National Parks of the U.S.A.


Kate Siber - 2018
    Explore Florida's river-laced Everglades, travel down the white water rapids of the Grand Canyon, trek across the deserts of Death Valley and scale the soaring summits of the Rocky Mountains with this book that brings you up close to nature's greatest adventures. Packed with maps and fascinating facts about the flora and fauna unique to each park, this fully-illustrated coast-to-coast journey documents the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places—and shows why they should be preserved for future generations to enjoy. With maps and information about flora and fauna found in each of the 21 icon parks portrayed, this is a fantastic celebration of the great outdoors. Parks include: Acadia, Badlands, Big Bend, Biscayne, Bryce Canyon, Channel Islands, Death Valley, Denali, Everglades, Glacier, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky, Mountains, Hawaii volcanoes, Isle Royal, Mesa Verde, Olympic, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Virgin Islands, Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Pedal Power: How One Community Became the Bicycle Capital of the World


Allan Drummond - 2017
    In the 1970's, Amsterdam was so crowded with vehicles that bicyclists could hardly move, but moms and kids relied on their bikes to get around the city. PEDAL POWER is the story of the people who led protests against the unsafe streets and took over a vehicles-only tunnel on their bikes, showing what a little pedal power could do! Author and illustrator Allan Drummond returns with the story of the people that paved the way for safe biking around the world.

Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal


Sue Eisenfeld - 2015
    In this travel narrative, she tells the story of her on-the-ground discovery of the relics and memories a few thousand mountain residents left behind when the government used eminent domain to kick the people off their land to create the park.With historic maps and notes from hikers who explored before her, Eisenfeld and her husband hike, backpack, and bushwhack the hills and the hollows of this beloved but misbegotten place, searching for stories. Descendants recount memories of their ancestors “grieving themselves to death,” and they continue to speak of their people’s displacement from the land as an untold national tragedy.Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal is Eisenfeld’s personal journey into the park’s hidden past based on her off-trail explorations. She describes the turmoil of residents’ removal as well as the human face of the government officials behind the formation of the park. In this conflict between conservation for the benefit of a nation and private land ownership, she explores her own complicated personal relationship with the park—a relationship she would not have without the heartbreak of the thousands of people removed from their homes.Purchase the audio edition.

Tahoe beneath the Surface: The Hidden Stories of America's Largest Mountain Lake


Scott Lankford - 2010
    It helped in the American conquest of California, the launch of the Republican Party, and the ignition of the western Indian wars. And along the way, Lake Tahoe even found the time to invent the ski industry, spark the sexual revolution, and win countless Academy Awards. Tahoe beneath the Surface brings this hidden history of America s largest mountain lake to life through the stories of its most celebrated residents and visitors over the last ten thousand years. It mixes local Washoe Indian legends with tales of murderous Mafia dons, and Rat Pack tunes with Steinbeck novels. It establishes Tahoe as one of America s literary hot spots by tracing the steps of more than a dozen authors including Bertrand Russell, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Michael Ondaatje. Tahoe beneath the Surface reveals how the lake transformed the lives of conservationists like John Muir, humorists like Mark Twain, and Hollywood icons like Frank Sinatra. It even touches upon some of the darker aspects of American history, including anti-Chinese racism and the Kennedy assassination. Despite the impact Lake Tahoe has had on America, environmental threats loom large, and Tahoe Blue a term that Lankford uses to encompass the whole range of life, beauty, and meaning the lake represents grows increasingly vulnerable. In Tahoe beneath the Surface, human history and natural history combine in a most engaging way, one that will both inform and inspire all who would keep Tahoe blue.

The Hedgehog Handbook


Sally Coulthard - 2018
    This shy, snuffling, enigmatic animal has captured the imagination of children and adults for centuries – from Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggywinkle to Sonic the Hedgehog.Full to the brim with fascinating insights and countryside lore, The Hedgehog Handbook explores different facets of this much-admired mammal – from its wildlife habits to its literary heritage, how different cultures have viewed the hedgehog and what we can do to help preserve this icon of rural life. Fun, sweet and warm hearted, The Hedgehog Handbook is a month by month celebration of one of the countryside’s best-loved creatures. Packed with inspirational quotes, entertaining facts, folklore and literary references, it’s the perfect gift for anyone with a penchant for prickles.

Michelle Obama: A Life


New Word City - 2011
    The direct descendent of slaves, she graduated from Princeton University and the Harvard Law School, and she seemed primed for a life of prestige and wealth. Then she left that path for a life of public service and marriage to Barack Obama. Here’s her inspiring story.

