A young oyster who loves his life in the Chesapeake Bay seeks a way to join other creatures in the important work of keeping their bay clean.

Explains why oysters make pearls and dangerous snakes have diamond-shaped heads.

The Chesapeake Bay is a wondrous and exciting place to live. But oysters Chester and Meredith have a big problem: pollution in the waters of the Bay is making the underwater grasses sick. The grasses are home to so many young fish, crabs, and other creatures in the Bay; the disappearance of underwater grasses could lead to the sad loss of even more species. So much is at stake! How can Chester and Meredith possibly figure out a way to save the grasses and also the Bay? See how Chester and Meredith lead their underwater friends to clear up their messy and murky problem. Early Reader; Ages 5-8.

Olly loves cleaning the water in the Chesapeake Bay where he lives with all his friends. But when Olly spies a sunken ship just beyond the oyster reef, he decides to explore the old wreck to see if there is treasure on board. When Olly arrives at the sunken ship, he finds all the treasure he could ever imagine, with silver vases, gold coins, and shiny gemstones everywhere he looks. But what is treasure without a friend to share it? Journey under the Chesapeake Bay with Olly and his friends to learn why his oyster reef is all the treasure he needs. Early readerages 5-8.

Mallory is a very forgetful duck. She can't remember where she left her nest. She sets out along the Chesapeake Bay to find it, but soon stumbles upon a nest that is NOT her own. Along her journey Mallory meets several mother birds, including a Canada Goose, an Osprey, a Great Blue Heron, and an Oystercatcher. Each of their nests is made of different materials, has a distinctive clutch of colorful eggs, and occupies a different habitat. But will Mallory ever track down her own nest and her own eggs? Follow Mallory the Forgetful Duck in her quest to find her nest and find out why her own eggs are more special than any others. Large, color illustrations make this tale a great book for children in grades Early reader-ages 5-8.

When a baby albino dolphin caught in old fishing netting washes ashore, Paralympics sailing hopeful Felix and English school girl Kara work with veterinarians and specialists to save and reunite the dolphin with her mother, setting off a chain of events that might just save the reef from the environmental effects of proposed dredging.

Oyster Matters: A Keystone Species Story tells not only of the oyster's unique life cycle, but also of the myriad connections they create in their habitat. Follow their history from discovery to exploitation to restoration in a story that gives hope to humans and nature working together.

Olly the Oyster is ready for an adventure. So when Mr. Oyster tells him about the wonders of the Chesapeake Bay, he sets off to see them. Following along with Olly, kids will learn about some wonders that fly, like the Great Blue Heron, a symbol of the Bay; some that shine at night, like the Cape Henry Lighthouse; and even a wonder where you can find fossils of crocodile teeth--the Calvert Cliffs. As Olly meets and chats with new friends like fiddler crabs, barnacles, and rockfish, he learns about the creatures, people, and places that form the community of the Chesapeake. Olly the Oyster helps the importance of the Bay and its ecosystem come to life. For ages 5 to 8.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “One of contemporary literature’s most revered essayists revives her raw records from a 1970s road trip across the American southwest ... her acute observations of the country’s culture and history feel particularly resonant today.” —Harper’s Bazaar Joan Didion, the bestselling, award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Let Me Tell You What I Mean, has always kept notebooks—of overheard dialogue, interviews, drafts of essays, copies of articles. Here are two extended excerpts from notebooks she kept in the 1970s; read together, they form a piercing view of the American political and cultural landscape. “Notes on the South” traces a road trip that she and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, took through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Her acute observations about the small towns they pass through, her interviews with local figures, and their preoccupation with race, class, and heritage suggest a South largely unchanged today. “California Notes” began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial. Though Didion never wrote the piece, the time she spent watching the trial in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the West and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here we not only see Didion’s signature irony and imagination in play, we’re also granted an illuminating glimpse into her mind and process.

A collection of stories by the winner of the 1999 John Simmons Short Fiction Award delves deeply into love as it is experience by the under-thirty generation--among Deadheads, gay teenage girls, depressed Peace Corps volunteers, and anorexic dancers. Original.