Based on a true story, the tale of a nine-year-old with mental illness, and a mother who strives to find balance between her work and family.

[tagline] The stigma of mental illness and the power of a motherÕs love come together in this achingly honest novel Widely acclaimed for her ability to tell emotionally powerful stories that capture the real lives of women, bestselling novelist Heather A. Clark tackles the subject of childhood mental disorders. Elephant in the Sky is told from both nine-year-old NateÕs point of view and that of his mother, Ashley, an overworked ad executive who struggles with a demanding workload and the worry that sheÕs not spending enough time with her family Ñ especially as her sonÕs battle with mental unbalance and paranoid delusions escalates. The two narratives converge in a deeply moving tale of a family dealing with mental illness. Elephant in the Sky is a story about unconditional love, and it articulates a complicated, real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity. It looks at what it means to be different in our society and beautifully explores the distance a mother will go to protect her child.

Elephants are among the earths most sentient beings. They remember, they experience grief and joy, fear and love. Indeed, as our knowledge of these extraordinary creatures increases, the more they transcend all preconceptions of animal behavior. Michael Nick Nichols, longtime photographer for National Geographic as well as the magazines editor-at-large for photography, has been working with African elephants for more than twenty years. In Earth to Sky he tells their story through poignant images that bring us directly into their habitatslush forests and open savannas, or stark landscapes ravaged by human interventionto observe the animals daily engagements and activities. Nicholss photographs are accompanied here by the words of such celebrated figures in the field of conservation as Iain Douglas-Hamilton, J. Michael Fay, Peter Matthiessen, Cynthia Moss, David Quammen, and many others. In addition, Nichols engages us in his photographic journey with personal and informative introductions to each of the books four chaptersexploring life in the wild, the ivory trade, family interactions, and programs for orphaned elephants. The survival of elephants is under dire threat from humankind, most immediately from the market for ivory. More than twenty-five thousand elephants are slaughtered each year, and their ivory is sold at astronomically high prices to countries such as China, Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. African elephant refuges are under siege; many park rangers have been murdered in the fray. The misuse of elephants ivory as a commodity has to stopbut, as Nichols makes clear, the issue must be addressed with a full and empathetic understanding of the poverty and corruption that persist in the countries where elephants roam. In Earth to Sky Nichols demonstrates that the world needs elephants, and insists that we do all we can to protect their spaces and their lives. Sadly, most signs point to a tragic conclusion for these wise and emotionally complex creatures. This book is an urgent call for us to bring that process to a halt, while we still can.

"Thirtysomething Nicky Fowler has it all-- a rewarding career, a loving husband and the perfect home. But when she and her husband suffer a complicated tragedy, the strain of two people dealing with an impossible situation in different ways breaks up their marriage. Emotionally lost, Nicky travels to Kenya to volunteer at an orphanage. Amidst the violence and abject poverty, Nicky discovers the one thing that keeps Kenyans moving forward: hope. Over steaming mugs of chai, the country's signature drink, Nicky opens up to her host mother, Mama Bu, and finds understanding, love and strength. And with that strength, Nicky realizes what she needs to do to save the endangered children she's grown to love. Based on a true story" -- p. [4] of cover.

A Seminary Co-op Notable Book A BBC Sky at Night Best Book “An impressively comprehensive bird’s-eye view of a research topic that is both many decades established and yet still at the very cutting edge of astronomy and physics.” —Katie Mack, Wall Street Journal “Schilling has craftily combined his lucid and accessible descriptions of science with the personal story of those unlocking the finer details of the missing mass mystery. The result is enthralling...A captivating scientific thriller.” —BBC Sky at Night “Fascinating...A thorough and sometimes troubling account of the hunt for dark matter...You will come away with a very good understanding of how the universe works. Well, our universe, anyway.” —Michael Brooks, New Scientist When you train a telescope on outer space, you can see luminous galaxies, nebulae, stars, and planets. But if you add all that together, it constitutes only 15 percent of the matter in the universe. Despite decades of research, the nature of the remaining 85 percent is unknown. We call it dark matter. Physicists have devised huge, sensitive instruments to search for dark matter, which may be unlike anything else in the cosmos—some unknown elementary particle. Yet so far dark matter has escaped every experiment. It is so elusive that some scientists are beginning to suspect there might be something wrong with our theories about gravity or with the current paradigms of cosmology. Govert Schilling interviews believers and heretics and paints a colorful picture of the history and current status of dark matter research. The Elephant in the Universe is a vivid tale of scientists puzzling their way toward the true nature of the universe.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers." —Publishers Weekly A heart-warming sequel to the international bestseller The Elephant Whisperer, by Lawrence Anthony's wife Françoise Malby-Anthony. A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her. In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue center a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along. Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping read.

When a devastating sickness spreads through a thoroughbred farm community, a young horse whisperer is determined to find out why all the foals are dying in this tightly woven, tender coming-of-age novel from award-winning author Heather Henson. Twelve-year-old Sky and her father are horse whisperers—their preternatural tenderness and understanding of horses, and Sky’s uncanny ability to actually understand what they’re saying, become their livelihood during the foaling season at multimillion dollar horse farms. They’re sought after by the most prestigious farms in the country to keep pregnant horses calm and stress-free until they give birth. But this spring, something awful is happening…foal after foal is a stillborn, and no one knows why. And worse for Sky, who lost her mother only months earlier, her most beloved horse is about to have her first foal. In agony, Sky takes it upon herself to figure out what the vets are missing, and stop it before even more foals are lost.

“Each plotline has something in it to challenge readers . . . Cliffhangers and elephants will keep readers engaged”—from the award-winning author (Kirkus Reviews). We Bought a Zoo meets Jurassic Park in a gripping story featuring the evergreen appeal of human-animal friendships and set in an elephant sanctuary, about a thirteen-year-old girl, a cast of elephants, and a surprising new arrival—a woolly mammoth. Sam was born and raised in an elephant sanctuary. When a beloved elephant dies giving birth, Sam develops a connection with baby Woolly—who isn’t actually an elephant but was cloned from woolly mammoth DNA. And the billionaire genius behind the cloning experiment will stop at nothing to protect his investment. Smart, determined, and loving, Sam stands up to this powerful adversary to protect the sanctuary and her herd. In the best tradition of child-animal friendship stories, Elephant Secret explores the strong and complex bond between Sam and her elephants while offering a fascinating, authentic glimpse into elephant—and human—behavior. “Walters’ depiction of the bond that exists between Sam and her elephants is captivating. The elephants, who are presented as majestic and intelligent creatures with humanlike characteristics and rich emotional lives, will leave readers awestruck.” —School Library Journal “Walters interweaves his beautiful family story with a thorough description of elephant behavior—their intellect, compassion, and loyalty—and factual scientific possibilities of cloning an extinct species . . . A must-read for anyone with an interest in elephants and their welfare.” —Booklist “Walters packs in numerous details about these magnificent and highly intelligent creatures while raising complex ethical questions regarding humans’ relationship with animals.” —Publishers Weekly

Sunny the Shark is a fearsome predator. As the oceanic whitetip shark searches for her next meal, a chatty school of pilot fish trails behind, cleaning her in exchange for food crumbs. But when Sunny mistakes a plastic ring for prey and it gets caught around her fin, she soon struggles to hunt. Will she be able to break free and find food before winter sets in?

Skyler has a hearing loss. And he doesn't feel much like talking today. No wonder-he keeps missing what his parents and siblings have to say, and it's frustrating. Skyler's little sister, Maizy, tags along on his morning routine and, with the help of her special friend, we learn that it takes more than hearing aids to help Skyler feel like talking again.