Grandpa tells Jack a bedtime story. Then Jack tells a story. What happens next?

Stories have tremendous power. They can persuade, promote empathy, and provoke action. Better than any other communication tool, stories explain who you are, what you want...and why it matters. In presentations, department meetings, over lunch - any place you make a case for new customers, more business, or your next bigidea - you'll have greater impact if you have a compelling story to relate. Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins will teach you to narrate personal experiences as well as borrowed stories in a way that demonstrates authenticity, builds emotional connections, inspires perseverance, and stimulates the imagination. Fully updated and more practical than ever, the second edition reveals how to use storytelling to: capture attention; motivate listeners; gain trust; strengthen your argument; sway decisions; demonstrate authenticity and encourage transparency; spark innovation; and manage uncertainty. Complete with examples, a proven storytelling process and techniques, innovative applications, and a new appendix on teaching storytelling, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins hands you the tools you need to get your message across - and connect successfully with any audience.

The unflappable Mrs. Kinky Kincaid is a trusted fixture in the life of the Irish village of Ballybucklebo? and it often seems that she's been there forever. But some forty years before and many miles to the south? she was Maureen O'Hanlon? a precocious farmer's daughter growing up in County Cork. On the cusp of womanhood? Maureen had a head full of dreams? a heart open to romance? and something more: a gift for seeing into the mystic realm.

Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

At bedtime, their father tells Grace and Walter a scary story about two children in a dark forest.

It's nearly Cedric the dragon's bedtime - there's just time for his mum to read him his favourite book. Unfortunately for her, Cedric likes the story so much that he wants to hear it again...and again...and again...A cross dragon is a fiery dragon, and Cedric ends up burning a hole right through the book! Again! is a typically funny and irresistible book from star author and illustrator, Emily Gravett, twice winner of the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. Ages 0+

1939. Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated from their London home to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood. But the unthinkable happens when Flora suddenly vanishes after playing near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister's disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood. Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cosy rare-books store for a career at Sotheby's. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, Hazel's future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora's disappearance?

Executive assistant Lexa is eager for a much-deserved promotion, but her boss is determined to keep her underemployed. Literature professor Jett is dealing with a broken heart, as well as a nagging suspicion his literary idol, Gordon Phipps Roth, might be a fraud. Uber driver Chuck just wants a second chance with his kids. Aging widower Ed is eager to write the true story of his incredible marriage. Coral, queen of the cosmetics industry, has broken her engagement and is on the verge of losing her great grandmother’s multimillion-dollar empire. When all five New Yorkers receive an anonymous, mysterious invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society, they suspect they’re victims of a practical joke. No one knows who sent the invitations or why. No one has heard of the literary society. And no one is prepared to bear their deepest secrets to a roomful of strangers. Yet curiosity and loneliness bring them back week after week to the old library. And it’s there they discover the stories of their hearts, and the kind of friendship and love that heals their souls.