A small girl with a passion for nature turns to her new passion for art as the seasons turn colder. Claudia loves butterflies. Blue ones. Yellow ones. Purple ones with dots. And since she can't take them home, she paints them in all their beautiful colors. But when winter comes, there are no more butterflies to paint...until she finds a little moth. Suddenly, Claudia sees winter in a whole new light.

In an isolated pine forest on the eastern edge of Central Texas, there lies an island of abundant and diversified life known as the Lost Pines. Separated from the rest of the state’s East Texas pine forests by more than one hundred miles, the Lost Pines marks the westernmost stand of the loblolly pine and is a refuge for plants and animals more typically associated with the southeastern United States where the tree originated. Surrounded now by pastures and scattered oak woodlands, the Lost Pines supports a remarkable ecosystem, a primeval sanctuary amidst the urban bustle of nearby Austin and of neighboring communities Bastrop, Elgin, and Smithville. This 100,000 acre island includes portions of Bastrop and Buescher State Parks, and it was here that Stephen W. Taber and Scott Fleenor encountered insect life of astonishing diversity. Setting out to identify and describe the insects and related animals most readily observed in the Lost Pines, they also discovered some hidden, rare, and never-before-described species. The result is this book, a bestiary of more than 280 species of invertebrates including insects, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, mollusks, and worms. Each species description includes common and scientific names; information on biology, distribution, and similar species; and the authors’ special remarks. Many of these animals occur outside the forest, making Insects of the Texas Lost Pines a useful guide to Texas invertebrates in general. When you visit Bastrop State Park, you are likely to see more bugs and spineless creatures than any other form of animal life. The next time you go, turn over a few logs, look at the ants, and don’t swat the flies. Take along this new guide and open up a world of life in one of Texas's most unique and popular landscapes.

Whether used for thematic story times, program and curriculum planning, readers' advisory, or collection development, this updated edition of the well-known companion makes finding the right picture books for your library a breeze. Generations of savvy librarians and educators have relied on this detailed subject guide to children's picture books for all aspects of children's services, and this new edition does not disappoint. Covering more than 18,000 books published through 2017, it empowers users to identify current and classic titles on topics ranging from apples to zebras. Organized simply, with a subject guide that categorizes subjects by theme and topic and subject headings arranged alphabetically, this reference applies more than 1,200 intuitive (as opposed to formal catalog) subject terms to children's picture books, making it both a comprehensive and user-friendly resource that is accessible to parents and teachers as well as librarians. It can be used to identify titles to fill in gaps in library collections, to find books on particular topics for young readers, to help teachers locate titles to support lessons, or to design thematic programs and story times. Title and illustrator indexes, in addition to a bibliographic guide arranged alphabetically by author name, further extend access to titles.

Sci-fi action meets steamy paranormal romance in the Alien novels, as Katherine “Kitty” Katt faces off against aliens, conspiracies, and deadly secrets. • “Futuristic high-jinks and gripping adventure.” —RT Reviews It’s a typical day of bureaucracy and stress for President and First Lady Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini, in part because Kitty’s been tapped to represent Earth in the Galactic Council. Kitty feels that’s a bad idea, and she might be right. When her first official TV morning show goes awry, it’s only the quick thinking of the actor determined to make the “Code Name: First Lady” movie a reality that saves the day. It also forces Kitty to work with Hollywood. Meanwhile, the Embassy Daycare kids are all about to enter “real school”—and none of them want to go. They may have grounds to be concerned because many of the other students and their familes seem shady, and everyone seems to have an evil agenda. Dealing with the assimilation of the aliens who have come to Earth, while fending off advances from a variety of Hollywood types, seems like Kitty’s biggest challenge. But then she and Jeff discover that Stephanie Valentino—Jeff’s niece and the true Heir Apparent to the original Mastermind—is back. Can Jeff and Kitty thwart the most insidious attacks yet, while keeping tenuous peace on Earth and goodwill toward all sentient species going? And can they also find time to be part of the most truly terrifying organization they’ve ever encountered—the school’s parent-teacher association?