Travis is persuaded by a lifelong friend to invest in potentially valuable property in the rain forest of Ecuador. The return on their investment is virtually guaranteed. But nothing can be so simple when Travis gets involved. Trouble catches up with him from half a world away.

Meet the heaviest snake in the world--the green anaconda! Everything about this title is big, from the full-bleed photographs to the content. Readers will learn all that is super-sized about this hulking snake. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids is a division of ABDO.

It's early evening in the Amazon rain forest. A large rodent called a capybara is drinking from a river. The animal doesn't know it's being watched. Suddenly, the jaws of a green anaconda burst from the murky water. As the giant snake wraps its body around the struggling capybara, the animal has no chance to escape from the powerful predator! Filled with information perfectly suited to the abilities and interests of its primary-grade audience, this colorful, fact-filled book gives readers a chance not only to learn all about green anacondas and their Amazon rain forest home, but also to develop their powers of observation and critical-thinking. Built-in investigations, such as figuring out how the snake's coloring and skin pattern help it to hunt, and measuring activities to discover how long the anaconda can grow, give readers a chance to gain insights beyond the facts and figures.

A hungry eagle flies slowly above the rain forest canopy, looking for its next meal. Will it spot the emerald boa coiled on a tree branch? It's tricky¿-these snakes are bright green with white markings, helping them blend in with the leaves. This camouflage often fools eagles into passing right by the snakes. The emerald boa stays safe by hiding in plain sight! Packed with fascinating facts and photos that will test children's detective skills, this book will engage emergent readers as they learn how emerald boas are adapted for survival. A section of the book highlights other snakes that are camouflaged to look like their leafy green homes.

A snake with a lure on its tail is one of the ten mystery snakes in this book. It is an expert trickster. And along with the other snakes, it wants to find out how smart young readers are compared to foolish prey.

"Engaging images accompany information about emerald tree boas. The combination of high-interest subject matter and light text is intended for students in grades 2 through 7"--

Some snakes have a deadly, poisonous bite, while others squeeze the life out of their prey. Many people are afraid of slithering serpents—but that doesn’t mean jokes about them can’t be hiss-terical! Readers will love learning cool facts about snakes, including their ability to hold back venom if they don’t intend to kill the person or animal they’re biting. Colorful photographs and illustrations enhance this interesting science information as python puns, fang funnies, and diamondback delights cause readers to giggle from head to rattle!

Boa constrictors and grizzly bears are top predators in their native habitats. Imagine these two ferocious wild animals from different parts of the world battling each other! That's just what readers are invited to do in this high-interest volume, which highlights many important elementary science concepts. They'll find out the adaptations of each beast that keep them at the top of their food chain. After weighing the evidence, some of it quite surprising, the reader becomes the judge in this epic battle.

The boomslang snake is shy and not aggressive, but one bite from this highly venomous creature leads to a horrible death. This books describes how the poison affects its victims, where this large snake lives, how it hunts and hides, and why it wasn’t considered dangerous to humans until one unfortunate incident.

First Published in 2001. This anthology of western history articles emphasizes the New Western History that emerged in the 1980s and adds to it a heavy dose of legal history, a field frequently ignored or misunderstood by the New Western historians. From first contact, American Indians knew that Europeans did not understand the gendered nature of America. Confusion regarding the role of women within tribes and bands continued from first contact well into the late nineteenth century. The journal articles that follow give readers a true sense of the gendered West. Racial and ethnic heritage played a role in female experience whether Hispanic, Japanese or Irish. Women's work was part western history, but women did not confine themselves to plow handles or brothels. Women were very much a part of most occupations or in the process of breaking down barriers of access. They worked in the fields for wages as well as for family welfare and prosperity. Women demanded access to the professions whether teaching or law, accounting or medicine. The process of eliminating barriers varied in time and space, but the struggle was constant. Yet the story of women in polygamous Utah or Idaho was different and an integral part of the fabric of western history. Because of their beliefs and practices these women suffered at the hands of the federal government and persevered.