It’s night. It’s dark. It’s time to go indoors—or is it? The outdoors at night can be a scary place, but this book will help young readers investigate the mysterious nature of night. To explore the night, it would be great to have eyes like an owl, the sensitive nose of a deer, and feet that can move as silently as a fox. Humans aren’t quite as good as nocturnal animals at navigating the darkness, but we can come surprisingly close. Our senses are much sharper than we realize, if we learn how to use them. Some scientists are even researching the sensory abilities of human hair! Each chapter of the book spotlights a different nocturnal creature. And while learning about animals’ adaptations for navigating the world of night, young readers discover their own surprising abilities. Years of teaching children in the outdoors has given the author, renowned environrmental educator Anita Sanchez, firsthand experience in introducing students to the terrors and joys of nature at night. She has led kids on night walks in a variety of habitats, including urban settings. Based on these experiences, the book describes night-time landscapes and the nocturnal animals that inhabit them, from desert coyotes to the frog chorus in a backyard pond—and a corner of the bathroom at midnight where a spider lurks. Readers will encounter: --The great horned owl, who can spot the twitch of a mouse’s tail in almost total darkness. --The Gila monster, who prowls the desert night using its tongue to locate prey. --The super-sensitive ears of a bullfrog (yes, frogs have ears!) --The delicate sense of touch of a spider, capturing its prey by feeling the slightest vibrations of its web. Sidebars called “You Can Do It!” offer fun and active ways for kids to explore their own senses—learning more about their own eyes, ears, nose, and senses of touch and taste. --While using crayons at night, can your eyes tell red from green? --Can you hold completely still for an entire minute, like a fox stalking its prey? --Could you follow the scent trail of an onion across the back yard? --Can you find sounds in the dark? Learn to use the “big ears” technique to locate sounds with accuracy.

When the sun goes down, the mood is right -- for heart-pounding romantic suspense! A sizzling, stay-up-all-night anthology featuring the national bestselling and award-winning talents of four sensational storytellers! KAREN ROBARDS Danger and desire ignite when Charlotte Bates drives straight into a DEA agent's hot pursuit of a drug smuggler. But when the lawman takes Charlie hostage, an electrifying adventure begins.... ANDREA KANE An architect inherits the house of her dreams -- a mansion by the sea -- only to find that someone will do anything to keep her away.... LINDA ANDERSON When a killer targets her book club friends, a small-town librarian sees a handsome visiting professor in a new light: is he her happy ending? Or a fatal attraction? MARIAH STEWART Coming home to Montana after a stalker's attack, a model finds an old love rekindled and a safe place for healing. Until her attacker finds her....

Twelve-year-old Molly and her ten-year-old brother, Michael, have never liked their seven-year-old stepsister, Heather. Ever since their parents got married, she's made Molly and Michael's life miserable. Now their parents have moved them all to the country to live in a house that used to be a church, with a cemetery in the backyard. If that's not bad enough, Heather starts talking to a ghost named Helen and warning Molly and Michael that Helen is coming for them. Molly feels certain Heather is in some kind of danger, but every time she tries to help, Heather twists things around to get her into trouble. It seems as if things can't get any worse. But they do—when Helen comes.

There was once a little raccoon who wanted to go out in the night -- to know an owl, to see if the moon is a rabbit, and to find out how dark is the dark. But his mother said, "Wait. Wait till the moon is full." So the little raccoon waited and wondered, while the moon got bigger and bigger and bigger. Until at last, on a very special evening, the moon was full.

“Deb Olin Unferth’s stories are so smart, fast, full of heart, and distinctive in voice—each an intense little thought-system going out earnestly in search of strange new truths. What an important and exciting talent.”—George Saunders For more than ten years, Deb Olin Unferth has been publishing startlingly askew, wickedly comic, cutting-edge fiction in magazines such as Granta, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, NOON, and The Paris Review. Her stories are revered by some of the best American writers of our day, but until now there has been no stand-alone collection of her short fiction. Wait Till You See Me Dance consists of several extraordinary longer stories as well as a selection of intoxicating very short stories. In the chilling “The First Full Thought of Her Life,” a shooter gets in position while a young girl climbs a sand dune. In “Voltaire Night,” students compete to tell a story about the worst thing that ever happened to them. In “Stay Where You Are,” two oblivious travelers in Central America are kidnapped by a gunman they assume to be an insurgent—but the gunman has his own problems. An Unferth story lures you in with a voice that seems amiable and lighthearted, but it swerves in sudden and surprising ways that reveal, in terrifying clarity, the rage, despair, and profound mournfulness that have taken up residence at the heart of the American dream. These stories often take place in an exaggerated or heightened reality, a quality that is reminiscent of the work of Donald Barthelme, Lorrie Moore, and George Saunders, but in Unferth’s unforgettable collection she carves out territory that is entirely her own.

Hopalong Cassidy is a cowboy hero created by the author Clarence Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and many novels based on the character. In his early writings, Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He had a wooden leg which caused him to walk with a little "hop", hence the nickname. The character—as played by movie actor William Boyd in films adapted from Mulford's books—was transformed into a clean-cut, sarsaparilla-drinking hero. Sixty-six popular films appeared. The Coming of Cassidy and Others Hopalong Cassidy Bar-20 Days Buck Peters, Ranchman The Bar-20 Three Tex Clarence E. Mulford (1883–1956) created Hopalong Cassidy in 1904 while living in Fryeburg, Maine, and the many short stories and 28 novels were adapted to radio, feature film, television, and comic books, often deviating significantly from the original stories, especially in the character's traits. But more than just writing a very popular series of Westerns, Mulford recreated an entire detailed and authentic world filled with characters drawn from his extensive library research.

Don’t miss the thrilling prequel to New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin’s brand-new series, Maximum Security! Private investigator Jonah Wolfe knows trouble when he sees it. So when April Vale storms into his office at Maximum Security, all his warning signs flash red. April’s been accused of murder, except she has no memory of how she woke up in her coworker’s bed—drenched in his blood, as he was shot with her gun. As the campaign manager for the mayor, April’s job and life are on the line if she doesn’t figure out who’s trying to frame her. But the clock is ticking, and the pair must find the murderer…before April winds up dead. “Kat Martin is a fast gun when it comes to storytelling, and I love her books.” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller