This lavishly illustrated visual reference is an authoritative survey of the intriguing world of animals. The first section is an overview of animal evolution, classification, biology, behavior, habitats and adaptations. At the core of the book is an encyclopedic survey of all the animal groups-mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes and invertebrates. A gallery of more than 2,000 species illustrations is supported by hundreds of detailed explanatory diagrams, distribution maps and color photographs. Feature panels and pages focus on unusual or intriguing aspects of animal behavior. With its rich visual content, stunning graphics and informative text, The Concise Animal Encyclopedia is the ideal reference guide to the animal kingdom.

The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributers from 2012. Guest Editor Francoise Mouly — long-time art editor at The New Yorker and founder of the graphic anthologies RAW — has culled the best pieces from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, minicomics, and the Web to create a stunning installment, complete this year with a selection of pieces devoted to kids and contributions from Charles Burns, Chester Brown, and Joyce Farmer.

Play and learn with Curious George, star monkey of the number-one preschool TV show! This pop-up schoolhouse displays both the outside of the school and the inside of a classroom, and six perforated Curious George characters are ready to take on their new student roles! The set also includes three popular Curious George concept books: Shapes, Numbers, and Color Fun, all square paperbacks. Children can count school supplies, find colorful objects in the classroom, and identify shapes that make up the schoolhouse!

A very readable companion, this Brief Guide includes everything J.R.R. Tolkien: a brief biography, a critical view of Tolkien and what the literati think of him, his profession as a linguist, how Beowulf and other works influenced him, how he invented the nomenclatures and languages for Middle-earth, and much more.

A book for doodling, drawing, laughing, and imagining! Featuring the humourous art of Calef Brown and a wonderful menagerie to stretch and inspire your artistic talents (whether large or small), plus silly stickers to play with. Includes ferocious snails, beautiful giraffes, guitar-playing hound dogs, man-eating bunny rabbits, and many other animals you've never drawn before!

Following in the bestselling footsteps of the Strangest series, London is now available in a beautiful gift format — the perfect present for the London obsessive in the family! This fascinating volume is packed with amazing things you didn't know about the capital, such as the fact that it's still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in Burlington Arcade. Did you also know, for example, that there is a tiny, working jail cell that looks like a fat lamppost, situated at the southeast corner of Trafalgar Square, that still has a direct phone link to Scotland Yard? Or indeed, that the entrance to Buckingham Palace that faces down the Mall is actually the back door, not the front? Whether you're a visitor to the capital, a dailuy commuter or one its 7.5 million inhabitants, this book is an alternative, and often bonkers, guide to the city.

From Apricot to Zucchini, and everything in between, here is a beautiful photographic alphabet of world food. Acclaimed photographer and owner of the World Food Cafe in London, Chris Caldicott takes us on a mouth-watering tour of the different crops, dishes and ways of eating from every continent. Find out what Moroccans eat for a healthy snack and how ice is sold in Bangladesh, visit a kitchen in in the Rajasthan desert and a market in Hanoi. With important information on conservation, fair trade and food waste, and Chris's stunning photographs, this book is a celebration of food from all around the world.

This is a beautifully bound gift edition of these classic tales of the famous bear. This beautiful book contains two classic Alfred Bestall stories: Rupert & The Mare's Nest and Rupert & The Lost Cuckoo. Rupert and the Mare's Nest — What's a Mare's nest? Rupert asks his father when he reads the words in a book. They don't exist, says Mr. Bear — but Rupert is determined to find one, and his search takes him to many exciting places! Rupert & The Lost Cuckoo — The cuckoo is one of the busiest birds in Nutwood Village, and how Rupert misses its cheery voice! After a long search he discovers why is has vanished from its usual home.

