MIDDLE GRADE NON-FICTION
FROM THE Award-Winning Scientists in the Field Series
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2018
A Junior Library Guild selection
Fall 2018 IndieNext Pick
SIBA Okra Pick
*Cherrix writes with affection about her hometown…an inviting example of scientific field work in a consistently appealing series. Starred review, Kirkus Reviews
The book capably combines the you-are-there immediacy of charting bear behaviors with surprising facts about bears… and illuminating information about how humans can best coexist with bears…many kids will be intrigued to contemplate this kind of coexistence and learn more about the science behind the scenes."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"[An] encouraging case study of efforts to manage black bear populations."--The Horn Book Magazine
"Useful introduction to a field of scientific study that will only grow in importance."--School Library Journal
"What happens when wildlife conservation efforts work a little too well? It’s a question facing the residents of Asheville, North Carolina, where the black bear population is growing at a surprising rate. That wasn’t always the case. Wildlife biologists stepped in to support a bear comeback in the 1970s, rescuing the animals from disappearing statewide. Their numbers were restored, but now, thanks to rapid urbanization and other environmental factors, the bears’ habitat is changing once again. This time their numbers are rising faster than anyone predicted. As a result, these resilient, opportunistic animals have established, what appears to be, a population of urban black bears living in and around Asheville!
Some residents love sharing their communities with the animals. Others are skeptical. But everyone has questions: Can humans and bears live compatibly? How many healthy bears can
a city like Asheville support? And what are the long-term effects of city living for the bears?
That’s what the dedicated wildlife biologists of the North Carolina Urban/Suburban Black Bear Study have returned to Asheville to find out. During a five-year field study, they will trap, tag, and track the bears to learn how they move and use Asheville as a resource.
Join the expedition to meet the researchers and citizen scientists at the forefront of this amazing ecological story. With maps, graphics, and world-class wildlife photography, Amy Cherrix brings you face-to-face with black bears, one of nature’s most misunderstood animals.
Then travel around the globe to see where other types of unusual wildlife are claiming urban spaces, because the story unfolding in Asheville is not an isolated case. From Boston to Berlin, and Honolulu to Mumbai, some of the world’s most famous cities are facing a new and wilder frontier.
2018 AAAS/Subaru Prize Finalist, for excellence in science books
A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
"The team’s mission unfolds in such a gripping fashion that readers will be hooked. This book will be particularly eye-opening to those with an interest in severe weather." Booklist
"Well-researched and engagingly written...Fascinating." School Library Journal
A single hurricane releases the energy equivalent of 10,000 nuclear bombs. In the United States alone, ten million Americans live in hurricane danger zones. The key to surviving these storms is getting out of harm’s way, but how do we know if or when to evacuate? Predicting when a storm will strike is not enough. We must also predict how strong a hurricane will be in order to save lives. The cause of hurricane intensification is one of Mother Nature’s deadliest secrets. But a daring NASA earth science mission may have finally found a way to crack the hurricane code.
NASA research meteorologists of the the ambitious Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission (HS3) are on the case. But it’s their methods that make this project extraordinary. For the first time, a re-purposed military drone called Global Hawk will fly over hurricanes. At the breathtaking altitude of 70,000 feet, the drone carries a belly full of remote controlled instruments designed to study storms. While a former Top Gun pilot flies the drone from the ground, HS3 scientists gather data that could rewrite the science of hurricane prediction. It won’t be easy. The stakes are high and time is running out on the HS3 mission. There are many questions still unanswered and one mistake could spell disaster.
Amy Cherrix introduces readers to the groundbreaking NASA mission studying one of nature’s most awe-inspiring storms. In the first Scientists in the Field book entirely about weather, meet the people on the cutting edge of meteorological field science. With stunning photos, detailed maps and sidebars, as well as infographics, take a trip into the eye of the storm to discover the future of the hurricane forecast.