Wonder Science

We are a people of stories. We use them to entertain, to teach, and to instruct. Sometimes they warn us of the dangers of wandering too far into the woods, or they can be a detailed story to explain how magnificent landscapes came to be. Story has always been the way we pass time, the way we connect to each other, and most importantly, how we promote our values. Parables, especially, have a dual purpose. Not only do they keep us entertained, but they also make a point. Consider Aesop’s fables—tales of talking animals who learn valuable life lessons.

Building on Falconer’s two acclaimed essays, "Signs and Wonders" and the Walkley Award-winning "The Opposite of Glamour", Signs and Wonders is a pioneering examination of how we are changing our culture, language and imaginations along with our climate. Is a mammoth emerging from the permafrost beautiful or terrifying? How is our imagination affected when something that used to be ordinary – like a car windscreen smeared with insects – becomes unimaginable?

Aurelia and Roe have been best friends for years. Both freshly trained medical practitioners, they are set to begin their life’s work in Devil’s Meadows. To get to their new home, the pair must make the dangerous trek from the mountains of Renfield to the scorching heart of a vast desert. Along with Roe’s brother Hale and a small team of companions, they are armed with only their knowledge, instruments, and each other.

Four curiously gifted children from different parts of the world come together in a kingdom ruled by a peanut brittle-addicted monarch who wishes to destroy their uniqueness in his quest for absolute power.

Petra Kronos has a simple, happy life. But it's never been ordinary. She has a pet tin spider named Astrophil who likes to hide in her snarled hair and give her advice. Her best friend can trap lightning inside a glass sphere. Petra also has a father in faraway Prague who is able to move metal with his mind. Petra's life is forever changed when, one day, her father returns home - blind.

Triumph. Tragedy. The empyreal. The infernal. Even the mundane, filtered through the fantastical. Superheroes are, appropriately enough, a sort of super-genre, encompassing all other story types. This YA anthology features thirteen short stories that creatively turn superhero tropes on their head, while still paying homage to the genre that has found fans for more than eight decades. And there will be no mistake—superheroes don’t have to just be generic handsome white dudes.

Award-winning writer Bill Schelly relates how comics and fandom saved his life in this engrossing story that begins in the burgeoning comic fandom movement of the 1960s and follows the twists and turns of a career that spanned 50 years. Schelly recounts his struggle to come out at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, how the egalitarian nature of fandom offered a safe haven for those who were different, and how his need for creative expression eventually overcame all obstacles.

A time-twisting adventure full of fun and friendship from Leah It’s time to kick off a time-twisting adventure with the Wonder Team! Leah and her friends have been magically transported to the rainforests of Tanzania! Back in time and far away from home, the Wonder Team have to use all their skills to uncover the mysteries of the forest and find a way back to the present. But there's danger lurking in the rainforest. A gang of poachers are after the local chimpanze tribe, and it's up to Leah, Mimi, George and their new friend Bupe to find a way to save the animals from from capture.

In 1848 Vermont, railroad foreman Phineas Gage sat above a hole, preparing to blast through some granite. A 13-pound iron rod fell from his hands into the hole, triggering the explosion and sending the rod straight through Phineas' head. Thirty minutes after this terrible accident, Phineas sat on the steps of a hotel, patiently waiting for the town doctor to arrive. He chatted with his amazed coworkers as if nothing had happened. But something terrible had happened.

Meet the women and female-identifying heroes who have defied death, flouted cultural norms, and risen above poverty to become CEOs, entrepreneurs, activists, role models, media moguls, and movement creators. This collection of stories, essays, and interviews celebrates their superpowers: love, determination, vision, and grit. These 50 women share their wisdom and advice in ways that will inspire you to discover your own superpower.

In this captivating quest that spans the globe, a young girl who wants to know everything challenges her assumptions about family, loyalty, and friendship as she fights to save her father's legacy - and to begin creating her own. Hallelujah Wonder wants to become one of the first female scientists of the 19th century. She knows every specimen and rare artifact that her explorer father hid deep in a cave before he died, and she feels a great responsibility to protect the objects (particularly a mesmerizing and dangerous one called Medicine Head).

This inspirational fable, based on the life of an inquisitive goat named Wonder, brings joy and discovery to the listener. Wonder longs to expand his world beyond the barnyard, much to the dismay of his animal companions who are not as curious as he. During his first adventure, he is saved from a hungry owl by a wise crow who then becomes his friend and guide as he embarks on a series of excursions away from the farm. They decide to go on a quest to the mountains and meet new friends who teach them important lessons.

Diana is tired of adults underestimating her because she's only a girl! So when the opportunity strikes for Diana to save a group of children kidnapped by an evil entity intent on stealing their special powers for his own nefarious use, she takes the chance, knowing that she'll have to undergo the journey alone. But she doesn't expect that her adventure would take her straight to the world of humans!

This is the story of Dr. Geneva Smitherman, aka "Dr. G," the pioneering linguist often referred to as the "Queen of Black Language." In a series of narrative essays, Dr. G writes eloquently and powerfully about the role of language in social transformation and the academic, intellectual, linguistic, and societal debates that shaped her groundbreaking work as a Black Studies O.G. and a Womanist scholar-activist of African American Language.

In this exciting true adventure mixed with amazing scientific study, a young, exuberant explorer and geoscientist journeys deep into the Amazon - where rivers boil and legends come to life. When Andrés Ruzo was just a small boy in Peru, his grandfather told him the story of a mysterious legend: There is a river, deep in the Amazon, that boils as if a fire burns below it. Twelve years later, Ruzo - now a geoscientist - hears his aunt mention that she herself had visited this strange river....

The Society for Magickal Heritage’s best agents are heading back into paradise. Giddy Gods help them all. No one ever said heroic adventure would be easy, but this is ridiculous. Magickal wonderlands aren’t meant to have a dark side. Heroes aren’t meant to get stranded there, either. Ves may be up for anything, but she hadn’t expected that pretty much anything would be up for her. And with a horde of unhappy spirits enjoying a direct line to Zareen’s psyche, it’s lucky she’s unbreakable... right?

Learn something about everything with 13 mind-blowing facts plus a little myth-buster about every topic under (and including) the sun! Everyday objects from cars and skeletons to pianos and chocolate take young listeners on an incredible factual adventure.

In this wonderful audiobook narrated by Alex Norton comes inspiration and practical advice for would-be smallholders. Full of curiosities and sensible advice to get you started.

Cousins Middy and Nathan love magic. The on-stage, cape-swirling, bunny-out-of-a-hat kind. For Middy, it’s all about patience and practice. She uses magic skills to help her out of tricky situations. Nathan is a show-off and a total danger magnet, he is drawn to the sensation, spectacle and audience. So when the famous Blackpool Tower dramatically vanishes the night of the Grand Lights Switch-On, showman Nathan announces live on TV that they will magic it back home.

Exorcist Gabriel Blackwell has become World Heavyweight Champion. But his reign is soon to be challenged. Krishna Bhatti, the disgraced former champion, has allied himself with a powerful demon from Gabriel's past. Together they assemble an unstoppable team of the finest wrestlers on earth, determined to destroy everything the exorcist holds dear. Can Gabriel rally a team of his own to combat this new threat, or will VCW fall to the terror of the Seven Wonders?