"Since the Takano family's new foster pet, Murray the ferret, arrived at their house, all sorts of things have gone missing: shoes, jewelry, keys, coins . . . Although eight-year-old Kaita enjoys solving the mysteries, she worries that finding a forever home for the lovable furry bandit will be near impossible! Playful illustrations and lots of sleuthing fun make this chapter book a treat for animal lovers and mystery fans alike"--

Since the Takano family's new foster pet, Murray the ferret, arrived at their house, all sorts of things have gone missing: shoes, jewelry, keys, coins . . . Although eight-year-old Kaita enjoys solving the mysteries, she worries that finding a forever home for the lovable furry bandit will be near impossible! Playful illustrations and lots of sleuthing fun make this chapter book a treat for animal lovers and mystery fans alike.

"Tiki the cockatoo is the Takano family's newest foster pet and thanks to her ear-splitting screeching, the entire neighborhood knows it! Eight-year-old Kaita has to pull out all the tricks to keep the feathered squawker calm and content and find Tiki a forever home before everyone goes crazy! Giggle-inducing illustrations and 1st-person narration bring this noisy early chapter-book adventure to life"--

Restraint and Handling of Wild and Domestic Animals, Third Edition offers an introduction to the basic principles of animal restraint and an overview of techniques for vertebrate wild and domestic animals. Fully updated throughout, the third edition also includes new chapters on understanding behavior, training for restraint and handling, and animal welfare and restraint. Now in full color, the third edition of this classic reference is an invaluable tool to recognizing potential danger in restraint and reducing stress in the animal.

Imagine that the United States were to scrap all its income transfer programs—including Social Security, Medicare, and all forms of welfare—and give every American age twenty-one and older $10,000 a year for life.This is the Plan, a radical new approach to social policy that defies any partisan label. First laid out by Charles Murray a decade ago, the updated edition reflects economic developments since that time. Murray, who previous books include Losing Ground and The Bell Curve, demonstrates that the Plan is financially feasible and the uses detailed analysis to argue that many goals of the welfare state—elimination of poverty, comfortable retirement for everyone, universal access to healthcare—would be better served under the Plan than under the current system. Murray’s goal, shared by Left and Right, is a society in which everyone, including the unluckiest among us, has the opportunity and means to construct a satisfying life. In Our Hands offers a rich and startling new way to think about how that goal might be achieved.

This is an astonishing true tale of espionage, journeys in disguise, secret messages, double agents, assassinations and sexual intrigue. Alexander Burnes was one of the most accomplished spies Britain ever produced and the main antagonist of the Great Game as Britain strove with Russia for control of Central Asia and the routes to the Raj. There are many lessons for the present day in this tale of the folly of invading Afghanistan and Anglo-Russian tensions in the Caucasus. Murray's meticulous study has unearthed original manuscripts from Montrose to Mumbai to put together a detailed study of how British secret agents operated in India. The story of Burnes' life has a cast of extraordinary figures, including Queen Victoria, King William IV, Earl Grey, Benjamin Disraeli, Lola Montez, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. Among the unexpected discoveries are that Alexander and his brother James invented the myths about the Knights Templars and Scottish Freemasons which are the foundation of the Da Vinci Code; and that the most famous nineteenth-century scholar of Afghanistan was a double agent for Russia.

"T" is for Truman, tricks, and TROUBLE! Truman the black lab might be an older rescue dog, but he's still got enough mischief beneath his collar to keep eight-year-old Kaita Takano and her animal-fostering family on their toes from morning till night. Chewed through and through, the playfully illustrated, Kaita-narrated chapter book promises plenty of canine fun.

All of Razor's playful, super-friendly littermates are being adopted, one right after the other. But not Razor. How do you find THE shyest kitten in the world his forever home? That's the big question eight-year-old Kaita Takano and her animal-fostering family need to answer in this illustrated, sweet-natured, tabby-filled chapter book narrated by Kaita herself.

Poor Margaret is waking up to another bad day. Ever since her parents died, her brother and sister have made her sweep the floors, chop the wood, cook the meals, feed the pigs, and anything else they can think to demand. Selfish, mean, and twice as big as Margaret, they always get their way. When at last Margaret has had enough, she runs away into the forest. Just as she is wondering how she will survive, she comes upon an old lady with a very sad story: a dog has run off with her walking stick, and she can’t do a thing without it. When the old lady promises Margaret a reward of three gold coins for its safe return, the girl readily agrees. Little does Margaret know that the old lady is really a witch, her reward a trick, and her walking stick a magic stick the witch has used to make a thousand miserable wishes come true . . .

When eighteen-year-old Lady Catriona Mackintosh discovers a wounded man in the forest near her Highland home, little does she know that he has sworn a sacred oath to kill her father and other members of the powerful Highland confederation known as Clan Chattan. Nor does she realize that she has met her soul mate. Independent, competent, intelligent, fiercely proud of her heritage, determined always to live near her own family, and known to her family as the "wee wildcat" because of her quick temper, Catriona is the daughter of a Highland chieftain and granddaughter of the even more powerful Chief (or Captain) of Clan Chattan. But her life changes forever when she persuades Sir Finlagh Cameron to return with her to her home to recover from his wounds. Sir Finlagh "Fin" Cameron is on a mission for the heir to Scotland's throne, who has sent him to the Highlands to persuade the Chief of Clan Chattan to arrange a secret meeting for him with two other great lords (the Lord of the Isles and the Lord of the North). Until Fin meets Catriona, however, he has no idea that her father was the Clan Chattan war leader who led them in the battle that wiped out many of Clan Cameron's best warriors, including Fin's own father. The sole survivor of that battle, Fin accepted a bequest of vengeance from his dying father, providing him with a dilemma to face as he begins to fall in love with Catriona. He is not the only one enticed by her charms, either. There are two other contenders, one of whom is his own master, the heir to Scotland's throne. With royal mischief afoot, if Catriona and Fin are ever to find happiness, they must first avoid disaster that could change Scotland's history, and find ways to be open and honest with each other.