When Turtles Whisper presents a compilation of poems based upon Cecelia Gartrell Evans's life experiences, recounting the moments that are most memorable to her. Whether explaining how the whispers of turtles helped her to handle disappointments as a child, chronicling past hurts and loves, or offering advice to parents, her poetry evokes emotions to which everyone can relate. Her musings are presented in verse; some are serious, while others are whimsical, but all relate her innermost feelings. There is something for everyone, young and old, in this charming collection. TURTLE VISITS I'd love to have you visit That is if you won't mind Never coming inside my house; For there is only room for one. We can walk and talk As we spend days together, Admire the sights and Eat out in the open. Then in privacy keep our nights Pondering what happened that day, For you will sleep in your house And I will sleep in mine. 'Cause in a turtle's home, Like I said before There is only enough room, For One
In this book, naturalist Joanna Burger takes us on a series of delightful trips through the Pine Barrens. From the Albany Pine Bush, the Long Island Barrens, and the New Jersey Pine Barrens in the Northeast, to the pinelands of South Carolina and Florida, Burger describes in lively detail how these habitats have come to harbor such a unique assemblage of species. She introduces us to amphibians and reptiles, neotropical migrants and other birds, and a range of common and unusual mammals. Burger also traces the regions' historic and geologic backgrounds, and the impact of human occupation from the time of the paleo-Indians to the present. She revisits the tension between development and preservation, reminding us that a healthy pine barren region requires uninterrupted land and rejuvenating fires, both of which are increasingly jeopardized. Whispers in the Pines is essential reading for everyone concerned with the history and preservation of these unique landscapes and their wildlife.
In these times of technological innovation and fast-paced electronic communication, we often take nature for granted—or even consider it a hindrance to our human endeavors. In Whispers and Shadows: A Naturalist’s Memoir, Jerry Apps explores such topics as the human need for wilderness, rediscovering a sense of wonder, and his father’s advice to “listen for the whispers” and “look in the shadows” to learn nature’s deepest lessons. Combining his signature lively storytelling and careful observations of nature, Apps draws on a lifetime of experiences, from his earliest years growing up on a central Wisconsin farm to his current ventures as gardener, tree farmer, and steward of wetlands, prairies, and endangered Karner blue butterflies. He also takes inspiration from the writings of Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, Henry David Thoreau, Sigurd Olson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir, Barbara Kingsolver, Wendell Berry, Richard Louv, and Rachel Carson. With these eloquent essays, Jerry Apps reminds us to slow down, turn off technology, and allow our senses to reconnect us to the natural world. For it is there, he writes, that “I am able to return to a feeling I had when I was a child, a feeling of having room to stretch my arms without interfering with another person, a feeling of being a small part of something much larger than I was, and I marvel at the idea.”
This best-selling rhetorically organized (alternate thematic table of contents included) reader for developmental writing and freshman composition courses features selections on multi-cultural, diverse topics and proven writing and reading prompts for students.
Seventeen short stories and novelettes compose Whispers and Screams. While these stories are from the realms of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, they are also stories about people, about loneliness, insanity, love, politics, philosophy, food, power, about human feelings and behavior in these dynamic times. A large number of the protagonists are minorities or women. Many of the stories owe their heritage to the black-and-white horror movies of the late thirties and forties and the B-grade science fiction of the fifties. "Proteus Rex" is about a genetically engineered life-form that adapts the attributes of animals (a lion's strength, a bird's wings) or whatever his survival needs and infinite appetites dictate. Having consumed all the animal life in a small rural community, he begins to eat people. Much of the story is about the local authority's attempt to identify and apprehend this menace, a significant challenge as Proteus Rex is an extradimensional being that can change his size to as small as an amoeba to as large as a blue whale. "Proteus Rex" is populated by a deep cast of characters, only a few of whom manage not to get eaten. Imagine the actress Lucy Liu portraying Ian Fleming's most shrewd creation, James Bond, 007. Only she's working for TSA—the Teleportation Security Administration—three hundred years in the future. This is after World War VI, and the United States has been fractured into several independent nations. The two Koreas have united and is running the world. Executive Action Officer Sun Park's mission is to capture or neutralize the perpetrators that sent and detonated an atomic bomb in the TSA X-port Freight Hub in Buenos Aires. This is the premise of "The Price of a Dog," an action-driven novella, a political science fiction thriller. In the short story "Slaves of the Cat Goddess," Buster, the main character (and stooge of General Wanamaker), is charged to take the mysterious cat Bast to a secret research base. Bast's size and ferocity force a crash landing on an uncharted tropical island inhabited by cannibals. Knowing that it was Buster who was responsible for her mutation, Bast not only protects him in this hostile world, but she sees that he is elevated, serving as the ambassador between the goddess Bast and the humanity she would enslave.
