"Discover the natural world with more than 30 easy-to-do, fun activities-- plus stunning pictures and amazing facts. Supports the Common Core State Standards"--Page 4 of cover.

This work, a collection of essays on the natural world during a year spent in the Blue Ridge valley of Virginia, reflects the author's interactions with her wilderness surroundings. The author takes us through a year of on-foot explorations through her own landscape, bringing anecdotes, curiosities, and insights about all she observes and experiences. In the summer, she stalks muskrats in the creek and thinks about wave mechanics; in the fall, she...

Introduces the Amazon River and the rain forest that surrounds it, describing their physical characteristics and the plants and animals that live there, and discusses its people, their history, economic and social conditions, and other details --

A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements. "Picture this: after a long week, you finally have the house to yourself. As you settle into the couch, something stirs--a mouse darts out from under a cupboard, a fly zips past the window--and you suddenly realize that you're not alone after all. Indeed, our homes are buzzing with life, but aside from the pursuit of better pest control,...