From the most celebrated children’s nature writer of our time comes a posthumous new novel in the tradition of her Newbery award-winning *Julie of the Wolves*
In 1848 in Barrow, Alaska, a young Eskimo boy witnesses a rare sight—the birth of a bowhead, or ice whale, that he calls Siku. But when he unwittingly guides Yankee whalers to a pod of bowhead whales, all the whales are killed. For this act, the boy receives a curse of banishment. Through the generations, this curse is handed down. Siku, the ice whale, returns year after year, in reality and dreams, to haunt each descendant. The curse is finally broken when a daughter recognizes and saves the whale, and he in turn saves her. Told in alternating voices, both human and whale, Jean Craighead George’s last novel is an ambitious and touching take on the interconnectedness of humans, animals, and the earth they depend on. Views: 1 123
Peter Lundy has two joys in life: the rugged western plains where he has grown up and San Domingo, a Medicine Hat Stallion. The Indians believe such a horse is sacred -- that neither bullet nor arrow can harm its rider. As they explore the prairie together, a bond forms between Peter and San Domingo that can never be broken. But Peter's father, Jethro Lundy, knows only one love: bargaining. He trades San Domingo for a thoroughbred. How can Peter ever forgive his father? His only choice is to leave home forever! Views: 1 121
Classic works by one of North America's greatest storytellers brought back to print in a new paperback series Inspiration for the major motion picture from Infinity Media and First Look International Central to Farley Mowat's writing is his quest to understand the often-forgotten native people of the vast arctic wilderness. In this moving collection, he allows these people to describe in their own words the adventures they experience as they struggle to survive in an isolated, untamed land. Stories of survival and courage, of superstition and fate, of uncompromising loyalty to family and tribe are presented here, offering a vivid portrait of a people whose existence is often beyond the comprehension of modern man. Views: 1 118
Farley Mowat's youth was charmed and hilarious, and unbelievably free in its access to unspoiled nature through bird-banding expeditions and overnight outings in the dead of winter. The author writes of sleeping in haystacks for survival, and other adventures, with equal shares of Booth Tarkington and Jack London. He also brings back Mutt, the famous hero-dog of his classic THE DOG WHO WOULDN'T BE, and his pet owl Wol, hero of OWLS IN THE FAMILY. The tale of an outrageous and clever boy, BORN NAKED takes its place as the foundation of the Farley Mowat canon. Views: 1 107
Chaz Perrone might be the only marine scientist in the world who doesn’t know which way the Gulf Stream runs. He might also be the only one who went into biology just to make a killing, and now he’s found a way–doctoring water samples so that a ruthless agribusiness tycoon can continue illegally dumping fertilizer into the endangered Everglades. When Chaz suspects that his wife, Joey, has figured out his scam, he pushes her overboard from a cruise liner into the night-dark Atlantic. Unfortunately for Chaz, his wife doesn’t die in the fall.
Clinging blindly to a bale of Jamaican pot, Joey Perrone is plucked from the ocean by former cop and current loner Mick Stranahan. Instead of rushing to the police and reporting her husband’s crime, Joey decides to stay dead and (with Mick’s help) screw with Chaz until he screws himself.
As Joey haunts and taunts her homicidal husband, as Chaz’s cold-blooded cohorts in pollution grow uneasy about his ineptitude and increasingly erratic behavior, as Mick Stranahan discovers that six failed marriages and years of island solitude haven’t killed the reckless romantic in him, we’re taken on a hilarious, full-throttle, pure Hiaasen ride through the warped politics and mayhem of the human environment, and the human heart.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey. Views: 1 097
The only trace of the first victim was his Shriner's fez washed up on the Miami beach. The second victim, the head of the city's chamber of commerce, was found dead with a toy rubber alligator lodged in his throat. And that was just the beginning... Now Brian Keyes, reporter turned private eye, must move from muckraking to rooting out murder, in a caper that will mix football players, politicians, and police with a group of fanatics and a very hungry crocodile Views: 1 096
Menagerie Manor is sure to delight fans of Durrell’s beloved classic My Family and Other Animals and other accounts of his lifelong fascination with members of the animal kingdom. With his unfailing charm, Durrell tells the story of how he finally fulfilled his childhood dream of founding his own private zoo, the Manor of Les Augres, on the English Channel island of Jersey. With the help of an enduring wife, a selfless staff, and a reluctant bank manager, the zoo grows, and readers are treated to a colorful parade of the zoo’s unusual animal inhabitants. Views: 1 093
The popular sequel to his award-winning Lost in the Barrens, this is Farley Mowat’s suspense-filled story of how Awasin, Jamie and Peetryuk, three adventure-prone boys, stumble upon a cache of Viking relics in an ancient tomb somewhere in the north of Canada. Packed with excitement and with little-known information about the customs of Viking explorers, this story of survival portrays the bond of youthful friendship and the wonders of a virtually unexplored land.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 1 088
It seemed like a good idea. Tired of everyday life ashore, Farley Mowat would find a sturdy boat in Newfoundland and roam the salt sea over, free as a bird. What he found was the worst boat in the world, and she nearly drove him mad. The Happy Adventure, despite all that Farley and his Newfoundland helpers could do, leaked like a sieve. Her engine only worked when she felt like it. Typically, on her maiden voyage, with the engine stuck in reverse, she backed out of the harbour under full sail. And she sank, regularly.
