Describes the disappearing habitat of the Florida manatee as an introduction to the idea that each animal needs a specific place to live.

An introduction to the slow-moving, water-loving, plant-eating gentle giant called the manatee.

The quiet manatee has long been a flash point of frequent environmental debates. It is Florida's most famous endangered species, as well as its most controversial. Manatees appear on hundreds of license plates, attract hordes of tourists, and expose the uneasy relationships between science and the law and between freedom and responsibility like no other animal.  As passions have flared and resentments have grown, the battle over manatee protection has evolved into a war, and no reporter has followed the story more closely than Craig Pittman, the first environmental writer to explore the complex history, culture, and science of the controversies and concerns surrounding this remarkable creature.  With an abiding interest in the uncertain fate of this unique species, Manatee Insanity provides the first in-depth history of the attempts to provide legal protection for the manatee. Pittman follows Florida’s gentle giants through time and space, detailing interactions with a variety of human actors, from Jacques-Yves Cousteau to Jeb Bush to Jimmy Buffett, from a popular children's book author to a federal lawman who dressed in a gorilla suit for the ultimate undercover assignment.

Diego and his sister, Alicia, rescue a Manatee from the Mangrove Forest.

My Little Book of Manatees is a delightful story about a new family of manatees. From the newborn manatee's first lessons in taking care of himself to the manatees' playful adventures in warm spring waters, this beautifully illustrated book is ideal for introducing young children to the wonders of nature.

In this poignant middle grade contemporary debut that New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate calls “by turns heartbreaking and heart-healing,” Evan Griffith beautifully captures all the tenderness and uncertainty that come with caring for family, friends, and the natural world. Peter and his best friend, Tommy, have a goal for their last summer before middle school: finish their Discovery Journal, a catalog of the wildlife around their Florida town. When they spot a manatee in a canal, Peter knows they’ve found something special—and when the manatee is injured by a boat, something to protect! As Peter joins the fight to save Florida manatees, he also finds himself taking care of his ailing grandfather and facing an unwelcome surprise that jeopardizes his friendship with Tommy. Soon Peter is adrift, navigating shifting tides and realizing that he has as much to discover about himself as he does about the world around him.

This “superb history” of artificial light traces the evolution of society—“invariably fascinating and often original . . . [it] amply lives up to its title” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). In Brilliant, Jane Brox explores humankind’s ever-changing relationship to artificial light, from the stone lamps of the Pleistocene to the LEDs embedded in fabrics of the future. More than a survey of technological development, this sweeping history reveals how artificial light changed our world, and how those social and cultural changes in turn led to the pursuit of more ways of spreading, maintaining, and controlling light. Brox plumbs the class implications of light—who had it, who didn’t—through the centuries when crude lamps and tallow candles constricted waking hours. She identifies the pursuit of whale oil as the first time the need for light thrust us toward an environmental tipping point. Only decades later, gas street lights opened up the evening hours to leisure, which changed the ways we live and sleep and the world’s ecosystems. Edison’s bulbs produced a light that seemed to its users all but divorced from human effort or cost. And yet, as Brox’s informative portrait of our current grid system shows, the cost is ever with us. Brilliant is infused with human voices, startling insights, and timely questions about how our future lives will be shaped by light

Simple text and supportive images introduce readers to manatees.

"Kobee wants to surprise his sister, Kim, who lives in the Bahamas, on her birthday. But it won't be easy to get there from Key West, Florida. Kobee will have to travel across the mighty Atlantic Ocean and into the strong Gulf Stream current. Not only that - it's hurricane season! Can Kobee and his friends Tess and Pablo swim safely through a giant thunderstorm, a wild waterspout and a monster hurricane?" --

The Manatee Who Finds Mindfulness is a beautiful story about a young manatee who, after getting separated from her mother, uses mindful moment to find her way home. It is a story that reminds us that even when our worries may seem as choppy as the waves on the surface, we all have the ability to tap into the calmness and clarity within the depths of our minds. The illutsrations are just as charming as the mesage of the book, in that if you ever feel lost, either within or at sea, peace lives within us all, within you and within me. The book also includes a beginners guide for mindful meditation that is great for all ages.