clear explanations of Ruby's core elements--from operators to blocks to documentation creation--and highlights the key features you may work with every day. Need to know the correct syntax for a conditional? Forgot the name of that String method? This book is organized to help you find the facts fast.
Ruby Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition is ideal for experienced programmers who are new to Ruby. Whether you've come to Ruby because of Rails, or you want to take advantage of this clean, powerful, and expressive language for other applications, this reference will help you easily pinpoint the information you need.
You'll find detailed reference material for:
Keywords, operators, comments, numbers, and symbols Variables, pre-defined global variables, and regular expressions Conditional statements, method use, classes, and exception handling Methods for the BasicObject, Object, Kernel, String, Array, and Hash classes Time formatting directives New syntax since Ruby 1.9
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41
The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1)
Chris Colfer
4.2
Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales. The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.
But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.
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42
The Story of Ruby Bridges
Robert Coles and George Ford
4.2
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first African American child to integrate a New Orleans school with this paperback reissue! The year is 1960, and six-year-old Ruby Bridges and her family have recently moved from Mississippi to New Orleans in search of a better life. When a judge orders Ruby to attend first grade at William Frantz Elementary, an all-white school, Ruby must face angry mobs of parents who refuse to send their children to school with her. Told with Robert Coles' powerful narrative and dramatically illustrated by George Ford, Ruby's story of courage, faith, and hope is now available in this special 50th anniversary edition with an updated afterword!
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43
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
Rick Riordan
4.2
Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
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44
Crafting Rails Applications: Expert Practices for Everyday Rails Development
Jose Valim
4.2
Rails 3 is a huge step forward. You can now easily extend the framework, change its behavior, and replace whole components to bend it to your will, all without messy hacks. This pioneering book is the first resource that deep dives into the new Rails 3 APIs and shows you how use them to write better web applications and make your day-to-day work with Rails more productive.
Rails Core developer Jose Valim guides you through seven different tutorials, each of them using test-driven development to build a new Rails extension or application that solves common problems with these new APIs. You will understand how the Rails rendering stack works and customize it to read templates from the database while you learn how to mimic Active Record behavior, like validations, in any other object. You will find out how to write faster, leaner controllers, and you'll learn how to mix Sinatra applications into your Rails apps, so you can choose the most appropriate tool for the job. In addition, you will improve your productivity by customizing generators and responders.
This book will help you understand Rails 3's inner workings, including generators, template handlers, internationalization, routing, and responders. With the knowledge you'll gain, you'll be ready to tackle complicated projects more easily than ever before, creating solutions that are well-tested, modular, and easy to maintain.
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45
Beyond the Kingdoms (The Land of Stories, #4)
Chris Colfer
4.2
Fairy tales are just the beginning.
The Masked Man is on the loose in the Land of Stories, and it's up to Alex and Conner Bailey to stop him...except Alex has been thrown off the Fairy Council, and no one will believe they're in danger.
With only the help of the ragtag group of Goldilocks, Jack, Red Riding Hood, and Mother Goose and her gander, Lester, the Bailey twins discover the Masked Man's secret scheme: He possesses a powerful magic potion that turns every book it touches into a portal, and he is recruiting an army of literature's greatest villains!
So begins a race through the magical Land of Oz, the fantastical world of Neverland, the madness of Wonderland, and beyond. Can Alex and Conner catch up to the Masked Man, or will they be one step behind until it's too late?
Fairy tales and classic stories collide in the fourth adventure in the bestselling Land of Stories series as the twins travel beyond the kingdoms!
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46
Understanding Computation: From Simple Machines to Impossible Programs
Tom Stuart
4.1
Finally, you can learn computation theory and programming language design in an engaging, practical way. Understanding Computation explains theoretical computer science in a context you’ll recognize, helping you appreciate why these ideas matter and how they can inform your day-to-day programming.
Rather than use mathematical notation or an unfamiliar academic programming language like Haskell or Lisp, this book uses Ruby in a reductionist manner to present formal semantics, automata theory, and functional programming with the lambda calculus. It’s ideal for programmers versed in modern languages, with little or no formal training in computer science.
* Understand fundamental computing concepts, such as Turing completeness in languages * Discover how programs use dynamic semantics to communicate ideas to machines * Explore what a computer can do when reduced to its bare essentials * Learn how universal Turing machines led to today’s general-purpose computers * Perform complex calculations, using simple languages and cellular automata * Determine which programming language features are essential for computation * Examine how halting and self-referencing make some computing problems unsolvable * Analyze programs by using abstract interpretation and type systems
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47
Ruby Jane (The Montana Marshalls #5)
Susan May Warren
4.1
She loved...and lost.
Ruby Jane never thought she'd meet the man of her dreams while running from the police in Russia. That he'd steal her heart on a train to Siberia. But loving a former CIA officer comes with a price...a life of danger. A life of high stakes.
A life where he simply disappears...
He has no memory of the man he was.
Mack Jones has no memory of his past...just the dark sense that he is hiding. And, he wants to stay that way. Mack likes the life he's built in a small tourist town, tucked away beyond the mountains, and has no desire to dig around in the gray areas of his memory.
When his place of business catches fire and Mack rescues the owner, he makes the news, which of course alerts the past he's hoping to outrun.
The only person who can help him is a mysterious woman he doesn't remember.
