These are just a few of the ideas explored in Donna M. Jackson's mesmerizing non-fiction book about sensory perception. With expert writing that is informative and accessible, Jackson helps readers understand the way our minds and bodies interact with the world around us. She explores facts, myths, and highly-debated topics like the legitimacy of psychic power and animals' intuition and offers readers 'mind tinglers' to test their own capabilities. With the popularity of everything supernatural, this is a book that lets readers decide what is real and what is just our minds playing tricks on us.

That winter, the British had their best chance to crush the American rebellion. Washington himself warned that his army was about to ?starve, dissolve, or disperse. And yet the army did not fall apart. In June, the rebels marched out of Valley Forge tested, toughened, and ready to fight. In addition to providing fascinating details about how the soldiers of the Continental Army lived in Valley Forge, this book also paints brilliant portraits of the men who led them: Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, Friedrich von Steuben, and, of course, George Washington. Source notes. Selected bibliography. Index. Black-and-white, sepia-toned, and full-color illustrations.

Dad is always a little different when he comes back from deployments because he has to get used to America again, says Allison. Her brother Matt adds, He's always overjoyed that he's in the States where no one is trying to shoot at him. In candid and moving interviews, children of American and Canadian military personnel who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan describe their experiences. The interviews touch on subjects such as the children's worries, what it is like when a parent returns from combat, and whether the children plan to join the military. Glossary. Further information. Black-and-white photographs.

"Great things don't come easily!" a ballet teacher once told Li Cunxin. It was a lesson that Li knew well. Born to bitter poverty in rural China, he was chosen by a group of visiting officials to attend the Beijing Dance Academy. There, Li had to learn extraordinarily difficult dancemoves while also studying to be a good Maoist. His hard work earned him the chance to visit the United States-where Li faced his greatest challenge. Afterword. Historical note. Time line. Glossary of Chinese words. Black-and-white photographs.

The first African American appointed to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall built his reputation working for the NAACP; it was in this capacity that he won the seminal civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The story of Marshall's education and of his years spent arguing civil rights cases across the country shows not only his brilliance, but also his personal courage, generosity, and sense of humor. "I intend to wear life like a very loose garment," Marshall once said, "and never worry about nothin'." Notes. Bibliography. Further reading. Web sites

In 1908, when long distance automobile races were all the rage, The New York Times and Paris's Le Matin cosponsored a race from New York to San Francisco and from Siberia to Paris. Teams from France, Germany, Italy, and the United States competed. They were beset by breakdowns, mud, snow, fog, a sandstorm, "Chinese brigands, well mounted and armed," the Parisian police (who almost arrested the Americans for driving with a broken headlight), and, according to one report, a pack of "not less than fifty wolves." Bibliography. Index of quotes. Black-and-white photographs.

On a sunny day 150 years ago, workers digging in a valley near Düsseldorf, Germany, found some strange bones in a cave. They weren't animal bones, but they also differed from those of human skeletons-they were the bones of Neandertals, early hominids. The discovery ushered in the new science of paleoanthropology and began a debate about how Neandertals lived and how much they resembled modern humans-a debate that continues to this day. Glossary. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Suggestions for further reading. Full-color photographs, chart, map, and drawings.

As soon as Nelle Harper Lee was old enough to write stories of her own, her father gave her a rugged, steel-encased Underwood No. 5 typewriter. She and her neighbor Truman immediately began writing stories set on their street, South Alabama Avenue, casting the residents as characters. "In small town life and in rural life . . . you know everything about your neighbors," Lee later said. She would draw heavily on this knowledge when writing her masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. Notes. Bibliography. Media sources. Index. Black-and-white photographs.

The 1979 revolution left Iran "torn by drastic social changes, invasion, bombing, executions, and assassinations. TheIranian Revolution would also bring Iran and the United States to the brink of war." The events of 1979 were the result of complicated dynamics, both within Iran and internationally. From the CIA-engineered overthrow of prime minister Mosaddeq to the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini to the hostage crisis, Iran's revolution is a compelling story. Maps. Time line. Glossary. Short biographies of key figures. Notes. Selected bibliography. Further reading. Index. Color and black-and-white photographs.