Ghosts in the Forest (Kindle Single)


Corinne Purtill - 2015
    They did not know that the war they were fleeing had in fact ended—25 years earlier. Corinne Purtill was one of the first journalists to meet the families upon their incredible return to society. Years later she returned to Cambodia to learn the truth about their time on the run. What she found was a darker and more complicated tale than the one they first shared, a story of terror, isolation, fierce loyalty, appalling choices and murder. The result is a story that examines the unyielding human need for family and connection and the meaning of survival. Corinne Purtill is a journalist who has reported around the world for publications including Quartz, GlobalPost, CNN, Salon and the Cambodia Daily. She lives in California with her family. Cover design by Hannah Perrine Mode

Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker


Patricia Hruby Powell - 2013
    Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine's powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse


Charlie Mackesy - 2019
    The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared millions of times online - perhaps you've seen them? They've also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. They sometimes even appear on lamp posts and on cafe and bookshop windows. Perhaps you saw the boy and mole on the Comic Relief T-shirt, Love Wins?Here, you will find them together in this book of Charlie's most-loved drawings, adventuring into the Wild and exploring the thoughts and feelings that unite us all.

Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service


Annette Bay Pimentel - 2016
      Tie Sing was born in the mountains. The mountains were in his blood. But because he was of Chinese descent at a time in America when to be Chinese meant working in restaurants or laundries, Tie Sing’s prospects were limited. But he had bigger plans. He began cooking for mapmakers and soon built a reputation as the best trail cook in California.   When millionaire Stephen Mather began his quest to create a national park service in 1915, he invited a group of influential men—writers, tycoons, members of Congress, and even a movie star—to go camping in the Sierras. Tie Sing was hired to cook.   Tie Sing planned diligently. He understood the importance of this trip. But when disaster struck—twice!—and Tie Sing’s supplies were lost, it was his creative spirit and quick mind that saved the day. His sumptuous menus had to be struck and Tie Sing had to start over in order to feed the thirty people in the group for ten whole days. His skills were tested and Tie Sing rose to the challenge.   On the last night, he fed not just the campers' bodies, but also their minds, reminding them to remember and protect the mountains.   2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, created by Congress on August 25, 1916.   Today, you can hike to Sing Peak, named for Tie Sing, in Yosemite National Park.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women


Elena Favilli - 2016
    This book inspires girls with the stories of great women, from Elizabeth I to Serena Williams.

Death in Zion National Park: Stories of Accidents and Foolhardiness in Utah's Grand Circle


Randi Minetor - 2017
    Prior to that, the steep, narrow route to Angels Landing led to at least five fatalities. Numerous people have found that high, exposed places in Zion-such as rim trails-are bad places to be in lightning storms. Death in Zion National Park collects some of the most gripping accounts in park history of the unfortunate events caused by natural forces or human folly.

Poems to Live Your Life By


Chris Riddell - 2018
    Chris Riddell brings them to life with his exquisite, intricate artwork in this beautiful anthology.This book features famous poems, old and new, and a few surprises. Classic verses from William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, W. B. Yeats and Christina Rossetti sit alongside poems from Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy, Neil Gaiman and Roger McGough to create the ultimate collection.

No Wrong Turns: Cycling the World, Part One: Paris to Sydney


Chris Pountney - 2017
    It is the start of an ambitious attempt to become perhaps the first person ever to circumnavigate the planet using only a bicycle and boats. With a list of seven challenges to guide him (but no real map), he heads east towards Asia and Australia. The Sydney Opera House is his goal. The story follows Chris as he tackles snowy mountain passes in Turkey, wades across rivers in Tajikistan, eats strange cheeses in Mongolia, and meets with incredible kindness just about everywhere he goes. He lives a simple life - sleeping in a tent, talking to his bike, consuming a really unbelievable number of biscuits, and all the time stubbornly refusing to have anything whatsoever to do with motor vehicles (or escalators). But can he overcome all of the visa deadlines, the breakdowns, the bad roads, the headwinds, the kamikaze kangaroos, and the surprisingly frequent danger of being distracted by members of the opposite sex, to successfully pedal all of the way to Sydney?

Maps


Aleksandra Mizielińska - 2012
    It features not only borders, cities, rivers, and peaks, but also places of historical and cultural interest, eminent personalities, iconic animals and plants, cultural events, and many more fascinating facts associated with every region of our planet.