But a woman he desperately needs.
The surprising, thrilling conclusion to the Montana Marshall series.
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48
Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional
Peter Cooper
4.1
Based on the bestselling first edition, Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition is the leading guide for every type of reader who wants to learn Ruby from the ground up.
The new edition of this book provides the same excellent introduction to Ruby as the first edition plus updates for the newest version of Ruby, including the addition of the Sinatra and Ramaze web application frameworks and a chapter on GUI development so developers can take advantage of these new trends.
Beginning Ruby starts by explaining the principles behind object-oriented programming and within a few chapters builds toward creating a full Ruby application. By the end of the book, in addition to in-depth knowledge of Ruby, you'll also have basic understanding of many ancillary technologies such as SQL, XML, web frameworks, and networking.
Introduces readers to the Ruby programming language Takes readers from basic programming skills to web development with topics like Ruby-based frameworks and GUI programming Covers many ancillary technologies in order to provide a broader picture (e.g., databases, XML, network daemons)
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49
The Rails 5 Way
Obie Fernandez
4.1
The "Bible" for Rails Development: Fully Updated for Rails 5 "When I read The Rails Way for the first time, I felt like I truly understood Rails for the first time." --Steve Klabnik, Rails contributor and mentor The Rails(TM) 5 Way is the comprehensive, authoritative reference guide for professionals delivering production-quality code using modern Ruby on Rails. Obie Fernandez illuminates the entire Rails 5 API, its most powerful idioms, design approaches, and libraries. He presents new and updated content on Action Cable, RSpec 3.4, Turbolinks 5.0, the Attributes API, and many other enhancements, both major and subtle. Through detailed code examples, you'll dive deep into Ruby on Rails, discover why it's designed as it is, and learn to make it do exactly what you want. Proven in thousands of production systems, the knowledge in this book will maximize your productivity and help you build more successful solutions. Build powerful, scalable, REST-compliant back-end services Program complex program flows using Action Controller Represent models, relationships, and operations in Active Record, and apply advanced Active Record techniques Smoothly evolve database schema via Migrations Craft front-ends with ActionView and the Asset Pipeline Optimize performance and scalability with caching and Turbolinks 5.0 Improve your productivity using Haml HTML templating Secure your systems against attacks like SQL Injection, XSS, and XSRF Integrate email using Action Mailer Enable real-time, websockets-based browser behavior with Action Cable Improve responsiveness with background processing Build "API-only" back-end projects that speak JSON Leverage enhancements to Active Job, serialization, and Ajax support
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50
Corduroy
Don Freeman
4.1
A picture book classic!
One of School Library Journal’s "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time (2012) One of the National Education Association’s "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."
Don Freeman's classic character, Corduroy, is even more popular today then he was when he first came on the scene in 1968. This story of a small teddy bear waiting on a department store shelf for a child’s friendship has appealed to young readers generation after generation.
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51
Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software
Eric Evans
4.1
"Eric Evans has written a fantastic book on how you can make the design of your software match your mental model of the problem domain you are addressing. "His book is very compatible with XP. It is not about drawing pictures of a domain; it is about how you think of it, the language you use to talk about it, and how you organize your software to reflect your improving understanding of it. Eric thinks that learning about your problem domain is as likely to happen at the end of your project as at the beginning, and so refactoring is a big part of his technique. "The book is a fun read. Eric has lots of interesting stories, and he has a way with words. I see this book as essential reading for software developers--it is a future classic." --Ralph Johnson, author of Design Patterns "If you don't think you are getting value from your investment in object-oriented programming, this book will tell you what you've forgotten to do. "Eric Evans convincingly argues for the importance of domain modeling as the central focus of development and provides a solid framework and set of techniques for accomplishing it. This is timeless wisdom, and will hold up long after the methodologies du jour have gone out of fashion." --Dave Collins, author of Designing Object-Oriented User Interfaces "Eric weaves real-world experience modeling--and building--business applications into a practical, useful book. Written from the perspective of a trusted practitioner, Eric's descriptions of ubiquitous language, the benefits of sharing models with users, object life-cycle management, logical and physical application structuring, and the process and results of deep refactoring are major contributions to our field." --Luke Hohmann, author of Beyond Software Architecture "This book belongs on the shelf of every thoughtful software developer." --Kent Beck "What Eric has managed to capture is a part of the design process that experienced object designers have always used, but that we have been singularly unsuccessful as a group in conveying to the rest of the industry. We've given away bits and pieces of this knowledge...but we've never organized and systematized the principles of building domain logic. This book is important." --Kyle Brown, author of Enterprise Java(TM) Programming with IBM(R) WebSphere(R) The software development community widely acknowledges that domain modeling is central to software design. Through domain models, software developers are able to express rich functionality and translate it into a software implementation that truly serves the needs of its users. But despite its obvious importance, there are few practical resources that explain how to incorporate effective domain modeling into the software development process. Domain-Driven Design fills that need. This is not a book about specific technologies. It offers readers a systematic approach to domain-driven design, presenting an extensive set of design best practices, experience-based techniques, and fundamental principles that facilitate the development of software projects facing complex domains. Intertwining design and development practice, this book incorporates numerous examples based on actual projects to illustrate the application of domain-driven design to real-world software development. Readers learn how to use a domain model to make a complex development effort more focused and dynamic. A core of best practices and standard patterns provides a common language for the development team. A shift in emphasis--refactoring not just the code but the model underlying the code--in combination with the frequent iterations of Agile development leads to deeper insight into domains and enhanced communication between domain expert and programmer. Domain-Driven Design then builds on this foundation, and addresses modeling and design for complex systems and larger organizations.Specific topics covered include: Getting all team members to speak the same language Connecting model and implementation more deeply Sharpening key distinctions in a model Managing the lifecycle of a domain object Writing domain code that is safe to combine in elaborate ways Making complex code obvious and predictable Formulating a domain vision statement Distilling the core of a complex domain Digging out implicit concepts needed in the model Applying analysis patterns Relating design patterns to the model Maintaining model integrity in a large system Dealing with coexisting models on the same project Organizing systems with large-scale structures Recognizing and responding to modeling breakthroughs With this book in hand, object-oriented developers, system analysts, and designers will have the guidance they need to organize and focus their work, create rich and useful domain models, and leverage those models into quality, long-lasting software implementations.
Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.
Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it’s up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.
Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.
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53
Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
why the lucky stiff
4.1
This is just a small Ruby book. It won’t crush you. It’s light as a feather (because I haven’t finished it yet—hehe). And there’s a reason this book will stay light: because Ruby is simple to learn.
[Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby is released under the Attribution-ShareAlike License. So, yes, please distribute it and print it and read it leisurely in your housecoat.]
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54
A Little Princess
Frances Hodgson Burnett, U. C. Knoepflmacher
4.1
Sara Crewe, an exceptionally intelligent and imaginative student at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, is devastated when her adored, indulgent father dies. Now penniless and banished to a room in the attic, Sara is demeaned, abused, and forced to work as a servant. How this resourceful girl's fortunes change again is at the center of A Little Princess, one of the best-loved stories in all of children's literature.
This unique and fully annotated edition appends excerpts from Frances Hodgson Burnett's original 1888 novella Sara Crewe and the stage play that preceded the novel, as well as an early story, "Behind the White Brick," allowing readers to see how A Little Princess evolved. In his delightful introduction, U. C. Knoepflmacher considers the fairy-tale allusions and literary touchstones that place the book among the major works of Victorian literature, and shows it to be an exceptionally rich and resonant novel.
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55
Ruby Bridges Goes To School: My True Story
Ruby Bridges
4.1
In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked through an angry crowd and into a school where she changed history. This is the true story of an extraordinary little girl who helped shape our country when she became the first African-American to attend an all-white school in New Orleans. With simple text and historical photographs, this easy reader explores an amazing moment in history and the courage of a young girl who stayed strong in the face of racism.
Scholastic Reader Level 2
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56
Prisoner B-3087
Alan Gratz, Ruth Gruener, Jack Gruener
4.1
Survive. At any cost.
10 concentration camps.
10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly.
It's something no one could imagine surviving.
But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face.
As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087.
He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later.
Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside?
Based on an astonishing true story.
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57
The Ruby Red Trilogy Boxed Set
Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell
4.1
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58
Island of the Blue Dolphins (Island of the Blue Dolphins, #1)
Scott O'Dell
4.1
Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the island of San Nicolas. Dolphins flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kelp beds, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches.
Here, in the early 1800s, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this beautifully written novel is her story. It is a romantic adventure filled with drama and heartache, for not only was mere subsistence on so desolate a spot a near miracle, but Karana had to contend with the ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply.
More than this, it is an adventure of the spirit that will haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. Karana's quiet courage, her Indian self-reliance and acceptance of fate, transform what to many would have been a devastating ordeal into an uplifting experience. From loneliness and terror come strength and serenity in this Newbery Medal-winning classic.
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59
Are You My Mother? (Beginner Books B-18)
P.D. Eastman
4.1
This is the classic from which many of our staff first learned to read, starting us on a path of unremitting bibliophilia. Are You My Mother? follows a confused baby bird who's been denied the experience of imprinting as he asks cows, planes, and steam shovels the Big Question. In the end he is happily reunited with his maternal parent in a glorious moment of recognition.
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60
The Rails Way
Obie Fernandez
4.1
The expert guide to building Ruby on Rails applications Ruby on Rails strips complexity from the development process, enabling professional developers to focus on what matters most: delivering business value. Now, for the first time, there's a comprehensive, authoritative guide to building production-quality software with Rails. Pioneering Rails developer Obie Fernandez and a team of experts illuminate the entire Rails API, along with the Ruby idioms, design approaches, libraries, and plug-ins that make Rails so valuable. Drawing on their unsurpassed experience, they address the real challenges development teams face, showing how to use Rails' tools and best practices to maximize productivity and build polished applications users will enjoy. Using detailed code examples, Obie systematically covers Rails' key capabilities and subsystems. He presents advanced programming techniques, introduces open source libraries that facilitate easy Rails adoption, and offers important insights into testing and production deployment. Dive deep into the Rails codebase together, discovering why Rails behaves as it does- and how to make it behave the way you want it to. This book will help youIncrease your productivity as a web developerRealize the overall joy of programming with Ruby on RailsLearn what's new in Rails 2.0 Drive design and protect long-term maintainability with TestUnit and RSpecUnderstand and manage complex program flow in Rails controllersLeverage Rails' support for designing REST-compliant APIsMaster sophisticated Rails routing concepts and techniquesExamine and troubleshoot Rails routing Make the most of ActiveRecord object-relational mappingUtilize Ajax within your Rails applicationsIncorporate logins and authentication into your applicationExtend Rails with the best third-party plug-ins and write your ownIntegrate email services into your applications with ActionMailerChoose the right Rails production configurationsStreamline deployment with Capistrano
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61
The Cucumber Book
Matt Wynne, Aslak Hellesoy
4.1
Your customers want rock-solid, bug-free software that does exactly what they expect it to do. Yet they can't always articulate their ideas clearly enough for you to turn them into code. The Cucumber Book dives straight into the core of the problem: communication between people. Cucumber saves the day; it's a testing, communication, and requirements tool - all rolled into one.
