National Network for Equitable Library Service

There's a monster out there. It's huge, powerful, and it's been around forever. It can destroy a human being in hundreds of different ways. It's energy! Energy can make some very interesting things happen, and it's stored up all around us. It's in the tiny sea creatures that died hundreds of millions of years ago and eventually became oil. It's in the guillotine that slides down and chops your head off. And you'll need lots of energy if you plan to fire your teacher from a cannon.

Gazelle-gnawing lions! Chum-chomping sharks! Man-mashing elephants! The world is filled with angry animals. But which ones really pose a threat to humans? Whether it's the African plain, the Indian jungle, or the South Pacific Ocean, deadly animals can be found prowling about. Predators are natural to every environment-and only the quickest and cleverest prey can avoid becoming meals. So while a banana-munching monkey might escape the razor-sharp claws of a stalking tiger, a fat cow wading into a piranha-infested river is sure to become lunch.

The Terrible Truth about Time will get your ticker tocking! Don't wait another second to find answers to these questions. What happens if you go too close to a black hole? How do flies tell time? Why do the years zoom by more quickly as you get older? If you can stomach the bizarre side of science, then read on as Nick Arnold clocks up some terrible time secrets. Find out who was killed for changing the calendar. Make your own crazy clock. Meet the tortured time geniuses. And check out your chances of taking a time-travel trip.

Science doesn't have to be all about boring lab reports and tiresome test tube measurements'it can be fun, explosive, and really gross. Just think about the old alchemists who tried to turn urine into gold or the acids that can burn flesh right off the bone. Not to mention dangerous metal elements, fiery reactions, and gasses that could make anyone gag. But there are safer ways to experiment with the more horrible aspects of science, and all the necessary ingredients can be collected throughout your home- under proper parental supervision, of course.

Ever wonder what the real story is behind all those stars and planets in the sky? Could there really be alien invaders? Follow Oddblob the alien on his out of this world tour and you'll be an expert on everything galactic in no time. Oddblob will tell you why you can't be in outer space without a space suit (you'll explode!), why you definitely don't want to stay in the Neutron Star Hotel, and why you'd better bring both your sunscreen and your mittens if you plan on visiting Mercury. You'll learn everything strange and wacky about the galaxy we call home.

Repulsive regurgitations, icky intestines, boisterous bowels, loathsome livers, attacking acids-all of these are involved in the foul science of digestion. Can you stomach it? If not, keep a barf bucket handy! After eating your breakfast, lunch, dinner or midnight snack, you probably don't think much about that food until you visit the bathroom several hours later. But in the meantime, the edibles you gobbled up take an amazing journey-a trip through the fizzy digestive tract that's also really, really gross.

A fifth-generation Texan and longtime cattle rancher, John R. Erickson is the Lamplighter Award-winning author of over 50 books on Western life. In The Modern Cowboy, he paints a vivid and comprehensive portrait of today's cowboy- with his independent nature, practical garb, and legendary horse sense. Enhancing his narrative with good-natured humor, Erickson describes what the cowboy must do during each season of the year. The modern cowboy's hardscrabble existence comes alive under the power of Norman Dietz's masterful narration.

This collection of 24 essays is a perfect introduction to the world of Lewis Thomas. Topics ranging from the riddle of smelling to nuclear proliferation carry the gentle, unassuming persuasiveness that characterizes the author's work. Here we are also introduced to the concerns that have distinguished Thomas' literary career: the natural altruism of organisms; the inter-relatedness of all creatures; the fragility of the human species; the uneasiness of life on a threatened planet.

"When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. This ancient proverb of the Kikuyu people, a tribal group in Kenya, Africa, is as true today as when the words were first spoken, perhaps thousands of years ago. Its essence is simplicity--when the large fight, it is the small who suffer most. And when it comes to war, the smallest, the most vulnerable, are the children. When Elephants Fight presents the stories of five children--Annu, Jimmy, Nadja, Farooq and Toma--from five very different and distinct conflicts--Sri Lanka, Uganda, Sarajevo, Afghanistan and the Sudan.

When three heroic men traveled aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft bound for the moon, the entire world sat glued to their television sets in suspense. But few knew just how much it took to get that far. To put a man on the moon, thousands of people diligently worked behind the scenes. Countless preparations had to be made and no detail, however small, could be overlooked-the lives of the crewmen were at stake.