How Farley and a varied crew, including the intrepid lady who married him, coaxed the boat from Newfoundland to Lake Ontario is a marvellous story. The encounters with sharks, rum-runners, rum and a host of unforgettable characters on land and sea make this a very funny book for readers of all ages. Views: 1 082
The third book in Arthur Ransome's wonderful series for children, Peter Duck takes intrepid explorers John, Susan, Titty, and Roger Walker and fearsome Amazon pirates Nancy and Peggy Blackett onto the high seas. Under the command of the infamous Captain Flint (Nancy and Peggy's Uncle Jim), the children brave a real-life pirate and his cutthroat crew, fogy, sharks, and the ravenous crabs of Crab Island in the search of buried treasure. Views: 1 078
When little Reddy Fox gets too big for his breeches and steals a plump pet hen in broad daylight, the stage is set for an exciting tale as Farmer Brown\'s boy pursues Reddy with loaded gun and Bowser the Hound. Fortunately, Reddy has wise Granny Fox on his side and, with some timely help from other woodland friends, manages to avoid an unhappy ending.As this timeless fable unfolds, children will delight in Reddy\'s risky antics and the commotion his behavior causes among Johnny Chuck, Drummer the Woodpecker, Peter Rabbit, and the other inhabitants of the Green Forest. Thornton W. Burgess, author of Old Mother West Wind and many other children\'s classics, was a master at telling a good story that holds a child\'s attention while instilling an important lesson in the most painless and enjoyable fashion. First published in 1913, The Adventures of Reddy Fox was one of his finest efforts. In this inexpensive Dover edition, newly reset in large, easy-to-read type, it will delight children (and adults) today, just as it did their grandparents. Views: 1 076
To the delight of Mowat fans, the literary lion returns with an unexpected triumph.
Eastern Passage marks a return to the feisty Mowat of old. In it, he throws down the gauntlet and answers the doubters and naysayers who have dogged his writing life, breaking the stubborn silence he has kept since the notorious "Saturday Night" article that appeared over a decade ago. Here, too, he relates the story of a sail down the St. Lawrence that brought him face to face with one of Canada's more shocking secrets, one most of us still don't know today. Eastern Passage is the last piece of the Mowat puzzle: the years from his return from the north in the late 1940s to his discovery of Newfoundland and his love affair with the sea in the 1950s. In this time, he writes his first books and weathers his first storm of controversy as the northern establishment tries to deny the plight of the Barrenground Inuit by discrediting Farley and his first book, People of the Deer. This sets a trail that leads straight to the character assassination he suffers 40 years later in "Saturday Night."
By the 1950s, Farley's career is taking off but his first marriage is crumbling. He jumps at the chance to sail with his father down the St. Lawrence. As they approach the Saguenay River, they notice the paucity of sea life and alarming signs of disease in a beluga who swims beside their boat. From the locals, Farley hears the shocking story of the American B-50 bomber forced to ditch its Fat Boy bomb in the river a few years before. The resulting megaton explosion killed almost all riparian life in the area. It took 30 years for the area to recover.
This horror forges the final tempering of Mowat the activist. By the end of the book, Farley Mowat, the writer and outraged activist we know so well, has emerged complete.
As Farley ages, his courage continues to grow. This is an amazing book, funny, astute, and moving. "From the Hardcover edition." Views: 1 076
This first published work lays bare the early brilliance and philosophical conflicts of Andr� Gide, a towering figure in French literature Nobel Prize-winning writer Andr� Gide lays bare his adolescent psyche in this early work, first conceived and published as part of his novel The Notebooks of Andr� Walter, completed when he was just twenty years old. This profoundly personal work draws heavily on his religious upbringing and private journals to tell the story of a young man who, like the author, pines for his forbidden love, cousin Emmanuelle. This unique portrait of Gide as a young man presents the passions and conflicts, temptations and anguish he would explore in maturity. Views: 1 063
When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the island but ended up as a delightful account of Durrell’s family’s experiences, from the many eccentric hangers-on to the ceaseless procession of puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies into their home. Views: 1 063