We'll show you how to express your customers' wild ideas as a set of clear, executable specifications that everyone on the team can read. You'll learn how to feed those examples into Cucumber and let it guide your development. You'll build just the right code to keep your customers happy, and not a line more.
The first part of the book teaches you how to use the core features of Cucumber. You'll learn how to use Cucumber's Gherkin DSL to describe-- in plain language - the behavior your customers want from the system. You'll learn how to write Ruby code that interprets those plain language specifications and checks them against your application. In Part 2, you'll consolidate the knowledge you just gained with a worked example.
Although it was born in the Ruby community, you can use Cucumber to test almost any system, from a simple shell script or a Perl script, to enterprise PHP or a Java web application. In Part 3, you'll find a selection of recipes for some of the most common situations you'll encounter using Cucumber in the wild. You'll learn how to test Ajax-heavy web applications with Capybara and Selenium, REST web services, Ruby on Rails applications, command-line applications, legacy applications and lots more!
Written by the creator of Cucumber and one of its most experienced users and contributors, The Cucumber Book is an authoritative guide that will give you and your team all the knowledge you need to start using Cucumber with confidence.
What You Need:
Windows, Mac OS X (with XCode) or Linux
Ruby 1.9.2 and upwards
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62
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
4.1
'If I had my way, every idiot who goes around with Merry Christmas on his lips, would be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Merry Christmas? Bah humbug!'
Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.
Part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, this edition features an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler to provide greater understanding for today's reader. "A Christmas Carol" captures the heart of the holidays like no other novel.
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63
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Fudge, #1)
Judy Blume
4.1
Life with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he’s never far from trouble. He’s an almost three-year-old terror who gets away with everything, and Peter’s had it up to here!When Fudge walks off with Dribble, Peter’s pet turtle, it’s the last straw. Peter has put up with Fudge for too long. Way too long! How can he get his parents to pay attention to him for a change?
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64
Learn Ruby the Hard Way: A Simple and Idiomatic Introduction to the Imaginative World of Computational Thinking with Code
Zed A. Shaw
4.1
Master Ruby and become a programmer -- even if you never thought you could! This breakthrough book and CD can help practically anyone get started in programming. It's called "The Hard Way," but it's really quite simple. What's "hard" is this: it requires discipline, practice, and persistence. Zed A. Shaw teaches Ruby through a series of brilliantly-crafted exercises -- all formatted consistently, and none longer than two pages (including "extra credit"). Just read them, type in their sample code precisely (no copy-and-paste!), and make the programs run. As you read, type, fix your mistakes, and watch the results, you'll learn how software works, how programming works, what good programs look like, and how to read, write, and see code. You'll learn all you need to know about Ruby logic, input/output, variables, and functions -- and, by the time you're done, you'll be building complete web applications. Above all, you'll learn the attention to detail that is indispensable to successful programming. At first, yes, it can be difficult. "But it gets easier." And Shaw offers plenty of extra guidance and insight through 5+ full hours of teaching video on the accompanying CD. As Shaw's thousands of online fans will attest, the moment will come when you just "get it" -- and that moment feels "great." Nothing important comes without hard work and focus. But, with this package, if you bring those qualities, you "will" master Ruby... and you "will" reap the very real rewards that go with that!
…
Recommended by Auston Bunsen.
Auston Bunsen
I’m actually a self-taught programmer, so these books have really helped me with practical skills that I could put to use & yield results. The return on investment for these kinds of books is off the charts for me! [source]
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65
Seven Languages in Seven Weeks
Bruce Tate
4.1
You should learn a programming language every year, as recommended by The Pragmatic Programmer. But if one per year is good, how about Seven Languages in Seven Weeks? In this book you'll get a hands-on tour of Clojure, Haskell, Io, Prolog, Scala, Erlang, and Ruby. Whether or not your favorite language is on that list, you'll broaden your perspective of programming by examining these languages side-by-side. You'll learn something new from each, and best of all, you'll learn how to learn a language quickly.
Ruby, Io, Prolog, Scala, Erlang, Clojure, Haskell. With Seven Languages in Seven Weeks, by Bruce A. Tate, you'll go beyond the syntax-and beyond the 20-minute tutorial you'll find someplace online. This book has an audacious goal: to present a meaningful exploration of seven languages within a single book. Rather than serve as a complete reference or installation guide, Seven Languages hits what's essential and unique about each language. Moreover, this approach will help teach you how to grok new languages.
