The Sugar Gum Tree

Sweet tea, corn bread and soup beans; everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both their lives forever. Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer.Suddenly, Nick is gone, leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she's starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she's content if not happy-until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He's back, and he's not alone. Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she's built around her emotions-the truth about Frank Anderson's death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal.

SUMMARY: Two young girls were best friends, then one day an argument over a tree-house escalated into a big fight involving both their families and the fire brigade.

Humorous story for primary school age children, first published in 1991. Sara and Penny are best friends until one day they have a very bad fight and Penny climbs a sugar-gum tree and won't come down. In the Aussie Bites series.

Chicle is a history in four acts, all of them focused on the sticky white substance that seeps from the sapodilla tree when its bark is cut. First, Jennifer Mathews recounts the story of chicle and its earliest-known adherents, the Maya and Aztecs. Second, with the assistance of botanist Gillian Schultz, Mathews examines the sapodilla tree itself, an extraordinarily hardy plant that is native only to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. Third, Mathews presents the fascinating story of the chicle and chewing gum industry over the last hundred plus years, a tale (like so many twentieth-century tales) of greed, growth, and collapse. In closing, Mathews considers the plight of the chicleros, the "extractors" who often work by themselves tapping trees deep in the forests, and how they have emerged as icons of local pop culture -- portrayed as fearless, hard-drinking brawlers, people to be respected as well as feared. --publisher description.

Gum Arabic: Structure, Properties, Application and Economics explores the management practices of gum Arabic producing trees and their environmental role, the characteristics and properties of the gum, and presents current and developing uses in food, feed, and medicinal applications. The book provides insight into regulatory aspects of production and quality control as well as underscoring some of the geographically based differences in gum Arabic trees, production, and regulation of products. Written by experts in the field, the book provides current research and developments in gum Arabic. It is an important resource for researchers in industry and academia interested in the advances in this area. Written by leading experts from key gum Arabic producing regions of the world Explores the management practices of gum Arabic, from the environmental role of the tree to uses in food, feed, and medicinal applications Provides nanoscience and nanotechnology applications using gum Arabic Discusses applications of gum Arabic in medicine and health Presents new research and trends in gum Arabic, investigating the physical properties, such as electric, optical, thermal, and magnetic