New Releases by Sy Montgomery

“Montgomery’s expertise and the gorgeous illustrations make this a fine purchase for libraries serving early elementary students.” —School Library Journal “The mixed-media illustrations make good use of dynamic spreads, color, and texture—perfect for a book on a master of camouflage. Montgomery seamlessly incorporates interesting facts about octopuses into the narrative.” —Booklist Learn all about Inky the Octopus, an international sensation known for escaping from the New Zealand aquarium in April 2016, in this fascinating picture book from National Book Award nominee and octopus expert Sy Montgomery. Inky had been at the New Zealand aquarium since 2014 after being taken in by a fisherman who found him at sea. Inky had been getting used to his new environment, but the staff quickly figured out that he had to be kept amused or he would get bored. Then one night in 2016 Inky, about the size of a basketball, decided he’d had enough. He slithered eight feet across the floor and down a drainpipe more than 160 feet long to his home in the sea. Acclaimed author Sy Montogmery reminds readers that Inky didn’t escape—but instead, like the curious animal he is, wanted to explore the rest of the vast ocean he called his home.

Un animal fantastiqueet une lecture fantastique.Donna Leon Sauvage, prédatrice, monstrueuse : la pieuvre alimente dans l’imaginaire collectif les peurs et les légendes les plus tenaces. De l’aquarium de Boston aux récifs coralliens de Polynésie, Sy Montgomery est allée à la rencontre de ces créatures mystérieuses, point de départ d’une amitié unique en son genre. La douce Athéna, Octavia l’agitée, Kali la curieuse ou encore Karma et sa joie de vivre : chaque pieuvre fait montre d’une remarquable intelligence, que ce soit pour s’échapper de son bassin, changer de couleur selon ses humeurs, dénouer des énigmes complexes... Au fil de ses interactions aussi surprenantes qu’émouvantes, et à l’aide de données scientifiques passionnantes, l’auteur nous dévoile à quel point, et contre toute attente, cet invertébré nous ressemble et a tout à nous apprendre. Récit joyeux et profond, L’Âme d’une pieuvre a déjà conquis des milliers de lecteurs de par le monde. Avec une préface inédite de Donna Leon.

National Book Award finalist Sy Montgomery reflects on the personalities and quirks of 13 animals--her friends--who have profoundly affected her in this stunning, poetic, and life-affirming memoir featuring illustrations by Rebecca Green.

Er kann 1600 Küsse auf einmal verteilen, er kann mit seiner Haut schmecken, Farbe und Form ändern und sich trotz eines Körpergewichts von 45 Kilogramm durch eine apfelsinengroße Öffnung zwängen: der Oktopus. Und nicht nur seine körperlichen Superkräfte machen den Achtarmigen zu einem Wunderwesen der Meere. Kraken sind vor allem schlau. Sie können tricksen, spielen, lernen, sie können Menschen erkennen und Kontakt aufnehmen. In ihrem preisgekrönten Buch erzählt die Naturforscherin Sy Montgomery auf berührende, kenntnisreiche, unterhaltsame Weise von ihren Begegnungen mit diesen außergewöhnlichen Tieren und wirft eine bemerkenswerte Frage auf: Haben Kraken ein Bewusstsein? Das Nachwort wurde eigens für die deutsche Ausgabe von dem weltbekanntesten Fan dieses Buches verfasst: Donna Leon.

Extraordinary new insights into the minds and lives of our fellow creatures from two of the world’s top animal authors, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and Sy Montgomery. A Mail on Sunday “Critic’s Pick” Best Read of the Year “In their writing and in their lives and in their remarkable friendship, Liz and Sy break down false barriers and carry us closer to our fellow creatures.”—from the foreword by Vicki Constantine Croke, author of Elephant Company Tamed and Untamed―a collection of essays penned by two of the world’s most celebrated animal writers, Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas―explores the minds, lives, and mysteries of animals as diverse as snails, house cats, hawks, sharks, dogs, lions, and even octopuses. Drawing on stories of animals both wild and domestic, the two authors, also best friends, created this book to put humans back into the animal world. The more we learn about what other animals think and do, they explain, the more we understand ourselves as animals, too. Writes Montgomery, “The list of attributes once thought to be unique to our species―from using tools to waging war―is not only rapidly shrinking, but starting to sound less and less impressive when we compare them with other animals’ powers.” With humor, empathy, and introspection, Montgomery and Thomas look into the lives of all kinds of creatures―from man’s best friend to the great white shark―and examine the ways we connect with our fellow species. Both authors have devoted their lives to sharing the animal kingdom’s magic with others, and their combined wisdom is an indispensable contribution to the field of animal literature.

