Discover the incredible story of the search for life on Mars, told from the unique perspective of Curiosity, the Mars Rover sent to explore the red planet.Markus Motum's stylish illustrations and diagrams reveal how a robot travelled 350,000,000 miles to explore a planet where no human has ever been.

    If you had reindeer hair, it could help you stay afloat in water. And if you had a porcupine's hair, no bully would ever bother you again! WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL HAIR? is a follow-up to the adorable WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH? Each spread will feature a photographic image of the animal and its hair on the left and an illustration of a child with that animal's hair on the right. As in ANIMAL TEETH, the illustrations will be humorous and will accompany informative text.

    Frizzle's class is drawing dinosaurs. But Dorothy Ann's picture is of her pet parrot. Ralphie tells her a parrot is a bird, not a dinosaur. Who's right? When Ms. Frizzle and her class hop on the Magic School Bus to try to find the answer to this question, they are transported back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. Climb on board the Magic School Bus and learn all kinds of facts about dinosaurs!

    Their creations are some of the most enduring (the windshield wiper) and best loved (the chocolate chip cookie). What inspired these women, and just how did they turn their ideas into realities?Features women inventors Ruth Wakefield, Mary Anderson, Stephanie Kwolek, Bette Nesmith Graham, Patsy O. Sherman, Ann Moore, Grace Murray Hopper, Margaret E. Knight, Jeanne Lee Crews, and Valerie L. Thomas, as well as young inventors ten-year-old Becky Schroeder and eleven-year-old Alexia Abernathy. Illustrated in vibrant collage by Caldecott Honor artist Melissa Sweet.

    A tiny leak could shoot pressurized water straight through the men like bullets! A single spark could cause their oxygen tanks to explode! No one had ever dived lower than a few hundred feet...and come back. But Otis and Will were determined to become the first people to see what the deep ocean looks like.This suspenseful story from acclaimed author Barb Rosenstock with mesmerizing watercolors by award-winning artist Katherine Roy will put you right in the middle of the spine-tingling, record-setting journey down, down into the deep.

    Who to see, what to eat, and how produce is grown--it's all so exciting, fresh, and delicious. Readers are invited to peruse the stands and inspect vendors' wares with poems like "Farmer Greg's Free-Range Eggs," "Summer Checklist," and "Necessary Mess."Bright and vibrant, this is the perfect guide for little ones to take with them on marketing day to inspire literacy and healthy eating.A pleasing window into the world of the farmers' market -- School Library Journal, starred review Sprightly illustrations and engaging rhymes will leave readers eager to sample market bounty -- Kirkus ReviewsThis cheerful collection of verse offers an enticing introduction to farmers' markets -- Booklist

    in full color. "The drama of natural disasters provides prime material to entice young independent readers. In this volume, the account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius describes village life 2,000 years ago, the eruption itself and its aftermath, and the excitement when the buried town is rediscovered centuries later. A lively and factual glimpse of a devastating moment in history, in an accessible, attractive package."--Publishers Weekly.

    "A good introduction to the subject."––BL. 1994 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children 1995 (NSTA/CBC)

    “That’s Mary Garber. She doesn’t care who you are, but if you do something good, she’ll write about you.”Mary Garber was a pioneering sports journalist in a time where women were rarely a part of the newspaper business. Women weren’t even allowed to sit in the press boxes at sporting events, so Mary was forced to sit with the coaches’ wives. But that didn’t stop her.In a time when African-American sports were not routinely covered, Mary went to the games and wrote about them. Garber was a sportswriter for fifty-six years and was the first woman to receive the Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award, presented for major contributions in sports journalism. And now, every year the Association of Women in Sports Media presents the Mary Garber Pioneer Award in her honor to a role model for women in sports media.Sure to inspire future journalists, athletes, and any child who has a dream, this illustrated biography of Mary Garber captures her feisty and determined spirit and brings her story to life.

    They work hard, surrounded by top security and sworn to secrecy, until finally they take their creation far out into the desert to test it, and afterward the world will never be the same.

    That’s what everyone wonders when they see Niagara . . . How close will their courage let them get to it? At the turn of the nineteenth century, a retired sixty-two-year-old charm school instructor named Annie Edson Taylor, seeking fame and fortune, decided to do something that no one in the world had ever done before—she would go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. Come meet the Queen of the Falls and witness with your own eyes her daring ride!

    But her indomitable will and the help of a devoted teacher empower Helen to triumph over incredible adversity. This amazing true story is finally brought to the beginner reader level.

    But by 1844, not a single one of these magnificent birds was alive.In this stunningly illustrated non-fiction picture book, award-winning author and illustrator Jan Thornhill tells the tragic story of these birds that “weighed as much as a sack of potatoes and stood as tall as a preteen’s waist.” Their demise came about in part because of their anatomy. They could swim swiftly underwater, but their small wings meant they couldn’t fly and their feet were so far back on their bodies, they couldn’t walk very well. Still the birds managed to escape their predators much of the time … until humans became seafarers.Great Auks were pursued first by Vikings, then by Inuit, Beothuk and finally European hunters. Their numbers rapidly dwindled. They became collectors’ items — their skins were stuffed for museums, to be displayed along with their beautiful eggs. (There are some amazing stories about these stuffed auks — one was stolen from a German museum during WWII by Russian soldiers; another was flown to Iceland and given a red-carpet welcome at the airport.)Although undeniably tragic, the final demise of the Great Auk led to the birth of the conservation movement. Laws were eventually passed to prevent the killing of birds during the nesting season, and similar laws were later extended to other wildlife species.

    And why not? He was a natural at football, basketball, and, of course, baseball. But beyond athletic skill, it was his strength of character that secured his place in sports history. In 1947 Jackie joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the long-time color barrier in major league baseball. It was tough being first- not only did "fans" send hate mail but some of his own teammates refused to accept him. Here is an inspiring sports biography, with black-and-white illustrations throughout.

    Beetles squeak and beetles glow.Beetles stink, beetles sprint, beetles walk on water.With legs, antennae, horns, beautiful shells, knobs, and other oddities—what’s notto like about beetles?The beetle world is vast: one out of every four living things on earth is a beetle.There are over 350,000 different species named so far and scientists suspect there maybe as many as a million.From the goliath beetle that weighs one fourth of a pound to the nine inch longtitan beetle, award-winning author-illustrator Steve Jenkins presents a fascinating arrayof these intriguing insects and the many amazing adaptations they have made tosurvive.