Books with author Barra Michael

This colorful 32-page book offers a collection of fun, easy-to-use detective cases for Grades 4 - 12+. Some cases may be more challenging for younger students, but teachers and parents can always provide hints when needed. The cases develop critical thinking skills by requiring students to read carefully and analyze and synthesize information to guide their decision-making. The cases also develop observation skills, reading comprehension, deductive and inductive thinking skills. The ability to identify and evaluate evidence is the very heart of critical thinking.

Karen Nevitt has brought new life to old, abandoned things. Her vintage clothing collection, nestled away in Washington, D.C.'s picturesque Georgetown, features exquisite designer originals from decades past. But there is something deadly sewn into the lace and delicate fabrics she has—clues to a forgotten mystery that is pulling Karen into a dark and terrifying place. A secret once locked away in old trunks and dusty attics is crying out for justice, and only she can make things right. But a killer still lurking in the shadows has decided that the truth must remain hidden . . . and Karen Nevitt must die.

★Buy the Paperback and Receive the Kindle eBooks for FREE★Mia Takes an Educational Journey into the World of Food A magical journey filled with fun and intrigue. "Mommy, What do Unicorns eat?" tells the story of Mia, a unicorn who is curious by nature and eager to learn just what her ideal diet looks like. She is a friendly unicorn, and throughout the story, she meets many other animals who are just as friendly as she is, including an elephant, a squirrel, a dolphin, a cow, a parrot, a rabbit, and a caterpillar. Each of the animals she meets has some wisdom and advice to share, each recommending their favorite food as the best food there is. They also explain the benefits of each food, from strength to speed to tail fluffiness. As a parent, you know you need to explain to your child how important each food type is, but this topic is a big one, and you want to make it easy on yourself – or at least easier than it seems on the surface. "Mommy, What do Unicorns eat?" is a fun and simple way to introduce your child to a healthy, wholesome, rounded diet, the animals explaining in detail why they like each food and what each food does for them.  Join Mia as she gallivants, makes friends, and learns about food! 

For years, Heather Tradescant had dreamed of the journey she and her father would take to England--a pilgrimage to the great gardens of history.Now that her father is dead, Heather is determined to fulfill his dreams. Unfortunately, her request to see the fabled 17th-century garden of Troytan House is denied by the owner. Though unwelcome, she braves the walls of briars and reaches the Victorian manor house beyond. She senses a strange mission of evil lurking, tainting the manor's peaceful beauty. Only then does Heather begin to wonder whether it is only stories of long-vanished witchcraft that haunt Troytan House or whether there is some more modern horror, hearer at hand, and far, far more dangerous.Continuing in the classic tradition she established with such acclaimed novels of suspense as Stitches in Time, Vanish with the Rose, and House of Stone, New York Times bestselling author Barbara Michaels has penned a chilling tale that will keep you reading until the last page.

This colorful 32-page book offers a collection of fun, easy-to-use detective cases for Grades 3 - 12+. This book-unlike the later books in the series-includes some crime cases that involve simple maps. Some cases may be more challenging for younger students, but teachers and parents can always provide hints when needed. These crime cases develop critical thinking skills by requiring students to carefully read to determine what information is legitimate evidence, and what is just opinion or irrelevant information. All of the cases require students to synthesize information from different sources to determine which suspects are innocent or guilty. They also develop observation skills, reading comprehension, and deductive and inductive thinking skills. The focus of these activities is to teach students to identify and evaluate evidence--the very heart of critical thinking.

