The award-winning and USA Today bestselling story of a deaf girl's connection to a whale whose song can't be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him.

Fascinating, brave, and tender...a triumph. --Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan

From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be.

When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to sing to him! But he's three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?

Full of heart and poignancy, this affecting story by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly shows how a little determination can make big waves.

And make sure to read Lynne Kelly's next book and instant classic, The Secret Language of Birds!

USA TODAY BESTSELLER - A poignant and heartwarming coming-of-age novel that captures the moment of learning to spread your wings in a way you'll never forget--from the award-winning author of Song for a Whale.

Perfect for readers who enjoy stories about curious kids and nature's wonders.--TIME for Kids

Nina is used to feeling like the odd one out, both at school and in her large family. But while trying to fit in at summer camp, she discovers something even more peculiar: two majestic birds have built a nest in the marsh behind an abandoned infirmary. They appear to be whooping cranes, but that's impossible--Nina is an amateur bird-watcher, and all her resources tell her that those rare birds haven't nested in Texas for over a hundred years.

When Nina reports the sighting to wildlife officials, more questions arise. Experts track all the endangered birds, but they can't identify the female bird that Nina found. Who is she, and where did she come from?

With the help of some fellow campers, Nina sets out to discover who the mystery bird really is. As she gets closer to the truth, will she find a flock of her own?

Groundbreaking anthropologist and memory champion Lynne Kelly reveals how we can use ancient and traditional mnemonic methods to enhance and expand our memory.

Our brain is a muscle. Like our bodies, it needs exercise. In the last few hundred years, we have stopped training our memories and we have lost the ability to memorize large amounts of information-something our ancestors could do with ease.

After discovering that the true purpose of monuments like Easter Island and Stonehenge were to act as memory palaces, Kelly takes this knowledge and introduces us to the best memory techniques humans have ever devised, from ancient times and the Middle Ages to methods used by today's memory athletes. A memory champion herself, Kelly tests all these methods and demonstrate the extraordinary capacity of our brains at any age.

For anyone who needs to memorize a speech or a script, learn anatomy or a foreign language, or prepare for an exam, Memory Craft offers proven techniques and simple strategies for anyone who has trouble remembering names or dates, or for older people who want to keep their minds agile. In addition to getting in touch with our own human and anthropological foundations, Memory Craft shows how all things mnemonic can be playful, creative, and fun.

The award-winning and USA Today bestselling story of a deaf girl's connection to a whale whose song can't be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him.

Fascinating, brave, and tender...a triumph. --Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan

From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be.

When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to sing to him! But he's three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?

Full of heart and poignancy, this affecting story by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly shows how a little determination can make big waves.

And make sure to read Lynne Kelly's next book and instant classic, The Secret Language of Birds!

In ancient, pre-literate cultures across the globe, tribal elders had encyclopedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across a landscape, identify the stars in the sky, and recite the history of their people. Yet today, most of us struggle to memorize more than a short poem. Using traditional Aboriginal Australian song lines as a starting point, Dr. Lynne Kelly has since identified the powerful memory technique used by our ancestors and indigenous people around the world. In turn, she has then discovered that this ancient memory technique is the secret purpose behind the great prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge, which have puzzled archaeologists for so long.The henges across northern Europe, the elaborate stone houses of New Mexico, huge animal shapes in Peru, the statues of Easter Island-these all serve as the most effective memory system ever invented by humans. They allowed people in non-literate cultures to memorize the vast amounts of information they needed to survive. But how?For the first time, Dr. Kelly unlocks the secret of these monuments and their uses as memory places in her fascinating book. Additionally, The Memory Code also explains how we can use this ancient mnemonic technique to train our minds in the tradition of our forbearers.

USA TODAY BESTSELLER - A poignant and heartwarming coming-of-age novel that captures the moment of learning to spread your wings in a way you'll never forget--from the award-winning author of Song for a Whale.

Perfect for readers who enjoy stories about curious kids and nature's wonders.--TIME for Kids

Nina is used to feeling like the odd one out, both at school and in her large family. But while trying to fit in at summer camp, she discovers something even more peculiar: two majestic birds have built a nest in the marsh behind an abandoned infirmary. They appear to be whooping cranes, but that's impossible--Nina is an amateur bird-watcher, and all her resources tell her that those rare birds haven't nested in Texas for over a hundred years.

When Nina reports the sighting to wildlife officials, more questions arise. Experts track all the endangered birds, but they can't identify the female bird that Nina found. Who is she, and where did she come from?

With the help of some fellow campers, Nina sets out to discover who the mystery bird really is. As she gets closer to the truth, will she find a flock of her own?

USA TODAY BESTSELLER - A poignant and heartwarming coming-of-age novel that captures the moment of learning to spread your wings in a way you'll never forget--from the award-winning author of Song for a Whale.

Perfect for readers who enjoy stories about curious kids and nature's wonders.--TIME for Kids

Nina is used to feeling like the odd one out, both at school and in her large family. But while trying to fit in at summer camp, she discovers something even more peculiar: two majestic birds have built a nest in the marsh behind an abandoned infirmary. They appear to be whooping cranes, but that's impossible--Nina is an amateur bird-watcher, and all her resources tell her that those rare birds haven't nested in Texas for over a hundred years.

When Nina reports the sighting to wildlife officials, more questions arise. Experts track all the endangered birds, but they can't identify the female bird that Nina found. Who is she, and where did she come from?

With the help of some fellow campers, Nina sets out to discover who the mystery bird really is. As she gets closer to the truth, will she find a flock of her own?

