Search results for ""Author Bird"

Since ancient times, poisonous plants and mushrooms have been used for hunting, murder and magic. Most cultures of the world have learnt to avoid these plants or to use them with discretion. Many of the plants are still widely used as traditional medicine for their therapeutic value in the treatment of diseases. Others are popular as recreational drugs or for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. Hazardous plants are commonly used as garden ornamentals, pot plants or florist flowers, and many people are no longer aware of the inherent dangers posed by toxic plants or medicines derived from them. Also included in this illustrated guide are plants causing irritation and inflammation of the skin and mucous membranes. A special focus is on psychoactive plants which can have stimulant, sedative, hypnotic, narcotic or hallucinogenic properties, such as coca, opium, cannabis and scopolamine. This guide gives the reader a bird's eye view of all the famous and well-known poisonous and mind-altering plants of the world. The book is presented as a compact, colourful and scientifically accurate reference text. It covers more than 1200 of the most important plants that people are likely to be exposed to. More than 200 of the most important poisonous and mind-altering plants are treated in depth in short monographs, covering their diagnostic characters, region of origin and distribution, active ingredients, toxicity, symptoms of intoxication and possible modes of action. Each monograph provides information on first aid treatment. This guide is a must for gardeners, farmers, veterinarians, students, botanists, pharmacists, chemists, doctors and Poison Centres. The compact format and encyclopedic style will be useful to rapidly access information on poisonous plants.

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*Winner of the 2023 Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature & Conservation!*'A captivating tale that glistens with wonder. Leila and Fox will always have a home in my heart' Sophie Anderson'This is an extraordinary book - wild and beautiful and perfect' Katya BalenCome with an Arctic fox on a breathtaking journey ... an enthralling story from the bestselling, award-winning creators of Julia and the Shark. With dazzling blue and black illustrations and presented as a deluxe hardback with tracing paper inserts, this is a perfect gift for 9+ fans of The Last Bear and A Wolf Called Wander.Fox wakes, and begins to walk. She crosses ice and snow, over mountains and across frozen oceans, encountering bears and birds beneath the endless daylight of an Arctic summer, navigating a world that is vast, wild and wondrous. Meanwhile, Leila embarks on a journey of her own - finding her way to the mother who left her. On a breathtaking journey across the sea, Leila rediscovers herself and the mother she thought she'd lost, with help from a determined little fox.Based on the true story of an Arctic fox who walked from Norway to Canada in seventy-six days, a distance of two thousand miles, this compelling, emotional and beautifully illustrated story is the perfect gift for 9+ readers.Praise for Julia and the Shark:'A tale of courage, understanding and compassion' The Observer'Julia and the Shark is deep, beautiful and true. The art shines and the writing soars. A classic from cover to cover' Eoin Colfer'A truly beautiful book, with text and illustrations in perfect harmony. A book to treasure!' Jacqueline Wilson

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Whether you want to create an eye-catching banner for a party, some nature inspired place cards for your table, or you just want to relax while enjoying the art of lettering, this is your go-to guide. With a growing legion of hand-lettering fans on Instagram and her Skillshare classes, Peggy Dean is a rising star in the lettering world. As a follow-up to her successful book, The Ultimate Brush Lettering Guide, Dean is going back to nature in this woodland-themed book packed full of projects, lettering tutorials, drawing how-tos, and a wealth of practice pages.Lettering in the Whimsical Woodlands provides plenty of space to practice basic and intermediate strokes, with the goal of creating your personal lettering style. Once you've mastered lettering, Dean shows you how to draw a variety of woodland creatures, including chipmunks, birds, bunnies, and foxes, as well as flowers, leaves, acorns, mushrooms, and other flourishes. By combining your lettering with line drawings, you can create stunning works of art, including home décor, invitations, gift tags, and unique holiday tablescapes. For those in need of inspiration, Dean provides a bevy of fun and creative do-it-yourself ideas. This book will provide you with an elevated lettering experience and many hours of practical, clever projects. It's the joy of lettering meets DIY fun!

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From sea to shining sea, from Yankee Stadium to Yosemite National Park, Mathew Tekulsky turns his lens and commentary on the greatest topic of them all, the United States of America, in his new book Americana: A Photographic Journey. Following on the heels of his successful book Galapagos Birds: A Photographic Voyage, Mr. Tekulsky’s take on the American landscape includes images such as a barn with an American flag draped along its side; John Lennon’s Imagine mosaic in New York City’s Central Park; covered bridges and antique automobiles; an inflatable Uncle Sam in a front yard festooned with red, white, and blue buntings; John Burroughs’ Slabsides cabin; Mariano Rivera pitching a save at Yankee Stadium; a classic Vermont diner; a roller coaster at twilight; the Beverly Hills Hotel; tourists at Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park; and surfboards in Hawaii. And there’s much, much more in this book. We live in an era of photographic images, and Mr. Tekulsky has provided the reader with 83 of the best photographs of America that you will ever see. According to Wikipedia, Americana is defined as “any collection of materials and things concerning or characteristic of the United States or of the American people and is representative or even stereotypical of American culture as a whole.” As such, Mathew Tekulsky’s book Americana: A Photographic Journey is a piece of Americana itself.

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With Let’s Draw Cats, you can learn to bring your feline drawings to life, guided by realistic illustrations and step-by-step instructions for a variety of cats and kittens. The easy-to-follow visual and written instructions in this book make it achievable and fun to draw lifelike cats and kittens. Each drawing lesson begins with basic shapes and progresses, step by step, to a finished piece of artwork, making it easy to follow along. You just need to grab a pencil, a piece of paper, and your copy of Let’s Draw Cats, and then flip to the cat you want to draw. The drawing projects include: Cat Head Detail Cat Sleeping Ragdoll Siamese Cat Stretching Kitten Bengal Persion Calico Maine Coon The detailed written instructions in this 48-page book also provide tips for placement of details, how to create realistic fur and coat patterns, how to shade, and much more. If you’ve never drawn before, don’t be intimidated. Just start with a few basic shapes and follow the illustrated steps—you’ll be creating your own amazing feline masterpieces in no time at all! And each time you draw, you should see an improvement in your artistic skills.Also available from the Let’s Draw series:Let’s Draw Dogs, Let’s Draw Favorite Animals, Let’s Draw Wild Animals, Let’s Draw Birds & Butterflies, Let’s Draw Sea Creatures, Let’s Draw Dinosaurs, and Let’s Draw Dragons.

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Perfect for fans of Moneyball and The Book of Basketball, this vivid, thoroughly entertaining, and well-researched book explores the NBA’s surge in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s and its transformation into a global cultural institution. Far beyond simply being a sports league, the NBA has become an entertainment and pop culture juggernaut. From all kinds of team logo merchandise to officially branded video games and players crossing over into reality television, film, fashion lines, and more, there is an inseparable line between sports and entertainment. But only four decades ago, this would have been unthinkable. Featuring writing that leaps off the page with energy and wit, journalist and basketball fan Pete Croatto takes us behind the scenes to the meetings that lead to the monumental American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, revolutionizing the NBA’s image. He pays homage to legendary talents including Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan and reveals how two polar-opposite rookies, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, led game attendance to skyrocket and racial lines to dissolve. Croatto also dives into CBS’s personality-driven coverage of key players, as well as other cable television efforts, which launched NBA players into unprecedented celebrity status. Essential reading whether you’re a casual or longtime fan, From Hang Time to Prime Time is an enthralling and entertaining celebration of basketball history.

