A biological pandemic has left the world infested with zombies, and no one, human or supernatural, is safe. National and military leaders are desperate to find a weapon that will fight the scourge, but they don't expect to form allegiances, uneasy as they may be, with dark and mysterious forces. Vampire Avianna and her eternal partner, Joseph; werewolf soulmates Kristian and Mary; and the powerful witch, Keenu, emerge from the shadows to help the US Marines and militia resist the apocalypse. Keywords: Novel, Fiction, Vampires, Werewolves, Marines, Militia, Witches, Wiccan, Zombies, Horror

Many animals use their adaptations to defend themselves against predators, attack their prey, and compete for mates. Fangs and claws help animals do all of these things. However, these adaptations didn't appear overnight, they took millions of years. Animals such as tigers have both fangs and claws and use them to catch their prey. The information in this book explains how these adaptations appeared over time and how they benefit animals. Scientific discoveries are also highlighted to provide additional insight. Dazzling photographs of fangs and claws bring the subject matter into vivid focus.

Simple text and photographs introduce animals that use camouflage to protect themselves.

In Masters of Disguise: Animal Mimicry, students will learn how animals must protect themselves from predators. Young readers will love turning the page as they gain valuable information and are prompted to answer questions along the way. Take a fantastic photo journey into the wild with Rourke’s Close-Up on Amazing Animals for readers in grades K–3. Readers will explore the unique adaptations and relationships that help animals survive in the wild. Repetitive text aids comprehension while real photographs assist in vocabulary development for beginning readers.

Explores several of the physical features that enable animals to capture and kill prey, and to defend themselves from their own predators.

One New Year’s Day, Noelle Oxenhandler took stock of her life and found that she was alone after a long marriage, seemingly doomed to perpetual house rental and separated from the spiritual community that once had sustained her. With little left to lose, she launched a year’s experiment in desire, forcing herself to take the plunge and try the path of Putting It Out There. It wasn’t easy. A skeptic at heart, and a practicing Buddhist as well, Oxenhandler had grown up with a strong aversion to mixing spiritual and earthly matters. Still, she suspended her doubts and went for it all: a new love, a healed soul, and the 2RBD/1.5 BA of her dreams. Thus began her initiation into the art of wishing brazenly. In this charming, compelling, and ultimately joyful book, Oxenhandler records a journey that is at once comic and poignant, light and dark, earthy and spiritual. Along the way she wonders: Does wishing have power? Is there danger in wishing? Are some wishes more worthy than others? And what about the ancient link between suffering and desire? To answer her questions, she delves into the history of wishing, from the rain dance and deer song of primeval magic to modern beliefs about mind over matter, prosperity consciousness, and the law of attraction. As the months go by, Oxenhandler is humbled to discover the courage it takes to make a wish and thus open oneself to the unknown. She is surprised when her experiment expands to include other people and other places in ways she never imagined. But most of all, she is amazed to find that there is, indeed, both power and danger in the act of wishing. For soon her wishes begin to come true–in ways that meet, subvert, and overflow her expectations. And what started as a year’s dare turns into a way of life. A delightfully candid memoir, unfettered, poetic, and ripe with discovery, Oxenhandler’s journey into the art and soul of wishing will inspire even the most skeptical reader to search the skies for the next shooting star. Praise for THE WISHING YEAR "This is a wonderful book, full of wisdom gleaned from a year of Noelle Oxenhandler's daring to embrace what she had previously denied herself--her own personal wishes. I highly recommend The Wishing Year for anyone wanting to learn more about what life has to offer when we pay attention to our heart's desires." –Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big Life "Do you want to know how wishes come true? Then read The Wishing Year. It's a book that beautifully illuminates the art and mystery of wishing--and it does so in a way that is inspiring, funny, serious, honest, heartfelt, and irresistibly readable." –Jack Kornfield, author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry "The Wishing Year is an elegant exploration of the way thought shapes reality. Writing with great personal honesty and candor, Noelle Oxenhandler's exhilarating prose takes us deep into the pain and glory of being human." –Mark Epstein, M.D., author of Open to Desire “Oxenhandler's new book makes it okay to be a smart, sophisticated grow-up who also believes in magic. She dives beneath the new age veneer and deconstructs how wishes really come true.” –Susan Piver, author of How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! The octopus spies a nice, tasty mantis shrimp. It swims over for a closer look at the small creature. Then—WHAM!—the mantis shrimp strikes a nasty blow with its hammer-like forelimb. The octopus shrinks back, defeated. That wasn't such an easy meal after all . . . In nature, good defenses can mean the difference between surviving a predator's attack and becoming its lunch. Some animals rely on sharp teeth and claws or camouflage. But that's only the beginning. Meet creatures with some of the strangest defenses known to science. How strange? Hagfish that can instantaneously produce oodles of gooey, slippery slime; frogs that poke their own toe bones through their skin to create claws; young birds that shoot streams of stinking poop; and more.

How can we know about the lives of our ancestors who lived 30,000, or 300,000, or 3 million years ago? In The Extraordinary Story of Human Origins, Piero and Alberto Angela address the many difficulties and challenges that scientists face in assembling the record of human evolution. To piece together the intriguing puzzle of human origins it is necessary to study all clues that are made available by multidisciplinary research, including paleontology, biochemistry, geology, genetics, physics, and climatology. Like so many Sherlock Holmeses, researchers seek all possible clues and analyze them meticuously in hopes of being able to reconstruct the past. These pieces are few and fragmentary, ranging from the footprints left in volcanic ash 3.7 million years ago by hominids who walked exactly as we do, to a "Y" pattern on molars and mitchondrial DNA. But they all provide information on the diet, diseases, hunting techniques, and art of Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, the Neanderthal, and the first Homo sapiens sapiens. Written in an accessible but authoritative style, this study includes many lively reconstructions of the everyday life of our earliest ancestors based on the most reliable data. The Extraordinary Story of Human Origins makes available to a wide audience a unique look inside the exciting world of research into the the beginnings of human life on earth.

In the wild, some animals are predators, who hunt other animals. Predators have special traits that help them catch their prey. But not always! Prey animals have tricks they use to hide or stay safe from their ever-looming enemies. Learn all about the animals who hunt and are hunted, like the cheetah who stalks the gazelle and the Arctic wolf who stalks the caribou, just to name a few. This book will allow students to make observations of animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

This Framework Edition Teacher Support Pack offers comprehensive support and guidance, providing the best possible learning experience for your students and saving time for everyone in the department.