"The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was the worst environmental disaster in American history, a time when 'black blizzards' of dust, some hundreds of miles wide, swept across the southern plains. Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands of farms were buried. Millions of refugees fled starvation and sickness in the plains only to face hatred and prejudice in California. ... The thrilling story of an eleven-year-old boy who risks his life to save his family and friends during the worst dust storm of all, an event that would become known as 'Black Sunday.' Includes a section of nonfiction back matter with more facts and photos about the real-life event." -- Provided by publisher.

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004, edited by Steven Pinker, is another "provocative and thoroughly enjoyable [collection] from start to finish" (Publishers Weekly). Here is the best and newest on science and nature: the psychology of suicide terrorism, desperate measures in surgery, the weird world of octopuses, Sex Week at Yale, the linguistics of click languages, the worst news about cloning, and much more.

"This book is a guide to our lving, changing planet. We journey to the rim of a great meteor crater ... we travel back in time to 1930, in the icy heart of Greenland ... We journey to the outer reaches of our solar system, dive to a rock erupt from the heart of the earth to form new undersea mountains and a new ocean floor. Ulimately we will come to see this planet not as a hunk of stone in space but more like a living organism -- with its own internal dynamics, exchanging gases, healing itself, increasingly dependent on a new host creature -- man-- to shape its future."--Fly leaf.

One of America's most versatile writers, author of bestselling biographies such as Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin , has assembled a gallery of portraits of (mostly) Americans that celebreate genius, talent, and versatility, and traces his own education as a writer and biographer. In this collection of essays, the brilliant, acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson reflects on lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, and other interesting characters he has chronicled both as biographer and journalist. The people he writes about have an awesome intelligence, but that is not the secret to their success. They had qualities that were even more rare, such as imagination and true curiousity. Isaacson also reflects on how he became a writer, the lessons he learned from various people he met, and the challenges for journalism in the digital age. He also offers loving tributes to his hometown of New Orleans, which offers many of the ingredients for a creative culture, and to the Louisiana novelist Walker Percy, who was an early mentor. In an anecdotal and personal way, Isaacson describes the joys of writing and the way that tales about the lives of fascinating people can enlighten our own lives.

Mass Books Picture Book/Series Must Reads Winner! "Gently explores a human's place within the chain of being." -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY In ON BIRD HILL, Yolen and Marstall took readers on a surreal journey with a boy and his dog, as they stopped, looked, and noticed things along their path, ultimately discovering the miracle a hatching baby bird. ON DUCK POND continues the journey of the boy and dog, this time in a new place--a serene pond, filled with birds, frogs, turtles, and other creatures going about their quiet business. Their intrusion stirs the pond into a cacophony of activity, reaching a climactic chaos before slowly settling back to a quiet equilibrium. This beautiful and enchanting sequel is sure to delight ON BIRD HILL fans and millions of readers of Jane's popular classics. As with all Cornell Lab Publishing Group books, 35% of net proceeds from the sale of this title goes directly to the Cornell Lab to support projects such as children's educational and community programs. Photographs and fascinating information on New England Beach habitat life: - Sea Stars - Blue-Blooded Horseshoe Crab - Hermit Crab - Jonah Crab - Fiddler Crab Bird QR free Android and iOS download to follow along with sounds of the following birds: - Herring Gull - Sanderling - Willet - Snowy Egret How you can help our beaches and wildlife information 35% of the net proceeds from every Cornell Lab Publishing Group book purchase will support projects such as children's educational and community programs. About the ON BIRD HILL & BEYOND SERIES The ON BIRD HILL & BEYOND series invites children to reclaim the freedom to explore, wander and adventure outdoors. Created especially for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - the world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds - by New York Times bestselling author Jane Yolen and renowned illustrators Bob Marstall and Elizabeth Dulemba. The series artfully engages the senses to see, feel, hear, and touch the natural world and the life within. Back matter contains information on birds and wildlife depicted with full-color photos and "How You Can Help" suggestions for budding naturalists and birders. RAVE REVIEWS FOR ON BIRD HILL... "... expressively captures a luminous moment of discovery in the natural world. On Bird Hill leaves space for the imagination and underscores the surprising wonder found in everyday moments. -- School Library Journal "It's a sweetly surreal meditation on the everyday wonders that await in the wild."--Publisher's Weekly "Beautiful and enchanting."--Hooked on Books "It opens your eyes to the extraordinary in the ordinary of nature. I look forward to more books in the series..."--NC Teacher Stuff