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Tattoos have grown from a once hidden, taboo art form to a ubiquitous distinction for people who want to signify their own individuality through personal works of art. Statistics say that 14 percent of Americans have at least one tattoo. This skin art lends distinction, has representational meaning for the wearer, and ranges in both size and complexity.Erik Siuda, finalist from Spike TV’s Ink Master Season 5, brings his signature style to this varied assortment of tattoo imagery. The Big Book of Tattoo Design Coloring Book displays Siuda’s wide array of artistic influences and provides the colorist with a host of engaging designs including skulls, birds, florals, earthly elements, and much more. You’ll be immersed in an eclectic mix of tattoo styles, including Japanese and neo-traditional, for a stimulating coloring experience. This book is so rich with attractive images, you’ll want to tear out pages, bring your colored creations to your closest tattoo shop, and have your own tattoo made to match.Regardless of whether you are a fan of body art or not, you’ll enjoy coloring the beautiful images in this book. There are more than one hundred images in this collection, with perforated pages to easily remove and display your creations. Dig out your old colored pencils, crayons, or markers and get ready to do your own inking with The Big Book of Tattoo Design Coloring Book.

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With more than 100 different families and 40,000 individual species, spiders are among the most successful creatures on Earth. Highly adaptable, they live almost everywhere, from equatorial rainforest to Arctic tundra. And they come in a huge range of shapes and sizes, from the tiny Patu digua, measuring less than half a millimeter, to the immense bird-eating tarantula, which can reach a span of eleven inches. In The Private Life of Spiders, spider expert Paul Hillyard takes the reader on a fascinating and richly illustrated tour of the lives of some of the world's most remarkable spiders. The Private Life of Spiders reveals the intriguing behaviors of these complex creatures, from their extraordinary web-spinning skills and hunting strategies to their courtship displays and devoted care for their young. The book also describes other surprising skills of some spiders, such as the ability to cross vast stretches of open water. Written in an engaging style, The Private Life of Spiders also looks at why people are scared of spiders, explains why such fear is generally misplaced, and shows why more needs to be done to protect endangered spiders. * Features spiders from a vast range of habitats around the world * Includes more than 100 stunning color photographs that capture the beauty and diversity of spiders * Covers spider anatomy, behavior, reproduction, social organization, and hunting and web construction techniques

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David Baker, acclaimed for his combination of “visionary scope” (Gettysburg Review) and “emotional intensity” (Georgia Review), is one of contemporary poetry’s most gifted lyric poets. In Swift, he gathers poems from eight collections, including his masterful latest, Scavenger Loop (2015); the prize-winning, intimate travelogues of Never-Ending Birds (2009); and the complications of history and home in Changeable Thunder (2001). Opening the volume are fifteen new poems that continue Baker’s growth in form and voice as he investigates the death of parents, the loss of homeland and a widening natural history, not only of his beloved Midwest but of the tropical flora and fauna of a Caribbean island. Together, these poems showcase the evolution of Baker’s distinct eco-poetic conscience, his mastery of forms both erotic and elegiac and his keen eye for the shifting landscapes of passion, heartbreak and renewal. With equal curiosity and candour, Baker explores the many worlds we all inhabit—from our most intimate relationships to the wider social worlds of neighbourhoods, villages and our complex national identity, to the environmental community we all share. With his dazzling formal restlessness and lifelong devotion to landscapes both natural and human on full display, David Baker demonstrates why he has been called “the most expansive and moving poet to come out of the American Midwest since James Wright” (Marilyn Hacker).

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Realistic and magical, sombre and deeply comic, heroic and full of ironies, these stories explore the complexities of Caribbean reality through a variety of voices and forms. In 'Jacob Bubbles', a short novella, Campbell connects the contemporary Jamaica of political gang warfare to the past of slavery through the characters of Jacob, a runaway slave and his descendant, Jacob Bubbles, the fearsome leader of the Suckdust Posse. When Jacob Bubbles meets a violent death, a memory path opens in his head which carries him back to his slave ancestor. The contrast between the two stories raises uncomfortable questions about what progress there has been for the most oppressed sections of Jamaican society. Yet if there is in these stories an acute perception of the ways in which poverty, racism and sexism can maim the spirit, there is an overarching vision of the redemptive power of hope and love and the people's capacity to rise out of enslavements old and new. In bringing us, amongst others, Singerman, the Calypsonian, Quincey, the business man who turns into a bird, Jocelyn who cannot tell a lie and the inseparable Mr Fargo and Mr Lawson, Hazel Campbell shows herself to be one of the Caribbean's finest writers of short fiction.Hazel Campbell is Jamaican. Before publishing Singerman with Peepal Tree, she published The Rag Doll and Woman's Tongue. She works as a media consultant.

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An exploration of mathematical style through 99 different proofs of the same theoremThis book offers a multifaceted perspective on mathematics by demonstrating 99 different proofs of the same theorem. Each chapter solves an otherwise unremarkable equation in distinct historical, formal, and imaginative styles that range from Medieval, Topological, and Doggerel to Chromatic, Electrostatic, and Psychedelic. With a rare blend of humor and scholarly aplomb, Philip Ording weaves these variations into an accessible and wide-ranging narrative on the nature and practice of mathematics.Inspired by the experiments of the Paris-based writing group known as the Oulipo—whose members included Raymond Queneau, Italo Calvino, and Marcel Duchamp—Ording explores new ways to examine the aesthetic possibilities of mathematical activity. 99 Variations on a Proof is a mathematical take on Queneau’s Exercises in Style, a collection of 99 retellings of the same story, and it draws unexpected connections to everything from mysticism and technology to architecture and sign language. Through diagrams, found material, and other imagery, Ording illustrates the flexibility and creative potential of mathematics despite its reputation for precision and rigor.Readers will gain not only a bird’s-eye view of the discipline and its major branches but also new insights into its historical, philosophical, and cultural nuances. Readers, no matter their level of expertise, will discover in these proofs and accompanying commentary surprising new aspects of the mathematical landscape.

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Have toys at your fingertips - and on your toes - including angels, aliens, a peacock, an octopus, a mermaid, a waltzing couple and a goofy horse. How to make perfect puppets from old socks, rubber gloves, cardboard, kitchen foil and ping-pong balls, as well as puppet stages on which to perform! Easy instructions and over 270 fantastic photographs show you what to do every step of the way. It is ideal for 7- to 12-year-olds, with simple projects for beginners, and more sophisticated projects for older kids. Watch your hands transform into birds, animals, flowers, forests and all sorts of other amazing characters. The 25 projects in this book include not only finger puppets, but also glove puppets, body-pained puppets, and even foot puppets. All the projects are simple and fun to do, and you can make them using everyday items found around the home, such as gloves, socks, ribbons, wool, buttons, beads and drinking straws. Then, why not use your puppets to make up stories with your friends? The rubber-glove fishermen could catch the painted octopus, the Tassel family could attend the wedding of the cardboard bride and her bridesmaids, and the glove-puppet elephant could meet the sock serpent. The book also contains ideas for making stages and scenery for your puppet shows, including an enchanted forest setting and a sailing boat.

