The students of Mrs. Meriweather's sixth grade class are champions at getting rid of substitute teachers until they come up against the unusual Mr. Marrs.
When Davey Martin's family moves to Mars, he discovers that there's nothing to do--at least until he and his robot dog Polaris learn to seize the spirit of adventure. It's not until they've zipped around the planet on his flying scooter--climbing Martian "trees," digging up "fossils," dancing in Martian rain dances--that they discover a treasure that finally piques Davey's interest--a source of water on the red planet! Chris Gall's new picture book plays on the themes (and ironies) of a complaint parents have heard from their children a thousand times: "There's nothing to do!" The book also offers a deeper lesson to our stationary, convenience-driven society: If you're creative and look carefully, you'll be amazed at what you find!
Mr. Creacher, a multi-tentacled substitute teacher, warns his prankish students not to misbehave, recounting rhyming cautionary tales of the weird, spooky, and unexpected.
“Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue.” —Carl Sagan, The Denver Post If you ever daydream about space travel and human space flight—or hope to one day rove the Red Planet alongside Curiosity—then MARS DIRECT will teach you how we can get there The human race is at a crossroads. In the coming decades, we will make decisions regarding our human spaceflight program that will lead to one of two familiar futures: the open universe of Star Trek, where we allow ourselves the opportunity to spread our wings and attempt to flourish as an interplanetary species—or the closed, dystopian, and ultimately self-destructive world of Soylent Green, constantly at war with one another over humanity’s “limited” resources. If we plan to survive ourselves and one day travel to the stars, the human race’s next stepping-stone must be a manned mission to and the eventual colonization of Mars. In this four-part e-special, Mars Society founder Dr. Robert Zubrin details the challenges of a manned Earth-to-Mars mission. Challenges which, according to Zubrin, we are technologically more prepared to overcome than the obstacles of the missions to the moon of the sixties and seventies. Dr. Zubrin’s relatively simple plan, called Mars Direct, could feasibly have humans on the surface of Mars within a decade. Zubrin also discusses the current predicament of NASA, the promise of privatized space flight from companies like SpaceX, and the larger implication behind the absolute necessity to open the final frontier and transform from a planetary society into an interplanetary society. Our future as a species requires us to take baby steps away from the cradle that is planet Earth or, ultimately, perish here.
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I lived with Tommy and his girlfriend, Nikki, in 1981. We were broke, with only a few decimated possessions to our name. We couldn’t afford to repair the window, so we left it broken. The house was crawling with vermin. #2 We lived in a house with a small kitchen sink, a bathroom with no toilet paper, and a bedroom with a mirrored closet. We thought we were very cool because we had a mirrored door on our closet. #3 I used to tell them that they would get caught doing stuff. I had a place in Manhattan Beach with my girlfriend. I was never into hanging out at that house. I had done that, seen it. I’d been over twenty-one for a long time and they were still like eighteen.
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 I lived with Tommy and his girlfriend, Nikki, in 1981. We were broke, with only a few decimated possessions to our name. We couldn’t afford to repair the window, so we left it broken. The house was crawling with vermin. #2 We lived in a house with a small kitchen sink, a bathroom with no toilet paper, and a bedroom with a mirrored closet. We thought we were very cool because we had a mirrored door on our closet. #3 I used to tell them that they would get caught doing stuff. I had a place in Manhattan Beach with my girlfriend. I was never into hanging out at that house. I had done that, seen it. I’d been over twentyone for a long time and they were still like eighteen.
A Newbery Medal winning modern classic about a racially divided small town and a boy who runs. Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.