Join Hiccup in a race against time when lightning strikes in Berk are blamed on Toothless in this Level 2 Ready-to-Read based on a popular episode of DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk! When a series of lightning storms strike Berk, the Vikings start to wonder if Thor is angry with them for allowing Toothless, a dangerous Night Fury, to live among them. Hiccup knows Toothless isn’t dangerous and he isn’t causing the lightning strikes. After figuring out that it’s actually the metal perches the townspeople have built for their dragons that are attracting the lightning, Hiccup must prove that Toothless is innocent before the Vikings kick the loveable dragon out of Berk—forever.

Join Hiccup, Toothless, and the rest of the gang from DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk on a thrilling adventure in this Level 2 Ready-to-Read! Based on a popular episode of the TV show DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk, this exciting Level 2 Ready-to-Read is perfect for dragon lovers and beginning readers! In this adventure, a sea dragon is attacking Berk’s ships. Chief Stoick is determined to capture it and turns to Hiccup’s dragon, Toothless, for help. To get Toothless back, Hiccup will need to pick a new dragon for Stoick, one that will be Stoick’s alone!

Why are some products and ideas talked about more than others? Why do some articles make the most emailed list? Why do some YouTube videos go viral? Word-of-mouth. Whether through face-to-face conversations, emails from friends, or online product reviews, the information and opinions we get from others have a strong impact on our own behaviour. Indeed, word-of-mouth generates more than two times the sales of paid advertising and is the primary factor behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions. It is between 8.5 and 30 times more effective than traditional media.But want to know the best thing about word-of-mouth? It's available to everyone.Whether you're a Fortune 500 company trying to increase sales, a corner restaurant trying to raise awareness, a non-profit trying to fight obesity, or a newbie politician running for city council, word-of-mouth can help you succeed. And you don't have to have millions of dollars to spend on an advertising budget. You just have to get people to talk.The challenge, though, is how to do that. This book will show you how.

Duty to the job or personal ambition? Anna Travis must decide where her loyalties lie... Six months ago, London nightclub owner Josh Reynolds was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head, the gun held in his right hand. His death was quickly determined to be a suicide, the investigation was closed... a case done and dusted. Until now. A young man, awaiting trial for armed robbery has informed his guards that Reynolds was murdered, and that he has information to share with the police. DCS James Langton tasks DCI Anna Travis to review the case. As soon as she wraps up the investigation, Langton tells Anna, she can join him at the FBI Academy in Virginia for training. Meanwhile, Senior FBI Agent, Jessie Dewar, crime scene expert, is seconded to Anna's team as part of her research. Dewar's brash manner soon ruffles feathers among the MET, and what should have been a simple case of tying up loose ends becomes a political nightmare as the competence of the original investigation team is questioned. Anna's trip to America is approaching, but now that the situation at the MET has become so volatile, can she trust Dewar to finish the job in her absence?

The haunting story of the mother of the Tudors, Elizabeth of York, wife to Henry VII. Beautiful eldest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville — the White Queen — the young princess Elizabeth faces a conflict of loyalties between the red rose and the white. Forced into marriage with Henry VII, she must reconcile her slowly growing love for him with her loyalty to the House of York, and choose between her mother's rebellion and her husband's tyranny. Then she has to meet the Pretender, whose claim denies the House of Tudor itself.

In his groundbreaking Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith created one of the iconic investigators of contemporary fiction, Arkady Renko. In Tatiana, Smith delivers his most ambitious and politically daring novel since. When the brilliant and fearless young reporter Tatiana Petrovna falls to her death from a sixth-floor window in Moscow in the same week that notorious mob billionaire Grisha Grigorenko is shot in the back of the head, Renko finds himself on the trail of a mystery as complex and dangerous as modern Russia itself. The body of an elite government translator shows up on the sand dunes of Kalingrad: killed for nothing but a cryptic notebook filled with symbols. A frantic hunt begins to locate and decipher this notebook. In a fast-changing and lethal race to uncover what this translator knew, and how he planned to reveal it to the world, Renko makes a startling discovery that propels him deeper into Tatiana's past — and, at the same time, paradoxically, into Russia's future.

Murder, scandal, political espionage and an extremely dangerous woman. Lucas Davenport's going to be lucky to get out of this one alive. A Minnesota political fixer has hit the jackpot — or so he thinks. Hired to take down the incumbent U.S. senator with a vicious smear, to open the way for an ambitious, take-no-prisoners heiress who sees the Senate as merely a stepping-stone, he decides his payoff should be larger. The blackmail demand should yield some pretty large numbers, he thinks. Instead, he gets only a small one — 9 millimeters, to be exact. In the heart. Davenport is investigating the smear when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then — very troublingly — to the Minneapolis police department, then — most troublingly of all — to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness and sheer will to make it happen. No matter who gets in the way.

'I need your help, Detective. Fire or water?' Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD's Homicide Special Section receives an anonymous call asking him to go to a specific web address — a private broadcast. Hunter logs on and a show devised for his eyes only immediately begins. But the caller doesn't want Detective Hunter to just watch, he wants him to participate, and refusal is simply not an option. Forced to make a sickening choice, Hunter must sit and watch as an unidentified victim is tortured and murdered live over the Internet. The LAPD, together with the FBI, use everything at their disposal to electronically trace the transmission down, but this killer is no amateur, and he has covered his tracks from start to finish. And before Hunter and his partner Garcia are even able to get their investigation going, Hunter receives a new phone call. A new website address. A new victim. But this time the killer has upgraded his game into a live murder reality show, where anyone can cast the deciding vote.

Too many of the most prominent management gurus today make steel-clad guarantees, based on claims of irrefutable research, promising to reveal the secrets of why one company fails and another succeeds, and how you can become the latter. Combining equal measures of solemn-faced hype and a whole body of delusions, statistical and otherwise, these self-styled experts cloud our ability to think critically about the nature of success in business. Like a virus, these fundamental errors of thinking infect much of what we read, whether in leading business magazines, scholarly journals, or management bestsellers. Central among these delusions is the Halo Effect, the tendency on the part of the experts to point to the high financial performance of a successful company and then spread its golden glow to all its attributes — clear strategy, strong values, brilliant leadership, and outstanding execution. But should the same company's sales head south, the very same attributes are turned on their heads and derided for poor decision making across the board — suddenly the strategy was wrong, the culture was complacent, and the leader became arrogant. The Halo Effect not only points out these delusions that keep us from understanding business performance, but also suggests a more accurate way to think about leading a company. This approach — focusing on strategic choice and execution, while recognizing the inherent riskiness of both — clarifies the priorities that managers face. Irreverent and witty, Rosenzweig is uncanny in his ability to puncture the pretentious balloons of some of our most sacred management cows.

In August 1960, a Soviet colonel called Oleg Penkovsky tried to make contact with the West. His first attempt was to approach two American students in Moscow. He handed them a bulky envelope and pleaded with them to deliver it to the American embassy. Inside was an offer to work as a 'soldier-warrior' for the free world. MI6 and the CIA ran Penkovsky jointly, in an operation that ran through the showdown over Berlin and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He provided crucial intelligence, including photographs of rocket manuals that helped Kennedy end the Cuba crisis and avert a war. Codenamed HERO, Penkovsky is widely seen as the most important spy of the Cold War, and the CIA-MI6 operation, run as the world stood on the brink of nuclear destruction, has never been bettered. But how exactly did the Russians detect Penkovsky, and why did they let him continue his contact with his handlers for months afterwards? Could it be that the whole Cuban Missile Crisis was part of a Soviet deception operation — and has another betrayal hidden in plain sight all these years? Thrilling, evocative and hugely controversial, Dead Drop blows apart the myths surrounding one of the Cold War's greatest spy operations.

Hannah Connelly, a twenty-eight-year old designer and rising star in the fashion world, is plunged into a web of horror and grief when she learns that Connelly Fine Reproductions, the family-owned furniture business founded by her grandfather, has been levelled by an explosion in the middle of the night. Everything has been destroyed — the warehouse, the showrooms, and the mansion where priceless antiques have been on permanent display. Worse, to escape the flames, Hannah's older sister, Kate, had jumped from a window and is now hospitalized in a medically induced coma, suffering from life-threatening injuries. The fire marshal on the scene is openly suspicious that someone, maybe even Kate, intentionally planned the explosion. Agonized with worry, Hannah can't understand why Kate would be in the warehouse at that hour of the night. What Hannah does not know is that Kate is most at risk from the people who have access to her in the hospital room. One of them is determined not to let her regain consciousness. That person is out to thwart Hannah, too, as she pursues her quest for the truth.