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After studying architecture at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Aymeric Zublena, born in September 1936 in Paris, graduated in 1963 and completed his training in urban planning at the Tony Garnier 'seminar'. In 1967 he won a Second Grand Prix of Rome on the theme 'A House of Europe in Paris'. In the same year, he became chief architect of the new town of Marne la Vallée, directing the studies of the regional urban centre for nearly 15 years. He developed the principle of diversity and urban density organised around powerful public transport. During this same period, he was the architect of the French mission of study in charge of the master plan of Greater Buenos Aires, foreseeing the creation of two new linear cities along the Rio de la Plata. For each of his programs, Aymeric Zublena is looking for a singular architectural response that strongly marks the host site with an emblematic sign making it easily identifiable: the 'hospital street' of the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, a long glass gallery that inscribes a new axis in the heart of Paris, the cover of the Stade de France which floats above the stands and the forecourt, the crescent of the Istanbul stadium, the bird wing of the Suwon stadium. The 'butterfly' metal lifting structures of the Rouen bridge, the monumental mobile door of the DASES on the Quai de la Rapée in Paris. Text in English and French.

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Get the tabbed guide to plants, animals, and sea shells of the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic. Beaches are the borders between two vastly different ecosystems. As such, they are teeming with a variety of fascinating life. Whether you’re a tourist on vacation or a local resident on a day trip, keep this tabbed booklet close at hand. It features nearly 80 of the most common and important animals and plants to know—from birds and fish to crabs, sea turtles, and more! Plus, the quick guide includes other beachcombing finds—like sea shells and seaglass—as well as an introduction to different kinds of sand. The handy booklet is applicable to the coastlines of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. It is organized by group for quick and easy identification, and it offers the at-a-glance information that you want to know. The pocket-sized format is much easier to use than laminated foldouts, and the tear-resistant pages help to make the book durable in the field. As an added bonus, the guide includes tips and suggestions for helping coastal life to thrive in this essential habitat. Book Features: Pocket-sized format—easier than laminated foldouts Professional photos of each species Entries organized by group to ensure that you quickly find what you’re looking for Easy-to-use information for even casual observers Tips for helping coastal life in their beach environments

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Rediscover the magic of Russian folktales in a breathtaking illustrated edition. This collection of traditional stories will sweep you away to the birch forests and ornate palaces of Russia. You'll meet a mysterious girl born from the snow, a terrifying Baba Yaga, and a series of dauntless heroines and heroes willing to fight dragons and cross fiery rivers. Blending whimsical magic with magnificent drama, these tales come to life alongside intricate contemporary art in this special illustrated edition. POPULAR SERIES: The Tales series gives new life to traditional stories. Celebrating the richness of folklore around the world, and featuring the work of beloved contemporary illustrators, these books are treasured by adults and teens alike. ICONIC STORIES: Russian stories hold a special place in the hearts of fairy tales fans. Unforgettable characters like Baba Yaga and the Fire-Bird have captured imaginations for generations. In this collection, readers are sure to find old favorites and discover something new. GORGEOUS SPECIAL EDITION: With a mesmerizing full-page illustration for each story, as well as creamy paper, a ribbon page marker, and a handsome hardcover design, this edition is perfect for gifting and display. Perfect for: • Fans of fairy tales and folklore • Readers with Russian heritage or interested in Russian culture • Illustration and art lovers • Adults and teens • Collectors of illustrated classics • Fans of the illustrator Dinara Mirtalipova

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‘I went for a walk around the garden. A great tit warbled above a patch of coltsfoot. I felt a thousand discoveries awaited…' Notes from a Summer Cottage by Nina Burton is a beautifully written nature memoir about the time spent renovating a cottage in the Swedish countryside, and all the species that she encountered her during her stay. Did you know that there are more ants altogether than the number of seconds that have passed since the Big Bang? And that in relation to their size, their anthill cities can be larger than London and New York? Or, that a bird’s migratory instinct is so strong that an injured stork once escaped captivity and was found six weeks later having walked 150 kilometres, following the migratory path of his flock on foot? What begins with a renovation of a an old summer cottage swiftly turns into an exploration of nature, life and philosophy, in which Nina Burton reveals the inner lives and hitherto unknown habits of the animals with which she shares. Within the walls, the ceiling and the floor of the cottage and its surrounding garden, she encounters a host of animals—ants, honey bees, foxes, squirrels, blackbirds, badgers, pigeons, deer and many more—all of whom have made her house and garden their home, and all of whom cause Nina to reflect on their role within our world.

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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a . . . Rebel Girl! Are you:A. Flying high in the sky like adventurous pilot Amelia Earhart?B. Catching air like Olympic skateboarder Sky Brown?C. Climbing your way into the clouds like mountaineer Junko Tabei?Quizzes for Rebel Girls is packed with 30+ quizzes guiding girls to discover the traits, strengths, and habits that make them unique. The quirky questions in this book will help curious readers explore their personalities, forecast their futures, and find common ground with extraordinary women who've come before. Colorful illustrations bring this book to life and make it extra fun to share with friends and family!This book is filled with playful quizzes like:Lights, Camera, or Action?What's Your STEM Style?Are You a Team Player?How Do You Use the Power of the Pen?Hometown Hero or World Traveler?What Is Your Super Power?Quizzes for Rebel Girls is brought to you by the team behind the New York Times best-selling series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. It can be perfectly paired with Questions for Rebel Girls, filled with silly, serious, and thought-provoking questions that introduce readers to extraordinary women throughout history and ask them to imagine themselves in similar scenarios. Girls love to explore their feelings, uncover their personalities, and decode the world around them. Get exploring with Rebel Girls!

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In this beautifully illustrated picture book from Lara Hawthorne, a mysterious creature from a secluded volcano crater explores the outside world for the very first time . . . but is it not what he expects it to be! Will his adventure teach him there is no place like home?Ratty, an ENORMOUS wooly, vegetarian rat, lives deep inside the crater of an ancient volcano nestled in the rainforest. One day, he spies a particularly delicious-looking fruit high in the treetops, and sets out to reach it. From this high vantage point a spectacular view stretches before him - the world outside his mountain crater. In this big outside world, Ratty imagines, the fruit must be much sweeter, the bird songs more beautiful and the other animals far more interesting and sophisticated, and so he sets off in search of better things. But when is he is asked to attend a dinner party by a crocodile who seems just a bit too friendly, Ratty realises that perhaps there is no place like home after all.Inspired by the recent scientific breakthroughs of Mount Bosavi, in which over 40 new species of animals and plants were identified, Lara Hawthorne seamlessly combines story and fact in this picture book which celebrates the diversity of life, and being thankful for what you have!For fans of the BBC's The Lost Land of the Volcano, with insights from entomologist Dr George McGavin, who was part of the original expedition team.

