The Gecko & Sticky are a fabulous crime-fighting duo! This quartet of funny adventures will appeal to fans of superheroes both young and old, and would make terrific all-family read-alouds. "Don't move a muscle!" shouts a strangely clad crook in the act of robbing a bank. But of course somebody does. That somebody is Dave Sanchez, and the crook is none other than the dastardly Damien Black, fresh out of prison and back to his villainous ways. But Dave and his gecko sidekick, Sticky, are on the case, and this time they have a trick up their sleeve--literally! It's an Aztec wristband that give its wearer powers like invisibility and flight. Asombroso, right? But power alone does not a superhero make, and they'll have to learn how to use it if they want to defeat their nemesis not once--but twice. Don't miss all the Gecko & Sticky adventures: 1. The Villain's Lair 2. The Greatest Power, 3. Sinister Substitute 4. The Power Potion
Initially delighted by an unpopular frog-dissecting teacher's absence, Dave becomes increasingly suspicious of a substitute's fascination with pet geckos and realizes that the substitute is the nefarious treasure hunter Damien Black in disguise.
The Gecko & Sticky are a fabulous crime-fighting duo! This quartet of funny adventures will appeal to fans of superheroes both young and old, and would make terrific all-family read-alouds. Dave Sanchez, crime-fighting courier, has just been handed the scariest package he's ever seen, and it's addressed to none other than the dastardly Damien Black! Dave is well award that he should deliver the package, but when he sees the evil-looking potion inside, he knows he can't. So he comes up with a totally clever ruse to trick the villain and . . . it backfires. Big-time. Soon he's facing off with six-horned goats, terrifying tarantulas, a java-junkie monkey--and, of course, Damien Black! Don't miss the other Gecko & Sticky Adventures: 1. The Villain's Lair, 2. The Greatest Power, 3. Sinsister Substitute, and 4. The Power Potion.
You are surrounded by stickiness. With every step you take, air molecules cling to you and slow you down; the effect is harder to ignore in water. When you hit the road, whether powered by pedal or engine, you rely on grip to keep you safe. The Post-it note and glue in your desk drawer. The non-stick pan on your stove. The fingerprints linked to your identity. The rumbling of the Earth deep beneath your feet, and the ice that transforms waterways each winter. All of these things are controlled by tiny forces that operate on and between surfaces, with friction playing the leading role. In Sticky, Laurie Winkless explores some of the ways that friction shapes both the manufactured and natural worlds, and describes how our understanding of surface science has given us an ability to manipulate stickiness, down to the level of a single atom. But this apparent success doesn't tell the whole story. Each time humanity has pushed the boundaries of science and engineering, we've discovered that friction still has a few surprises up its sleeve. So do we really understand this force? Can we say with certainty that we know how a gecko climbs, what's behind our sense of touch, or why golf balls, boats and aircraft move as they do? Join Laurie as she seeks out the answers from experts scattered across the globe, uncovering a stack of scientific mysteries along the way.
Even superheroes have problems. That’s what Nolan discovers when he meets Chase Morton, the boy who plays his favorite TV superhero on The Gecko and Sticky. Chase is being hounded by a sleazy tabloid reporter who is evil! Sneaky! A liar! So Nolan vows to expose the truth on Shredderman.com. After all, superheroes have to stick together in the fight for truth and justice. Oh, yeah!
Even superheroes have problems. That’s what Nolan discovers when he meets Chase Morton, the boy who plays his favorite TV superhero on The Gecko and Sticky. Chase is being hounded by a sleazy tabloid reporter who is evil! Sneaky! A liar! So Nolan vows to expose the truth on Shredderman.com. After all, superheroes have to stick together in the fight for truth and justice. Oh, yeah!
