The final novel in the dazzling "Hawk" trilogy! Finding herself the head of her clan after a brutal skirmish, a woman who knows nothing of war desperately seeks the aid of a legendary warrior. She never realizes how handsome he could be--or that his father is none other than the leader of her people's mortal enemy.

As a young man runs through the forest, he looks back to see the blood red eyes of the Indian Devil coming after him. A few moments later, he passes through a portal and is sent into the pastthe first step of his Awakening. As the young man reflects on a childhood filled with more illness than good times, he remembers the Shaman, an Indian medicine man, who eventually healed him and named him Fire Hawk. After Fire Hawk decides he too wants to become a Shaman, he must ask the Shaman Council, Shakawl, for approval before he can become an Apprentice, and then pass a sacred test to demonstrate he is worthy of learning the Shakawls secrets. Unfortunately there are many Indian Devils who will do anything to steal powersincluding kill. As his destiny to become the most powerful Shaman in the world rises up to meet him, the young man must follow his Heart and rely on help from his friends to evade the one who tirelessly hunts him before he can realize his purpose and learn forgiveness. In this engaging tale, a young man facing significant challenges embarks on a spiritual journey to greatness where he discovers that his most important power in life is believing in himself.

__________________________________________ Sam Packer of the British Secret Service knows a mission to Iraq is dangerous. But none more dangerous than this one. A whispered secret in a Baghdad hotel lobby leads to his kidnapping, torture and expected execution. His paymasters have given him up for dead. Only the intervention of his ex-lover, Chrissie, and a hostage swap get him released. But days later Chrissie is murdered. Perhaps she knew too much, knew of the secret that Sam had uncovered - that a biological terror weapon codenamed Fire Hawk had been smuggled from Iraq for use against an unknown target in the West. Personal motives of revenge clash with priorities of State Security as Sam follows the weapon's and his dead lover's murky past through the Middle East, Cyprus and the Ukraine. At each step the mystery of the ultimate target deepens and the fanatics who control it become ever more elusive...

Tag begins his warrior training to become an Owl of Valor, in this action-packed fantasy series! Pick a book. Grow a Reader! This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow! Tag and Skyla have returned to Perodia to begin their warrior training. But when their friend Blaze returns with troubling news that her mother has gone missing, Tag and Skyla’s warrior skills are quickly put to the test. To find Blaze’s mother, the friends must travel to a creepy world below the ground called The Underland. There, they meet a terrible new enemy: a king rat named Skull, who has his own big plans for Perodia! Will the friends be able to defeat this new enemy? Or will The Shadow return to Perodia once again... This fully illustrated series makes a great introduction to fantasy and quest stories for younger readers!

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Perodia is threatened by Thorn, a powerful vulture, who is using magic to spread a terrible darkness. When a young owl named Tag and his best friend Skyla rescue a golden egg from Thorn's army, they may have found the key to saving Perodia: the last firehawk, guardian of the ember stone.

An exciting fantasy world, powerful dark magic, epic animal battles: The Last Firehawk series has it all! Pick a book. Grow a Reader!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!In the second book in this page-turning series, Tag, Skyla, and Blaze journey to the Crystal Caverns. They are searching for a piece of the magical Ember Stone. But they do not know exactly where it is, and they are not the only ones searching for it . . . The powerful vulture Thorn is also after the stone -- and after Blaze! Thorn's dark magic is quickly spreading across Perodia, so the friends must move fast to reach the stone! This action-packed series makes a great introduction to fantasy and quest stories for newly independent readers. Realistic black-and-white artwork appears on every page!

On April 14, 1994, two U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters accidentally shot down two U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopters over Northern Iraq, killing all twenty-six peacekeepers onboard. In response to this disaster the complete array of military and civilian investigative and judicial procedures ran their course. After almost two years of investigation with virtually unlimited resources, no culprit emerged, no bad guy showed himself, no smoking gun was found. This book attempts to make sense of this tragedy--a tragedy that on its surface makes no sense at all. With almost twenty years in uniform and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior, Lieutenant Colonel Snook writes from a unique perspective. A victim of friendly fire himself, he develops individual, group, organizational, and cross-level accounts of the accident and applies a rigorous analysis based on behavioral science theory to account for critical links in the causal chain of events. By explaining separate pieces of the puzzle, and analyzing each at a different level, the author removes much of the mystery surrounding the shootdown. Based on a grounded theory analysis, Snook offers a dynamic, cross-level mechanism he calls "practical drift"--the slow, steady uncoupling of practice from written procedure--to complete his explanation. His conclusion is disturbing. This accident happened because, or perhaps in spite of everyone behaving just the way we would expect them to behave, just the way theory would predict. The shootdown was a normal accident in a highly reliable organization.

Tag, Skyla, and Blaze need to find a way back home to Perodia, in this action-packed fantasy series! Pick a book. Grow a Reader! This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow! Tag and his friends have found Blaze's firehawk family! Now Tag and Skyla want to return home to Perodia. But they're trapped in the Land of the Firehawks! To get home, they must find their way through a mysterious underground maze. But the maze is full of confusing turns, and magical secrets. Will the friends be able to make it back to Perodia? And what dangers will they meet along the way? This fully illustrated series makes a great introduction to fantasy and quest stories for younger readers!