Joshua Davis – författare

A riveting true story about dreams, dedication, and an amazing robot named Stinky, based on Joshua Davis'' New York Times bestseller and now adapted for young readers by bestselling Mexican American author Reyna Grande. In 2004, four undocumented Mexican teenagers arrived at the national underwater robotics championship at the University of California, Santa Barbara. No one had ever told Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they would amount to much—until two inspiring high school science teachers convinced the boys to enter the competition. Up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, this team of underdogs from Phoenix, Arizona, scraped together spare parts and a few small donations to astound not only the competition''s judges but themselves, too. Adapted by Reyna Grande—author of the acclaimed memoir The Distance Between Us about her experience as an undocumented child immigrant—this young readers’ edition of Joshua Davis’s New York Times bestseller showcases these students’ ingenuity and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Timely and empowering, Spare Parts is an accessible introduction to STEM, immigration, and the reality of the American Dream.

Joshua Davis''s Spare Parts--now a major motion picture--is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and the young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this country—even as the country tried to kick them out. Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one robot-building contest . . . In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to much—but two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot. And build a robot they did. Their robot wasn''t pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competition—and yet, against all odds . . . they won! But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story—which became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement—will go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan. Finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize New York Times Best Seller

Joshua Davis''s Spare Parts--now a major motion picture--is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and the young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this country—even as the country tried to kick them out. Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one robot-building contest . . . In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to much—but two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot. And build a robot they did. Their robot wasn''t pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competition—and yet, against all odds . . . they won! But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story—which became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement—will go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan. Finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize New York Times Best Seller

New Masters of Flash is both a global showcase and practical tutorial. Nineteen of the planet''s most awe-inspiring Flash designers share their influences, ideas and objectives in individual introductory essays. They then take the reader through a step-by-step tutorial explaining in detail how to create in Flash 5 the interfaces, applications and effects that they have made famous. The author-designers are some of the most legendary Flash innovators currently working—from the U.S. to Japan, Europe to South Africa: Yugo Nakamura, Joshua Davis, Manuel Clement, Irene Chan and Tomato Interactive''s Joel Baumann, together with 14 other leading Flash practitioners. These are the designers who are expanding the horizons of interactive interface design with Flash. Join them!

With the book is a CD-ROM containing animated movie versions of the tutorials from the book, together with the finished interactive effects. If you''re in a real hurry, you can download the source-code FLAs for many of the tutorials, in both Flash 5 and Flash 4 versions, from the CD-ROM New Masters folder. Also on the CD-ROM are video QuickTime interviews with the designers from the book.