Explore the sights in Ireland's capital city with this foldout keepsake tucked into a stylish slipcase. Traveling to Dublin? Just returned? Wish you could go? Discover a dozen popular spots, from Dublin Castle (now a convention center) to the lofty St. Patrick's Cathedral, from the handsome brick townhouses of Merrion Square to Gaiety Theatre, the city's longest-running theatrical stage.

Injected with new material and special design elements, Invisible Monsters Remix fulfills Chuck Palahniuk's original vision for his 1999 novel, turning a daring satire on beauty and the fashion industry into an even more wildly unique reading experience. Palahniuk's fashion-model protagonist has it all-boyfriend, career, loyal best friend-until an accident destroys her face, her ability to speak, and her self-esteem. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from becoming a bona-fide woman. Laced in are new chapters of memoir and further scenes with the book's characters. Readers will jump between chapters, reread the book to understand the dissolve between fiction and fact, and decipher the playful book design, embarking on a ride they'll never forget.

This is a beautifully bound gift edition of this classic tale of a girl and her horse. Velvet Brown is a 14 year old girl living in small coastal village in the 1920s. She dreams of owning and training horses one day. When she and her friend Mi see a piebald horse jump a five foot fence, they decide to follow Velvet's dream to ride in the Grand National. But will Velvet be allowed to ride in the race? And can The Pie really win the most prestigious prize in all of steeplechasing? A horse-racing classic, National Velvet has entertained generations of horse lovers with dreams of riding in races themselves.

Walter the Baker is famous for his breads, rolls, cookies, tarts, and pies. The Duke and Duchess especially love his warm sweet rolls, delivered fresh to their castle every morning. But one day the cat spills the milk, and Walter is forced to serve the Duke and Duchess rolls made with water. After one bite the Duke throws down his roll in disgust and summons Walter to the castle. He threatens to banish the baker unless he can take the same dough and make a good-tasting roll that the rising sun can shine through three times. Will Walter succeed in his task, or will he have to leave his town forever? With good humor and the vibrantly colored paper collages that are known and loved the world over, Eric Carle has concocted a delicious book that kids will savor as much as they love eating... shhh... pretzels!

«Until now, many sinister events that transpired in the clash of the world's superpowers at the close of World War II and the ensuing Cold War era have been ignored, distorted, and kept hidden from the public. Through a meticulous examination of primary sources and disclosure of formerly secret records, this riveting account of the widespread infiltration of the federal government by Stalin's «agents of influence» and the damage they inflicted will shock readers. Focusing on the wartime conferences of Teheran and Yalta, veteran journalist M. Stanton Evans and intelligence expert Herbert Romerstein, the former head of the U.S. Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation, draw upon years of research and a meticulous examination of primary sources to trace the vast deception that kept Stalin's henchmen on the federal payroll and sabotaged policy overseas in favor of the Soviet Union. While FDR's health and mental capacities weakened, aides such as Lauchlin Currie and Harry Hopkins exerted pro-Red influence on U.S. policy — leading to massive breaches of internal security and the betrayal of free-world interests. Along with revealing the extent to which the Soviet threat was obfuscated or denied, this in-depth analysis exposes the rigging of at least two grand juries and the subsequent multilayered cover-up to protect those who let the infiltration happen. Countless officials of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations turned a blind eye to the penetration problem. The documents and facts presented in this thoroughly researched expose indict in historical retrospect the people responsible for these corruptions of justice.»

In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King returns to the rich landscape of Mid-World, the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga that stands as his most beguiling achievement. Roland Deschain and his ka-tet — Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler — encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two... and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past. In his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death, Roland is sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a “skin-man” preying upon the population around Debaria. Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, the brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Only a teenager himself, Roland calms the boy and prepares him for the following day’s trials by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother often read to him at bedtime. A person’s never too old for stories, Roland says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, never too old. We live for them.” And indeed, the tale that Roland unfolds, the legend of Tim Stoutheart, is a timeless treasure for all ages, a story that lives for us. King began the Dark Tower series in 1974; it gained momentum in the 1980s; and he brought it to a thrilling conclusion when the last three novels were published in 2003 and 2004. The Wind Through the Keyhole is sure to fascinate avid fans of the Dark Tower epic. But this novel also stands on its own for all readers, an enchanting and haunting journey to Roland’s world and testimony to the power of Stephen King’s storytelling magi