"He was not called 'Nelson' until he was seven. . . . The name his parents gave him at birth, Rolihlahla, was the Xhosa word for 'treeshaker.' Later in life Mandela enjoyed pointing out that his people use the word to mean 'troublemaker.'" From humble beginnings, Mandela went on to become a revolutionary, the world's most famous prisoner, and the first black president of South Africa. Written by the former chief of the New York Times[ital. New York Times] bureau in Johannesburg. Includes contemporary articles about the end of apartheid, and an afterword.

"His legacy includes a Nobel Prize, the first ever won by an American. . . . It includes laws to regulate big business, laws to guarantee the purity of our food and drugs, national parks, and millions of acres of landset aside to protect our national heritage. . . . Although Theodore Roosevelt died nearly a century ago, in a sense we still live in the America he helped to shape." Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Includes notes and suggestions for further reading.

Echoing the scholar Margot Minardi, Marc Aronson says race "is a way of explaining human difference and organizing people into categories. . . . We have forgotten that we did not always have these beliefs, and that our ideas have changed over time." In this book, he traces thoughts about race to their origins and attempts to chart their development throughout history. From the biblical and ancient worlds to contemporary society, Aronson describes the persistence of a troubling idea. Includes black-and-white illustrations, notes, list of abbreviations, and bibliography.

While it is commonly believed that Christopher Columbus was the first to make a successful round-trip voyage to the Americas, in recent years, new evidence has cast this idea into doubt. It suggests that there may have been Chinese and Viking "discoveries" of the New World that predate Columbus's arrival. This book considers these possibilities and describes the complex societies explorers would have found, built by the tens of millions of people native to North and South America. Full-color illustrations. Includes notes and a select bibliography.

Considered by many to be America's greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright was certainly its most notorious. While his innovative buildings appeared on magazine covers, newspaper headlines followed the tragic series of fires, violent crimes, and romantic intrigues that beset Wright. This biography tells the story of Frank Lloyd Wright's life and traces the development of his work from his apprenticeship during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair to the creation of his iconic Usonian homes. It also considers the effect of Wright's work on the way Americans live today. Black-and-white photographs. Author's foreword. Bibliography.

Benedict Arnold was a heroic soldier and patriot, yet the only monument to his bravery at the Battle of Saratoga is a statue of a leg. Why? Because his leg, wounded in the battle, was believed to be the only part of Arnold that did not later betray his country. This biography tells the fascinating, tragic story of Arnold's life-his conversion to the Revolutionary cause, his military adventures, and the frustrations that led him to turn against the country to which he had devoted his life. Notes. Sources. Index.

Considered by many to be America's greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright was certainly its most notorious. While his innovative buildings appeared on magazine covers, newspaper headlines followed the tragic series of fires, violent crimes, and romantic intrigues that beset Wright. This biography tells the story of Frank Lloyd Wright's life and traces the development of his work from his apprenticeship during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair to the creation of his iconic Usonian homes. It also considers the effect of Wright's work on the way Americans live today. Black-and-white photographs. Author's foreword. Bibliography.

"They are among the most powerful, most mysterious forces on Earth." Joseph B. Treaster survived his first hurricane when he was six years old. Since then he has covered many storms as a reporter for the New York Times. In August 2005, he made his way to New Orleans to write about one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in history. This book gives a riveting, first-person account of Treaster's experience covering Hurricane Katrina and examines the history and nature of hurricanes. Full-color photographs and diagrams.

When John White returned to look for the settlers at Roanoke in 1590, all he found was an abandoned stockade with the word "CROATOAN" scratched into it. The fate of the settlers has been a subject of speculation ever since. Now, taking a fresh look at the historical evidence-from the Maryland marshes to the palaces of the English court-the author presents a bold new theory that sheds light on this centuries-old mystery. Full-color photographs, drawings, and watercolor illustrations. Time line, glossary, and index.