From the bestselling author of Song for a Whale comes a moving tale about the life-changing bond between a boy and the octopus he rescues.

Max can't seem to escape the big, looming shadow of his politician dad. But for the next few months, Max and his mom are going away to a quiet Texas beach town where Max can be someone else. Someone who doesn't make dumb mistakes that embarrass his father--someone who knows how to be strong.

He stumbles on his fresh start right away, when he finds an injured octopus washed up onshore after a storm. With the help of a local wildlife center and a couple of new friends, Max rescues the octopus--who they name Ursula--and vows to take care of her until she's ready to return to the sea.

But as their bond deepens and Max makes unexpected discoveries that turn his summer upside down, Max's true strength will be put to the test. Can he keep his promise after all?

In the spirit of modern-day classics like Fish in a Tree and Counting by 7s comes the Schneider Family Book Award-winning story of a deaf girl's connection to a whale whose song can't be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him.

From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be.

When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to sing to him But he's three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him?

Full of heart and poignancy, this affecting story by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly shows how a little determination can make big waves.

Fascinating, brave, and tender...a triumph. --Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan

Can a human being really spontaneously burst into flames? Just how deadly is the Bermuda Triangle? And what's the real story behind all those alien abductions? The answers to these and many other questions lie within the covers of The Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal. Guaranteed to liven up any dinner party, this delightful, highly readable book offers color photographs and scientific case-by-case explanations for twenty-seven phenomena that appear to defy known science, including ghosts and poltergeists, the predictions of Nostradamus, and yogic levitation, among many others. Speaking directly to the reader, and always with respect for those who believe, Kelly gives us a bite-size, nonacademic approach to debunking hugely popular superstitions and mysteries. Did you know that you, too, can bend spoons and read minds? This book will show you how.

All too often, gifted and advanced learners are just accelerated, without fueling the creative thinking and problem solving that they are capable of. This book bursts with thrilling, mind-stretching enrichment activities designed to stimulate higher level thinking for gifted students in grades 5-12.

Challenge the learners in your classroom to explore and evaluate assumptions they make about their world; conduct surveys about current, hot issues and analyze the results; or solve complex logic mysteries in small learning groups. These activities and lessons vary in length from one class period to several weeks, and have enough activities to be used all year.

Skills are developed by using:

• creative research ideas,
• creative thinking tasks,
• daring debates,
• blueprints for business, and
• philosophical problems.

For example, in one activity, students are asked to review various classification systems from areas as diverse as biology and history. Then, they discuss and identify the various steps needed to create a classification system. Next, students consider and discuss various examples about humor, then create, test, and evaluate their own classification system for humor. Finally, students produce their own examples of humor and classify them according to the system they have created.

One of the features that makes this book outstanding is that each activity has been field-tested for at least five years in secondary classrooms. The book and each lesson in it provide in-depth information and advice for the classroom teacher.

Grades 5-12

When hordes of giant spiders invaded Lynne Kelly's dreams, she decided it was time to overcome her arachnophobia by getting to know the creature intimately. This extensive introduction answers every basic question about spiders, including articles on web-building, the most venomous and dangerous species, and, of course, arachnid romance. An illustrated guide to identifying webs, a list of useful spider-watching equipment, observations sheets, and dozens of photographs of common species are also provided. Along the way, Lynne explains how she overcame her own arachnophobia, and provides tips and hints on how any arachnophobe can do the same.

In this book, Lynne Kelly explores the role of formal knowledge systems in small-scale oral cultures in both historic and archaeological contexts. In the first part, she examines knowledge systems within historically recorded oral cultures, showing how the link between power and the control of knowledge is established. Analyzing the material mnemonic devices used by documented oral cultures, she demonstrates how early societies maintained a vast corpus of pragmatic information concerning animal behavior, plant properties, navigation, astronomy, genealogies, laws and trade agreements, among other matters. In the second part Kelly turns to the archaeological record of three sites, Chaco Canyon, Poverty Point and Stonehenge, offering new insights into the purpose of the monuments and associated decorated objects. This book demonstrates how an understanding of rational intellect, pragmatic knowledge and mnemonic technologies in prehistoric societies offers a new tool for analysis of monumental structures built by non-literature cultures.

Convinced that public speaking fears outranked all other fears, the authors combined their years of teaching novice speakers to set forth their techniques for reducing apprehension and sharpening communication performance skills. The three basic techniques stressed are cognitive structuring (or attitude change), relaxation techniques and skills training. All of the topics addressed herein are intended for students in basic speech communication classes. Some of the topics are: the process of communication, assessing yourself as a communicator, improving attitudes and reducing apprehension, preparing and delivering a public speech, improving skills in group discussions as well as in all types of social relationships. First published by Harper and Row in 1986.

From the bestselling author of Song for a Whale comes a moving tale about the life-changing bond between a boy and the octopus he rescues.

Max can't seem to escape the big, looming shadow of his politician dad. But for the next few months, Max and his mom are going away to a quiet Texas beach town where Max can be someone else. Someone who doesn't make dumb mistakes that embarrass his father--someone who knows how to be strong.

He stumbles on his fresh start right away, when he finds an injured octopus washed up onshore after a storm. With the help of a local wildlife center and a couple of new friends, Max rescues the octopus--who they name Ursula--and vows to take care of her until she's ready to return to the sea.

But as their bond deepens and Max makes unexpected discoveries that turn his summer upside down, Max's true strength will be put to the test. Can he keep his promise after all?