Looks at the work of renowned octopus scientist Jennifer Mather and a team of researchers on the island of Moorea, where they work to learn more about octopuses and their behavior.

Jon Scieszka''s Guys Read anthology series for tweens turns to nonfiction in its fifth volume, True Stories. The fifth installment in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading features ten stories that are 100% amazing, 100% adventurous, 100% unbelievable—and 100% true. A star-studded group of award-winning nonfiction authors and journalists provides something for every reader, all aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Compiled and edited by real-life literature legend Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: True Stories is a mind-blowing collection of essays, biographies, how-to guides, and more, all proving that the truth is most definitely out there. Supports the Common Core State Standards

Describes the cheetah''s essential role in the ecosystem and the ways in which Namibia''s Cheetah Conservation Fund is promoting cohabitation between cheetahs and farmers.

Describes the research that Patricia Medici and her team are doing on researching tapir in Brazil.

The regal lion, the magnificent tiger and the mighty polar bear are among the largest carnivores and most formidable predators on Earth. They live in diverse parts of the planet, but, threatened by the loss of their habitats, they all share an uncertain future. In Predatory Light is a superb tribute to the striking beauty of this trio of almost mythic creatures. Dramatic duotone images by Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson capture the animals roaming their natural environments, revealing not only their awesome power, but also their vulnerability. The images are accompanied by the photographers'' reminiscences of their expeditions to Africa, Asia and the Arctic, and by heartfelt responses by three nature writers to the plight of these majestic mammals. Simultaneously thought-provoking and captivating, In Predatory Light is the perfect book for anyone concerned about the conservation of endangered species.

2011 Sibert Medal Winner On remote Codfish Island off the southern coast of New Zealand live the last ninety-one kakapo parrots on earth. These trusting, flightless, and beautiful birds—the largest and most unusual parrots on earth—have suffered devastating population loss. Now, on an island refuge with the last of the species, New Zealand’s National Kakapo Recovery Team is working to restore the kakapo population. With the help of fourteen humans who share a single hut and a passion for saving these odd ground-dwelling birds, the kakapo are making a comeback in New Zealand. Follow intrepid animal lovers Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop on a ten-day excursion to witness the exciting events in the life of the kakapo.

From the author of The Soul of an Octopus and bestselling memoir The Good Good Pig, a book that earned Sy Montgomery her status as one of the most celebrated wildlife writers of our time, Spell of the Tiger brings readers to the Sundarbans, a vast tangle of mangrove swamp and tidal delta that lies between India and Bangladesh. It is the only spot on earth where tigers routinely eat people—swimming silently behind small boats at night to drag away fishermen, snatching honey collectors and woodcutters from the forest. But, unlike in other parts of Asia where tigers are rapidly being hunted to extinction, tigers in the Sundarbans are revered. With the skill of a naturalist and the spirit of a mystic, Montgomery reveals the delicate balance of Sundarbans life, explores the mix of worship and fear that offers tigers unique protection there, and unlocks some surprising answers about why people at risk of becoming prey might consider their predator a god.

Dolphins.

C.1 ST. AID. JR. LIBRARY GUILD. 08-25-2009. $18.00.

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year: A “fascinating” photo-filled book on these amazing arachnids! (Booklist) Yellow blood? Skeletons on the outside? These attributes don’t belong to comic book characters or alien life forms, but to Earth’s biggest and hairiest spiders: tarantulas. In this book you are invited to follow Sam Marshall, spider scientist extraordinaire (he’s never been bitten), as he explores the dense rain forest of French Guiana, knocking on the doors of tarantula burrows, trying to get a closer look at these incredible creatures. You’ll also visit the largest comparative spider laboratory in America—where close to five hundred live tarantulas sit in towers of stacked shoeboxes and plastic containers, waiting for their turn to dazzle and astound the scientists who study them. “Superb color photos abound in this spectacular series addition…This is a vivid look at an enthusiastic scientist energetically and happily at work…A treat, even for arachnophobes.”—School Library Journal (starred review) A Sibert Honor Book An ALA Notable Book A John Burroughs Nature Book for Young Readers A Kirkus Reviews Editors Choice

"In loving yet unsentimental prose, Sy Montgomery captures the richness that animals bring to the human experience. Sometimes it takes a too-smart-for-his-own-good pig to open our eyes to what most matters in life.” —John Grogan, author of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog A naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always felt more comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladly opened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away from nourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inkling that this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not only survive but flourish—and she soon found herself engaged with her small-town community in ways she had never dreamed possible. Unexpectedly, Christopher provided this peripatetic traveler with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family and home. The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire, where his boundless zest for life and his large, loving heart made him absolute monarch over a (mostly) peaceable kingdom. At first, his domain included only Sy’s cosseted hens and her beautiful border collie, Tess. Then the neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth. He was featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. On election day, some voters even wrote in Christopher’s name on their ballots. But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood’s influence extended far beyond celebrity; for he was, as a friend said, a great big Buddha master. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig—lessons about self-acceptance, the meaning of family, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. The Good Good Pig provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.