For each language, you'll solve a nontrivial problem, using techniques that show off the language's most important features. As the book proceeds, you'll discover the strengths and weaknesses of the languages, while dissecting the process of learning languages quickly--for example, finding the typing and programming models, decision structures, and how you interact with them.
Among this group of seven, you'll explore the most critical programming models of our time. Learn the dynamic typing that makes Ruby, Python, and Perl so flexible and compelling. Understand the underlying prototype system that's at the heart of JavaScript. See how pattern matching in Prolog shaped the development of Scala and Erlang. Discover how pure functional programming in Haskell is different from the Lisp family of languages, including Clojure.
Explore the concurrency techniques that are quickly becoming the backbone of a new generation of Internet applications. Find out how to use Erlang's let-it-crash philosophy for building fault-tolerant systems. Understand the actor model that drives concurrency design in Io and Scala. Learn how Clojure uses versioning to solve some of the most difficult concurrency problems.
It's all here, all in one place. Use the concepts from one language to find creative solutions in another-or discover a language that may become one of your favorites.
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66
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie, Michael Hague
4.1
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie Peter Pan, the mischievous boy who refuses to grow up, lands in the Darling's proper middle-class home to look for his shadow. He befriends Wendy, John and Michael and teaches them to fly (with a little help from fairy dust). He and Tinker Bell whisk them off to Never-land where they encounter the Red Indians, the Little Lost Boys, pirates and the dastardly Captain Hook.
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67
Moon Over Manifest
Clare Vanderpool
4.1
Winner of the 2011 Newbery Award.
The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future.
Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.” Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.
Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.
From the Hardcover edition.
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68
The Candymakers (The Candymakers, #1)
Wendy Mass
4.1
Four children have been chosen to compete in a national competition to find the tastiest confection in the country. Who will invent a candy more delicious than the Oozing Crunchorama or the Neon Lightning Chew?
Logan, the Candymaker's son, who can detect the color of chocolate by touch alone?
Miles, the boy who is allergic to merry-go-rounds and the color pink?
Daisy, the cheerful girl who can lift a fifty-pound lump of taffy like it's a feather?
Or Philip, the suit-and-tie wearing boy who's always scribbling in a secret notebook?
This sweet, charming, and cleverly crafted story, told from each contestant's perspective, is filled with mystery, friendship, and juicy revelations.
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69
Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Web Development with Rails
Michael Hartl
4.1
"Ruby on Rails(TM) Tutorial by Michael Hartl has become a must-read for developers learning how to build Rails apps." -- Peter Cooper, Editor of Ruby InsideUsed by sites as varied as Twitter, GitHub, Disney, and Airbnb, Ruby on Rails is one of the most popular frameworks for developing web applications, but it can be challenging to learn and use. Whether you're new to web development or new only to Rails, Ruby on Rails(TM) Tutorial, Fourth Edition, is the solution. Best-selling author and leading Rails developer Michael Hartl teaches Rails by guiding you through the development of three example applications of increasing sophistication. The tutorial's examples focus on the general principles of web development needed for virtually any kind of website. The updates to this edition include full compatibility with Rails 5, a division of the largest chapters into more manageable units, and a huge number of new exercises interspersed in each chapter for maximum reinforcement of the material. This indispensable guide provides integrated tutorials not only for Rails, but also for the essential Ruby, HTML, CSS, and SQL skills you need when developing web applications. Hartl explains how each new technique solves a real-world problem, and then he demonstrates it with bite-sized code that's simple enough to understand, yet novel enough to be useful. Whatever your previous web development experience, this book will guide you to true Rails mastery. This book will help you Install and set up your Rails development environment, including pre-installed integrated development environment (IDE) in the cloud Go beyond generated code to truly understand how to build Rails applications from scratch Learn testing and test-driven development (TDD) Effectively use the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern Structure applications using the REST architecture Build static pages and transform them into dynamic ones Master the Ruby programming skills all Rails developers need Create high-quality site layouts and data models Implement registration and authentication systems, including validation and secure passwords Update, display, and delete users Upload images in production using a cloud storage service Implement account activation and password reset, including sending email with Rails Add social features and microblogging, including an introduction to Ajax Record version changes with Git and create a secure remote repository at Bitbucket Deploy your applications early and often with Heroku
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70
Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II
Alan Gratz
4.1
Infiltrate. Befriend. Sabotage.
World War II is raging. Michael O'Shaunessey, originally from Ireland, now lives in Nazi Germany with his parents. Like the other boys in his school, Michael is a member of the Hitler Youth.
But Michael has a secret. He and his parents are spies.
Michael despises everything the Nazis stand for. But he joins in the Hitler Youth's horrific games and book burnings, playing the part so he can gain insider knowledge.
When Michael learns about Projekt 1065, a secret Nazi war mission, things get even more complicated. He must prove his loyalty to the Hitler Youth at all costs -- even if it means risking everything he cares about.
Including... his own life.
From acclaimed author Alan Gratz (Prisoner B-3087) comes a pulse-pounding novel about facing fears and fighting for what matters most.
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71
Rails 4 in Action
Ryan Bigg, Yehuda Katz, et al.
4.1
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72
We're All Wonders
R. J. Palacio
4.1
The unforgettable bestseller Wonder has inspired a nationwide movement to Choose Kind. Now parents and educators can introduce the importance of choosing kind to younger readers with this gorgeous picture book, featuring Auggie and Daisy on an original adventure, written and illustrated by R. J. Palacio. Over 5 million people have fallen in love with Wonder and have joined the movement to Choose Kind. Now younger readers can meet Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face, and his beloved dog, Daisy.
