This work represents an important contribution to the history of medieval books, providing full scholarly description and discussion of an otherwise very little known category of written artefact in quasi-book form, but one that the 60-odd identified examples suggest was relatively common. This volume will be of interest not only to medieval book-historians and codicologists but also to historians of medieval science and of the liturgy, and of medieval written culture and cultural practice more broadly. Although a large proportion of the volume takes the form of a catalogue, the information and explanatory material presented in the introduction to the catalogue as a whole and to each of the sections into which the catalogue is divided give the volume the coherence and value of a historical and codicological survey of this form of artefact, the kind of texts they contained, and how and by whom they were made and used. The way in which the catalogue is structured in chronological and thematic sections, each with their own introduction, also contributes to enhance this aspect of the volume.

Primarily for ages 4-10, this book includes 18 games, craft projects, and many more fun activities that enable children to learn the facts about bats before negative stereotypes become established. Background information for teachers is included.

The Ultimate Collection of Vampire Facts and Fiction From Vlad the Impaler to Barnabas Collins to Edward Cullen to Dracula and Bill Compton, renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, PhD takes the reader on a vast, alphabetic tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the blood-sucking undead. Digging deep into the lore, myths, pop culture, and reported realities of vampires and vampire legends from across the globe, The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead exposes everything about the blood thirsty predator. Death and immortality, sexual prowess and surrender, intimacy and alienation, rebellion and temptation. The allure of the vampire is eternal, and The Vampire Book explores it all. The historical, literary, mythological, biographical, and popular aspects of one of the world's most mesmerizing paranormal subject. This vast reference is an alphabetical tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the soul-sucking undead. In the first fully revised and updated edition in a decade, Dr. J. Gordon Melton (president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula) bites even deeper into vampire lore, myths, reported realities, and legends that come from all around the world. From Transylvania to plague-infested Europe to Nostradamus and from modern literature to movies and TV series, this exhaustive guide furnishes more than 500 essays to quench your thirst for facts, biographies, definitions, and more.

Kids of all ages will be fascinated by these inventive kits that combine the fun of creating a model, the instruction of a fact-filled book, and the pride of displaying that final product. In these revealing kits, kids will learn fun and interesting facts about bats and ants. They'll discover the bats importance to ecology by controlling insect pests, that bats are mammals, and how bats use echolocation to navigate and find food. They'll learn about the social intricacies of life as an ant. Of course, they'll also learn all about the bat's and ants anatomy as they assemble their very own specimens.

"This volume seeks to delineate the history of the production, dissemination, and reception of texts from the earliest pictograms of the mid-4th millennium to recent developments in electronic books."--Page xi.

Contains a literature-unit on bats featuring the children's books Stellaluna by Janell Cannon, and, Zipping, zapping, zooming bats by Ann Earle.

Bats are dangerous to man. Right? Wrong. Here is the truth about chiroptera, the only mammals that fly, in a short, well-illustrated account based on solid research but intended for a general reader. Bats, of which there are about 850 species in the world, are maligned as carriers of rabies (largely untrue) and admired for their biosonar. Heir diversity is reflected in their diets: some eat fruit, some nectar and pollen, other fish, birds, frogs, or other bats. Although most eat insects, it is the three species of blood-feeding vampires which receive most public attention and around which much myth and superstition (and misconception) have evolved. In addition to their diet and habit, Fenton discusses their remarkable sonar sight, their reproduction, migration, patterns of behavior – from hunting to mating – parasites, enemies, and life span. (The current record is held by an Ontario Little Brown Bat which in 1980 had survived more than 30 years.) Man's attitude toward bats, his destruction of their habitats, and his use of pesticides have contributed to a sharp decline in the bat population in many parts of the world. Many biologists are becoming increasingly concerned about the survival of some species, but maintaining their numbers requires a change in people's attitudes. Just Bats will help. It will also tell the reader how to evict bats from his attic – provided he knows how they got in.