Finalist for the National Book Award, The Yellow Birds is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive in Iraq. "The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begins this powerful account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Bound together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for. In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined. With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds is a groundbreaking novel that is destined to become a classic.
Birds come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Birds are magic. Birds are everywhere. If you listen very carefully you will hear them, no matter where you live. And if you look very closely you will see them, no matter where you are. And if you can't go outside right this minute, you can always read this book!
Focusing on families and their shared traits makes bird identification easier than ever. This guide takes readers beyond merely identifying birds to understanding them. Many birders can tell the difference between a White-eyed and Bell's Vireo but cannot begin to describe a vireo and what distinguishes members of this family from warblers or flycatchers. The "species by species" approach makes it difficult to appreciate birds for what they are: members of well-organized groupings united by common traits. Putting the focus on families, and their shared characteristics, makes bird identification easier and more meaningful. More than 150 color photos illustrate the 81 bird families of the United States and Canada.
A visually stunning, comprehensive resource on North America’s birds of prey, from the award-winning birder and author of Gulls Simplified. Always a popular group of birds, raptors symbolize freedom and fierceness, and in Pete Dunne’s definitive guide, these traits are portrayed in hundreds of stunning color photographs showing raptors up close, in flight, and in action—fighting, hunting, and nesting. These gorgeous photographs enhance the comprehensive, authoritative text, which goes far beyond identification to cover raptor ecology, behavior, conservation, and much more. In returning to his forte and his first love, Pete Dunne has crafted a benchmark book on raptors: the first place to turn for any question about these highly popular birds, whether it’s what they eat, where they live, or how they behave. “Birds of Prey is exhaustively researched and complemented by a stunning collection of photos, but the real highlight is…Dunne’s writing. He weaves together personal anecdotes, historical accounts, and technical information to create something greater than the sum of all its parts: a beautiful, authoritative, and engagingly written guide to the natural history of North American hawks.”—David Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds “Books about raptors used to fall into two major categories: field guides versus nature writing. No more!...Dunne’s new book skillfully conjoins those two genres. Life a good field guide, Birds of Prey is authoritative and utilitarian, and like our finest nature writing, Dunne’s prose is lyrical, sensitive, and full of feeling.”—Ted Floyd, editor, Birding
WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2012 WINNER OF THE HEMINGWAY/PEN AWARD 2012 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST AN AMAZON EDITOR'S PICK: BEST BOOKS OF 2012 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR AN EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR A SUNDAY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A SCOTSMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A SUNDAY HERALD BOOK OF THE YEAR AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR An unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, THE YELLOW BIRDS is already being hailed as a modern classic. Everywhere John looks, he sees Murph. He flinches when cars drive past. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasn't held for months. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing. Back home after a year in Iraq, memories swarm around him: bodies burning in the crisp morning air. Sunlight falling through branches; bullets kicking up dust; ripples on a pond wavering like plucked strings. The promise he made, to a young man's mother, that her son would be brought home safely. With THE YELLOW BIRDS, poet and veteran Kevin Powers has composed an unforgettable account of friendship and loss. It vividly captures the desperation and brutality of war, and its terrible after-effects. But it is also a story of love, of great courage, and of extraordinary human survival. Written with profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on families at home, THE YELLOW BIRDS is one of the most haunting, true and powerful novels of our time. 'THE YELLOW BIRDS is the All Quiet on the Western Front of America's Arab Wars.' (Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities ) 'Kevin Powers has conjured a poetic and devastating account of war's effect on the individual.' (Damian Lewis, star of Homeland and Band of Brothers ) 'Inexplicably beautiful'. (Ann Patchett, Orange Prize-winning author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder)
Told in alternating voices, this smart and engaging middle grade novel from the beloved Kevin Henkes is the story of two boys coming together in friendship as they struggle with family conflicts and tragedy. There are ghosts at Bird Lake, and they're haunting Mitch and Spencer. Not the Halloween kind, but ghosts of the past. Memories of how life was before—before the divorce, before the accident. Can their ghosts bring Mitch and Spencer together, as friends? Or will their secrets keep them apart? Mitch feels isolated at his grandparents’ house and can’t help hating his father, who walked out on him and his mom two and a half weeks earlier. Spencer’s family has decided it’s finally time to return to Bird Lake, years after his brother, Matty, drowned there. Both boys arrive at the lake scarred and fragile, but as they become friends, the sharp edges of their lives smooth out and, slowly, they are able to start healing. “Superbly crafted. A ‘must have’ for every library.” —School Library Journal (starred review) “In a novel as tender as his acclaimed Olive’s Ocean, Henkes probes the psyches of two boys facing family conflicts.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Discover a powerful tool that will revolutionize your classroom teaching and learning in math, all in a single page! The ANIE (Assessment for Numeracy in Education) is a teacher-developed assessment template that uses performance standards to evaluate student comprehension, enabling you to plan timely and targeted instruction and intervention where they are needed most. This straightforward book introduces a 5-step process for solving any math question, and offers proven techniques for helping students to explain math problems and make relevant connections to the real world.