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Forest Schools need not be just for children. Here is the ultimate guide for how adults can enjoy the benefits of outdoor learning too. Have you always wanted to know how to start a campfire, forage for (the right) fungi, or know how to tie a good knot? Or would you like to expand your horizons – and lower your stress levels – by building a dry stone wall, fashioning a bow and arrow, or beachcombing for shells? Forest schools for kids originated in Scandinavia as outdoor, play-based learning groups and, as the benefits of nature play became internationally recognised, quickly became established around the world. But why should kids have all the fun? Connecting with green spaces, trees and plants can lift our spirits, improve stress and relax our brains – in short, playing outside is good for everyone. Forest School for Grown Ups shows you can learn new skills and practise forgotten ones from finding your way in the woods to whittling utensils and carving sculptures; from trapping and smoking game to making and using a divining rod, from building a bird box, or insect house, to simply just climbing trees. Beautifully designed and illustrated, Forest School for Grown Ups provides the perfect resource for anyone wanting to enjoy spending quality time outdoors.

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In this colorful guide featuring 30 easy gardening projects, kids will learn to grow their own fruits and vegetables, attract wildlife such as butterflies and bees, and recycle household items into animal habitats and fun decorations. Whether they've got a big backyard or just a windowsill, kids can grow all sorts of plants with this beginner's gardening book.Packed with step-by-step activities, this book teaches children ages 5-8 how to grow garden staples like tomatoes, pumpkins, and zucchini with photographic examples. Each project includes a complete materials list, planting guide, and tips on harvesting your fruits and vegetables, providing plenty of support for kids from start to finish. The book also offers advice on creating creature-friendly spaces within your garden, such as a bee hotel, a ladybug sanctuary, and a home for frogs and toads. By caring for the wildlife around them, kids can grow to better understand the relationship between humans and nature, and how we can support local habitats wherever we happen to live. Beyond the gardening basics, Let's Get Gardening also helps kids learn about conservation, recycling, and sustainability through simple, hands-on projects. From making mini greenhouses out of leftover glass jars, to growing strawberries in an old pair of rain boots, to repurposing an empty milk carton as a hanging bird feeder, there are so many practical ways for kids to help cut waste and reduce pollution. So grab your potting soil and let's get gardening!

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - BEST GARDENING BOOKS OF 2020 - Sunday Times, Times 'Every page a joy.' Nigel Slater'From a very early age I loved the countryside as much as any garden and was fascinated by the life that I saw all around me from trees, wildflowers, birds, insects and mammals. In a sense this book has been over sixty years in gestation. I have kept notebooks and journals ever since I could write and I have drawn upon these as well as the events of the past year.'My Garden World by Monty Don is a celebration of every living creature that we all share. This year has given us the enforced opportunity to learn more about the fascinating natural world around us. Whether you live in the countryside or the town, Monty's observations and insights are relevant to each and every one of us. My Garden World is Monty Don's personal journey through the natural year, month by month, season by season, observed from the immediate world around him. 'Wildlife is not something that we watch happening in remote and exotic parts of the world on our screens, but right here in our own back yards and the more that we encourage it and learn to live with it, the more rewarding it becomes.If, in our own modest back yards, we can help preserve and treasure our natural world then we will make the world a better place -- not just for ourselves but for every living creature.'

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Embracing the Seasons is a soulful journey through the seasons of a year in a country garden. Gunilla Norris shares her observations of this garden and the surrounding land with its trees and shrubs, its flowers and vegetables, its various living beings, its brook and pond and stone walls—and she reflects on the abundance and meaning of nature and its cycles of renewal. The year begins with the arrival of spring, with the birds singing in the darkness of dawn and the buds knobbing up on tree branches and bushes, and moves through the warmth and richness of summer, the transitions and changes of fall, and the clarity and quietude of winter. Until it is spring once more. Along the way we encounter a pair of finches building a nest; an old quince tree in bloom and the peonies in glory; the pond with its dragonfly and snapping turtle, water lilies and frogs. We see the splendor of daylilies and the sturdiness of hostas, hear the buzz of bees and the chorus of cicadas, sense the abundance of honeysuckle and wild grape. There is the planting of dahlias, cucumbers, basil, and impatiens in the spring, and the raking of leaves and stacking of firewood in the fall; the harvest of tomatoes, peppers, and raspberries in late summer, and fresh snow and rabbit tracks in the winter woods. Embracing the Seasons opens our eyes to ordinary wonders and not-so-ordinary meanings in the small events and encounters of the everyday and invites us to remember, to care for, and to venerate the life around us.

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Each spring, formations of sandhill cranes crisscross the skies along Nebraska’s Platte River in one of the last great migratory spectacles on the North American continent. From across the globe, tens of thousands of visitors gather to witness a land transformed, “wild with birds.” But the central Platte River system is witness to even more than this wondrous annual event. It is also an abiding source of natural, agricultural, and economic life in three states as an icon of western history and as a place of wonder. In This River Beneath the Sky, Doreen Pfost seamlessly blends memoir and nature writing, tracking the Platte River valley for one calendar year, ushering readers through its diverse and changing landscape and the plants, animals, and humans that call the ecosystem home.From serving as a tour guide for visitors who come to see the sandhill crane migration to monitoring the population count on a bluebird trail, from exploring the human settlements surrounding the Platte River to wading the river with biologists, Pfost immerses herself in the rhythm and life of the area. Along with Pfost’s personal experiences of the river, she explores the river’s history, the land- and water-use choices that were made decades ago and their repercussions that must now be mitigated if cranes—and other species—are to survive and flourish, and the legislative and scientific efforts to preserve the diverse species and their essential habitat.

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An immersive history of a pivotal stretch of water ‘Fascinating, spellbinding, erudite and great fun.’ Roddy Doyle ‘Remarkable. Lively … Gower writes beautifully [and] the book is profoundly popular.’ Times Literary Supplement The Turning Tide is a hymn to a sea passage of world-historical importance. Combining social and cultural history, nature-writing, travelogue and politics, Welshman Jon Gower charts a sea which has carried both Vikings and saints; invasion forces, royals and rebels; writers, musicians and fishermen. The divided but interconnected waters of the Irish Sea – from the narrow North Channel through St George’s Channel to where the Celtic sea opens out into the wide Atlantic – have a turbulent history to match the violence of its storms. Jon Gower is a sympathetic and interested pilot, taking the reader to the great shipyards of Belfast and through the mass exodus of the starving during the Irish Famine in coffin boats bound for America. He follows the migrations of working men and women looking for work in England and tells the tales of more casual travellers: sometimes seasick, often homesick too. The Irish Sea is also a place with an abundant natural history. The rarest sea bird in Europe visits its coasts in summer while the rarest goose wings in during winter. The Turning Tide navigates waters teeming with life, filled with seals and salt-tanged stories and surveyed by seabirds. Lyrically written and fizzing with curiosity, this is a remarkable and far-reaching book.

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This new, sixth edition of Bradt's Montenegro is the most comprehensive guide available to one of Europe's hidden corners and features many areas not covered by other guides. Thoroughly updated to incorporate all the most recent developments, from practical information on where to go, stay and eat to vivid descriptions, historical insights and in-depth background on both well-known and off-the-beaten track sights, it is an ideal companion for both independent and group travellers. Beach lovers, culture aficionados, hikers, adrenaline-seekers, birding and wildlife enthusiasts and foodies are all catered for, with details of everything from coastal retreats, the Buljarica wetlands and Ulcinj saltpans to Durmitor and Biogradska national parks, Prokletije Mountains and cultural big-hitters such as Cetinje and Kotor, as well as the many reminders of the country's Ottoman and Venetian heritage. With new flight routes opening up and the tourist board working hard to promote the country, Montenegro's popularity is on the rise. The Via Dinarica and Balkan Peaks long-distance trails both pass through Montenegro and are drawing ever greater numbers, while adventure sports - climbing, skiing, mountain biking, sea kayaking, coasteering, and white-water rafting, to name a few - form an increasingly significant part of the country's appeal. Montenegrin wine, too, is attracting a growing band of devotees. With medieval gems and a stark rugged beauty, the country offers something for everyone and with Bradt's Montenegro you are perfectly equipped for a successful trip.

