Mother Osprey

What if Jack and Jill had been playing on a nice soft sand dune instead of that treacherous hill? And suppose Mary's pet wasn't really a lamb? What if Mary had a little clam? This collection retells Mother Goose rhymes and celebrates America's coastlines and waterways from sea to shining sea. Includes "For Creative Minds" section.

Ospreys live on every continent but Antarctica and, as Doug Wechsler writes, “They make their living eating fish.” Packed with facts and action photography, this book will both educate readers and fully engage them in the life of this bird of prey.

When an osprey nest atop an electrical pole catches fire, the whole town of Waterton loses power. Being a park warden’s daughter, Jenna (whom everyone calls Cricket) is there at the scene, where she finds three abandoned baby ospreys. Caring for the chicks proves to be challenging for Cricket. The birds are noisy, hungry and very picky eaters. But when she discovers that the power company is building a new anti-nesting device on the electrical pole, Cricket has an even bigger problem. How will she reunite the baby birds with their parents without a place for them to build a nest?

This small booklet is intended for children in elementary school. Probably, children from second grade through middle school would find the stories interesting. At the end of each story I have concluded with a life lesson that will relate to the story the reader has completed. Most of the stories are about small animals. However, I have included a couple of pieces that relate to families. I hope that you will enjoy the stories and the pictures that complete each story. Cal Campbell April, 2012 Cal Campbell is a former administrator from Eastern Illinois University. Although he has written several professional articles, this is his first attempt at writing fiction. As a member of the Occasional Writers Association of Charleston, Illinois, he wrote one article entitled "Elliot Ness He Was Not" in the published book, Occasional Writers, Bringing the Past Forward. The published article was about his father, an agent for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Department under the office of the Treasury Department.

What would happen if a cheetah had roller skates and a jet pack? This and other questions came up as the author and his seven-year-old daughter observed birds and animals in and around their orchard. What do they really think of us? Why are there predators? Do the prey species know they are prey, and do they feel it is unfair? Does rattlesnake taste like chicken to a raptor? Do animals go to heaven? Are there many rabbits, or do we see the same one again and again? Should you try to catch a bird with a broken wing? These important questions are answered in this book.

Reading and talking to children are an important part in psychological education and brain development. When I was a young mother, I expected that the children books have substantial contents which provide meaningful topics for conversations with children. Birds and animals are always children’s favorite. This book shows the families of 18 species of birds and small animals through about 80 color pictures with explanations. By the book, I hope to provide topics of the “love” between parents and babies of the birds and small animals. I expect that parents and children enjoy the book together at reading time and children learn from parents.

Wildlife and nature films are a hugely popular entertainment genre: networks such as Animal Planet and Discovery are stars in the cable television universe, viewers flock to IMAX theaters to see jaw–dropping footage from the wild, and the venerable BBC still scores triumphs with series such as Planet Earth. As cinematic technology brings ever more breathtaking images to the screen, and as our direct contact with nature diminishes, an ever–expanding audience craves the indirect experience of wild nature that these films provide. But this success has a dark side, as Chris Palmer reveals in his authoritative and engrossing report on the wildlife film business. A veteran producer and film educator, Palmer looks past the headlines about TV host Steve Irwin's death by stingray and filmmaker Timothy Treadwell falling prey to his beloved grizzlies, to uncover a more pervasive and troubling trend toward sensationalism, extreme risk–taking, and even abuse in wildlife films. He tracks the roots of this trend to the early days of the genre, and he profiles a new breed of skilled, ethical filmmakers whose work enlightens as well as entertains, and who represent the future that Palmer envisions for the industry he loves.