What could be better than watching the natural world out your window or on your television? Going out and experiencing it firsthand. In these fifty essays, acclaimed nature and science writer Sy Montgomery takes her readers on a season-by-season tour of the wilderness that is often as close as the backyard. Sy invites — almost dares — readers to follow her and form hands-on relationships with the plants, animals, birds, and even the insects that share space with people. These essays, most of which originally appeared in Sy''s Boston Globe column Nature Journal, are by turns enlightening, entertaining, sometimes amusing, and always absorbing and informative. Filled with natural history and lore, the essays urge readers to appreciate what they find around them.

Welcome to a forest filled with water. In the wet season, the swollen Amazon becomes a looking glass into another world, where pink dolphins swim like something from a dream. In Peru they are called bufeo colorado—the ruddy dolphin. Their color ranges from white to gray to a vivid pink. These astonishing mammals, actually river-dwelling whales, easily navigate their way through the complex, hazardous world of the Amazon rain forest. Encantado invites readers on the adventure of a lifetime as we travel into one of the world’s most lush and beautiful jungles in search of these magical creatures. Our guides include scientists and researchers as well as the local people, who have lived with the encantados—the enchanted ones—literally at their doorsteps for centuries. Our main guides are the dolphins themselves. They lead us into myth. They take us back in time to a prehistoric era. They alone can show us the depth of the Amazon’s beauty, diversity, and magic—and help us to keep our planet rich and whole.

The forest around the Bay of Bengal is home to more tigers than anywhere in the world. Readers can learn about their habitat and the myths that surround them.

"Montgomery...recounts her adventures and observations with the lyricism and penetrating insights of a poet as well as the logic and factual accuracy of a scientist. Montgomery travels to the Amazon to study the elusive pink dolphin. There is truth in myth, Montgomery reveals, and magic all around us." - BOOKLIST Scientists call them Inia geoffrensis, an ancient species of toothed whale whose origin dates back about 15 million years. To the local people of the Amazon, pink river dolphins are "botos", shape shifters that, in the guise of human desire, can claim your soul and take you to an enchanted underwater world. This book weaves ancient myth and modern science into one woman''s search for these elusive creatures. Over four separate journeys, Sy Montgomery follows the dolphins, tracing their spiritual, historical and environmental past, present and future. She takes us to that perfect place where the Amazon melts into the forest, dolphins swim among treetops, and the twenty-first century dissolves into the beginning of time.

세 여성의 인류학자를 통해 자연과 환경에 대한 인식을 바꾸게 한 책. 아프리카와 인도네시아에 살고 있는 유인원과 그들을 연구한 세 여인에 관한 이야기를 엮었다. 탄자니아의 곰베에서 30년 넘게 침팬치를 연구한 제인 구달과 르완다의 마운틴고릴라를 멸종위기에서 구하기위해 외로운 투쟁을 버리다 살해당한 다이안 포시, 보르네오의 열대우림에서 지금도 오랑우탄과 살고 있는 비루테 콜디카스의 이야기를 수록했다.

Dr. Robert Mason, the current recipient of the National Science Foundation''s Young Investigator Award, has been studying a mysterious phenomenon for over fifteen years - one of the most extraordinary events of the natural world - the reemergence from a winter spent in a state of suspended animation in subterranean caverns of tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes - the world''s largest concentration of snakes. The work of scientists can often seem mysterious and intimidating to the nonscientist. No longer! Introducing an exciting perspective on the important work of scientists in all areas of research and study. Scientists in the Field show people immersed in the unpredictable and dynamic natural world, making science more accessible, relevant, and exciting to young readers. Far from the research laboratory, these books show first-hand adventures in the great outdoors - adventures with a purpose. From climbing into a snake den with thousands of slithering snakes to tracking wolves

Essays arranged by season explore the natural world and discuss familiar North American plant and animal life

Boston Globe nature columnist discusses the lovelorn messages sent by singing insects on autumn evenings, the messages contained in spiderwebs, the effects of winter snow on the way sound travels, the way all life depends on the unusual structure of water, and much more. Most fun is the author''s description of ways to interact with other creatures (e.g., teaching wild birds to eat out of your hand).