New Releases by Patricia Lauber

Examines the significance of food chains and food webs, and explains why each link in a chain is important because of the interdependence of living things for survival

" ... Take a look inside and discover the truth about our canine companions!"--Cover back.

Publisher Description

Describes changes in eating customs throughout the centuries and the origins of table manners.

Through a true-or-false format, presents statements about the history, uses, and behavior of horses and discusses them.

Tells how hurricanes form, how scientists study them, and how they have affected the United States throughout this century.

Publisher Description

Discusses the truth behind such beliefs as "Cats can see in total darkness," "Cats have nine lives," and "A cat signals its feelings with its tail."

Why should you be a friend to trees? Trees are a valuable natural resource. People depend on trees for food, and animals depend on trees for food and shelter. But most important, we depend on trees because they add oxygen, a gas we all need, to the air. While trees give us many wonderful products, we must also protect them because we can't live without them.

"[Here is] a charming introduction to the truly amazing octopus [from its intelligence to its ability to change colors to the camouflaging black ink it squirts to escape predators]. Lauber's chatty, fact-filled text makes the book a good read-aloud, and Keller's amusing and colorful drawings enhance it—a perfect match of text and illustration." —SLJ. Children's Books of 1990 (Library of Congress)

Describes the eruption, aftermath, and gradual return of life to the Mount St. Helens slopes devastated by the 1980 eruption.

Discusses how fossilized remains of plants and animals reveal the characteristics of the prehistoric world.

Describes the characteristics and behavior of different kinds of whales and discusses why they are threatened by extinction.

Explores the planets of our solar system, highlighting the prominent features of each. Includes new photos and information gathered by the Voyager explorations.

Traces the life of the pilot who became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and mysteriously disappeared in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.

Text and illustrations describe the many ways that flowers are pollinated with emphasis on the role of bees in this important process.

Sand in their bread caused serious tooth problems for the ancient Egyptians, peasants and pharaohs alike.Skull surgery was commonly performed by the Inca Indians of Peru. A thick soup made of grain and seeds was a typical winter meal in Denmark during the Iron Age. How can we be so sure of what ancient life was like? Largely because, in recent years, mummies have begun to "talk" to scientists who study them for clues to the distant past. X-rays reveal mumm ies that have never been unwrapped. The shape of the face appears, and resemblances may establish family relationships. In the bones of a mummy, medical scientists can read age at death, signs of disease, fractures that healed. Teeth yield information about diet and health. Sometimes a mummy offers a surprise: an Egyptian mummy is found to have two skulls; another, long thought to be the child of a high priestess, turns out to be a baboon. Sometimes a mummy tells a moving story: examination of a girl's mummy shows she lived her short life in considerable pain; a man's mummy, with broken bones and slit throat, proves he met a violent death.Generously illustrated with photographs ranging from the gruesome to the starkly beautiful, Tales Mummies Tell is a remarkable account of mummies -- intriguing talebearers from the pastand of the ways scientists unlock their secrets.

Explains what earth scientists know about volcanoes and earthquakes.

Text and photographs describe the many different ways that seeds travel and disperse.

Describes the physical characteristics, life cycle, environment, and ecological role of the alligator.

Through accounts of some famous earthquakes, explains new scientific theories about the causes of earthquakes and how we can learn to live with them.

Discusses how information on the settling and exploration of America before Columbus has been compiled from archaeological discoveries.

While Mrs. Logan takes over a dress shop, Brian, Sis, and Clarence take over New York. Who else but Clarence the TV dog could bring fame to an unknown restaurant, capture a wild beast, or trap a ring of thieves?

Studies the life processes and functions of the human body.