Music and photography have always shared a special relationship—when an iconic musician is portrayed by a first-rate photographer, the result is often transformative and transcendent, and a classic pop culture image is born. Music Box gathers more than 340 such legendary photographs of musicians—covering the stars of jazz, blues, rock and roll, soul, and all of their contemporary offshoots. Music Box is arranged in thematic chapters that look at the music scene from a witty and fresh perspective, collecting photographs such as Philippe Halsman’s seminal portrait of Louis Armstrong, Jim Marshall’s vision of Jimi Hendrix kneeling over his burning guitar, Annie Leibovitz’s anthemic shot of Bruce Springsteen leaping in front of the American flag, and many more. It is an amazing collection of memorable photographs in an irresistible package.

Inspired by the upcoming 3-D fantasy-adventure film, Rise of the Guardians Deluxe Pop-Up book captures the excitement of this screen saga with dramatic pop-ups and fold-out flaps. More than a collection of the well-known childhood legends, The Guardians are a group of heroes-each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit named Pitch tries to disable the immortal guardians, a battle ensues for the happiness of children everywhere. From North (Santa Claus) to Bunnymund (Easter Bunny), Tooth (Tooth Fairy) and Jack Frost, the Guardians join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs, and imagination of children all over the world. In the Rise of the Guardians A Deluxe Pop Up Book, the movie story is retold in 14 lush pages filled with fold-out flaps and spectacular pop-ups of the characters and scenes -which practically leap off the pages.

Between 1680 and 1807 British publishers produced a sequence of double-hemisphere world maps each printed on two sheets and conjoined. These maps are a peculiarly British phenomenon of this period and they provide a key indicator of the way the British map trade specifically targeted a newly prosperous and upwardly aspiring class of purchasers. The buyers were hungry for geographical information, but were also eager to acquire such maps for display, as a statement of their intellectual pursuits. The scientific appearance of the maps was more important as a selling point than standards of contemporary geographical accuracy, which few of them achieved. This is the first time that this type of map has been studied as a genre, partly because of their great rarity. The British Library holds the most comprehensive collection of these maps and studying them together has enabled the identification of broader themes. In particular, a greater understanding of the British map trade in the 18th century, its business practices, the economics of map-making and new techniques of marketing emerges.

Thrum-thrum. Bong-bong. Choppetta-choppetta-choppetta. The world is a big and noisy place, filled with wonderful things to do, see, and hear. This book shows them all, from an airport, a train station, and a shopping mall, to school and a swimming pool! Kids will happily explore the many sites and sounds captured in Britta Teckentrup's bright and colorful pictures.

Olive learns the hard way that keeping secrets is tough, and telling them can make for a whole lot of trouble! When Molly shares a secret with Olive, the urge to tell is just too great! Olive tells Joe who tells Matt who tells Lola. But Lola is best friends with Molly. Uh-oh, the secret is out, and Olive is in for it!

J.R.R. Tolkien's admirers form an international community of writers, scholars, and artists. This richly illustrated anthology gathers together three decades of work dedicated to the master of fantasy. With poems, stories, songs, and dozens of illustrations, A Tolkien Treasur, y is a unique celebration of the author and his creations — the mythical world of Middle-Earth and the magical creatures who inhabit it. Critical essays by W.H. Auden, Edmund Wilson, Colin Wilson, and others explore Tolkien's imaginative world. Scenes from, The Hobbit, and, Lord of the Rings, are brought to life in drawings by Michael Green and full-color paintings by Tom Kirk. Also included is a concise biography that offers insights into the author's life, quizzes, recipes, and more.