It is never too late to become a birder. The materials available for the beginning bird watcher/birder are designed to make taking up the pastime easy. Today’s binoculars and spotting scopes are much improved on those available thirty years ago. Websites like eBird can help keep track of bird sightings and let the novice know when and where to find more birds. Applications like Merlin help with visual and sound identification. Field guides are now fully illustrated with colour plates as opposed to a few pages in the oldest field guides. If you have ever thought you would like to know more about birding this could be the introduction you have been seeking.
When many birders go out looking at shorebirds, they see a distant mud flat full of grayish brown birds in various shapes and sizes and have no idea where to begin the identification process. When advanced birders look at that same flock of shorebirds, they can identify the vast majority of birds with a quick binocular scan. Experts use the simplest, most easily observed characteristics--size, structure, behavior, and general color patterns--almost subconsciously, and can identify most birds even before looking carefully at plumage details. Now birders of all levels can learn how to identify these wildly popular birds quickly and with much less effort. This guide provides more than 870 stunning color photographs, sequenced to give a general impression of a species first and progressing to a more detailed image of the bird throughout its life cycle. Captions list characteristics in order of importance, reflecting the thought process that experts use to identify birds.
The Better Together series presents an introductory look at some of nature's most exciting cooperative pairs. Honeyguide Birds and Ratels explores the close mutualistic relationship between the two animals. Sidebars encourage readers to engage in the material by asking deeper questions or conducting individual research. Full color photos, a glossary, and a listing of additional resources all enhance the learning experience.
The subject of this book is the author's great, great grandfather, Francis Crowe. The book has been written to shed light on our notorious but highly shrouded descendant"--Page 7.
A highly visual guide to identifying birds in the field based on the important, unchanging features of size, shape, structure, and behavior Birding is an extremely rewarding and fun hobby, but some situations can be frustrating or unsuccessful because of a variety of challenging viewing conditions. This guide to identifying birds offers the holistic “birding by impression” method, which not only helps with these difficult conditions, but also develops an efficient mental identification process using left- and right-brain skills. It begins with a conscious assessment of a bird’s unchanging physical characteristics, including general size, body shape, structural features (bill, legs, neck, and wings), and behavior. Using this approach, birders can quickly assess all birds and distinguish new and uncommon species from familiar ones. They can then examine more detailed field marks to fine-tune the identification. Rather than a traditional field guide, this book presents an interactive how-to approach to a more complete identification process.
The 2002 edition of Birds of the Lehigh Valley and Vicinity was built on the foundation laid by Morris, Wiltraut and Brock in A Field List of the Birds of Lehigh County (1979) and Birds of the Lehigh Valley Area (1984). These two fine publications used the original checklist written by John E. Trainer and Clint Miller in 1956 as their foundation. With extensive advances in digital photography, color printing,and new sighting records and changes to birding sites, the 2014 edition of Birds of the Lehigh Valley and Vicinity has been completely updated and revised. Sighting data and guides have been updated through 2012. Also added is a photographic section covering more observable species within the region. This section can aid beginning birders who enjoy watching birds wherever they may encounter them" -- Preface.