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The Black Widows of of The Eternal City offers, for the first time, a book-length study of an infamous cause célèbre in seventeenth-century Rome, how it resonated then and has continued to resonate: the 1659 investigation and prosecution of Gironima Spana and dozens of Roman widows, who shared a particularly effective poison to murder their husbands. This notorious case has been frequently discussed over 350 years, but the earliest writers concentrated more on fortifying their reading constituency’s shared attitudes than accurately narrating facts. Subsequent authors remained largely content to follow their predecessors or keen to improve upon them. Most recent writers and bloggers were unaware that their earlier sources were generally unconcerned with a correct portrayal of real events. In the present study, Craig A. Monson takes advantage of a recent discovery—the 1,450-page notary’s transcript of the 1659 investigation. It is supplemented here by many ancillary archival sources, unknown to all previous writers. Since the story of Gironima Spana and the would-be widows is partially about what people believed to be true, however, this investigation also juxtaposes some of the “alternative facts” from earlier, sensational accounts with what the notary’s transcript and other, more reliable archival documents reveal. Written in a style that avoids arcane idioms and specialist jargon, the book can potentially speak to students and general readers interested in seventeenth-century social history and gender issues. It rewrites the life story of Gironima Spana (largely unknown until now), who has dominated all earlier accounts, usually in caricatures that reiterate the tropes of witchcraft. It also concentrates on the dozen other widows whose stories could be the most recovered from archival sources and whom Spana had totally eclipsed in earlier accounts. Most were women “of a very ordinary sort” (prostitutes; beggars; wives of butchers, barbers, dyers, lineners, innkeepers), the kinds of women commonly lost to history. The book seeks to explain why some women were hanged (only six, in fact, most of whom may not have directly poisoned anyone), while dozens of others who did poison their husbands escaped the gallows and, in some cases, were not even interrogated. It also reveals what happened to these other alleged perpetrators, whose fates have remained unknown until now. Other purported culprits, about whom less complete pictures emerge, are briefly discussed in an appendix. The study incorporates illustrations of archival manuscripts to demonstrate the challenges of deciphering them and illustrates “scenes of the crime” and other important locations, identified on seventeenth-century, bird’s eye-perspective views of Rome and in modern photographs. It also includes GPS coordinates for any who might wish to revisit the sites.

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A pocket-sized, portable version of Colette Baron-Reid's wildly popular oracle deck, featuring stunning artwork and messages to help us connect with the archetypal energies of living beings that share our planet-as sacred teachers, healers, and allies.One of Hay House's best-selling decks now comes pocket-sized! The Spirit Animal Pocket Oracle is a compact, travel-sized edition of Colette Baron-Reid's beloved deck, packaged in a keepsake tin perfect for your on-the-go spiritual journey.The Spirit Animal Pocket Oracle reveals spirits residing in the natural world that have much to share, and the secrets of their forgotten language are now available to you through this oracle deck. They urge us to reclaim our essential Truth--that we are one in Spirit, connected to every living thing on this earth in a unified consciousness. With the draw of a card, you can share in this wisdom and better navigate your life, move beyond the obstacles of your perceived limitations, and tune in to your infinite potential.Represented in the 68 cards of this beautifully illustrated oracle card deck are the Higher Spirits of different animals, insects, fish, and birds. Every animal has a transcendent archetypal symbolism, a universal meaning holding a message of deep, enduring truth. With guidance from intuitive master and oracle expert Colette Baron-Reid, you can now awaken to your partnership with Spirit to co-create your reality in service to the world.

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A marvelously illustrated reference to the natural wonders of one of the most spectacular places on earthSeparated from Africa’s mainland for tens of millions of years, Madagascar has evolved a breathtaking wealth of biodiversity, becoming home to thousands of species found nowhere else on the planet. The New Natural History of Madagascar provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date synthesis available of this island nation’s priceless biological treasures. Now fully revised and expanded, this beautifully illustrated compendium features contributions by more than 600 globally renowned experts who cover the history of scientific exploration in Madagascar, as well as the island’s geology and soils, climate, forest ecology, human ecology, marine and coastal ecosystems, plants, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. This invaluable two-volume reference also includes detailed discussions of conservation efforts in Madagascar that showcase several successful protected area programs that can serve as models for threatened ecosystems throughout the world. Provides the most comprehensive overview of Madagascar’s rich natural history Coedited by 18 different specialists Features hundreds of new contributions by world-class experts Includes hundreds of new illustrations Covers a broad array of topics, from geology and climate to animals, plants, and marine life Sheds light on newly discovered species and draws on the latest science An essential resource for anyone interested in Madagascar or tropical ecosystems in general, from biologists and conservationists to ecotourists and armchair naturalists

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A major synthesis of homology, written by a top researcher in the fieldHomology—a similar trait shared by different species and derived from common ancestry, such as a seal's fin and a bird’s wing—is one of the most fundamental yet challenging concepts in evolutionary biology. This groundbreaking book provides the first mechanistically based theory of what homology is and how it arises in evolution.Günter Wagner, one of the preeminent researchers in the field, argues that homology, or character identity, can be explained through the historical continuity of character identity networks—that is, the gene regulatory networks that enable differential gene expression. He shows how character identity is independent of the form and function of the character itself because the same network can activate different effector genes and thus control the development of different shapes, sizes, and qualities of the character. Demonstrating how this theoretical model can provide a foundation for understanding the evolutionary origin of novel characters, Wagner applies it to the origin and evolution of specific systems, such as cell types; skin, hair, and feathers; limbs and digits; and flowers.The first major synthesis of homology to be published in decades, Homology, Genes, and Evolutionary Innovation reveals how a mechanistically based theory can serve as a unifying concept for any branch of science concerned with the structure and development of organisms, and how it can help explain major transitions in evolution and broad patterns of biological diversity.

