Nest

A wickedly smart, funny and deeply felt debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of their long depended-upon family inheritance On a wintry afternoon in New York City, Melody, Beatrice and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, who has just been released from rehab. Leo’s bad behavior before entering rehab, culminating in a car crash while under the influence—a nineteen-year-old waitress beside him—has left the Plumbs’ joint trust fund—“The Nest,” as they’ve taken to calling it—endangered. All four siblings, at very different places in their lives, believe that this money will solve a host of self-inflicted problems and their consequences. And until Leo’s accident, they’d been mere months away from receiving it. Can Leo get the Plumbs out of this mess, as he’s always been able to do for himself before? Or will the Plumb siblings have to do without the money and the future lives they’ve envisioned? As the siblings grapple with family tensions, old histories, and the significant emotional and financial cost of the accident, Sweeney introduces an unforgettable cast of supporting characters: Leo’s stalwart ex-girlfriend who now thinks that maybe, just maybe, he is capable of change; the waitress whose life was shattered in the accident; the Iraqi war veteran who falls in love with her; and a retired, grieving firefighter with a very big secret. Tender, funny and deftly written, The Nest explores what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of our lives, and the fraught but unbreakable ties we have with our families.

Kenneth Oppel’s most haunting story yet . . . She was very blurry, not at all human looking. There were huge dark eyes, and a kind of mane made of light, and when she spoke, I couldn't see a mouth moving, but I felt her words, like a breeze against my face, and I understood her completely. "We've come because of the baby," she said. "We've come to help." In this beautiful, menacing novel, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, an anxious boy becomes convinced that angels will save his sick baby brother. But these are creatures of a very different kind, and their plan for the baby has a twist. Layer by layer, he unravels the truth about his new friends as the time remaining to save his brother ticks down. With evocative and disquieting illustrations by Caldecott Medal– and Governor General’s Award–winning artist Jon Klassen, The Nest is an unforgettable journey into one boy’s deepest insecurities and darkest fears.

A beautifully illustrated picture book introducing young children to the concept of forces. Bird is building her nest. She pushes and pulls twigs into place until she's made a cosy cup, ready and waiting ... can you guess what for? This beautiful picture book is the perfect introduction to forces and the concept of pushing and pulling, and is the third in the Science Story Book series from Walker Books. Bird Builds a Nest is illustrated by up-and-coming talent Richard Jones and written by author Martin Jenkins, the award-winning author of Can We Save the Tiger? and Ape. The third book in Walker's Science Story Book series, introducing scientific concepts to young children. The main narrative tells the story of a bird building her nest. The smaller captions point out and explain the scientific concepts behind the story - forces, pushing, pulling, weight, strength and gravity. Complete with an index and an experiment to get children thinking about the science behind the story

I run all the way to my tree, so that once I get there, my body’s nice and warm. Most people would say it’s too cold now to hang out in a salt marsh, even with the sun and even with a baby blanket wrapped around me, but I’m not most people. Eleven-year-old Naomi ‘Chirp’ Orenstein and her family live an idyllic life on Cape Cod on the east coast of America. Surrounded by sandy beaches, fresh air and wildlife, Chirp is free to roam as she pleases. But when Chirp’s mum is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, her happy little world begins to collapse around her. Chirp finds solace in her beloved birdwatching, and her friendship with mysterious outsider Joey. Chirp and Joey take on the world together, dreaming up a host of daring adventures. They explore the woods and the salt marshes – they want to see everything they can. But Chirp cannot keep running forever.

“Until recently, inferring identities of predators and monitoring cryptic behaviors at the nest was time-consuming, often with anecdotal results. No more. Video nest surveillance, so aptly revealed in this volume, has ushered in a new era of data collection that allows field workers to link environmental factors with such aspects as the temporal dynamics of predator communities in relation to what the birds are doing at their nests, thus removing much of the guesswork of earlier studies.”--Spencer G. Sealy, University of Manitoba "Video Surveillance of Nesting Birds shatters earlier beliefs about how birds interact with nest predators. Much of what we thought we knew about nesting and its hazards was flat-out wrong, as authors in this book discovered by using modern technology in the field. As simple as we would like our models of animal behavior to be, this book shows that reality is far more complex and nuanced."--Douglas H. Johnson, University of Minnesota

Drawn from the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley, and the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, these 50 nests from around the world are rare treasures. Through Beals' loving lens, each becomes both a work of art and a natural artifact. Almost seeming to glow against velvety black backgrounds, every detail offers insight into the behavior and ingenuity of the nests' creators. From the tiny cup-shaped cocoon of the Anna's Hummingbird to the downy pillow of the Magnolia Warbler, every nest offers an intimate portrait of the bird that built it. -- DUST JACKET.

Avian incubation is a critical part of reproduction and was extensively covered in the OUP book 'Avian Incubation' published in 2002. This new book updates the older one by introducing new concepts that have arisen over the intervening years as well as updating key areas of research. The new book does not replace 'Avian Incubation' but, rather, reinforces and supplements it. Therefore, this book covers four key areas: nest, eggs, incubation, and the study of avian reproduction. It collates and describes a range of recent developments in avian reproduction and brings the field right up to date.