For millions of years, a massive shark more than twice as huge as the modern-day great white shark cruised the depths of the ocean, attacking and devouring prey. Fossil remains reveal megalodon to have been more than fifty feet long, with razor-sharp teeth, each the size of a human hand, and jaws so large it could swallow prey larger than a common dolphin. It was the biggest predatory shark ever. Award-winning author Caroline Arnold takes young readers deep beneath the prehistoric sea to investigate the habits of this monstrous shark. Fluid, detailed watercolors accompany this clear and accessible account of one of the most incredible creatures to inhabit our world. Index.

Author: Caroline Arnold, Laurie Caple
Hardcover:  32 pages
Company: Clarion Books  (2000-08-21)
ISBN: 0395914191
List Price: $16.00
Amazon Price: $6.85
Used Price: $0.28

On a remote South China Sea island, a deadly hunt is underway... but not the kind of expedition the participants expected. In this remote, jungle-covered island somewhere between Thailand and Indonesia some of the most exotic animals in the world have been gathered as the prizes in a challenge of human against nature. The hunters come from all walks of life. Each has come to the island for personal reasons, some secret, some deadly. But when the encampment's owner, ex-Khmer Rouge Colonel Rath Preap, finds the fences cut and his security men missing, it's clear that the game has turned. And as the hunters battle for survival, they discover there is another creature out for blood... an adversary that has faced death on a thousand worlds - a Predator with an unstoppable lust for conquest!

Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Paperback:  256 pages
Company: Dark Horse  (2008-10-15)
ISBN: 1595821406
List Price: $6.99
Amazon Price: $6.99

Essential strategies to keep children and teens safe online

As our children and teens race down the onramp to the Information Superhighway, many parents feel left behind in the dust. News stories about online sexual predators, child pornography, cyberbullies, hate groups, gaming addiction, and other dangers that lurk in the online world make us feel increasingly concerned about what our children are doing (and with whom) in cyberspace. In Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens, Internet safety expert Nancy Willard provides you with need-to-know information about those online dangers, and she gives you the practical parenting strategies necessary to help children and teens learn to use the Internet safely and responsibly.

Parents protect younger children by keeping them in safe places, teaching them simple safety rules, and paying close attention. As children grow, we help them gain the knowledge, skills, and values to make good choices--choices that will keep them safe and show respect for the rights of others. In Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens, Willard shows you how those same strategies can be translated from the real world to the cyberworld, and that you don't have to learn advanced computer skills to put them into effect. As you work on these strategies with your child, you will also discover that remaining engaged with what your children are doing online is much more valuable than any blocking software you could buy.

"Willard blends the perspectives of a wise parent and a serious scholar about issues related to Internet behavior and safety. . . . Pick up the book, open it to any random page, and you will find on that page or nearby a wealth of helpful advice and useful commentary on the cyberreality facing our children and on how to deal with any of the issues she's identified."
--Dick Thornburgh, J.D., former U.S. Attorney General; chair, National Academy of Sciences Committee on Youth Pornography and the Internet

"Simply put, this book is a must-read for anyone--parents, educators, law enforcement, and policymakers alike--concerned with the critical issue of children's internet safety and what to do about it."
--Douglas Levin, senior director of education policy, Cable in the Classroom

Author: Nancy E. Willard
Paperback:  336 pages
Company: Jossey-Bass  (2007-03-16)
ISBN: 0787994170
List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $6.00
Used Price: $5.01

Tom and Hester are in danger.

Pursued by the grim aviators of the Green Storm, they stumble onto the ice city of Anchorage just in time. But Anchorage is not a safe refuge: devastated by plague and haunted by thieves or ghosts, the city is barely lurching along. And savage Huntsmen are closing in. Surrounded by danger, Tom and Hester struggle as jealousy threatens to destroy them and the city.

In a desperate bid for survival, the young ruler of Anchorage sets a course for the Dead Continent: America.