A visually stunning, comprehensive resource on North America’s birds of prey, from the award-winning birder and author of Gulls Simplified. Always a popular group of birds, raptors symbolize freedom and fierceness, and in Pete Dunne’s definitive guide, these traits are portrayed in hundreds of stunning color photographs showing raptors up close, in flight, and in action—fighting, hunting, and nesting. These gorgeous photographs enhance the comprehensive, authoritative text, which goes far beyond identification to cover raptor ecology, behavior, conservation, and much more. In returning to his forte and his first love, Pete Dunne has crafted a benchmark book on raptors: the first place to turn for any question about these highly popular birds, whether it’s what they eat, where they live, or how they behave. “Birds of Prey is exhaustively researched and complemented by a stunning collection of photos, but the real highlight is…Dunne’s writing. He weaves together personal anecdotes, historical accounts, and technical information to create something greater than the sum of all its parts: a beautiful, authoritative, and engagingly written guide to the natural history of North American hawks.”—David Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds “Books about raptors used to fall into two major categories: field guides versus nature writing. No more!...Dunne’s new book skillfully conjoins those two genres. Life a good field guide, Birds of Prey is authoritative and utilitarian, and like our finest nature writing, Dunne’s prose is lyrical, sensitive, and full of feeling.”—Ted Floyd, editor, Birding
A distant owl's mournful hoot echoes through a frozen forest. A shadow swoops across the tundra; lemmings and voles scurry beneath the foliage as the raspy cry of a hawk is carried on the cold north wind. Alaska is home to many of the world largest and most dangerous creatures, but none spark the human imagination like a bird of prey. With this book. Alaska's unique collection of birds of prey, owls, eagles, hawks, falcons, eagles, and harriers come to new life. Crowley's detailed woodcuts and rigorous research brings new life to these raptors and provides the reader with a raw perspective on their biology, history, and most of all, beauty.
A portfolio of sheer excellence.' -Chris Packham In this breathtaking new book, internationally renowned photographer Kevin Morgans celebrates the iconic Atlantic puffin and its place in the ecology of the British Isles. With their brightly coloured beaks, quirky personalities and comical movements, the 'clowns of the sea' are the best loved of all Britain's seabirds. In a series of stunning images from his award-winning portfolio, Kevin Morgans documents their lives and their relationship with our windswept coast.
A guide to finding and identifying birds in the American West, designed to fill in the gaps left by field guides and bird-finding guides. Provides birders with general concepts and frameworks needed to develop good bird-finding and identification skills, describes different identification techniques, and details microhabitats and difficult-to-identify species in depth. Also gives advice on keeping field notes.
The Better Together series presents an introductory look at some of nature's most exciting cooperative pairs. Honeyguide Birds and Ratels explores the close mutualistic relationship between the two animals. Sidebars encourage readers to engage in the material by asking deeper questions or conducting individual research. Full color photos, a glossary, and a listing of additional resources all enhance the learning experience.
This volume honours the academic achievements and scholarship of Professor Florence Myles as a world-leading scholar in the fields of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and French Linguistics, in particular for her work in corpus-based SLA and language policy in primary school education. In addition to reviews of the field (e.g., primary languages policy in the UK), the volume presents new research studies reflective of key theoretical and methodological issues in current SLA research, including theory-building, corpus-based investigations, studies of language development, as well as informing teacher professional development through research. Taken together, this edited book provides a wide-ranging and balanced account of Myles’s work and speaks to her influence on SLA research and primary languages policy. We invite readers to learn more about the fascinating research presented here as inspired by Florence’s dedication to field.
A simpler and more user-friendly visual approach to gull identification This unique photographic field guide to North America’s gulls provides a comparative approach to identification that concentrates on the size, structure, and basic plumage features of gulls—gone are the often-confusing array of plumage details found in traditional guides. Featuring hundreds of color photos throughout, Gulls Simplified illustrates the variations of gull plumages for a variety of ages, giving readers strong visual reference points for each species. Extensive captions accompany the photos, which include comparative photo arrays, digitized photo arrays for each age group, and numerous images of each species—a wealth of visual information at your fingertips. This one-of-a-kind guide includes detailed species accounts and a distribution map for each gull. An essential field companion for North American birders, Gulls Simplified reduces the confusion commonly associated with gull identification, offering a more user-friendly way of observing these marvelous birds. Provides a simpler approach to gull identification Features a wealth of color photos for easy comparison among species Includes detailed captions that explain identification criteria and aging, with direct visual reinforcement above the captions Combines plumage details with a focus on size, body shape, and structural features for easy identification in the field Highlights important field marks and physical features for each gull
Penguin Planet is a celebration of all things penguin. Author and photographer Kevin Schafer made it his mission to see and photograph every remaining penguin species in the wild, and the first edition was the result of that journey. This new edition combines even more exceptional photography with colorful personal essays and up-to-date information on a most remarkable and utterly unique group of birds. In this extraordinary collection, Schafer not only discusses how penguins live but also captures them on camera, while dispelling many popular misconceptions. (Did you know that most penguin species never encounter ice and snow in their lifetimes?) In addition, Schafer examines important and timely topics, including the effects of global climate change and how these unlikely birds are faring in an increasingly human-altered world. Penguin Planet is a necessity for penguin lovers everywhere.
