In a magical place called the Congo, in the beautiful forests and jungles of Virunga National Park, lives a young female mountain gorilla named Miza. She was just like any other baby gorilla, riding on her mother’s back, playing, taking naps. Then, one day, when Miza and her mother were out searching for food, Miza’s mother disappeared, leaving her baby alone and frightened. Miza’s father, a fierce silverback named Kabirizi and the leader of Virunga’s largest family of mountain gorillas, set out to find Miza. The Congolese rangers, who dedicate their lives to protecting the gorillas, were searching for Miza, too. Everyone was worried about her. Then something amazing happened: Kabirizi found Miza and brought her back to live with her family. Virunga is home to roughly 380 mountain gorillas, just over half of the planet’s remaining mountain gorilla population. Miza and other mountain gorillas face an especially uncertain future. They are an endangered species, disappearing at an alarming speed. Without our help they could vanish completely.
A New Frontier: The Peace Corps in Eastern Europe
A collection of black-and-white photographs offers a dramatic portrait of the Peace Corps teachers, business specialists, and other volunteers in the ex-Communist countries of Eastern Europe.
My Japan
A young boy, Yumi, discusses his life in Japan, describing his home life, food, a typical day at his school, summer vacation, transportation, holidays, the city, and systems of writing.
Through Time: London
From a Neolithic camp to the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics, very few cities have seen as much history, innovation, and bloodshed as London. In this beautiful book, readers take an historical, geographical, and anthropological journey through London’s past through amazing artwork and detailed cross sections. From the earliest habitations to the Roman and Viking invasions, the Plague, Shakespeare, The Great Fire, right up to the Industrial Revolution, the Blitz, and more, readers will uncover layer after layer of London’s magnificent history and learn about the people who have called the city home.
Tigers in Terai (Adventures Of Riley)
Riley journeys to the Terai Arc region of India and Nepal in search of the elusive Bengal tiger. Riley’s research leads to exciting encounters with some weird and wild indigenous animals (an Asian rhino, a king cobra, langur monkeys and more!) as well as a better understanding of the local culture.
Whistling Thorn
A look at evolution on the African savannah describes how the acacia bush, in danger of having its leaves ravaged by animals, began to produce thorns that protect it and create a beautiful sound when the wind blows.
1968
1968, the year America grew up from racial and gender equality fights to the struggle against the draft and the Vietnam war. In 1968 Americans asked questions and fought for their rights. Now, 30 years later, we look back on that seminal year–from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assasination to the Columbia University riots to our changing role among other nations–in this gripping introduction to the events home and abroad. The year we first took steps in space, the year we shaped the present, 1968 presented by a former New York Times writer who lived through it all, shares the story with detail.
Seal Journey
The author/photographer and his eight-year-old son journey to the ice floes of eastern Canada to observe the thousands of harp seal pups born there each year.
Leaving Glorytown: One Boy’s Struggle Under Castro
Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro’s Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country. When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba. During the years to come, as he grew up in Glorytown, a neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos, Eduardo hoped with all his might that their exit visa would be granted before he turned fifteen, the age at which he would be drafted into the army. In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future.
Featured in Volume I, Issue 4 of WOW Review.
Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest: Where Birds Begin
Bird lovers of all ages will feel right at home with Irene Kelly’s latest nature title. How does a bird make its nest? Very carefully! Many birds build intricate nests out of twigs, leaves, feathers, mud–even dollar bills and clothespins. Some nests are gigantic, housing hundreds of birds or weighing as much as a car, while others are just large enough to keep one egg safe and warm. Whether simple or fancy, every species finds a unique way and clever place to raise its young.