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A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. Angela Harding is a fine art painter and illustrator based in Rutland, UK. She specialises in lino prints and her work is inspired by British birds and the countryside. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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A FLAME TREE POCKET NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. Angela Harding is a fine art painter and illustrator based in Rutland, UK. She specialises in lino prints and her work is inspired by British birds and countryside. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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First in a Samoan-set series featuring police officer Apelu Soifua: “Enright’s portrait of cultural collision is the heart of this engaging series debut.” —Booklist The city of Tafuna may be located on a tropical paradise, but it’s no stranger to crime. Just like anywhere else in the world, it has its fair share of murder, drugs, and robbery. Which makes Apelu Soifua the perfect man for his job. He’s a cop of two worlds: San Francisco, where he started his career, and now his native Samoa. Following up on a routine burglary call, Apelu heads to a palangi, or Caucasian, neighborhood. The victim, a VP at SeaKing Tuna—the largest employer on the island—reports only a few items missing. But a fatal shooting at a nightclub a few days later points Apelu to the executive’s hard-partying daughter. With some help from local reporter Lupe, Apelu chases a wave of violence that stems from the burglary—and seeks out what really went missing. The investigation puts Apelu in over his head and is about to be dragged under . . . “Perfect for any armchair traveling mystery lover. Enright’s descriptions of the Samoan landscape—where the frigate birds are as much a part of the sky as the clouds—are vivid and poetic.” —Kittling: Books “Enright meticulously interweaves the experience and landscapes of Samoa’s mountains, rain forests and jungles that he knows so well.” —Providence Journal “The island setting is a terrific backdrop for the story, one that has Soifua bridging the cultural chasm between the local population and the American community.” —Mysterious Reviews

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Step inside his home and you'll see papier-mâché birds, a life-sized cardboard tiger, model cars; his work bench a vibrant collage of creativity, from hand-drawn maps and postcards to newly devised toys for his beloved grandchildren. Tom Karen is a toymaker, creative genius, award-winning designer and one of the world's most remarkable inventors. From inventing the Marble Run to designing the iconic Raleigh Chopper bike and creating the Bond Bug, Tom's designs are cherished the world over, but behind these fantastical creations lies an equally remarkable life.Born in the 1920s into a wealthy family and raised in Czechoslovakia by nannies, Tom had a lonely upbringing and longed for pencils, paper, paints and brushes. His childhood was short-lived when Tom and his family had to flee for their lives following the rise of Nazi Germany. It was this formative experience that would transform Tom's life. Arriving in the UK, Tom would establish himself as a creator slowly building the career that would see him dubbed 'the man who designed the seventies'.Told through the prism of Tom's incredible designs, Toymaker is a story about life, about imagination, about being in the present and existing in the past; about painting, drawing, chopping and changing; about thinking, discussing, arguing and listening. Tom's life is a tale of a century of creativity and how 'things' come to define who we are - and help us look ahead to where we're going.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE BARBELLION PRIZE 2021 'A manifesto for recalibrating' DAILY MAIL 'I can’t think of many books where the reader feels so passionately on the side of the narrator' GUARDIAN 'A profound redefinition of the very idea of vitality' FINANCIAL TIMES Josie George lives in a tiny terraced house in the urban West Midlands with her son. Since her early childhood, she has lived with the fluctuating and confusing challenge of disabling chronic illness. But Josie’s world is surprising, intricate, dynamic. She has learned what to look for: the routines of her friends at the community centre; the neighbourhood birds in flight; the slow changes in the morning light, in her small garden, in her growing son, in herself. In January 2018, Josie sets out to tell the story of her still life, over the course of a year. As the seasons shift, and the tides of her body draw in and out, Josie begins to unfurl her history. And against a world which values progress and productivity above all else, Josie sets out a quietly radical alternative: to value and treasure life for life itself, with all its great and small miracles. 'Full of kindness, A Still Life will make you a better person' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'A Still Life is joy-lit: vivid, lovestruck, hopeful and wise' MELISSA HARRISON 'Josie George is the kind of writer I strive to be ... A tough, tender, beautiful book about existing in a body in the world' ELLA RISBRIDGER 'Could not be more timely ... An immensely talented writer' LINDA GRANT

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"a stunningly lyrical exploration of a teenager coming into her power as a young woman." - United By Pop A genre-bending YA that weaves together inner-city life and a wildly dangerous fairytale universe. Rapunzella is imprisoned in an enchanted forest made of her own Afro and the might of the evil King Charming seems unstoppable. But is it? Can Rapunzella use her power to change the future? You're fifteen, you spend your time at school and at Val's hair salon with Baker, Val's son, who has eyes that are like falling off a cliff into space. The salon is a space of safety, but also of possibility and dreams... Dreams of hair so rich and alive that it grow upwards and outwards into a wild landscape, becomes trees and leaves, and houses birds and butterflies and all the secret creatures that belong in such a forest. Is there a future where such possibility and power is more than just a dream? Ella McLeod's debut merges poetry and prose in a stunningly lyrical, heart-piercingly honest exploration of a teenager coming into her power as a young woman. A bold new voice in YA fiction, Ella McLeod is a spoken word poet and actor. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Dean Atta and Kalynn Bayron. A celebration of Black hair and the power of coming into your identity. MORE PRIASE FOR RAPUNZELLA: OR DON'T TOUCH MY HAIR A Guardian BEST BOOKS pick - August 2022 "Rapunzella cleverly weaves contemporary urban life with traditional fairy tale in a story that celebrates Black hair and identity." - Just Imagine

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 JHALAK PRIZE 1964. Ceylon is on the brink of change. But Kairo is at a loose end. School is closed, the government is in disarray, the press is under threat and the religious right are flexing their muscles. Kairo’s hard-working mother blows off steam at her cha-cha-cha classes; his Trotskyite father grumbles over the state of the nation between his secret flutters on horseraces in faraway England. All Kairo wants to do is hide in his room and flick over second-hand westerns and superhero comics, or escape on his bicycle and daydream. Then he meets the magnetic teenage Jay, and his whole world is turned inside out. A budding naturalist and a born rebel, Jay keeps fish and traps birds for an aviary he is building in the garden of his grand home. The adults in Jay's life have no say in what he does or where he goes: he holds his beautiful, fragile mother in contempt, and his wealthy father seems fuelled by anger. But his Uncle Elvin, suave and worldly, is his encourager. As Jay guides him from the realm of make believe into one of hunting-guns and fast cars and introduces him to a girl — Niromi — Kairo begins to understand the price of privilege and embarks on a journey of devastating consequence. Taut and luminous, graceful and wild, Suncatcher is a poignant coming-of-age novel about difficult friendships and sudden awakenings. Mesmerizingly it charts the loss of innocence and our recurring search for love — or consolation — bringing these extraordinary lives into our own.

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Looking for adventure and continuing a process of self-discovery, Janisse Ray has repeatedly set out to immerse herself in wildness, to be wild, and to learn what wildness can teach us. From overwintering with monarch butterflies in Mexico to counting birds in Belize, the stories in Wild Spectacle capture her luckiest moments—ones of heart-pounding amazement, discovery of romance, and moving toward living more wisely. In Ray’s worst moments she crosses boundaries to encounter danger and embrace sadness.Anchored firmly in two places Ray has called home—Montana and southern Georgia—the sixteen essays here span a landscape from Alaska to Central America, connecting common elements in the ecosystems of people and place. One of her abiding griefs is that she has missed the sights of explorers like Bartram, Sacagawea, and Carver: flocks of passenger pigeons, routes of wolves, herds of bison. She craves a wilder world and documents encounters that are rare in a time of disappearing habitat, declining biodiversity, and a world too slowly coming to terms with climate change. In an age of increasingly virtual, urban life, Ray embraces the intentionality of trying to be a better person balanced with seeking out natural spectacle, abundance, and less trammeled environments. She questions what it means to travel into the wild as a woman, speculates on the impacts of ecotourism and travel in general, questions assumptions about eating from the land, and appeals to future generations to make substantive change.Wild Spectacle explores our first home, the wild earth, and invites us to question its known and unknown beauties and curiosities.