From the award-winning author of The Running Dream and Flipped comes a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp. 3:47 a.m. That’s when they come for Wren Clemmens. She’s hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who’ve gone so far off the rails, their parents don’t know what to do with them anymore. This is wilderness therapy camp. Eight weeks of survivalist camping in the desert. Eight weeks to turn your life around. Yeah, right. The Wren who arrives in the Utah desert is angry and bitter, and blaming everyone but herself. But angry can’t put up a tent. And bitter won’t start a fire. Wren’s going to have to admit she needs help if she’s going to survive. "I read Wild Bird in one long, mesmerized gulp. Wren will break your heart—and then mend it." —Nancy Werlin, National Book Award finalist for The Rules of Survival "Van Draanen’s Wren is real and relatable, and readers will root for her." —VOYA, starred review
When Jessica is told she’ll never run again, she puts herself back together—and learns to dream bigger than ever before. The acclaimed author of Flipped delivers a powerful and healing story. Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She’s not comforted by the news that she’ll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope, Jessica feels that she’s both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don’t know what to say act like she’s not there. Jessica’s embarrassed to realize that she’s done the same to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she’s missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her. With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that’s not enough for her now. She doesn’t just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her. “Inspirational. The pace of Van Draanen’s prose matches Jessica’s at her swiftest. Readers will zoom through the book just as Jessica blazes around the track. A lively and lovely story.” —Kirkus Reviews
A classic he-said-she-said romantic comedy! This updated anniversary edition offers story-behind-the-story revelations from author Wendelin Van Draanen. The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. Juli says: “My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.” He says: “It’s been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.” But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down: just as Bryce is thinking that there’s maybe more to Juli than meets the eye, she’s thinking that he’s not quite all he seemed. This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny voices. The updated anniversary edition contains 32 pages of extra backmatter: essays from Wendelin Van Draanen on her sources of inspiration, on the making of the movie of Flipped, on why she’ll never write a sequel, and a selection of the amazing fan mail she’s received. Awards and accolades for Flipped: SLJ Top 100 Children’s Novels of all time IRA-CBC Children’s Choice IRA Teacher’s Choice Honor winner, Judy Lopez Memorial Award/WNBA Winner of the California Young Reader Medal “We flipped over this fantastic book, its gutsy girl Juli and its wise, wonderful ending.” — The Chicago Tribune “Van Draanen has another winner in this eighth-grade ‘he-said, she-said’ romance. A fast, funny, egg-cellent winner.” — SLJ, Starred review “With a charismatic leading lady kids will flip over, a compelling dynamic between the two narrators and a resonant ending, this novel is a great deal larger than the sum of its parts.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred review
The recent emergence and proliferation of proximal probes, e.g. SPM and AFM, and computational techniques for simulating tip-surface interactions has enabled the systematic investigation of interfacial problems on ever smaller scales, as well as created means for modifying and manipulating nanostructures. In short, they have led to the appearance of the new, interdisciplinary fields of micro/nanotribology and micro/nanomechanics. This volume serves as a timely, practical introduction to the principles of nanotribology and nanomechanics and applications to magnetic storage systems and MEMS/NEMS. Assuming some familiarity with macrotribology/mechanics, the book comprises chapters by internationally recognized experts, who integrate knowledge of the field from the mechanics and materials-science perspectives. They cover key measurement techniques, their applications, and theoretical modelling of interfaces, each beginning their contributions with macro- and progressing to microconcepts. After reviewing the fundamental experimental and theoretical aspects in the first part, Nanotribology and Nanomechanics then treats applications. Three groups of readers are likely to find this text valuable: graduate students, research workers, and practicing engineers. It can serve as the basis for a comprehensive, one- or two-semester course in scanning probe microscopy; applied scanning probe techniques; or nanotribology/nanomechanics/nanotechnology, in departments such as mechanical engineering, materials science, and applied physics. With a Foreword by Physics Nobel Laureate Gerd Binnig Dr. Bharat Bhushan is an Ohio Eminent Scholar and The Howard D. Winbigler Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate Research Faculty Advisor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Director of the Nanotribology Laboratory for Information Storage & MEMS/NEMS (NLIM) at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He is an internationally recognized expert of tribology and mechanics on the macro- to nanoscales, and is one of the most prolific authors. He is considered by some a pioneer of the tribology and mechanics of magnetic storage devices and a leading researcher in the fields of nanotribology and nanomechanics using scanning probe microscopy and applications to micro/nanotechnology. He is the recipient of various international fellowships including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize for Senior Scientists, Max Planck Foundation Research Award for Outstanding Foreign Scientists, and the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award.