Countless fans have asked R. J. Palacio to write a book for younger readers. With We’re All Wonders, she makes her picture-book debut as both author and artist, with a spare, powerful text and striking, richly imagined illustrations. Palacio shows readers what it’s like to live in Auggie’s world—a world in which he feels like any other kid, but he’s not always seen that way.
We’re All Wonders may be Auggie’s story, but it taps into every child’s longing to belong, and to be seen for who they truly are. It’s the perfect way for families and educators to talk about empathy and kindness with young children.
Praise for Wonder: A #1 New York Times Bestseller A USA Today Top 100 Bestseller An Indie Bestseller A Time Magazine 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time Selection A Washington Post Best Kids’ Book A Parents Magazine Top 10 Book of the Year A New York Times Book Review Notable Book An NPR Outstanding Backseat Book Club Pick An Entertainment Weekly 10 Great Kids’ Books Selection A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A Booklist Editors’ Choice An E. B. White Read Aloud Award Winner An ALA Notable Book A Bank Street Best Book of the Year An IRA-CBC Teachers’ Choice A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection A Christopher Award Winner
“A beautiful, funny and sometimes sob-making story of quiet transformation.” —The Wall Street Journal
“A crackling page-turner filled with characters you can’t help but root for.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Rich and memorable.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Wonder is the best kids’ book of the year.” —Slate.com
“A glorious exploration of the nature of friendship, tenacity, fear, and most importantly, kindness.” —The Huffington Post
“Endearing, enduring Auggie and his family and friends will find a place in the hearts of readers and prompt reflection on how we treat others.” —The Washington Post
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73
Counting by 7s
Holly Goldberg Sloan
4.0
Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life...until now.
Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.
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74
The Runaway Bunny
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd
4.0
A little bunny keeps running away from his mother in an imaginative and imaginary game of verbal hide-and-seek; children will be profoundly comforted by this lovingly steadfast mother who finds her child every time.
The Runaway Bunny, first published in 1942 and never out of print, has indeed become a classic. Generations of readers have fallen in love with the gentle magic of its reassuring words and loving pictures.
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75
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson
4.0
The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature's most beloved villains, Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys-and girls-and grownups.
During a trip to a public library in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood in 2015, Obama shared some of his childhood favorites with a group of young students. He also read (and acted out) Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak to kids at the White House in 2014. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak [source]
Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]
This is the first book that I ever read on my own and I take great pleasure and pride in that. It was the first book where I really identified strongly with the boy Jim in it. He was about the same age as I was when I began reading it. [source]
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76
The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, #1)
Gertrude Chandler Warner, L. Kate Deal
4.0
The Aldens begin their adventure by making a home in a boxcar. Their goal is to stay together, and in the process they find a grandfather.
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77
Don't Push the Button!
Bill Cotter
4.0
There's only one rule in Larry's book: don't push the button.
(Seriously, don't even think about it!)
Even if it does look kind of nice, you must never push the button. Who knows what would happen?
Okay, quick. No one is looking... push the button.
Uh, oh.
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78
An Author's Odyssey (The Land of Stories, #5)
Chris Colfer
4.0
In the highly anticipated continuation of the Land of Stories series, Conner learns that the only place to fight the Masked Man's literary army is inside his own short stories!
When the twins and their friends enter worlds crafted from Conner's imagination, finding allies no one else could have ever dreamed of, the race begins to put an end to the Masked Man's reign of terror. Can the twins finally restore peace in the fairy tale world?
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79
It's Not Summer Without You (Summer, #2)
Marley Valentine
4.0
Belly finds out what comes after falling in love in this follow-up to The Summer I Turned Pretty from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.
Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?
It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.
But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started—at Cousins Beach.
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80
The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds, #1)
Alexandra Bracken
4.0
When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.
When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.
When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.
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81
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (The Penderwicks #1)
Jeanne Birdsall, Susan Denaker, et al
4.0
The Penderwick sisters busily discover the summertime magic of Arundel estate’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. Best of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, the perfect companion for their adventures. Icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is less pleased with the Penderwicks than Jeffrey, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Is that any fun? For sure the summer will be unforgettable.
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82
Fire In Her Eyes (Fireblood Dragons, #7)
Ruby Dixon, Noelle Bridges, et al
4.0
For months, I've been chased by a red dragon. They're the females of the dragon shifter invaders, fierce and vicious and as ruthless as they are wild. She hunts me wherever I go, and I'm not safe even behind the walls of a fort. There's only one thing I can do to stop her…
…And that's to take her as my mate.
But to win the heart of a female dragon, I have to conquer her first. Not so easy for a human man...but Teva's worth the challenge.
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83
Ruby the Copycat
Peggy Rathmann
4.0
It's the first day of school, and Ruby is new. When her classmate Angela wears a red bow in her hair, Ruby comes back from lunch wearing a red bow, too. When Angela wears a flowered dress, suddenly Ruby's wearing one, too. Fortunately, Ruby's teacher knows a better way to help Ruby fit in--by showing how much fun it is to be herself!
