In 1998, Sandy Komito engaged in what serious birders call a Big Year run. This is a year-long marathon contest where a birder tries to see as many different birds as possible in a single year. This book, written in his own inimitable style, is a fast-paced, exciting story of his experiences on the road detailing the joys of success, the disappointments with failure, all a part of the drama experienced during his year-long adventure where he set the new North America record of 745 different birds seen in a single year. Based on his extensive travel experience, he includes suggestions & insights as to how one can save money in dealing with airlines, rental car agencies & motels. A rather interesting feature is a section called, "My Little Black Book" providing names & numbers of people & places to call for those wanting to duplicate some of the travel he has experienced. Packed into this "Little Black Book" are suggestions as to where to find low-priced airlines as well as travel to Alaska's lesser-known places. It's an authoritative wealth of information for those interested in birds, nature, travel & adventure. 355 pages including 16 in full color. $34.95. Bergen Publishing 41-76 Rys Terrace, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 or, [email protected].

DIVDIVPoignant tales from the renowned travel writer’s formative years In over six decades as a travel writer, Norman Lewis earned acclaim for his vivid chronicles of life around the globe. In I Came, I Saw,Lewis turns his pen on his own life in an affecting, comical, and always-thoughtful autobiography. He starts with his youth, when, at nine years old, he moved in with his eccentric aunts and his grandfather—a widower whose ambition was to turn him into a proper Welshman. Lewis recounts his grammar-school adventures, explores his relationship with his father, and recalls his introduction to his first wife, Ernestina, with whom he traveled extensively through Europe, Cuba, and America. He describes his time in the British Intelligence Corps during wartime—which allowed him further travels and honed his world perspective—as well as his experiences of fatherhood and life in Italy, which honed it further. I Came, I Saw is a masterwork of self-reflection by one of the most insightful writers of the twentieth century./div/div

A Pura Belpré Honor Book * A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book for Teens In this gorgeously written and authentic novel, Verónica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body. Verónica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. The best form of rehabilitation is swimming, so she spends hours in the pool, but not just to strengthen her body. Her Florida town is home to Mermaid Cove, a kitschy underwater attraction where professional mermaids perform in giant tanks . . . and Verónica wants to audition. But her conservative Peruvian parents would never go for it. And they definitely would never let her be with Alex, her cute new neighbor. She decides it’s time to seize control of her life, but her plans come crashing down when she learns her parents have been hiding the truth from her—the truth about her own body.

In the past forty years an entirely new paradigm has developed regarding the contact population of the New World. Proponents of this new theory argue that the American Indian population in 1492 was ten, even twenty, times greater than previous estimates. In Numbers From Nowhere David Henige argues that the data on which these high counts are based are meager and often demonstrably wrong. Drawing on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, Henige illustrates the use and abuse of numerical data throughout history. He shows that extrapolation of numbers is entirely subjective, however masked it may be by arithmetic, and he questions what constitutes valid evidence in historical and scientific scholarship.

‘So, are you going out with him now or what?’ Poppy asked.‘I don’t know.’ I thought about it. ‘I guess I’ll see him soon and we’ll talk about it.’‘Will you be all elusive and distant and coy?’‘Erm . . .’‘Or maybe just avoid him until he goes mad with lust for you?’Gorgeous Luke has just kissed Holly Stockwell. She’s had a crush on him forever. Maybe he’s finally noticed that Holly’s not just his sister’s best friend!But, before anything else can happen, Holly and Poppy go off to Cornwall for a group camping holiday. Will Luke be waiting for Holly when she gets back? And, when having the right image seems so important, will Holly be brave enough to drop the camouflage and be herself?

Reproduction of the original: The Complete Works of Count Tolstoi by Leo Tolstoi