Based on a true story, Fiery Night is a heartwarming, empowering picture book about a little boy's devotion to his pet goat, Willie, and how they gave each other strength during the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Young Justin Butterfield was awakened in the night by neighbors warning his family of the coming fire. The Butterfields did what they could to save their home but eventually had to flee. Justin insisted on taking Willie with them, even though the frightened goat made it more difficul...

Studying Antarctica has never been for the fainthearted."Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman, Captain L. E. G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons. In March 1912, returning from the Pole, he walked willingly to his death in a blizzard to try to save his comrades, beset by hardship."—Inscription on a cross placed near presumed final resting place of Antarctic explorer Lawrence "Titus" Oates, The Terra Nova Expedition, 1910-1913"We have one survival bag for every two...

In this second book in the leveled Steam Street Kids series, a children’s springtime backyard adventure leads to intriguing discoveries about the usefulness of ramps.Well-known nonfiction author Sally M. Walker and illustrator Julie Kwon introduce basic science concepts in a setting of imagination and play that makes them easy to understand, just as ramps make many things easier to do. It’s shaping up to be a great day! Grandma has come to whisk Cora and her little...

"A highly readable adventure that champions critical thinking and creativity." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)Keep kids curious with this exciting first adventure in the STEAM Street Kids early-reader series, following Cora on a day of fun, science-based adventures at the beach.Pack your beach bag and join Cora and Gran for some discoveries by the shore! Test sand to figure out what kind makes the best castle. Find out how sea ...

High tide, low tide . . . what happens when the tides flow? An award-winning nonfiction author offers the youngest explorers a closer look at nature’s wonders in action.When ocean waters face the moon, waves move toward the sandy dunes and salty water floods the beach. Driftwood bobs on top of waves and fish swim freely below. But what happens when the water retreats and the tide is low? Step by step, Sally M. Walker’s simple narration lets the youngest oceanograph...

Bits of rock, plants, and living creatures—what are they all ingredients for? An award-winning nonfiction author offers the youngest explorers a closer look at nature’s wonders in action.Rocks crumble, battered by ice, wind, and water. Plants wilt, trees fall, and old bones, fins, and feathers break apart. What then? Step by step, Sally M. Walker’s simple narration lets the youngest soil scientists learn how dirt is created, becoming home to animals as well as cond...

Rolling boulders here and there . . . In the launch of her first board-book series, an award-winning nonfiction author brings the youngest explorers close to nature’s wonders in action.Mighty mountains reach up high, until craggy cliffs tumble and boulders settle everywhere. But how do big, jagged rocks turn into the soft sand we love at the beach? Step by step, Sally M. Walker’s simple, scientifically accurate narration lets the youngest ...

River flowing, where’s it going? In the launch of her first board-book series, an award-winning nonfiction author brings the youngest explorers close to nature’s wonders in action.Water springs from the ground, creeks gurgle downhill, snow and rain make streams bigger, and then you have a river. But where does that river go? Step by step, Sally M. Walker’s simple, scientifically accurate narration lets the youngest hydrologists follow wate...

A historic mine fire traps hundreds of men underground in a gripping work of narrative nonfiction meticulously researched and told by a master of the genre.It is November 13, 1909, and the coal miners of Cherry, Illinois, head to work with lunch pails in hand, just like any other day. By seven a.m., 484 of these men are underground, starting jobs that range from taking care of the mules that haul coal to operating cages that raise and lower workers and coal to chis...

The acclaimed team that brought us 1968 turns to another year that shook the world with a collection of nonfiction writings by renowned young-adult authors.“The Rights of Man.” What does that mean? In 1789 that question rippled all around the world. Do all men have rights—not just nobles and kings? What then of enslaved people, women, the original inhabitants of the Americas? In the new United States a bill of rights was passed, while in France the nation ...

YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults FinalistOne of the Best Books of the Year: Chicago Public Library, School Library Journal, Science Books & FilmsBright white teeth. Straight leg bones. Awkwardly contorted arm bones. On a hot summer day in 2005, Dr. Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution peered into an excavated grave, carefully examining the fragile skeleton that had been buried there for four hundred years. "H...

On July 28, 1996, two young men stumbled upon human bones in the shallow water along the shore of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. Was this an unsolved murder? The remnants of some settler's or Native American's unmarked grave? What was the story behind this skeleton?Within weeks, scientific testing yielded astonishing news: the bones were more than 9,000 years old! The skeleton instantly escalated from interesting to extraordinary. He was an individual who could prov...