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84
Service-Oriented Design with Ruby and Rails
Paul Dix
4.0
The Complete Guide to Building Highly Scalable, Services-Based Rails Applications Ruby on Rails deployments are growing, and Rails is increasingly being adopted in larger environments. Today, Rails developers and architects need better ways to interface with legacy systems, move into the cloud, and scale to handle higher volumes and greater complexity. In Service-Oriented Design with Ruby and Rails Paul Dix introduces a powerful, services-based design approach geared toward overcoming all these challenges. Using Dix's techniques, readers can leverage the full benefits of both Ruby and Rails, while overcoming the difficulties of working with larger codebases and teams. Dix demonstrates how to integrate multiple components within an enterprise application stack; create services that can easily grow and connect; and design systems that are easier to maintain and upgrade. Key concepts are explained with detailed Ruby code built using open source libraries such as ActiveRecord, Sinatra, Nokogiri, and Typhoeus. The book concludes with coverage of security, scaling, messaging, and interfacing with third-party services. Service-Oriented Design with Ruby and Rails will help you Build highly scalable, Ruby-based service architectures that operate smoothly in the cloud or with legacy systems Scale Rails systems to handle more requests, larger development teams, and more complex code bases Master new best practices for designing and creating services in Ruby Use Ruby to glue together services written in any language Use Ruby libraries to build and consume RESTful Web services Use Ruby JSON parsers to quickly represent resources from HTTP services Write lightweight, well-designed API wrappers around internal or external services Discover powerful non-Rails frameworks that simplify Ruby service implementation Implement standards-based enterprise messaging with Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) Optimize performance with load balancing and caching Provide for security and authentication
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85
Rails Recipes
Chad Fowler
4.0
Rails is large, powerful, and new. How do you use it effectively? How do you harness the power? And, most important, how do you get high quality, real-world applications written?
From the latest Ajax effects to time-saving automation tips for your development process, "Rails Recipes" will show you how the experts have already solved the problems you have.Use generators to automate repetitive coding tasks.Create sophisticated role-based authentication schemes.Add live search and live preview to your site.Run tests when anyone checks code in.How to create tagged data the right way.and many, many more...
Owning "Rails Recipes" is like having the best Rails programmers sitting next to you while you code.
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86
Fire in His Veins (Fireblood Dragon, #6)
Ruby Dixon, Noelle Bridges, et al
4.0
I’ve wanted Andrea since the moment I saw her.
But she’s human. I’m drakoni. The only way I’ll stay sane and not lose myself to the madness that’s swept over my people is if I keep my mental walls strong. I have to give up everything that makes me a dragon. That means no telepathy, no fire breathing, and no battle form.
I certainly can’t take a mate. Andrea can’t be mine.
When her brother escapes the fort, though, she needs help tracking him down. That means I’ll be alone with her, breathing in her sweet scent, and it may be too much for my control.
What happens if I give in to my dragon? Will I take her as my mate…or tear her throat out?
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87
Rubinrot (Edelstein-Trilogie, #1)
Kerstin Gier
4.0
Manchmal ist es ein echtes Kreuz, in einer Familie zu leben, die jede Menge Geheimnisse hat. Der Überzeugung ist zumindest die 16-jährige Gwendolyn.
Bis sie sich eines Tages aus heiterem Himmel im London um die letzte Jahrhundertwende wiederfindet. Und ihr klar wird, dass ausgerechnet sie das allergrößte Geheimnis ihrer Familie ist. Was ihr dagegen nicht klar ist: Dass man sich zwischen den Zeiten möglichst nicht verlieben sollte. Denn das macht die Sache erst recht kompliziert!
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88
Thirteen Reasons Why
Jay Asher
4.0
You can’t stop the future. You can’t rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.
Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.
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89
Harvest of Rubies (Harvest of Rubies, #1)
Tessa Afshar
4.0
The prophet Nehemiah's cousin has been catapulted into the center of the Persian court—working long hours, rubbing elbows with royalty, and becoming the queen's favorite scribe.
Not bad, for a woman living in a man's world. But a devastating past has left Sarah believing that God doesn't love her and her achievements are the measure of her worth—a measure she can never quite live up to.
Darius Pasargadae is accustomed to having his way. A wealthy and admired aristocrat, the last thing he expects is an arranged marriage to the queen's scribe, an intelligent woman who scorns him.
Can two such different people help one another overcome the idols that bind them?
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90
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-69
Stephen E. Ambrose
4.0
Nothing Like It in the World gives the account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage. It is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad—the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.
The U.S. government pitted two companies—the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads—against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. Locomotives, rails, and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West or lugged across the country to the Plains. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat, comes vibrantly to life.
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91
Mazes for Programmers: Code Your Own Twisty Little Passages
Jamis Buck
4.0
Unlock the secrets to creating random mazes! Whether you're a game developer, an algorithm connoisseur, or simply in search of a new puzzle, you're about to level up. Learn algorithms to randomly generate mazes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and dimensions. Bend them into Moebius strips, fold them into cubes, and wrap them around spheres. Stretch them into other dimensions, squeeze them into arbitrary outlines, and tile them in a dizzying variety of ways. From twelve little algorithms, you'll discover a vast reservoir of ideas and inspiration.
From video games to movies, mazes are ubiquitous. Explore a dozen algorithms for generating these puzzles randomly, from Binary Tree to Eller's, each copiously illustrated and accompanied by working implementations in Ruby. You'll learn their pros and cons, and how to choose the right one for the job.
