Under Two Moons

In her own singularly beautiful style, Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion. Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared. As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold—the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

Astronomy, politics, and romance join forces in this novel from the writer John Updike has called "one of the most interesting American novelists at work." It's the spring of 1877 in Washington, D.C., and at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Hugh Allison has conceived a secret ambition: to project an image through time and space. But his plan takes on urgent life only when the mathematically gifted Cynthia May enters his orbit as one of the observatory's human "computers." A Civil War widow whose beauty has been shadowed by worry and poverty, Cynthia reluctantly falls in love with the younger Hugh, who missed the war that has haunted her life. But the fate of their love affair -- and of Hugh's heavenly vision -- may be out of their hands, decided instead by an astrologer and by the actions of a dangerously magnetic politician who wields his power over a Senate convulsed by Reconstruction and a wildly disputed presidential election. Masterfully combining historical detail and startling invention, Thomas Mallon gives us a galvanizing story of earthly heartbreak and otherworldly triumph.

A 16-year-old girl shows great humor and courage as she struggles through a long, hot summer of loss and love. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

An astonishing exploration of planet formation and the origins of life by one of the world’s most innovative planetary geologists. In 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photos of the far side of the moon. Even in their poor resolution, the images stunned scientists: the far side is an enormous mountainous expanse, not the vast lava-plains seen from Earth. Subsequent missions have confirmed this in much greater detail. How could this be, and what might it tell us about our own place in the universe? As it turns out, quite a lot. Fourteen billion years ago, the universe exploded into being, creating galaxies and stars. Planets formed out of the leftover dust and gas that coalesced into larger and larger bodies orbiting around each star. In a sort of heavenly survival of the fittest, planetary bodies smashed into each other until solar systems emerged. Curiously, instead of being relatively similar in terms of composition, the planets in our solar system, and the comets, asteroids, satellites and rings, are bewitchingly distinct. So, too, the halves of our moon. In When the Earth Had Two Moons, esteemed planetary geologist Erik Asphaug takes us on an exhilarating tour through the farthest reaches of time and our galaxy to find out why. Beautifully written and provocatively argued, When the Earth Had Two Moons is not only a mind-blowing astronomical tour but a profound inquiry into the nature of life here—and billions of miles from home.

"What if?" questions stimulate people to think in new ways, to refresh old ideas, and to make new discoveries. In What If the Earth Had Two Moons, Neil Comins leads us on a fascinating ten-world journey as we explore what our planet would be like under alternative astronomical conditions. In each case, the Earth would be different, often in surprising ways. The title chapter, for example, gives us a second moon orbiting closer to Earth than the one we have now. The night sky is a lot brighter, but that won't last forever. Eventually the moons collide, with one extra-massive moon emerging after a period during which Earth sports a Saturn-like ring. This and nine and other speculative essays provide us with insights into the Earth as it exists today, while shedding new light on the burgeoning search for life on planets orbiting other stars. Appealing to adult and young adult alike, this book is a fascinating journey through physics and astronomy, and follows on the author's previous bestseller, What if the Moon Didn't Exist?, with completely new scenarios backed by the latest astronomical research.

BEGIN THE CELEBRATED "GIANTS" SERIES WITH TWO COMPLETE NOVELS BY A MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION WITH REAL SCIENCE! Inherit the Stars: When they found the corpse in a grave on the Moon, wearing a spacesuit of unfamiliar design, his identity was a complete mystery. Analysis showed that the deceased was 50,000 years old-meaning that he had somehow died on the Moon before the human race even existed. The Gentle Giants of Ganymede: On another moon, Jupiter's Ganymede, still another mystery: a wrecked spaceship, which had been there for millennia, and was obviously designed for beings larger than the humans of Earth. The mystery seemed insoluble until another ship, manned by the same humanoid giants arrived, and were very surprised to find humans inhabiting their Solar System. . . . At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "PURE SCIENCE FICTION . . . ARTHUR CLARKE, MOVE OVER." -Isaac Asimov

The easy recipes in this plant-based cookbook let you enjoy all decadent deliciousness of bacon without the unhealthy fat and cholesterol. We all know that processed meats are bad for us. But we can’t deny that everything tastes better with bacon. In Baconish, vegan chef Leinana Two Moons shows you how to get that salty, smoky, crispy yum using healthy plant-based ingredients. It’s all in the seasonings, and these easy-to-make recipes are loaded with bacony flavor. Leinana shares a variety of plant-based bacon recipes, using everything from seitan and tempeh to eggplant, carrots, mushrooms, and even coconut! She then shows how these baconish basics can be incorporated into your favorite bacon dishes—from Quiche Lorraine and BLTs to Pasta Carbonara, Bacon and Cheddar Scones, Maple-Bacon Donuts, and more.

Organised and level-headed Leah wakes up on a distant planet called Minvela. The questions of how she got there and how she can get back home to Earth fade into insignificance when encountering an enormous problem. All her emotions are amplified to extraordinary levels and have taken over her normally calm and analytical mind. There are some familiar faces among all the strangers. It seems she didn’t come here alone. A group of fellow students from Earth have come too and are already settled in their new surroundings. There is, however, a catch – she despises and distrusts all of them. After all they have more than a little bad history together. School wasn’t a picnic. Her questionable and unwanted ally turns out to be Ben. Together they have to figure out how to fulfil a calling that is a far cry from what she thought her life would ever be. But how much can she trust this guy who saved her life if she cannot trust herself?