Eureka! Silver Award Winner From New York Times bestselling children's author Jane Yolen, and award-winning illustrator, Bob Marstall, ON DUCK POND is the first sequel to the acclaimed ON BIRD HILL. ON BIRD HILL took readers on a surreal journey with a boy and his dog, as they stopped, looked, and noticed things along their path, ultimately discovering the miracle a hatching baby bird.ON DUCK POND continues their journey, this time in a new place--a serene pond, filled with birds, frogs, turtles, and other creatures going about their quiet business. Their intrusion stirs the pond into a cacophony of activity, reaching a climactic chaos before slowly settling back to a quiet equilibrium. This beautiful and enchanting sequel is sure to delight ON BIRD HILL fans and millions of readers of Jane's popular classics. 35% of the net proceeds from every Cornell Lab Publishing Group book purchase will support projects such as children's educational and community programs. Pond Wildlife to discover in this book: Mallard Wood Duck American Black Duck Green-Winged Teal Hooded Merganser American Wigeon Gladwell Great Blue Heron Great Egret Red-Winged Blackbird American Box Turtle Red-eared Slider Eastern Gray Squirrel Eastern Cottontail Raccoon American Bullfrog White-tailed Deer Dragonfly About the ON BIRD HILL & BEYOND SERIES The ON BIRD HILL & BEYOND series invites children to reclaim the freedom to explore, wander and adventure outdoors. Created especially for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - the world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds - by New York Times bestselling author Jane Yolen and renowned illustrators Bob Marstall and Elizabeth Dulemba. The series artfully engages the senses to see, feel, hear, and touch the natural world and the life within. Back matter contains information on birds and wildlife depicted with full-color photos and "How You Can Help" suggestions for budding naturalists and birders. RAVE REVIEWS FOR ON BIRD HILL... "... expressively captures a luminous moment of discovery in the natural world. On Bird Hill leaves space for the imagination and underscores the surprising wonder found in everyday moments. -- School Library Journal "It's a sweetly surreal meditation on the everyday wonders that await in the wild."--Publisher's Weekly "Beautiful and enchanting."--Hooked on Books "It opens your eyes to the extraordinary in the ordinary of nature. I look forward to more books in the series..."--NC Teacher Stuff

A KID’S GUIDE TO THE OCEAN "Can you imagine a world without fish? It's not as crazy as it sounds. But if we keep doing things the way we've been doing things, fish could become extinct within fifty years. So let's change the way we do things!" World Without Fish is the uniquely illustrated narrative nonfiction account—for kids—of what is happening to the world’s oceans and what they can do about it. Written by Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster , and many other books, World Without Fish has been praised as “urgent” ( Publishers Weekly ) and “a wonderfully fast-paced and engaging primer on the key questions surrounding fish and the sea” (Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish ). It has also been included in the New York State Expeditionary Learning English Language Arts Curriculum. Written by a master storyteller, World Without Fish connects all the dots—biology, economics, evolution, politics, climate, history, culture, food, and nutrition—in a way that kids can really understand. It describes how the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod, swordfish—even anchovies— could disappear within fifty years, and the domino effect it would have: the oceans teeming with jellyfish and turning pinkish orange from algal blooms, the seabirds disappearing, then reptiles, then mammals. It describes the back-and-forth dynamic of fishermen, who are the original environmentalists, and scientists, who not that long ago considered fish an endless resource. It explains why fish farming is not the answer—and why sustainable fishing is, and how to help return the oceans to their natural ecological balance. Interwoven with the book is a twelve-page graphic novel. Each beautifully illustrated chapter opener links to the next to form a larger fictional story that perfectly complements the text.

Title: The Dead Sea: or, notes and observations made during a Journey to Palestine in 1856-7, on M. De Sauley's supposed discovery of the Cities of the Plain [published in his "Voyage autour de la Mer Morte, etc."] ... Illustrated with photographs.Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.The GEOLOGY collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The works in this collection contain a number of maps, charts, and tables from the 16th to the 19th centuries documenting geological features of the natural world. Also contained are textbooks and early scientific studies that catalogue and chronicle the human stance toward water and land use. Readers will further enjoy early historical maps of rivers and shorelines demonstrating the artistry of journeymen, cartographers, and illustrators. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Isaacs, Albert Augustus; Caignart de Saulcy, Louis F licien Joseph; 1857. 8 . 10075.d.9.