Deckawoo Drive’s intrepid animal control officer meets her match—or does she? A funny, heartfelt, and fast-paced romp from Kate DiCamillo.Francine Poulet is the greatest animal control officer in Gizzford County. She hails from a long line of animal control officers. She’s battled snakes, outwitted squirrels, and stared down a bear. “The genuine article,” Francine’s dad always called her. She is never scared – until, that is, she’s faced with a screaming raccoon that may or may not be a ghost. Maybe Francine isn’t cut out to be an animal control officer after all! But the raccoon is still on the loose, and the folks on Deckawoo Drive need Francine back. Can she face her fears, round up the raccoon, and return to the ranks of animal control? Join a cast of familiar characters – Frank, Stella, Mrs. Watson, and Mercy the porcine wonder – for some riotous raccoon wrangling on Deckawoo Drive.

Beyond the high seas,A-way to the eastLies the Bewundering World of Bewilderbeests…So begins this charming adventure that introduces us to a colourful cast of strange and silly creatures. Rich illustrations and delightful poems full of wry wit bring to life such confounding beasties as a juggling Millipus, a scatter-brained Two-Headed Mugwump, and more. Bailey Fort's picture book debut captures the heart and spirit of a host of unique characters with a lyrical cadence that makes it a pleasure to read aloud, for both kids and parents alike.Welcome to the Bewundering World of Bewilderbeests.A print edition is planned for future release. Learn more at bewunderingworld.com!

Antale (pronounced An-tal-ee) is an allegory. Written in the tradition of Animal Farm, though with no political message, it explores humanity's challenge at the start of the 21st century to find the collective spiritual enlightenment that has eluded us through the millennia of known history. Antale is the world of the ants. It is a delicate, precious place-a crater world surrounded by the vastness of the Rim, an endless expanse of desolate rock across which faint signals of intelligence reach in tantalizing, mysterious wavelengths, detectable by listeners on Mount Opportunity. Antale is not a peaceful world, though several leaders of its major colonies have dedicated their lives to creating a peaceful federation. These efforts fall apart when aggression and treachery spearheaded by the Red Ants plunge the whole world into a Great War. This conflict rages through most of the first year of the three year period covered by the story. In the second year, when wisdom should have grown out of experience, an uneasy tension envelops the collective consciousness. Technology and expansionism begin to push the ant civilization to its limits. A probe sent across the Rim looking for guidance from beyond the known world, is lost. The one dim light of hope lies in a bold attempt to raise a new generation filled with a new consciousness, born in the whisperings of the universal life force carried through the biology of the Queens in the great brood chambers of the nests. In Year 3, the world of Antale is pushed to the brink of collapse as social folly and natural order exact an unremitting toll. A message from beyond the Rim confirms that consciousness alone contains the life force of the future. This message arrives just in time to strengthen the fledgling spiritual renaissance that steps forward at the end into its rightful place, and allows the crumbling leadership of the old order to find new light. Commentary It might well be asked: Why write an allegory using the social systems of ants to illuminate the human condition? The answer is that it sheds a light with greater resolution, in much the same way as a halogen lamp provides clearer illumination than its incandescent counterpart. Judiciously used, the allegorical format gives greater freedom to the writer-and reader-to see and understand life at a deeper level than the analytical, deeper even than the traditional conventions of literary fiction permit. Why ants? Because their social behaviour so much parallels our own. One need take only a very little license to achieve a telling effect. Beyond its carefully measured message, Antale is a crackling good story, moving along swiftly through tension filled events created by the highs and lows of characters whose predispositions to greatness and folly are readily recognizable. In this one short text the remarkable events of the century just ended, and the great potential of the one now beginning, come alive in a way as fresh as only human imagination can make them.

Winner of:National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council, Outstanding Science Trade Book AwardA humorous, exciting tale of an ordinary girl who makes an extraordinary scientific discovery—a blind fish that walksWhen seventh-grader Alexis catches an unusual fish that looks like a living fossil, she sets off a frenzied scientific hunt for more of its kind. Alexis and her friend Darshan join the hunt, snorkeling, sounding the depths of Glacial Lake, even observing from a helicopter and exploring a cave. All the while, they fight to keep the selfish Dr. Mertz from claiming the discovery all for himself. When Alexis follows one final hunch, she risks her life and almost loses her friend. Walking Fish is a scientific adventure that provides a perfect combination of literacy and science.