You'll start by learning six maze algorithms and transition from making mazes on paper to writing programs that generate and draw them. You'll be introduced to Dijkstra's algorithm and see how it can help solve, analyze, and visualize mazes. Part 2 shows you how to constrain your mazes to different shapes and outlines, such as text, circles, hex and triangle grids, and more. You'll learn techniques for culling dead-ends, and for making your passages weave over and under each other. Part 3 looks at six more algorithms, taking it all to the next level. You'll learn how to build your mazes in multiple dimensions, and even on curved surfaces.
Through it all, you'll discover yourself brimming with ideas, the best medicine for programmer's block, burn-out, and the grayest of days. By the time you're done, you'll be energized and full of maze-related possibilities!
What You Need:
The example code requires version 2 of the Ruby programming language. Some examples depend on the ChunkyPNG library to generate PNG images, and one chapter uses POV-Ray version 3.7 to render 3D graphics.
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92
I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 (I Survived, #2)
Lauren Tarshis, Scott Dawson
4.0
Based on true events! It's the summer of 1916 and the Jersey shore is being terrorized by a Great White shark. Can 10-year-old Chet and his friends survive a swim in the local creek? Chet Roscow is finally feeling at home in Elm Hills, New Jersey. He has a job with his uncle Jerry at the local diner, three great friends, and the perfect summertime destination: cool, refreshing Matawan Creek.
But Chet's summer is interrupted by shocking news. A great white shark has been attacking swimmers along the Jersey shore, not far from Elm Hills. Everyone in town is talking about it. So when Chet sees something in the creek, he's sure it's his imagination. . . until he comes face-to-face with a bloodthirsty shark!
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93
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Elizabeth George Speare
4.0
Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!
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94
Wolf Hollow
Lauren Wolk
4.0
Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.
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95
Ruby (Landry, #1)
V.C. Andrews
4.0
In the heart of the bayou, Ruby Landry lives a simple, happy life. But innocence can't last forever...
The only family Ruby Landry has ever known are her loving guardian, Grandmère Catherine, a Cajun spiritual healer, and her drunken, outcast Grandpère Jack. Although thinking about her dead mother and mysterious father sometimes makes her feel as mournful as the wind sighing through the Spanish moss, Ruby is grateful for all she has. Her life is filled with hope and promise...especially when her attraction for handsome Paul Tate blossoms into a mysterious, wonderful love. But Paul's wealthy parents forbid him to associate with a poor Landry, and Grandmère urges her to follow her dream of becoming a great painter, foreseeing a time when Ruby will be surrounded with riches in the dazzling city of New Orleans! Yet she cannot know how close that uncertain future looms....
In a faded photograph, Ruby glimpses for the first time the image of her father -- and learns of a shameful deception and a shocking scheme of blackmail that now must come to light. Stunned by these revelations, she is devastated when Grandmère dies, leaving her to seek out her father in his vast New Orleans mansion. There, in a house of lies, madness, and cruel torment, Ruby clings to her memories of Paul to keep her heart alive. For only their love can save her now....
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96
The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)
Lemony Snicket
4.0
Dear Reader,
I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.
In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.
It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.
With all due respect, Lemony Snicket
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97
Along for the Ride
Sarah Dessen
4.0
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.
In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.
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98
Who Was Rosa Parks?
Yona Zeldis McDonough, Who HQ, et al.
4.0
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned Rosa Parks the title "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement." This biography has black-and-white illustrations throughout.
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99
Ruby for Rails: Ruby Techniques for Rails Developers
David Black
4.0
-The word is out: with ""Ruby on Rails"" you can build powerful Web applications easily and quickly! And just like the Rails framework itself, Rails applications are Ruby programs. That means you can't tap into the full power of Rails unless you master the Ruby language. ""Ruby for Rails,"" written by Ruby expert David Black (with a forward by David Heinemeier Hansson), helps Rails developers achieve Ruby mastery. Each chapter deepens your Ruby knowledge and shows you how it connects to Rails. You'll gain confidence working with objects and classes and learn how to leverage Ruby's elegant, expressive syntax for Rails application power. And you'll become a better Rails developer through a deep understanding of the design of Rails itself and how to take advantage of it.
Newcomers to Ruby will find a Rails-oriented Ruby introduction that's easy to read and that includes dynamic programming techniques, an exploration of Ruby objects, classes, and data structures, and many neat examples of Ruby and Rails code in action. ""Ruby for Rails"": the Ruby guide for Rails developers!
What's Inside Classes, modules, and objects Collection handling and filtering String and regular expression manipulation Exploration of the Rails source code Ruby dynamics Many more programming concepts and techniques!
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100
Pokémon Adventures Ruby Sapphire Box Set: Includes Volumes 15-22
Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto
4.0
Ruby’s father Norman is the new Gym Leader of Petalburg City. But Ruby doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps—he wants to win Pokémon Contests! Sapphire’s father Professor Birch is the local Pokémon researcher. But Sapphire is tired of gathering scientific data—she wants to win Pokémon Battles! When Ruby and Sapphire meet, they’re more likely to hit each other than hit it off. But then Sapphire challenges Ruby to a competition! Which of them will achieve their dreams in just eighty days?!