Determined to see what was in front of him without sentimentality or judgment, Walker Evans found beauty in the ordinary. Whether photographing buildings and workers in New York City or documenting the lives of tenant families in Alabamafor the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, he let the character of his subjects come to the fore. Evans gave people a unique and lasting picture of America and forever changed the art of photography. Black-and-white photographs. Bibliography. Chronology. Index.

Since they first began to rise overhead, skyscrapers have risen ever higher. Aided by the advent of steel-frame construction and the invention of the passenger elevator, cities and developers have competed to create the world's tallest building. Skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building in New York City and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur have come to be as famous as the pyramids. This beautifully illustrated history explains the developments in art and science that make these modern marvels possible. Full-color, acrylic paintings.

The bombing of London, the liberation of Dachau, the battle for Iwo Jima- many of the most important stories of the Second World War were covered by female writers and photographers. This book traces the work of women correspondents from the Great Depression through the end of the war in the Pacific. They not only kept Americans informed about the darkest moments of the twentieth century, but also opened doors for women who came after them. Black-and-white photographs. Suggestions for further reading. Select bibliography.

When E. E. Cummings attended Harvard in the early 1900s, traditionalists were claming that verse without rhyme or meter wasn't poetry at all. At the same time, Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stein, and others were experimenting with new approaches to art. Cummings chose to follow their daring path. "There is no such thing[ital] as 'doing wrong' or 'being right about something,' " the poet wrote. "These are 4th hand absurdities invented by the aged in order to prevent the young from being alive." Source notes. Bibliography. Glossary. List of published works. Index.

As young man, Sigmund Freud was determined to accomplish "deeds of improbable greatness." His quest led him from the study of zoology to medicine to the nascent field of psychiatry. At the time, psychiatrists believed emotional disorders were purely physical in origin. Freud, however, came to a different conclusion. In a quiet room in Vienna, listening to his patients talk and chain-smoking cigars, Sigmund Freud would completely revolutionize our understanding of the unconscious mind. Appendix. Bibliography. List of Web sites.

For love of country? For the adrenalin rush? For the money? These pages explain all about spy techniques and covert gadgets-and examine the reasons spies are willing to risk their lives, change their identities, and keep secrets from their closest kin. From Richelieu to Washington, the Rosenbergs to Virginia Hall, secret agents have been both the most reviled villains and beloved heroes of the ages. Full-color illustrations and photographs, a glossary, a time line, and interviews help tell the comprehensive history of artful deception. Bibliography.

Most people remember Jane Addams as the founder of Hull House, but her devotion to social causes extended far beyond her settlement house's programs for the poor. As a suffragist, civil rights worker, and political reformer, she would be celebrated as the "Angel of Democracy," and "Miss Kind Heart." Yet her pacifist views during World War I would earn her a reputation as "unpatriotic," a "traitor," and even the "most dangerous woman in America." Black-and-white archival photographs. Afterword. Source notes. Bibliography.

In September of 2003, a team of archaeologists digging in a cave on Indonesia's Flores Island made a startling discovery: the skeleton of a grown woman that stood only three feet tall. Small hominids with this type of skull structure and brain size were supposed to have become extinct three million years ago-but radiocarbon dating showed their find to be only 18,000 years old. The scientists, it seemed, had unearthed an entirely new species of early human. Full-color photographs. Glossary. Source notes. Bibliography. Index.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, but the Montgomery bus boycott did not start or end there. Lawyers challenged segregation in court; community leaders wrote pamphlets, held rallies, and organized car pools; and thousands of citizens risked their livelihoods to protest. Every one of these activists helped turn the yearlong struggle into a victory. Black-and-white archival photographs. Chapter notes. Bibliography. Index.

The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Communism - West Berlin, November 9, 1989-New York Times correspondent Serge Schmemann was writing in his hotel room when Viktor, his assistant from East Berlin, knocked on his door. At first Schmemann was annoyed at the interruption. Then it struck him: Viktor, an East German, wasn't allowed in the West. "What on earth are you doing here?" the astonished journalist asked. "The wall is down!" Viktor replied. This firsthand account of the demise of the Eastern bloc includes archival Times articles and full-color photographs. Source notes. Further reading. Index.

Child slaves who "had to pick 150 pounds . . . a day, or get a whoppin'." Young girls working in New England mills, who endured fourteen-hour days among the "buzzing and hissing and whizzing of pulleys and rollers and spindles and flyers." Sharecroppers living on borrowed land, in houses "so rotten you can jest take up the boards in your hands and cromple 'em up." The true story of cotton in America is told here by the people who lived it. Further reading. Bibliography. Notes. Index.

He was one of the most brilliant and influential scientists in history. Isaac Newton described gravity and the physical laws of motion, made astonishing insights into optics, and invented calculus-among other things. He was also secretive, vindictive, petty, and withdrawn, Newton went out of his way to destroy any scientists who dared challenge his findings. Against a backdrop of the Scientific Revolution taking place in seventeenth-century England and Europe, this book reveals a complex and fascinating figure.

Was there more than one Great Wall of China? Did King Arthur and Camelot actually exist? Is Lucy-the world's earliest complete human skeleton-really a he ? Historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists are constantly uncovering new clues that compel us to reevaluate our understanding of the past. More than a dozen examples ranging from ancient to recent times show that "there is no historical event about which we can be absolutely sure we have the right account. . . ." Source notes. List for further information. Index.

"Fantasy is an old kind of storytelling with the surprising power to make everything it touches upon seem new, unpredictable, and-in Tolkien's fine phrase-'arrestingly strange.' " Here are insightful interviews with thirteen masters of the genre,including Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L'Engle, and Philip Pullman. Introduction. Black-and-white photographs. Index.

Traditionally, a Crow warrior had to perform four war deeds to become a chief: steal a horse from a rival camp; touch the first enemy to fall in battle; steal a weapon during a hand-to-hand fight; and lead a successful war party. Joseph Medicine Crow, raised on a reservation long after tribal days, became a war chief in an unlikely way: by serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.

On the morning of April 6, 1992, Nadja Halilbegovich was told by her parents that she was not going to school. "Is it a holiday?" she asked, excited. "It's the furthest thing from a holiday," her mother whispered. This twelve-year-old's account of living in wartime Sarajevo is accompanied by photographs and reflections from the author as an adult.

On December 21, 1848, a Southern gentleman and his slave boarded a train in Macon, Georgia, bound for Philadelphia. Or so it seemed. They were, in fact, two slaves on a daring, broad-daylight escape. Light-skinned Ellen Craft was dressed as the "gentleman"; her husband William was her "slave." It was 1,000 miles to get to the North, but their journey to freedom would be much farther than that. Author's note. Black-and-white photos and illustrations.

When did the American Revolution begin? When did Americans know that they needed to live under their own government? This fascinating and fresh look at how America became an independent country connects elephants charging a crumbling fort in India and Scottish bankers taking high-stakes gambles with more familiar events such as the Boston Tea Party. Cast of characters, maps, endnotes and bibliography, Internet resources, time line, index.

From her moments of self-doubt to her devotion to making our nation "a more just, more tolerant, more understanding place," this is the story of the woman once called "the first lady of the world." Photographs, letters, and cartoons provide a candid look at one of America's most memorable leaders. Author's note. Time line. Family tree. Black-and-white photos. Source notes. Index.

When did the American Revolution begin? When did Americans know that they needed to live under their own government? This fascinating and fresh look at how America became an independent country connects elephants charging a crumbling fort in India and Scottish bankers taking high-stakes gambles with more familiar events such as the Boston Tea Party. Cast of characters, maps, endnotes and bibliography, Internet resources, time line, index.

Travel with cave scientists to lightless underground and underwater worlds. Explorers tell of harrowing squeezes through tiny openings between rocks and stunning scenes they encounter below the surface of the Earth: "Walls that were frozen cascades of glittering flowstone, jutting rocks that held suspended long, slender formations that rang when I touched them-like a key on the xylophone. . . . " Full-color photographs. Source notes. Suggested further reading.

Edwin Booth was among one of the finest and most famous actors of his generation; his younger brother, John Wilkes, also an actor, was only slightly less well known. Then John murdered President Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, and he eclipsed his brother forever. Black-and-white photos. Bibliography. Source notes. Index.