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‘A must read for all wildlife lovers’ Dominic Dyer Foxes, buzzards, crows, badgers, weasels, seals, kites – Britain and Ireland’s predators are impressive and diverse and they capture our collective imagination. But many consider them to our competition, even our enemies. The problem is that predators eat what we farm or use for sport. From foxes and ravens attacking new-born lambs to weasels eating game-bird chicks, predators compete with us, putting them directly into the firing line. Farming, fishing, sport and leisure industries want to see numbers of predators reduced, and conservation organisations also worry that predators are threatening some endangered species. Other people, though, will go to great lengths to protect them from any harm. This clashing of worlds can be intense. So, what do we do? One of the greatest challenges facing conservation today is how, when and where to control predators. It is a highly charged debate. Mary Colwell travels across the UK and Ireland to encounter the predators face to face. She watches their lives in the wild and discovers how they fit into the landscape. She talks to the scientists studying them and the wildlife lovers who want to protect them. She also meets the people who want to control them to protect their livelihoods or sporting interests. In this even-handed exploration of the issues, Mary provides a thoughtful and reasoned analysis of the debates surrounding our bittersweet relationship with predators.

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Over 25 Christmas-themed knitting patterns based on the hit Nudinits animation. Have yourself a very merry Christmas with the bare-bottomed inhabitants of Woolly Bush! It’s festive time in this fairytale village: the twinkling Christmas lights are on, the bird is in the oven, the figgy puddings are steaming away – time to sit down and have a quick stiff one with a copy of the Radio Twines – only with no clothes on! Sarah Simi, the knitter extraordinaire behind the acclaimed Nudinits: Tickled Pink stop-motion animation, presents the second instalment of cheeky humour to get your yuletide yarn around. Included are over 25 exclusive knitting patterns from the world of Nudinits so you can recreate your own Woolly Bush at home. Bursting with eccentricity, double entendres and something your grandma will raise an eyebrow to, this book appeals to humour-lovers and knitting fans alike. So slip this big package of knitting patterns to someone special this Christmas. Patterns include decorations like balloons, a wreath for your door, a glorious paperchain, three types of bauble, a large fairy for the top of your Christmas tree, a small sugar plum fairy, fairy lights, an excited elf, candy canes; food and drinks including a cheeseboard, 5 types of drinks, a cocktail shaker and cocktail glass, a retro cheese and pineapple hedgehog, a pineapple, gherkins, a lavish roast turkey platter, a cheeky gingerbread man and woman, hot chocolate, and presents including aftershave and a perfume bottle.

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Learn the basics of cartoon animation from acclaimed animator Preston Blair with Animation 1! Join acclaimed cartoon animator Preston Blair as he explains and demonstrates the magic of cartoon animation. Learn to develop a cartoon character’s shape, personality, features, and mannerisms; how to create movements, such as walking, running, skipping, and sneaking; and tips on using lines of action and creating realistic motion. From cartooning basics to more advanced animation techniques, Animation 1 is a welcome introduction for artists ready to bring their drawings to life. Full of step-by-step sketches, tips, and drawing techniques, this is a comprehensive guide that no cartoon animation enthusiast should be without. Subjects covered in Animation 1 are: Tools & Materials Construction of the Head The Stretch & Squash Principle Facial Expressions Line of Action The Skeleton Foundation Hand Construction Character Construction The “Pugnacious” Character The “Cute” Character The “Screwball” Type The “Goofy” Character Movement of Body Masses Birds Taking Flight The “Take” Movements of the Two-Legged Figure Movements of the Four-Legged Figure Front & Rear Views of Movements The Skip The Sneak The Walk & The Run Dialogue Designed for beginners, the How to Draw & Paint series offers an easy-to-follow guide that introduces artists to basic tools and materials and includes simple step-by-step lessons for a variety of projects suitable for the aspiring artist. Animation 1 allows artists to widen the scope of their abilities, demonstrating how to animate a character, from character development to movement and dialogue.

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Winner of The National Jewish Book Awards Gold­berg Prize for Debut Fic­tion.. How far would you go to hide the truth from the ones you love the most? Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to holidaymakers and move into the apartment above the bakery they own. The apartment is where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and, despite the cramped quarters, it still feels like home. Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel, and Fannie, pregnant again after recently losing a baby, is on bedrest, leaving her seven-year-old daughter Gussie in Esther’s care. After Joseph insists they take in Anna, a young woman whom he recently helped emigrate from Nazi Germany, the apartment is bursting at the seams. Esther wants nothing more than to keep her daughters close and safe but some matters are beyond her control: there’s Fannie’s risky pregnancy—not to mention her always-scheming husband, Isaac—and the fact that Stuart Williams, the heir of a hotel notorious for its anti-Semitic policies, seems to be in love with Florence. When tragedy strikes during one of Florence’s practice swims, Esther makes the shocking decision to keep the truth about Florence’s death from Fannie—at least until the baby is born. She pulls the rest of the family into an elaborate web of secret keeping and lies, forcing to the surface long-buried tensions that show us just how quickly the act of protecting those we love can turn into betrayal. Told with humour and tenderness and based on a true story, Rachel Beanland’s debut is a breathtaking meditation on the lengths we go to in order to keep our families together. At its heart, it is an uplifting portrayal of how the human spirit can endure—and even thrive—after tragedy. Praise for Florence Adler Swims Forever: ‘A wonderfully assured and completely engrossing first novel. From the very first page, I was completely invested in the lives of Florence, Gussie, Anna and the rest. Florence Adler Swims Forever has muchto say about family, loss and all the ways we have to wonder what might have been, and it does so with great skill and a deeply humane vision. I could not recommend it more highly." —Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds ‘A perfect summer read… What's remarkable is not how quickly the book hooked me, but how it held my attention during and after reading…I simply couldn't put it out of my head. I finished in two days…. I felt awe’—USA Today ‘Beanland’s novel draws the reader in… The situation she describes is poignant and the characters she develops win us over with their private grief. This is a book about the American dream. The dream is not without costs, and the dreamers are not immune to tragedy’ — New York Times Book Review

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Text in Arabic. Since I was a child I have been racing the wind on the roads of (Sijilmassa), since I overcame my little fear, and climbed the branches of the Great Oak Tree west of the town, and while I cast my frayed nets on the bird who was exhausted by the long hours of earning his living, my soul has been pushing me forward, not pushing me to try my luck in reaching what settled in it, rather it pushes me to reap the fruits of her certain convictions to definitely reach what she wanted. None of the stations that I have passed through in my life was an exception to this, even while I settled in Al Attarine School in (Fez), and becoming the most prominent, brightest and most intelligent student through my journey to seek knowledge, (Ibn Abi Mahli) the student who became famous in and around Fez, the student who was chosen by Sheikh (Al Zaari) to be handed his stick, robe and his own sandals. It is strange how all these fates were prepared for me during what was left of the sixteenth century, and even stranger how (the window of fate) have found me after that to pave my way towards my greatest dreams. The divine conditions are looming on the horizon of the days in front of me, the blessings do not cease to flow on my tongue, fingers, and the roots of my feet, and it is not long before fates respond to what concerns myself.

