Growing Up with the Country: Childhood on the Far Western Frontier by Elliott West, 343 pages

 Historians have paid little attention to the lives and contributions of children who took part in westward expansion. In this major study of American childhood, now available again in paperback, Elliott West explores how children helped shape--and in turn were shaped by--the frontier experience. Frontier children's first vivid perceptions of the new country, when deepened by their work, play, and exploration, forged a stronger bond with their surroundings than that of their elders. Through diaries, journals, letters, novels, and oral and written reminiscences, West has reconstructed the lives of the children who grew to become the first truly Western generation.

Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, 128 pages

 Fitting in. Being different. Growing up. Staying a kid: Zits is a comic strip about the funniest, most painfully emotionally charged, physically demanding, mentally challenging, and colorful times of our lives--adolescence. Those who are living it can relate. And those who have been through it cannot remember the time without smiling, or at least wincing at the arrogance and ignorance we all mistook as maturity during those few eternal years.

Zits: Sketchbook #1 is an inside look at life from the point of view of Jeremy, a private 15-year-old who is desperately hacking his way out of childhood and into maturity. He labors in the shadow of Chad, his perfect older brother who is away at college. Jeremy is a freshman in high school whose main pastimes are hanging out with his best friend, Hector Garcia, forming a garage band, and being amazed at his parents' spectacular ignorance about almost everything. Impatient, self-absorbed, emotional, and bored silly, Jeremy is the essence of adolescence. Zits resonates with its fans because the strip contains so much truth and insight, wrapped in an uproarious context that's all too familiar to everyone who's been 15 or has parented a teenager.

Gary Larson's The Curse of Madame C by Gary Larson, 109 pages

 A compilation of Far Side cartoons, once again featuring cows, chickens, pterodactyls and nerds. Other work by the author includes The Chickens Are Restless, Unnatural Selections, Cows of Our Planet and Bride of the Far Side.

Betty & Veronica Spectacular Book 2, 224 pages

 BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR VOL. 2 is the second in a chronological collection featuring the magazine-format series spotlighting Riverdale's iconic duo. This is presented in the new higher-end format of Archie Comics Presents, which offers 200+ pages at a value while taking a design cue from successful all-ages graphic novels.

Betty & Veronica take on the world in this series of once-quarterly stories! See how B&V tackle the world of fashion, prep for the red carpets of Hollywood and still have time to finish their homework!

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer, 274 pages

 An earl's son turned highwayman...

A spirited young society beauty who is kidnapped...
A sinister duke, known as 'The Black Moth'...

Set in the eighteenth century at Georgian England. Disgraced Jack Carstares, now rightful Earl of Wyncham, left England seven long years ago, sacrificing his honour for that of his eldest brother when he was accused of cheating at cards. But he is determined not to claim his title and instead turns highwayman. Now he is back, roaming his beloved South Country in the disguise of a highwayman. Not long after his return, he encounters the Black Moth, his old adversary, the notorious Lord Tracy Belmanoir, Duke of Andover, just in time to dispute at the point of his sword the attempted abduction of dark-haired lovely Diana Beauleigh. Once more Jack's noble impulse to save the day landed him in trouble, but not before sending the villainous duke scurrying. Diana took her gallant rescuer in and nursed his wounds, and soon truer emotions grew between them. But Jack couldn't stay, for a lady and an outlaw would make a scandalous pair. And the libertine Duke was foiled once, but the society beauty was under siege. The Duke of Andover meant to have her--if not with her assent, then by force. But Diana was not about to surrender her virtue. She had already lost her heart to the handsome mysterious highwayman who rescued her from the Duke. Torn between his tarnished past and the hope for Diana's hand, Jack had one dangerous chance to reclaim his honor -- by defeating the Black Moth for good!

The Kings of Cut-Rate: The Very American Story of Isaac and Michael Katz by Brian Burnes with Steve Katz, 192 pages

 This new release from Kansas City Star Books tells the story of Isaac and Michael Katz, who changed forever our definition of drug store. It could be a prescription for our economic times. Clearly the Katz boys were ahead of theirs. Sons of immigrants, they started with a fruit stand in Kansas City s West Bottoms. In 1914 they acquired two cigar stands downtown and turned them into drug stores. But that was just the beginning. Isaac, who walked with a limp and quit school at age 14 to sell newspapers on the railroad, hardly had a moment when he wasn t innovating. They expanded to two stores, four, then eight. Other druggists filled prescriptions. But Katz began stocking cameras, cosmetics, clocks, shirts, pets and the best selection of discounted smokes, beer and whiskey in town. They treated customers like kings. By 1970 they had 65 stores throughout the Midwest and annual sales of more than $100 million. Let s go to Katz had become a refrain. The story of how they did it, and what happened then, unfolds in the pages of The Kings of Cut-Rate: The Very American Story of Isaac and Michael Katz.

B & V Friends Double Digest #229, 226 pages

 Cheryl Blossom is running for class president unopposed. Not willing to stand by and watch Cheryl come into power, Veronica rolls up her sleeves and throws her hat in the ring. Which of Riverdale's most popular students will be elected the next class president when it comes down to one vote? The answer lies at the conclusion of 'Madam President!'