Best Selling Books by Tracey Fern

Once, a long, long ago, buffalo roamed the West, filling the plains and canyons with the music of their thundering hooves and huffing breath. Then hunters came and destroyed nearly all of them. But buffalo are stubborn, ornery creatures, and though the herds were gone, a few lone calves lingered. If the buffalo were to survive as a species, however, they needed the help of someone just as feisty as they were. Inspired by the work of Mary Ann Goodnight, a pioneer credited with forming one of the first captive buffalo herds in the 1800s, this is the beautifully told and warmly illustrated tale of one woman''s quest to save what otherwise would have been lost forever.

From an early age, Noah Webster was an odd fellow who liked to talk big and loved learning. He thought America needed its own national language and knew he was just the man to create it. He started with a speller, including everyday words like "scab," "grub," and "mop," and moved on to create a small dictionary. He rode around on a horse, selling his books by hand. Then Noah decided to compile a complete and comprehensive dictionary of American English. He thought the book would take him five years to finish. It took twenty, but his dictionary today is the second-most printed book in the English language.

"Howard dreamed of discovering a mummy, ... especially a royal mummy in its tomb, complete with all its treasures. When he was seventeen, he took a job with the Egypt Exploration Fund and was sent to Egypt to learn about archaeology and excavation sites. And his mummy hunt was on. Howard discovered many amazing artifacts, but he searched for years before coming upon the most famous mummy of all, King Tut"--Dust jacket flap.

"Wild Horse Annie" was the nickname of Velma Bronn Johnston (1912–77), who loved mustangs all her life. When she saw mustangs being rounded up and killed to make room for ranchers'' livestock, she knew she had to speak up. In 1950, she began writing letters to local newspapers and politicians, defending the horses'' right to roam free. Many people told Annie to hush up, but they couldn''t stop her. She soon became a voice for mustangs throughout the state of Nevada, speaking on their behalf at town halls and meetings. But Annie was only one person, and she wanted to do more. So she got children to speak up, too, by having them write letters to Washington, D.C., officials to ask them to save the mustangs. Finally, with the help of her young “pencil brigade,” Annie persuaded Congress to pass nationwide laws protecting wild horses and burros on public land nationwide. Readers will find inspiration in author Tracey Fern and artist Steven Salerno''s portrait of an early animal-rights advocate, who spoke up for what she believed in, and empowered a generation of children to be a voice for the voiceless.

Ellen Prentiss''s papa said she was born with saltwater in her veins, so he gave her sailing lessons and taught her how to navigate. As soon as she met a man who loved sailing like she did, she married him. When her husband was given command of a clipper ship custom-made to travel quickly, she knew that they would need every bit of its speed for their maiden voyage: out of New York City, down around the tip of Cape Horn, and into San Francisco, where the Gold Rush was well under way. In a time when few women even accompanied their husbands onboard, Ellen Prentiss navigated their ship to set the world record for speed along that route. A Margaret Ferguson Book

Barnum Brown''s (1873-1963) parents named him after the circus icon P.T. Barnum, hoping that he would do something extraordinary--and he did! As a paleonotologist for the American Museum of Natural History, he discovered the first documented skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, as well as most of the other dinosaurs on display there today. An appealing and fun picture book biography, with zany and stunning illustrations by Boris Kulikov, BARNUM''S BONES captures the spirit of this remarkable man. Barnum''s Bones is one The Washington Post''s Best Kids Books of 2012.