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'Has the power to move hearts and change minds' Guardian'Tremendously uplifting and a novel of all-too-rare power' Sunday Express'An amazing book . . . I absolutely loved it. I cried my eyes out' Tom FletcherRead the award-winning, multi-million copy bestselling phenomenon that is WONDER in this new tenth anniversary edition.'My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.'Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go.Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?A funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut - and a true global phenomenon - to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.Discover more from the World of Wonder: White Bird, a graphic novel *Soon to be a motion picture!*Auggie & Me365 Days of Wonder We're All Wonders And read more from R. J. Palacio with Pony, an unforgettable new story!

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FEATURED IN MS. MAGAZINE'S "15 BOOKS FOR KIDS THAT PROVE YOU CAN BE A FEMINIST AT ANY AGE" Anastasia Higginbotham's What You Don't Know: A Story of Liberated Childhood delves into queerness, Blackness, and the love that dismantles whiteness. It’s a book about knowing deeply that you matter—always did, always will. It’s a book about what schools get wrong and churches don’t say; but institutions are made by people and the people are evolving. It’s a book about being known and cherished by family, and living in communion with your own personal Jesus, Buddha, Spirit, Source, Father, Mother, God, breath, inner space, outer space, nothingness, and however else we name and relate to our divinity and humility in the presence of all we don’t know. Most children, gay or not, in or out, are sure to find themselves within these pages. The message that “all you need is to be you” will stay with readers long after the last page, in a book for LGBTQIA+ collections and beyond. —SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Higginbotham manages to acknowledge the bias that Demetrius faces, put the emphasis on the love he receives, and make him an empowered and confident protagonist who is grateful for help but not a passive victim. —MOMBIAN I think the days of Heather Has Two Mommies are long past. We're ready for GLBTQIA+ stories for kids that are a little bit complicated and a little bit interesting and a whole lotta fantastic. For all this, the person you turn to is Anastasia Higginbotham. —BETSY BIRD, Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library

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The very best of British and Irish nature writing selected by the natural history writer Patrick Barkham. The landscapes of Britain and Ireland, together with the creatures and plants that inhabit them, have penetrated deep in our collective imagination. From Gilbert White and Dorothy Wordsworth to Laurie Lee and Nan Shepherd, literature inspired by the natural world has become an integral part of our shared identity, and shaped our relationship with the islands we call home. In The Wild Isles, Patrick Barkham has gathered together a wide array of the very best of British and Irish nature writing, characterized by an arresting diversity of moods and voices. His choices are arranged under themes that range from birds, woods and coastlines to childhood, the seasons and urban nature, and juxtapose extracts from much-loved classics with passages by contemporary writers such as Robert Macfarlane, James Rebanks and Helen Macdonald. Here the reader will find joyful celebrations of landscape and the wildlife it nurtures, probing explorations of the environmental problems facing us today, as well as the fresh and vital perspectives of writers from underrepresented backgrounds. 'If British and Irish nature writing is to grow and endure,' writes Barkham in his introduction, 'it must be diverse, complex, multi-faceted and dynamic, and relevant to everyone who lives on this land.' Encompassing the bleak heights of the Cairngorms, the ancient woodlands of Essex, the storm-lashed islands of Ireland's west coast and the lush fields of Devon, The Wild Isles highlights nature's capacity to terrify and to delight, to soothe and to heal, to surprise, inspire and bring wonder.

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Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View of Venice, a woodcut first printed in the year 1500, presents a bird’s-eye portrait of Venice at its peak as an international hub of trade, art, and culture. An artistic and cartographic masterpiece of the Renaissance, the View depicts Venice as a vibrant, waterborne city interconnected by canals and bridges and filled with ornate buildings, elaborate gardens, and seafaring vessels. The contributors to A View of Venice: Portrait of a Renaissance City draw on a high-resolution digital scan of the over nine-foot-wide composite print to examine the complexities of this extraordinary woodcut and portrayal of early modern Venetian life. The essays show how the View constitutes an advanced material artifact of artistic, humanist, and scientific culture. They also outline the ways the print reveals information about the city’s economic and military power, religious and social infrastructures, and cosmopolitan residents. Featuring methodological advancements in the digital humanities, A View of Venice highlights the reality and myths of a topographically unique, mystical city and its place in the world. Contributors. Karen-edis Barzman, Andrea Bellieni, Patricia Fortini Brown, Valeria Cafà, Stanley Chojnacki, Tracy E. Cooper, Giada Damen, Julia A. DeLancey, Piero Falchetta, Ludovica Galeazzo, Maartje van Gelder, Jonathan Glixon, Richard Goy, Anna Christine Swartwood House, Kristin Love Huffman, Holly Hurlburt, Claire Judde de Larivière, Blake de Maria, Martina Massaro, Cosimo Monteleone, Monique O’Connell, Mary Pardo, Giorgio Tagliaferro, Saundra Weddle, Bronwen Wilson, Rangsook Yoon

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“Jay B. Sauceda is creating a new kind of literature for the state, a visual literature that is as significant and powerful as John Graves’s Goodbye to a River, Robert Caro’s The Path to Power, Edna Ferber’s Giant, or T. R. Fehrenbach’s Lone Star. His compositions accomplish what all great work does—offering a new way of seeing things so familiar that we have stopped seeing them.” —Rick Bass in Texas MonthlyOn the ground, Texas is a vast patchwork of natural and human landscapes—wide open spaces contrasting with sprawling cities; the watery worlds of rivers, lakes, and coastlines giving way to the arid vistas of plains and deserts. From the air, though, Texas takes on a wholeness that unites the landscapes that people manufacture with the land that nature still sculpts. This is the Texas that Jay B. Sauceda portrays in A Mile above Texas, a book of stunning aerial photographs that document the entire perimeter of the state.Sauceda flew 3,822 miles, over five days in 2015, in a single-engine Cessna. He shot more than 44,000 photos from the plane, via handheld cameras and GoPros attached to the wings. This book presents the very best of those photographs in sections that cover each leg of the trip: Victoria to Marshall, Marshall to Dalhart, Dalhart to El Paso, El Paso to Marfa, and Marfa to Mustang Beach. With fresh views of Texas’s beaches and rivers, woodlands and deserts, cities and farms, A Mile above Texas offers an encompassing view of the state that perhaps only flyers and migratory birds have enjoyed before now.

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Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared. The older of her two daughters, Zadie, should have seen it coming, because she can literally see things coming. But not even her psychic abilities were able to prevent their mother from vanishing one morning. Zadie's estranged younger sister, Finn, can't see into the future, but she has an uncannily good memory, so good that she remembers not only her own memories, but the echoes of memories other people have left behind. On the afternoon of her graduation party, Finn is seized by an "echo" more powerful than anything she's experienced before: a woman singing a song she recognizes, a song about a bird... When Finn wakes up alone in an aviary with no idea of how she got there, she realizes who the memory belongs to: Nora. Now, it's up to Finn to convince her sister that not only is their mom still out there, but that she wants to be found. Against Zadie's better judgement, she and Finn hit the highway, using Finn's echoes to retrace Nora's footsteps and uncover the answer to the question that has been haunting them for years: Why did she leave? But the more time Finn spends in their mother's past, the harder it is for her to return to the present, to return to herself. As Zadie feels her sister start to slip away, she will have to decide what lengths she is willing to go to to find their mother, knowing that if she chooses wrong, she could lose them both for good.

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