Ribbit is a great, sword-wielding hero whose battles against evil are legendary in his small town of Lily Pad Hollow; at least in his mind he is. In reality, Ribbit is just a young frog with big dreams. When flies mysteriously stop coming to the Hollow, putting everyone in danger, Ribbit jumps at the opportunity to show just what he's made of. The only problem: no frog that has ever dared try to cross the cattail borders has ever returned. But that wasn't going to scare Ribbit away from fulfilling his dream of leaving the Hollow and returning a hero. His two best friends, Phinn and Croak, join him as he embarks on a thrilling adventure leaving his small town behind and traveling into the unknown. Along the way, the three frogs meet creatures beyond their wildest imagination and come face to face with an enemy more evil than any of Ribbit's imaginary foes. Will they be able to return the missing flies and live to tell the tale?
Aithan is now the king of Zeruko. He, and his twin sister Myra, ascended the throne after their father had died. According to many, King Daemon—ruler of Tentazoa and archenemy of Zeruko—murdered the late king. Despite the claims, Robb refuses to believe in his father’s death. With the desire to bring his father home, Aithan leaves Zeruko in the hands of Myra. Alongside his trusted friend Spion, Aithan travels to the realms of the universe through the magic of raindrops. From the hazardous trip behind enemy lines to the festive East Asian-esque Meihua; from the kingdom hovering above the clouds to the military-driven Bevattna; from the heterogeneous society of a tunnelled realm to Aithan’s duel with the heir of Tentazoa, every step in his journey uncovers a gem of his past, present, and future. And in one foresight, Aithan learns the daunting fate of Zeruko that recharts his quest and redefines his role as king.
A study of the leatherback turtle details the distressing decline of sea turtles in the Pacific, as well as their remarkable recovery in the Atlantic to illuminate how human intervention can both harm and preserve the natural world.
A truthful, gritty, sometimes heart-wrenching look at the life of an overcomer. Join an everyman on his own odyssey from dysfunction, addiction, and near-death experiences to a life of peace and helping others find their way. A story that truly shows that no matter how dark the day, there is light and someone will hear your whispers.
In a novel the Village Voice calls "memorable" and "striking,"New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman vividly portrays a family shattered by tragedy when eleven-year-old Amanda is diagnosed with AIDS... "Brilliant...explosive...heart-rending." --Chicago Tribune "Graceful...emotionally potent...A cathartic tale that begs us, with heartbreaking eloquence, to stop looking the other way." --Glamour "Within pages, the reader falls in love with this very real little girl... Moving, dramatic and painfully human." --Miami Herald "Compelling power...tenderness and perceptiveness." --New York Times "I have rarely encountered a work that has moved me as strongly... extraordinary." --Mademoiselle "Deeply impressive...powerful." --Newsweek "Deeply moving...Sensitivity and empathy...radiate from this beautiful novel." --Chicago Sun-Times "Compassionate...This is a serious, honest novel." --Village Voice "Tender, strikingly simple and deeply memorable." --Kirkus Reviews "An affecting novel of exquisite delicacy, with humor, warmth, and sensitivity. Miss Hoffman heals wounds with the gentle touch of an angel." --Joseph Heller