This adorable book shows how to make a wide variety of birds by needle felting—sculpting wool roving into a three-dimensional figure using a special barbed needle. Each project includes a fun photo of the project with step-by-step instructions that result in 20 types of feathered friends! With Felted Feathered Friends, you'll learn to make endearing creatures such as: - A snowy owl - A peacock - A Great Blue Heron - A bluebird - A robin - A flamingo - A pair of lovebirds - And much more These delightful creations will put a smile on anyone's face, and witheasy-to-follow directions and the author's enthusiastic and expert guidance, anyone can take part in the feathered fun!
Kevin Raba's new collection of poems and stories, Like Buddha-Calm Bird, improves on and riffs off the variable rhythms of the stories we create, revise, and live. Writing the music inherent in changing narratives of the ordinary and extraordinary, Rabas illustrates what a fellow Kansas poet meant when he said, "Anyone who breathes is in the rhythm business, anyone who is alive is caught up in the imminences, the doubts mixed with the triumphant certainty, of poetry." Whether writing about Ugandan rain, the Bossa Nova, a middle school drummer, or the T.Rex at a museum, Rabas puts his ear to what wants to be said, then moseys into words slow and deliberate, or explodes into language fast and on the wing. In a sense, much of this collection leads up to the final section, "Eclipse," showing us how we partner with the life force to co-create this world: "the breath of God/comes in a cloud" and "an open/mouth whistles/over and past tall grasses/ from dust, remakes the world." ~Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate 2009-13, and author of Everyday Magic: Fieldnotes on the Mundane and Miraculous.
Lonely Planet: The world’s number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet’s Colombia is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Wander through the bougainvillea-lined streets and magnificent squares of Cartagena’s Old Town, hike through majestic tropical scenery on a jungle walk to Ciudad Perdida, and learn to dance salsa in Cali – all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Colombia and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet’s Colombia: Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, cuisine, politics Covers Bogotá, Boyacá, Santander & Norte de Santander, Caribbean Coast, San Andres & Providencia, Medellin & Zona Cafetera, Cali & Southwest Colombia, Pacific Coast, Amazon Basin, and more eBook Features: (Best viewed on tablet devices and smartphones) Downloadable PDF and offline maps prevent roaming and data charges Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews Add notes to personalise your guidebook experience Seamlessly flip between pages Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash Embedded links to recommendations' websites Zoom-in maps and images Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet’s Colombia is our most comprehensive guide to the country, and is designed to immerse you in the culture and help you discover the best sights and get off the beaten track. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category ‘Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.’ – New York Times ‘Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.’ – Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017 Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.
Issues of scale have become increasingly important to ecologists. This book addresses the structure of regional (large-scale) ecological assemblages or communities, and the influence this has at a local (small-scale) level. This macroecological perspective is essential for the broader study of ecology because the structure and function of local communities cannot be properly understood without reference to the region in which they are situated. The book reviews and synthesizes the issues of current importance in macroecology, providing a balanced summary of the field that will be useful for biologists at advanced undergraduate level and above. These general issues are illustrated by frequent reference to specific well-studied local and regional assemblages -- an approach that serves to relate the macroecological perspective (which is perhaps often difficult to comprehend) to the everyday experience of local sites. Macroecology is an expanding and dynamic discipline. The broad aim of the book is to promote an understanding of why it is such an important part of the wider program of research into ecology. Summarises the current macroecological literature. Provides numerous examples of key patterns. Explicitly links local and regional scale processes. Exploits detailed knowledge of one species assemblage to explore broad issues in the structuring of biodiversity.
The Dictionary of Louisiana French (DLF) provides the richest inventory of French vocabulary in Louisiana and reflects precisely the speech of the period from 1930 to the present. This dictionary describes the current usage of French-speaking peoples in the five broad regions of South Louisiana: the coastal marshes, the banks of the Mississippi River, the central area, the north, and the western prairie. Data were collected during interviews from at least five persons in each of twenty-four areas in these regions. In addition to the data collected from fieldwork, the dictionary contains material compiled from existing lexical inventories, from texts published after 1930, and from archival recordings. The new authoritative resource, the DLF not only contains the largest number of words and expressions but also provides the most complete information available for each entry. Entries include the word in the conventional French spelling, the pronunciation (including attested variants), the part of speech classification, the English equivalent, and the word's use in common phrases. The DLF features a wealth of illustrative examples derived from fieldwork and textual sources and identification of the parish where the entry was collected or the source from which it was compiled. An English-to-Louisiana French index enables readers to find out how particular notions would be expressed in la Louisiane .
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.