Ocean State Libraries

While his wife is away, a lazy man relies on a pooka to clean up the messes that he and his friends make.

Presents a whimsical antidote to today's work-obsessed culture, sharing a twenty-four-hour guide to achieving happiness while living leisurely.

"The little red hen finds none of her lazy friends willing to help her plant, harvest, or grind wheat into flour, but all are eager to eat the cake she makes from it."--

The Little Red Hen works hard-all alone-to turn her wheat seed into flour, while the goose gossips, the dog naps, and the cat preens. But when her lazy friends smell the fresh bread baking, they're eager to help her eat it! In this easy-to-read rendition, even the youngest listeners will enjoy the classic folktale about the hard work and its tasty reward.

Draws on the stories of history's most notable habitual postponers and on the insights of psychologists, philosophers, and behavioral economists to explain why procrastination happens and how it can help promote healthy priorities. "In the tradition of cultural historians like Sarah Vowell and Jim Holt comes a galvanizing meditation on the perils and pleasures of procrastination. While others are busy leaning in, crushing it, and trying to work smarter,...

From the author of Crying, a witty, wide-ranging cultural history of our attitudes toward work-and getting out of it. Couch potatoes, goof-offs, freeloaders, good-for-nothings, loafers, and loungers: ever since the Industrial Revolution, when the work ethic as we know it was formed, there has been a chorus of slackers ridiculing and lampooning the pretensions of hardworking respectability. Reviled by many, heroes to others, these layabouts stretch...

A lazy lion refuses the other animals his help as they prepare for the big race.