Animal Science

As recently as 11,000 years ago - "near time" to geologists - mammoths, mastodons, gomphotheres, ground sloths, giant armadillos, native camels and horses, the dire wolf, and many other large mammals roamed North America. In what has become one of science's greatest riddles, these large animals vanished in North and South America around the time humans arrived at the end of the last great ice age.

Harper lives in the City of Clouds, an enchanting place where it rains every day and an umbrella is always a good idea. With her aunt Sassy, her beloved cat, Midnight, and all of her neighbors in the Tall Apartment Block, every day is full of possibility. But when every cat in the city goes missing - including Midnight - Harper is determined to find all of the precious pets. And she’ll need a magic, flying umbrella to help in her search.

When a fortuneteller’s tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller’s mysterious answer (An elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that Peter can hardly dare to believe it. But it is - all of it - true.

In this sequel to The Last Archer and The First Fowler, Jo Shanks is charged with aiding Emma on her mission to unite the secret citadels in their fight against the Preylord slavers. Alongside Cole and Heyna Blackstar, Jo and Emma must enter into the heart of a community in confusion. Something is wrong at Blackstone Citadel. Can Jo and his friends solve the mystery and enlist Blackstone's aid in time to rendezvous with their allies fighting for the Mended Wood?

When one of the time-traveling crew is running for student-body president at Manchester Middle School, Rush Revere takes them back in history to witness the election and leadership of our first three presidents.

Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood - facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf - his casual questioning took on an urgency His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong.

Already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in the Guardian, We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances. This touching memoir is set to be a major motion picture starring Scarlett Johansson and Matt Damon, in theaters December 23, 2011.

Polar bears look cuddly, but beware! Their curved claws, powerful jaws, and jagged teeth all help them attack and kill prey. Discover how the world’s biggest land predator finds its next meal.

Renowned social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson take a compelling look into how the brain is wired for self-justification. When we make mistakes, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth. And so we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right - a belief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong. Backed by years of research and delivered in energetic prose, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinating explanation of self-deception.

Frostpaw was told to trust no cat, but a brutal attack has left her gravely injured, and she’ll need to depend on someone. When help arrives in the form of a young warrior, she convinces him to protect her as she follows StarClan’s cryptic directions toward the roots of RiverClan, where Riverstar has promised she’ll find the answers she’s been so desperately seeking.

Bob Irwin's extraordinary life as a wildlife pioneer, father to wildlife warrior Steve and founder of Australia Zoo, told in his own words. Bob Irwin grew up in the Dandenong Ranges, where his passion for wildlife was born. A near-death experience while working as a plumber made Bob realise he needed to follow his dreams, so he and his wife, Lyn, moved their young family to Queensland, where they opened a wildlife park on the Sunshine Coast. The Irwin children grew up in around the Beerwah Reptile and Wildlife Park....

It's just a regular day when ordinary kids Jack and Annie are whisked away in the magic tree house to the Galapagos islands, where they must save a giant tortoise from an erupting volcano! But what do Jack and Annie know about saving turtles?! Plenty, thanks to some magic that makes them experts. A helicopter ride, rushing lava, and a whole lot of determination make this one adventure Jack and Annie will never forget!

Long before they were spirit animals, the four were still legends - Great Beasts, the most powerful beings to roam the wilds of Erdas. Aided by a brave resistance of humans and animals, they gave their lives to protect the world from a threat more dangerous than any it had seen before: their own kind. Wise and cunning, gentle and ruthless, these are tales of the true heroes and villains in the war that started it all.

A cowardly retired athlete is asked to go above and beyond the call of duty when an alien animal finds its way into the country. Will he regret his decision to pretend to be brave or finally get his mission to space like he's dreamed of?

When eight-year-old Kirstie brings home a strange egg from the Scottish shore, her family never expects it to hatch. But the next day, Kirstie discovers a baby sea monster swimming in her bathtub! Part horse, part toad, part turtle and part crocodile, he's the oddest-looking creature Kirstie's family has ever seen. Only Kirstie's grandfather knows what the beastie really is: a Water Horse! This lovable creature is the perfect pet. The only trouble is, he can't stop growing.

Explore the amazing world of animals by listening to "3,000 Animal Fun Facts for Kids and Their Adults." More than 3,000 fascinating facts about animals from all over the world are included in this fascinating book, which is a veritable gold mine of information. This collection of trivia is meant to amuse and inform listeners of all ages, and it offers endless hours of fun and learning. Listeners will go to the depths of the ocean and the magnificent African savannah on an exciting adventure through the animal kingdom.

The fate of all Clanhood hangs in the balance. After killing Harelight and pronouncing himself leader of RiverClan, Splashtail's thirst for power has only grown. Soon his greed threatens the safety of not only RiverClan but all Clans. Yet Splashtail's trickery knows no bounds, and the Clans find themselves in more danger than they could have imagined. Only one thing is certain: They will have to work as one to defeat Splashtail before he tears them apart.

With three of the goddess Durga's quests behind them, only one prophecy now stands in the way of Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan breaking the tiger's curse. But the trio's greatest challenge awaits them: A life-endangering pursuit in search of Durga's final gift, the Rope of Fire, on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It's a race against time - and the evil sorcerer Lokesh - in this eagerly anticipated fourth volume in the best-selling Tiger's Curse series.

James Henry Trotter is about to go on the adventure of a lifetime. James lives with his awful Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, two of the meanest people you can imagine! Life isn't much fun at all, until something peculiar happens at the bottom of his garden. A peach at the very top of a tree begins to grow...and grow...and grow! Inside are seven very unusual insects—all waiting to take James on a magical journey. But where will this very special Giant Peach take James and his new friends? And what will happen to his horrible aunts if they stand in their way?

After losing one of his nine lives, ThunderClan’s leader, Bramblestar, became intent on rooting out and exiling cats he claims are traitors to the warrior code. But some cats know the truth: This isn’t the real Bramblestar, and their leader’s true spirit is desperate to return to its rightful place before the rising tension among the five Clans erupts into outright war.