Walking with a pronounced limp all her life has never stopped fifteen-year-old Kiva Mau from doing what she loves, finding serentiy in her sketchbook and volunteering at the run-down art center. When seventeen-year-old Ryler Cade steps into the art center for the first time, Kiva is drawn to the angry and misguided student sent from abroad to reform his violent ways. An unlikely friendship is formed when the gentle Kiva shows him kindness and beauty through art. But after a tragic accident leaves Kiva severely disfigured, she struggles to see the beauty she has been brought up to believe. Just when she thinks she's found her place, Ryler begins to pull away, leaving her heartbroken and confused. The patriarch of the family then takes a turn for the worse and Kiva is forced to give up her dreams to help with familial obligations, until an old family secret surfaces that makes her question everything.

This book presents the state-of-the-art knowledge on bamboo. It starts with an introduction to the plant’s biology, its taxonomy, habitat, morphology and growth. The cultivation of bamboo is discussed in terms of silviculture, pests and diseases, and harvesting techniques. The book is completed by a comprehensive presentation of the properties of bamboo, its utilization and its preservation. Bamboo is the fastest-growing and most versatile plant on Earth. For centuries it has played an indispensible part in the daily life of millions of people in tropical countries. In recent decades it has gained increasing importance as a substitute for timber. The book was developed as a reference text for scientists, professionals, and graduate students with a strong interest in this unique plant.

A luminous and courageous story about the hopes and dreams we all have for our lives and relationships, and the often fraught and unexpected ways they may be realised. Angela Savage draws us masterfully into the lives of Anna, an aid worker trying to settle back into life in Australia after more than a decade in Southeast Asia; Meg, Anna’s sister, who holds out hope for a child despite seven fruitless years of IVF; Meg's husband Nate, and Mukda, a single mother in provincial Thailand who wants to do the right thing by her son and parents. The women and their families' lives become intimately intertwined in the unsettling and extraordinary process of trying to bring a child into the world across borders of class, culture and nationality. Rich in characterisation and feeling, Mother of Pearl, and the timely issues it raises, will generate discussion amongst readers everywhere. ‘This is a story of family and motherhood, and also a story of culture and exploitation that asks us to think through the costs of our insatiable desire in the West to have everything. What I find remarkable about this novel is how it refuses easy and lazy judgement, how it takes seriously questions of loss, longing, and our human need to connect with each other.’ — Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap

One kingdom. Three worlds. An all-new series packed with high-stakes adventures from bestselling Warriors author Erin Hunter, perfect for fans of Wings of Fire and Endling. The pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom have never forgotten the great flood that ended the peaceful life they’d always known. But for three young creatures born that day, the flood marks not an end, but a beginning—the beginning of their struggles to find a place in very different worlds. Leaf, raised in the sparse Northern Forest, works tirelessly to help her family find bamboo to eat; Rain, hot-tempered, refuses to accept a suspicious new leader in her Southern Forest community; and Ghost, clumsy and uncoordinated, worries he’ll never fit in with his hunter family in the mountains. None of them know that the others are out there, but thanks to a mysterious tiger that’s been threatening the Kingdom, they will soon find each other—and fulfill a prophecy that had been made long before they were born. This first book of a thrilling new animal adventure series from Erin Hunter is sure to enthrall readers of her other bestselling series. Fans will love having a new universe to immerse themselves in!

“Green gold” or “Poor Man’s Timber” are commonly used terms for bamboo that is a valuable and renewable resource of the world, and has always been an elemental part of human beings in terms of social and economic value. Bamboo is considered a multipurpose plant and has a prolonged history as an adaptable and extensively used renewable resource in conventional and commercial applications. Therefore, the annual demands for bamboos have already out-crossed the annual yields across the world. And the current scenario has forced scientists to pay more attention to the utilization of biotechnological tools for better understanding and improving bamboos. The book provides an overview of the different biotechnological approaches to advance bamboo research and better utilization of bamboo resources for human beings. Various applications of biological techniques in relation to bamboo have been discussed in details, for example, plant tissue culture techniques, somatic embryogenesis, germplasm conservation techniques, use of the molecular markers, transcriptomics, polymorphism, and phylogenetic relations in bamboo. It also addresses the novel industrial applications of bamboo in structural, food, and pharmaceuticals along with traditional uses. The aggregated information in this book demonstrates the way for the improved and sustainable practice of bamboos to fulfill the future needs of the world. This book is intended for use in both the industry and academia

Bamboo has become a popular planting choice in recent years; its architectural features are very appealing. Nevertheless, some bamboos can be highly invasive and can impact negatively on the built environment and local habitats. This book outlines the darker side of bamboo's nature and offers practical advice on how to deal with it; it also provides an overview of bamboo history, biology and ecology, and highlights why planting some species of bamboo can be particularly problematic. Useful guidance for householders who have planted, or wish to plant bamboo, is presented, as well as practical advice for those wanting to rid themselves of the plant. Most people who buy and sell bamboo are not aware of how invasive and destructive many bamboos can be. This book seeks to raise the profile of these plants, constructively and helpfully.