This fun, colorful 112-page book of mind-building riddles introduces young minds to critical thinking and organized analysis. To solve the riddles, students practice the following: Identifying Similarities and Differences, Forming/Following Sequences and Patterns, Classifying Objects and Groups, Identifying/Interpreting Analogies, and Logic. The riddles also teach the following concepts found in most state and national standards: Math--counting, shape and number recognition, recognizing and completing patterns, spatial position, more/less/equal, ordinal numbers (first, third, etc.), part/whole measurement; Reading Readiness--letter recognition, rhyming words, letter-sound association, letter sequence, sight words, directionality; Science--animal attributes, weather/seasons, senses, body parts, plants/plant growth, force/motion; Social Studies--family, community helpers, health and safety, identifying locations. Each riddle requires identification of two or more clues to deduce the answer. Students either point to a picture or verbalize the answer. Activities may be enhanced by teaching additional information about the animals, objects, shapes, letters, and numbers used in the riddles. This book includes answers and a chart of the skills developed in each activity.

It begins as a lark -- a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the séance conducted in Ruth's elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome ... and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place -- until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

It is a find of inestimable value for Karen Holloway. The battered manuscript she holds in her hand—written in the nineteenth century and bearing the mysterious attribution "Ismene"—could prove a boon to the eager young English professor's career. But Karen's search for the author's true identity is carrying her into the gray shadows of the past, to places fraught with danger and terror. For the deeper she delves into Ismene's strange tale of gothic horror, the more she is haunted by the suspicion that the long-dead author was writing the truth . . . and that even now she is guiding Karen's investigation, leading her to terrible secrets hidden behind the cold walls of houses of stone.

“Vagabonds in France" is a lighthearted book about an unexpected travel adventure to France. Find out how life threw a lemon at us with losing our home, and our attempt to make lemonade. Putting all our furniture in storage, we left everything behind to experience an adventure of a lifetime. With no mortgage or rent to pay, we left with no return date or home to come back to. We traveled from Florida (Tampa and Key West), to Portugal (Funchal, Madeira), to Spain (Malaga, Cartagena, and Barcelona), to the Côte d'Azur in the south of France (Antibes, Nice, Eze, St. Paul de Vence), to Provence (Arles, Avignon), then a month in Paris. Come with my wife and me and see this country’s amazing beauty, along with all the humorous cultural differences and "what the hell" moments you'll get a kick out of. Climb mountains, descend into the Paris Metro, dodge pickpockets, endure nasty weather and illness, and witness the flood of the century with us. Experience some wonderful and not-so-wonderful people. Chuckle with me as we live among the French and try to learn their ways and language. Then make it back home to an empty home we found online. Readers say they feel like they are right there with us on the journey, and laugh out loud, especially from the "Bathroom Reports". This book, with its 75 photograph illustrations, is available now on Amazon in both paperback (black and white illustrations) and Kindle (color illustrations)!About the Author: Michael A. Barry is a semi-retired small business owner, husband, and world traveler from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania now living in Florida. Hobbies include: aviation, anthropology, psychology, history, and weekend polyglot.

Summer school, a cute boy, and overbearing Armenian parents―what’s a guy to do?Alek Khederian was looking forward to a relaxing summer. But when his parents announce that he’ll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades, Alek is sure this experience will be just as hellish as his freshman year of high school. But he never could’ve predicted that he’d meet someone like Ethan. Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. When Ethan gets Alek to cut school and go to a Rufus Wainwright concert in New York City’s Central Park, Alek embarks on his first adventure outside the confines of his suburban New Jersey existence. He can’t believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend―he’s barely ever had a girlfriend―but maybe it’s time to think again. Michael Barakiva's One Man Guy is a romantic, moving, laugh-out-loud-funny story about what happens when one person cracks open your world and helps you see everything―and, most of all, yourself―like you never have before.“A romantic comedy with Armenian flair . . . Don’t miss it.” ―E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars“A kind and generous book about the loneliness of a young boy trying to navigate between a chaotic Armenian family and a school of bullying cliques. Alek Khederian deals bravely and inspiringly with the perils of learning to love your family, to love someone else, and most of all, to love yourself.” ―Eleanor Bergstein, novelist and screenwriter of the film Dirty Dancing“Hand this one to those who’ve already gone through Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy and Kluger’s My Most Excellent Year.” ―The Bulletin