George Fordyce baked his own body at 260ºF. Daniel Carrión infected himself with a deadly disease. Stefania Follini agreed to live in a cave with no light for four months. Here are ten profiles of men and womenwho put their lives on the lines in the name of science. Author's note. Black-and-white photos. Timetable. Resources. Index.

In colonial times orphans were raised by families within their farming communities. Then Americans began migrating to cities, where orphans could no longer rely on their neighbors for help. From the almshouses of the 1800s to the foster home programs of the present, this is a look at our country's evolving attitudes toward its neediest children. Black-and-white photos. Afterword. Bibliography.

Microbes have a bad reputation as disease-causers and teeth-rotters, but in truth the positive effects of the tiny creatures far outweigh the negative. Microscopic forms of life live around, on, and inside us. Without them, chocolate wouldn't exist, bread wouldn't rise, and we would never be able to digest food. Glossary. Notes and bibliography. Index.

"I begin with the young . . . . With them I can make a new world." Between 1933 and 1945, Adolf Hitler recruited German children and teens to serve the Nazi party. Seduced by the promise of power and adventure, the Hitler Youth were willing to die-and kill-for their leader. But other children and teens risked their lives to rebel against the oppressive rule of the Nazis. Foreword. Epilogue. Time line. Author's note. Quote sources. Bibliography. Index. Black-and-white photos.

In 1864 the H.L. Hunley made history by being the first submarine to sink an enemy ship. After its famous mission, however, something went terribly wrong, and the vessel never returned to port. For years, divers searched for the wreck of the Hunley. In 1995 the ship was finally found; only then did scientists and historians begin to answer century-old questions about its final voyage. Author's note. Bibliography. Glossary. Index.

Andrew Jackson, the first popularly elected American president, won the nation's favor with his legendary courage, loyalty to the common man, and fierce dedication to preserving the Union. However, his ruthlessness, including his treatment of Native Americans, led to some of the darkest times in American history. Black-and-white photographs. Source notes.

Born in a small town in rural Arkansas, Daisy Bates was a journalist and activist who became one of the foremost civil rights leaders in America. In 1957 she mentored the nine black students who were integrated into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her dedication led an acquaintance to call her "the bravest woman I have ever known." Black-and-white photographs. Source notes. Bibliography. Index.

"Only a generation or two ago almost everyone traveled by train. . . . This is a mythic story of the past and how it shapes our present." From the first railroad in 1827 to the high-speed trains of today, America's railways have had a tremendous impact on our economy, civil rights, international relations, and emerging technologies. Foreword. Black-and-white photographs. Bibliography. Index.

Andy Warhol once said, "In the future, everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes." The talented and eccentric artist, however, would be famous for much longer. From his celebrated Pop art to his notorious Factory studio in New York, Warhol remains one of the art world's most enduring icons. Full-color photos. Reproductions. Chronology. List of films and books. Glossary. Notes. Sources. Index.

The ivory-billed woodpecker was once one of the most admired birds in the United States; men such as Theodore Roosevelt and John James Audubon wrote of its great beauty and strength. Sought after by bird collectors, hunters, and artists alike, its slow extinction touched off the first modern conservation campaign in U.S. history. Photos. Chronology. Glossary. Sources. Index.

A look at the search for intelligent life on other planets, this book details the efforts of astronomers working at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and scientists-including marine biologists and geologists-who study life on Earth. They are trying to determine the conditions needed for life to exist and how communication works. Bibliography. Notes. Index.

Set in the seventeenth century, this book examines the intertwined lives of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Puritan Commonwealth in England. As the monarchy and church clashed with British Parliament, both men took dramatic action-one in a bid to topple the king and the other on a search for an ideal society in America. Cast of characters. Maps. Endnotes. Bibliography. Internet resources. Time line. Index.

A look at the search for intelligent life on other planets, this book details the efforts of astronomers working at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and scientists-including marine biologists and geologists-who study life on Earth. They are trying to determine the conditions needed for life to exist and how communication works. Bibliography. Notes. Index.

