Does a giant hairy apelike creature roam the forests and swamps of North America? If so, this huge creature has managed to keep pretty well hidden, but is seen from time to time. Bigfoot is seen lurking in the shadows of strip malls in the Pacific Northwest and photographed walking across a stream or hiding behind a tree. He is watching hikers as they move through the forest and occasionally kidnaps children or murders solitary people who are in the woods. Childress gives us the latest bigfoot sightings and photos and looks at how the hairy giant has crept into the American psyche as time goes on. Childress starts at the beginning, telling the story behind an apparent bigfoot photo from the 1800s, and the tale of how the creature got its name in the 1950s. Bigfoot is present throughout the country, and Childress relates stories of sightings Back East, in the American Southwest, California and Pacific Northwest. He discusses bigfoot that make lots of noise, and presents photos throughout, including a special eight-page color photo section.

George Washington Carver (ca. 1864-1943) is at once one of the most familiar and misunderstood figures in American history. In My Work Is That of Conservation, Mark D. Hersey reveals the life and work of this fascinating man who is widely--and reductively--known as the African American scientist who developed a wide variety of uses for the peanut. Carver had a truly prolific career dedicated to studying the ways in which people ought to interact with the natural world, yet much of his work has been largely forgotten. Hersey rectifies this by tracing the evolution of Carver's agricultural and environmental thought starting with his childhood in Missouri and Kansas and his education at the Iowa Agricultural College. Carver's environmental vision came into focus when he moved to the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama, where his sensibilities and training collided with the denuded agrosystems, deep poverty, and institutional racism of the Black Belt. It was there that Carver realized his most profound agricultural thinking, as his efforts to improve the lot of the area's poorest farmers forced him to adjust his conception of scientific agriculture. Hersey shows that in the hands of pioneers like Carver, Progressive Era agronomy was actually considerably "greener" than is often thought today. My Work Is That of Conservation uses Carver's life story to explore aspects of southern environmental history and to place this important scientist within the early conservation movement.

For several nights in 1903 the small town of Van Meter, IA was terrorized by a giant bat-like creature that emerged from an old abandoned mine. The nature and origin of this mysterious visitor was never discovered. Over 100 years later three researchers set out to Van Meter to shine a light on this amazingly bizarre case. Filled with eyewitness reports, historic photos, and current accounts of paranormal events, this in-depth book looks to discover. Was it an unknown animal? Was is mass hysteria? Was it a hoax? Was it an extraterrestrial? Or was it something far stranger? Follow their investigation and find out what they discovered when they asked: "What really happened in Van Meter?" Book jacket.

My First Book About Iowa. An 'early bird' intro to basic state facts. Covers state basics such as the state's nickname, seal, song, bird, motto, flag, regions, industries, neighbors, and weather, plus an intro to history, people, and more. Excellent for grades 2, 3, and 4. Basic state information is presented in a non-intimidating way. Twenty-three activities reinforce basic state facts. Great for easy reproducible activities, centers, a-page-a-day handouts, simple homework assignments and more. Includes glossary, bibliography and index. It's never too early to study your great state!

From the author of Little Broken Things, a “race-to-the-finish family drama” (People) following a mother who must confront the dark summer that changed her life forever in order to reclaim the daughter she left behind. Juniper Baker had just graduated from high school and was deep in the throes of a summer romance when Cal and Beth Murphy, a childless couple who lived on a neighboring farm, were brutally murdered. When her younger brother became the prime suspect, June’s world collapsed and everything she loved that summer fell away. She left, promising never to return to tiny Jericho, Iowa. Until now. Officially, she’s back in town to help an ill friend manage the local library. But really, she’s returned to repair her relationship with her teenage daughter, who’s been raised by Juniper’s mother and stepfather since birth—and to solve the infamous Murphy murders once and for all. She knows the key to both lies in the darkest secret of that long-ago summer night, one that’s haunted her for nearly fifteen years. As history begins to repeat itself and a dogged local true crime podcaster starts delving into the murders, the race to the truth puts past and present on a dangerous collision course. Juniper lands back in an all-too-familiar place with the answers to everything finally in her sights, but this time it’s her daughter’s life that hangs in the balance. Will revealing what really happened mean a fresh start? Or will the truth destroy everything Juniper loves for a second time? Baart once again brilliantly weaves mystery into family drama in this expertly-crafted novel for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda.