Books with author Don Gordon

Once upon a time in a very busy city, on a very busy street, in two very small apartments, lived...Herman and Rosie.Herman liked playing the oboe, the smell of hot dogs in the winter, and watching films about the ocean.Rosie liked pancakes, listening to old jazz records, and watching films about the ocean.They both loved the groovy rhythm of the city, but sometimes the bustling crowds and constant motion left them lonely, until one night ...A Neal Porter Book

"Guzzle, guzzle, drip and drool, who is drinking all my fuel?"When Hansel and Diesel set out to search for fuel in their junkyard, they leave a path of nuts and bolts behind to show their way home. But when snow falls and they get lost, brother and sister truck have to fight the Wicked Winch all by themselves -- until their parents find the trail in the melting snow. David Gordon's twist on the traditional Brothers Grimm tale shows the importance of family and caring for those you love.

Sami Lightfoot is not so thrilled about her life in Paradise, Arizona. To begin with, there is the sixth grade, which is, well, school. Then there is the fact that the world is running out of fresh water, making everything drab, difficult, and scary. Worst of all is that her astrophysicist father has disappeared. Without a trace. So now it’s just Sami and her over-worked mother, and a big hole in her humdrum world.Then an alien boy named Brian is plopped down in the seat beside her at school. And everything changes. Brian may be an alien, but he is soon the only friend Sami’s got.When the fear-mongering business tycoon, Todd Rover, blames the country’s problems on the aliens, the government orders them rounded up. But Sami and her frenemy, Alejandro, are definitely not going to let that happen to Brian.Outsmarting police, parents, and a relentless and dangerous goon named Mr. Sombra, is one thing. But finding a way to transport Brian back to his home planet is something else. A big something else.

Just because you’re extremely cute, doesn’t mean you can’t operate a bulldozer! From author-illustrator David Gordon comes a fun, funny, and whimsical take on believing in yourself and telling bullies who’s boss!Karen and the other extremely cute animals just want to build sand castles. But the terribly mean bullies Skyler, Mike, and Trent keep knocking them down! So Karen and her friends get another idea. They’ll build something the bullies can’t knock down, something even bigger and better than a sand castle... It’s a good thing being excessively cute doesn’t prevent you from operating heavy machinery!

George has absolutely no interest in exploring the world. None at all. He's far too busy enjoying his home life and baking delicious pastries. Or so he tells all his friends when they invite him along on their wonderful adventures.But when George's friend Pascal digs a little deeper, the real reason George refuses to travel away from home is finally revealed . . . From the children's book author of the acclaimed Herman and Rosie comes Gus Gordon's Somewhere Else.

Sami has helped her alien friend, Brian, and her human nemesis, Alejandro, to escape Earth. But she is not someone who likes to be left behind. Soon she, too, is on Adonae, a world of oceans and volcanic islands, and of staggering technological marvels.Sami soon discovers that on Adonae she and Alejandro are the aliens. Oh, and the planet also has a real problem with pirates. But the greatest danger to Sami and Alejandro is KetaNim, the ruthless ambassador of another alien race, the TakTi. He claims that the kids from Earth are dangerous and must be executed.While the ambassador conspires to take their heads, Sami and Alejandro get busy learning from the Adonae. Sami becomes a “scombro,” a reader of people; Alejandro a “quick eye,” a martial artist of the rope.They will need their new skills and growing friendship to keep KetaNim, and his vicious assistant, KetaGar, and the Adonae pirates from having their heads after all.

Two years after Sami stopped the TakTi invasion of Earth, she and her misfit "Timbuktu" friends have reunited to become the primary source of factual information on the internet. Life is pretty dull for Sami. And then Alejandro transports into their hideout to tell her that Tomsei is dying and wants to see her. But before they can leave for Adonae, they are snatched by Ozman, the wealthiest man on Earth. He threatens to kill Sami's mother unless she talks her Adonae friends into using their technology to make him immortal. On Adonae, Tomsei promises to help. But when Sami discovers that a war between the Clans of the North and South is brewing on TiWat, she uses this as an excuse to sneak onto their planet. The real reason she is there, of course, is to be reunited with TanaSet. Almost immediately, however, she and Alejandro become prisoners of SimSimKeta. The odious traitor Todd Rover is now SimSim's "advisor," and KetaNim is her lackey. With the treacherous Rover and the crushed KetaNim as their guides, the two friends head into the bizarre forests of TiWat. As they struggle through that alien world, and then make their way through the endless tunnels of the Vaash mountains in order to confront the Northern army, Sami and Alejandro will face a raging forest fire, poisonous trees, deadly creatures, and even deadlier TakTi. And for Sami there will also be a broken heart. Trapped between two armies, Sami's training as an Adonae "scombro" will have its biggest test as she tries to stop a war, save her friends, save her mother, and save herself.

After the narrowest of escapes from Adonae, Sami and Alejandro land on TiWat, the home planet of their relentless enemy, KetaNim.TiWat is a bizarre and danger-filled world of forests and rivers. From the moment they arrive, Sami and Alejandro are running for their lives from the cruel ruler of the Southern TakTi, SimSimKeta. Keeping a half step ahead of fanged creatures, carnivorous plants, and dart-wielding warring clans, the two friends eventually hide out in yet another world, this one buried deep inside the mountains of TiWat.In that strange world of endless caverns they discover the odd and beautiful society of the Svaash... and Sami’s father. He is alive, but apparently brain dead. Her father is the key to SimSimKeta's secret, that the TakTi have stolen the technology of the Adonae and intend to invade Earth.Sami and Alejandro must escape TiWat. And not only in order to save themselves and Sami’s father. Now they must also warn humanity that SimSimKeta and the TakTi will soon be on their way to colonize Earth.

The Bible records stories of men and women who were both heroes and zeroes. We can learn from both. Welcome to a journey through the wisdom and life lessons offered in the stories of the Bible's greatest failures! Why would our loving God choose to forever record the stories of men and women whose lives collapsed in sin and shame? Why share biographies of people like Jezebel and Judas, whose lives didn't have happy endings? Perhaps the Lord recognized that their stories could powerfully inform and shape us. Their loss can become our gain. Epic Fail: Gaining Wisdom from Failures of Biblical Proportion is God's invitation to learn and grow from the great collapses of the Bible. While all of us will experience the pain and shame of failure, sometimes we have to fail in order to succeed. As any successful scientist, entrepreneur, parent, or coach can attest, the road to success is paved with setbacks. Every stumble is a chance to reevaluate, learn, reinvent, adapt, and mature. Each setback is an opportunity to make course corrections. This book shows that though we are human and we are destined to fail, with God's help and an openness to learn we can resolve to fail forward.

When Sami, Alejandro and Brian rematerialize in Paradise, Arizona...no one is there. The worsening planet-wide water shortages have forced everyone to pack themselves into the major cities. The three friends trek across the desert to Phoenix to find Sami's mother, to search for Brian’s parents, and to warn the world that the TakTi are coming.It’s hell in Phoenix.Worse, they soon discover that KetaNim is already there. He is helping Todd Rover become president of the United States and, so, pave the way to TakTi colonization. To make matters worse, SimSimKeta and her invasion forces are arriving near the planet Jupiter. And SimSim is holding Sami’s father as a hostage to prevent her from meddling.Sami, Alejandro, Brian and their new friends (a gang of kids living in an abandoned underground station they call "Timbuktu") must do something about all of this. And they have only hours in which to do it.It will take everything Sami has learned from her experiences with the Adonae, the TakTi, and the Svaash to free Brian’s parents, to save her father, and maybe, just maybe, stop a global catastrophe.