Little was known of the west coast and waterways of America in the mid-nineteenth century. Ships that sailed those waters did so at considerable risk. The U.S. Coast Survey commissioned George Davidson to chart all of the major points on the coast and all of the waterways in between. The challenges Davidson and others faced and the methods they used to accomplish this monumental and essential task are chronicled here. Bibliography. Glossary.

"A voice like yours," celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini told Marian Anderson, "is heard once in a hundred years." Marian Anderson pursued her art despite social constraints that limited the careers of black performers in the 1920s and 1930s. Though not a spokesperson by nature, Marian Anderson came to stand for all Americans of color when she gave her 1939 landmark performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Afterword. Chapter notes. Bibliography. Discography.

Newbery Medal, Honor Book, 2005
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, Winner, 2005

How do babies learn? What did Einstein's brain look like? Can gorillas develop language skills? Why are humans smarter than computers? For hundreds of years people have been using their intelligence to try to uncover the mysteries of intelligence. Through time they have made some surprising discoveries about how the human mind works. Full-color art. Index.

Adolf Wölfli drew landscapes from memory while imprisoned in a Swiss mental asylum. Five-year-old Thomas Akimat Ekiru constructed toy sailboats out of trash he found in his famine-ravaged Kenyan village. Under terrible conditions and with limited resources, self-taught artists have created works that astound the world. Full-color reproductions of art. Afterword. Resources. References.

In 1950, when Communist-controlled North Korea moved troops into democratic South Korea, the United States sent armed forces to stop the invasion. The fighting lasted three years before ending in armistice. Thirty-two veterans of this "Forgotten War" share their experiences, which include being a prisoner of war and befriending Korean villagers. Black-and-white photos. Glossary. Bibliography. List of Internet resources. Index.

In the 1920s, Harlem was "hot!" The theaters were "packed to the rafters." The poems and stories "crackled with racial pride." New York's enclave of black culture didn't come to flourish without a struggle. Although jobs brought African Americans to northern cities in the 1900s, many lived in slums and did menial work, until political leaders and talented artists fought for a voice and a home of their own. Full-color art and black-and-white photos. Bibliography. Index.

Every year the Nobel Prize honors people in the world who have "conferred the greatest benefit to mankind" in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics, and peace. In this collection of essays, past winners tackle some deceptively simple questions: What is air? Why do we have to go to school? Why is there war? Why does 1+1=2? Introduction.

Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton grew up in a nomadic tribe in northern Kenya, following his village's cattle to fertile grass and fresh water. When the government decreed that one child from every family had to attend school, Joseph was thrust into a Western education system completely foreign to his way of life. With determination and luck, he managed to excel, going on to a prestigious high school near Nairobi and college in America. Color photos. Afterword.

A symbol of independence and bravery, the cowboy has long been one of America's favorite characters. In fact, real cowboys--whose main job was to drive fierce, unruly longhorn cattle from Texas to Kansas to be slaughtered for beef--bore very little resemblance to the dashing heroes of popular culture. The true story of their dangerous lives is, however, as dramatic as any movie or song. Black-and-white illustrations and photos. Index.

Benjamin Franklin was a key figure in the American Revolution and was known for his electricity experiments, but his list of accomplishments hardly ended there. He also wrote and printed Poor Richard's Almanack, the most widely-read book in the Colonies after the Bible; founded Philadelphia's first fire department; and invented bifocals. Biographical tidbits, etchings, and quotations create a scrapbook portrait of a true Renaissance man. Bibliography. Index.

ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2004

Emmett Till was a black boy from Chicago. In August of 1955, when he was fifteen and visiting family in rural Mississippi, he allegedly whistled at a white woman. Three days later, he was beaten, murdered, and left in a river by her husband and half-brother. The violent crime, shocking open-casket funeral, and the sensational trial--in which an all-white jury quickly acquitted the two men--helped spark the nation's burgeoning civil rights movement. Time Line. Bibliography.

ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2004

In the summer of 1793, hardly anyone in Philadelphia noticed when a young French sailor living in a boarding house caught a mysterious fever and died. No one had an inkling that he was only the first victim of a terrible contagious disease that would kill four thousand citizens and baffle doctors for months. Black-and-white archival prints accompany this account of how the yellow fever epidemic besieged the city and left it changed forever. Bibliography. Map. Index.

ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2004
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, Winner, 2004
National Book Awards, Young People's Literature Finalist, 2004
Newbery Medal, Honor Book, 2004

A record number of people flocked to the New Jersey shore in the summer of 1916, as beach-going became a hot new fashion, and railroads gave greater access to the sea. Soon, though, carefree bathers found themselves in the midst of a terrifying ordeal: a rogue great white shark drifted into shallow waters and started to attack and eat humans. As the shark moved north and continued its binge, a massive effort was launched to stop it. Black-and-white photographs. Bibliography.

ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2004

In Colonial America, Native-American, European, and enslaved African women led very different--but similarly undocumented--lives. Although a few, like Pocahontas and Anne Hutchinson, became public figures, most women spent their days cooking, cleaning, making clothing, caring for children, and otherwise maintaining the home. Rare letters, journals, and anecdotes give a glimpse into their daily existence. Black-and-white photographs. Index. Bibliography.

Why would howling monkeys, usually skilled climbers, suddenly start to fall from trees? How do poison-dart frogs produce their deadly chemicals? What kind of creature pollinates the oddly shaped flower of the Souroubea vine? Scientists hunt down clues, set up experiments, and find surprising answers to eleven ecological mysteries of the tropical rainforest. Black-and-white illustrations. List of references. Index.

John F. Kennedy, thirty-fifth President of the United States, was the second eldest in a family of eleven children. Called Jack by his family, he grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Joe, whom their father hoped would someday become President. Jack was prone to illness and came close to death several times during his childhood, but this didn't stop him from developing a reputation as a mischief-maker. Afterword. Photos.

ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2004

Few forces in history have been more feared than smallpox. This "speckled monster" ravaged human populations in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and the spread of the disease was a major factor in the conquering of the New World. In 1796, an English country doctor named Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids rarely contracted smallpox. His curiosity led to a seemingly miraculous invention--the world's first vaccine. Black-and-white illustrations. Bibliography. Web sites.

Due to overhunting by man, trumpeter swans disappeared from eastern North America more than two hundred years ago. Unlike birds that instinctively migrate, trumpeter swans must learn the routes from their parents. In an effort to reintroduce a migrating population of the swans to the Atlantic coast, scientists are teaching trumpeter cygnets to follow ultralight aircraft. Full-color photos. Maps. Identification keys. List of places to see theswans. Index.

On November 20, 1820, the whaleship Essex was 1500 miles west of the Galápagos when a sperm whale rammed the ship and caused it to sink, stranding the twenty-man crew in three whaleboats. Fear of cannibals led the captain to turn away from the nearby Marquesas and unfamiliar Society Islands, and embark on an open-sea voyage south toward Chile. Based on the accounts of two survivors. Black-and-white photo insert. Maps. Diagrams. Bibliography. Index.

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Honor Book, 2004

During the prosperous 1920s, the men who ran America's largest banks and companies became celebrities, and the average man saw that he could become rich by buying stocks. Then came the Stock Market Crash of 1929. This comprehensive review of the events, personalities, and mistakes that contributed to the Crash includes explanations of financial terms and practices; photos; newspaper articles; and cartoons of the day. Bibliography. Index.

Governor of Minnesota and former professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura explains how frustrations with his local government led him to enter politics. He describes the fundamental principles on which our democracy is based; the processes of voting and running for office; how taxes are collected and spent; the presidency; and lobbyists. He also points out what he thinks is wrong with our government and offers some ideas for change. Full-color photos. Bibliography. Web sites. Index.

Taught by her uncle to throw a "surefire, windup, coming-right-at-ya pitch," five-feet-two-inch Mamie Johnson meant business when it came to baseball. This "peanut of a girl" was so determined to play baseball that she joined an all-male all-white Police Athletic League team even though she was African American. She went on to become one of only three women to play professional baseball in the Negro Leagues. Black-and-white photos. Bibliography.