Who is Lucky Saint? She's a fifteen year old wild child who discovered her mother's murdered body floating in the family swimming pool when she was only five years old. In Confessions of a Wild Child you will follow Lucky as she navigates her teen years — boys, drugs, family dramas, and many adventures from Greek islands to Vegas penthouses. You will meet the Santangelo family. Gino Santangelo, Lucky's father, a powerful man with a dubious past, who owns hotels in Vegas and struggles to control his willful and stubborn daughter. And Dario, Lucky's gay teenage brother who is too scared to reveal his sexual preference to his father. In Confessions of a Wild Child you will discover how Lucky strikes a path to become the powerful and charismatic woman she is today. Super-heroine of seven books and three mini-series, Lucky Santangelo is Jackie Collins' most popular and beloved heroine.

A brilliant and penetrating new history of the First World War by one of the world's foremost experts on the conflict. Reissued with a new introduction from the author. Hew Strachan is one of the world's foremost experts on the Great War of 1914-18. His on-going three-volume history of the conflict, the first of which was published in 2001, is likely to become the standard academic reference work: Max Hastings called it 'one of the most impressive books of modern history in a generation', while Richard Holmes hailed it as a 'towering achievement'. Now, Hew Strachan brings his immense knowledge to a one-volume work aimed squarely at the general reader. The inspiration behind the major Channel 4 series of the same name, to which Hew was chief consultant, THE FIRST WORLD WAR is a significant addition to the literature on this subject, taking as it does a uniquely global view of what is often misconceived as a prolonged skirmish on the Western Front. Exploring such theatres as the Balkans, Africa and the Ottoman Empire, Strachan assesses Britain's participation in the light of what became a struggle for the defence of liberalism, and show how the war shaped the 'short' twentieth century that followed it. Accessible, compelling and utterly convincing, this is modern history writing at its finest.

Take to the skies in this storybook based on the DreamWorks movie How to Train Your Dragon 2 that includes 3-D glasses and illustrations and a 3-D poster! How to Train Your Dragon 2 flies into theaters on June 20, 2014! In this deluxe 8x8 storybook with 3-D interiors, 3-D glasses, and a 3-D poster, young Dragons fans can fly alongside Hiccup and Toothless as they race their friends through the village of Berk! This companion to the DreamWorks movie How to Train Your Dragon 2 captures the excitement of the dragon races from the film, and of course features all of the amazingly fascinating dragons. (c) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (c) 2014 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C.

Journey back to Berk in this storybook retelling of the DreamWorks movie How to Train Your Dragon 2! How to Train Your Dragon 2 flies into theaters on June 20, 2014! Hiccup and Toothless are back for more adventures in Berk! Fans of the original How to Train Your Dragon film will love this exciting retelling of the magical sequel, presented as an 8x8 storybook. (c) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (c) 2014 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C.

Join Po for two bodacious adventures in one illustrated chapter book! This chapter book based on two episodes of the popular and Emmy Award-winning television show Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness includes black-and-white illustrations throughout — and plenty of action! In Chain Reaction, Po and Tigress are chained together by bandits, who then escape with a rare treasure! What happens when two very different warriors have no other choice but to work together? In Hometown Hero, Po follows Mantis back to his village, where everyone thinks Mantis is the Dragon Warrior! Po agrees to keep up the act, but Mantis may learn there's more to being the Dragon Warrior than meets the eye... (c) 2014 Viacom International Inc. NICKELODEON and all related logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on the feature film Kung Fu Panda (c) 2008 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.

Enjoy two stories of two kung fu foes — one furry, one furious — in this illustrated chapter book based on popular episodes of Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. This chapter book contains two stories with black-and-white illustrations throughout, one starring Shifu and the other starring Viper, and both based on episodes of the popular and Emmy Award-winning television show Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. In the first story, a lizard named Master Chao appears to be trying to oust the elderly Master Shifu. Then Shifu's enemy, a furry emperor tamarin named Pai Mei, arrives and threatens to destroy him. Will Shifu prove that with age comes wisdom, and can he outsmart Pai Mei once and for all? In the second story, a furious cobra named Fu-xi attacks the Valley of Peace, causing the villagers to express their hatred for snakes. Viper is stuck in the middle. Will she help his fellow snake, Fu-xi? Or will she stay loyal to his friends? Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness (c) 2014 Viacom International Inc. NICKELODEON and all related logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on the feature film Kung Fu Panda (c) 2008 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.