A collection of haiku captures the special songs, calls, and characteristics of the cuckoo and twenty other North American birds.

In evocative haiku, Michael J. Rosen depicts twenty different breeds of cats—whether mischievous or mysterious, comical or commanding. Some cats have names that suggest far-off lands, like the Turkish Angora and the Norwegian forest cat. Others allude to places closer to home, such as California’s ragdoll and the Maine coon. Set against Lee White’s graceful illustrations, with intriguing facts about each of twenty breeds at the end, this charming haiku collection for lovers of America’s most popular house pet provides the purr-fect book to curl up with.

A creature whispers: If not for the cat, And the scarcity of cheese, I could be content. Who is this creature? What does it like to eat? Can you solve the riddle? Seventeen haiku composed by master poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by renowned artist Ted Rand ask you to think about seventeen favorite residents of the animal kingdom in a new way. On these glorious and colorful pages you will meet a mouse, a skunk, a beaver, a hummingbird, ants, bald eagles, jellyfish, and many others. Who is who? The answer is right in front of you. But how can you tell? Think and wonder and look and puzzle it out!

Fourteen North American habitats are pictured in two-page spreads, each featuring one bird that lives in that habitat. The author suggests ways children can make their back yards safe for birds.

"A wonderful introduction the Japanese tradition of jisei, this volume is crammed with exquisite, spontaneous verse and pithy, often hilarious, descriptions of the eccentric and committed monastics who wrote the poems." --Tricycle: The Buddhist Review Although the consciousness of death is, in most cultures, very much a part of life, this is perhaps nowhere more true than in Japan, where the approach of death has given rise to a centuries-old tradition of writing jisei, or the "death poem." Such a poem is often written in the very last moments of the poet's life. Hundreds of Japanese death poems, many with a commentary describing the circumstances of the poet's death, have been translated into English here, the vast majority of them for the first time. Yoel Hoffmann explores the attitudes and customs surrounding death in historical and present-day Japan and gives examples of how these have been reflected in the nation's literature in general. The development of writing jisei is then examined--from the longing poems of the early nobility and the more "masculine" verses of the samurai to the satirical death poems of later centuries. Zen Buddhist ideas about death are also described as a preface to the collection of Chinese death poems by Zen monks that are also included. Finally, the last section contains three hundred twenty haiku, some of which have never been assembled before, in English translation and romanized in Japanese.

Sniffing armpits. Scuba diving for golf balls. Building secret passageways. For some lucky people, these strange tasks are all in a day's work. Want to learn about the men and women who destroy old buildings or make movie sound effects? Discover a range of weird jobs from around the world!

Explore a variety of birds in this illustrated educational introduction to birds.