The elephant emerged from the water, a moving wall of gray cut against a startling blue sky. Wild high grasses brushed the columns of her huge legs as she dwarfed the hill that rose behind her. Massive footprints left pools of river water where she emerged from the pond that had slaked her thirst and provided her family an afternoon of muddy play. Gently flapping ears became still; the pads on her great feet sank deep into the earth. She lifted her trunk, stood as if transfixed. Dusk approached and banished a reluctant sun. From miles away, something was coming.

Why Elephants Cry is a fascinating frolic through the literature and evidence surrounding the use of unusual behavior of animals to measure and predict the environment. The role of animals, from the smallest ant to the biggest elephant, as predictors of environmental changes is framed around the climate crisis, which highlights the increasingly important part that animals will have to play in the future. Renowned biologist Professor John T. Hancock collects anecdotal stories and myths along with scientific evidence, demonstrating that observation of animals can be of tangible use. He looks at the measurement of the air temperature using ants, crickets and snakes, and goes on to assess the evidence that the observation of a wide range of animals can predict the weather or the imminent eruption of volcanoes and earthquakes. Evidence of animals being able to predict lunar and solar events, such as lunar cycles and the Northern Lights, is also considered. This is the only time that all this literature has been brought together in one place, a fascinating reference for anybody interested in animals and the environment. The book is also an ideal supplementary textbook for students studying animal behaviour.

The Disaster Risk Reduction challenge badge is designed to help educate children and young people about hazards, disasters, and how the crucial role disaster risk reduction plays for life on our planet. This material is appropriate for use in school classes, Guide or Scout groups and other youth related groups. It includes a wide range of activities and ideas to stimulate learning about disaster risk reduction and promote action in local communities. This booklet includes basic background information on disaster risk reduction. It explains what hazards are and what makes some hazards turn into disasters. It explains the factors that put people at risk, and which groups are more vulnerable. It then provides information on preventing, reducing, and preparing for specific hazards. It explains what is involved in recovery work, and finally, provides concrete actions for making a difference on an individual level. The badge has the following learning and behaviour change objectives: -Learn about the different types of natural hazards and disasters as well as those that have occurred in the past around the world; -Know what disaster risk reduction is and what measures can be taken to reduce disaster risks; -What type of recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction work is being undertaken after a disaster has happened; -Take action on helping yourself, your family and community to be better prepared before, during and after a disaster has occurred.

A brave, intimate, beautifully crafted memoir by a survivor of the tsunami that struck the Sri Lankan coast in 2004 and took her entire family. On December 26, Boxing Day, Sonali Deraniyagala, her English husband, her parents, her two young sons, and a close friend were ending Christmas vacation at the seaside resort of Yala on the south coast of Sri Lanka when a wave suddenly overtook them. She was only to learn later that this was a tsunami that devastated coastlines through Southeast Asia. When the water began to encroach closer to their hotel, they began to run, but in an instant, water engulfed them, Sonali was separated from her family, and all was lost. Sonali Deraniyagala has written an extraordinarily honest, utterly engrossing account of the surreal tragedy of a devastating event that all at once ended her life as she knew it and her journey since in search of understanding and redemption. It is also a remarkable portrait of a young family's life and what came before, with all the small moments and larger dreams that suddenly and irrevocably ended.

Lily Madisons life in East Empress, Maine was average, boring even, until her dreams began to take on a life of their own. When her dreams begin to play out in waking life, she realizes that they are actually premonitions. She suddenly knows things that she shouldn't and she doesn't know why. After Lily's dreams take a bloody turn, she can not shake the ominous feeling that remains. She must figure out a way to stop her ghastly dreams from becoming a reality. Following her instincts, she trudges forward on a journey to interpret the esoteric messages, but she soon finds that she is in way over her head when her pyschic secret is discovered. Life begins spiraling out of control when Lily becomes the target of a madman's obsessive and extreme quest to rid the world of Lily's kind. She begins to realize that some secrets are too enigmatic to reveal without consequence, and sometimes, some things are better left unknown.

Abandoned by his mother in an Acadia National Park campground, Jack tries to make his way back to Boston before anyone figures out what is going on, with only a small toy elephant for company.

A Kirkus Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy pick for 2019! A Library Journal Best Book of 2019! An NPR Favorite Book of 2019! "Everything epic fantasy should be: rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling and deeply, deeply satisfying. I loved it."—Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians When destiny calls, there's no fighting back. Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel's son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the missing son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family's ruthless power plays and political ambitions. Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised. The storybooks have lied about a lot of other things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, and how the hero always wins. Then again, maybe he isn't the hero after all. For Kihrin is not destined to save the world. He's destined to destroy it. Jenn Lyons begins the Chorus of Dragons series with The Ruin of Kings, an epic fantasy novel about a man who discovers his fate is tied to the future of an empire. "It's impossible not to be impressed with the ambition of it all . . . a larger-than-life adventure story about thieves, wizards, assassins and kings to dwell in for a good long while."—The New York Times A Chorus of Dragons 1: The Ruin of Kings 2: The Name of All Things 3: The Memory of Souls

★ Praise for Maroons: "brown’s sensational second contribution to AK Press’s Black Dawn series.... Equally thrilling and thought-provoking, this will put readers in mind of speculative greats like Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delaney." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) The search for hope and community in death and desolation. The pandemic of Syndrome H-8 continues to ravage the city of Detroit and everyone in Dune's life. In Maroons, she must learn what community and connection mean in the lonely wake of a fatal virus. Emerging from grief to follow the subtle path of small pleasures through an abandoned urban landscape, she begins finding other unlikely survivors with little in common but the will to live. This second installment of the Grievers trilogy is a tale of survival, of moving beyond seemingly insurmountable devastation toward, if not hope itself, then the road to hope.

The Advocate is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.

Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination. Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.