Author: Philip Reeve
Paperback:  416 pages
Company: Eos  (2006-01-01) (2006-01-03)
ISBN: 0060721960
List Price: $7.99
Amazon Price: $1.92
Used Price: $1.84

Midnight, the ancient evil sanctuary of vampires and their human slaves that was burned to the ground centuries ago, has risen from the ashes to open its dark doors once more. And it's up to Turquoise Draka, famed human vampire hunter of the Bruja guild, to stop Midnight's founder and vampire most malevolent, Jeshikah. But once inside Midnight's walls, Turquoise discovers that instead of Jeshikah, the surprisingly benign vampire Jaguar is at the helm. Acting as a human slave, Turquoise tries to discern Jaguar's mysteriously kind motives as she works at planning Jeshikah's assassination. Meanwhile, her acting servitude is playing havoc with her memories, as she begins to recall the bleak days when she used to be a human slave herself, the time before her training as an elite Bruja warrior. With bitter memories of beatings and humiliations battling with her present suicidal assignment, Turquoise must do everything in her power to keep from blowing her cover and losing her sanity.

Teenaged horror author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has successfully hit her writing stride in Midnight Predator, her fourth novel. Finally her burgundy-haired, black leather pant-wearing, revenge-lusting characters (and those are just the humans!) seem less like Anne Rice rip-offs and more like original Atwater-Rhodes creations. Atwater-Rhodes's use of flashbacks is more polished than in previous works, and her characterization is more solid and consistent. Teen vampire fans will eagerly fall upon this vibrant, violent addition to Atwater-Rhodes's intricately woven dynasty of vampires, witches, and shape-shifters. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Mass Market Paperback:  256 pages
Company: Laurel Leaf  (2003-12-09) (2003-12-09)
ISBN: 0440237971
List Price: $6.99
Amazon Price: $3.83
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Most crimes of sexual violence are committed by people known to the victim-acquaintances and family members. Yet politicians and the media overemphasize predatory strangers when legislating against and reporting on sexual violence. In this book, Eric S. Janus goes far beyond sensational headlines to expose the reality of the laws designed to prevent sexual crimes. He shows that "sexual predator" laws, which have intense public and political support, are counterproductive. Janus contends that aggressive measures such as civil commitment and Megan's law, which are designed to restrain sex offenders before they can commit another crime, are bad policy and do little to actually reduce sexual violence. Further, these new laws make use of approaches such as preventive detention and actuarial profiling that violate important principles of liberty.

Janus argues that to prevent sexual violence, policymakers must address the deep-seated societal problems that allow it to flourish. In addition to criminal sanctions, he endorses the specific efforts of some advocates, organizations, and social scientists to stop sexual violence by, for example, taking steps to change the attitudes and behaviors of school-age children and adolescents, improving public education, and promoting community treatment and supervision of previous offenders.

Janus also warns that the principles underlying the predator laws may be the early harbingers of a "preventive state" in which the government casts wide nets of surveillance and intervenes to curtail liberty before crimes of any type occur. More than a critique of the status quo, this book discusses serious alternatives and how best to overcome the political obstacles to achieving rational policy.

Author: Eric S. Janus
Hardcover:  248 pages
Company: Cornell University Press  (2006-07-27)
ISBN: 0801443784
List Price: $35.00
Amazon Price: $28.00
Used Price: $59.44

Author: Katherine Applegate
Paperback:  152 pages
Company: Scholastic  (1996-12)
ISBN: 0590629816
List Price: $4.99
Amazon Price: $3.98
Used Price: $0.01

The new world was an unspoiled frontier perfect for colonization, a virtual paradise of boundless beauty and limitless resources, untouched by human hands...but not untouched, as the unsuspecting colonists soon discovered. Now marooned on a planet infested with the deadliest Alien species ever encountered, the colonists learn firsthand the Law of the Jungle: adapt or become extinct. And a little helping hand couldn't hurt, inexplicably provided by the selfsame Predators who destroyed the colonists' ship and made them prisoners in paradise. Are these extraterrestrial hunters actually showing sympathy for the humans' plight, or do they have something even more monstrous in mind?

Author: Mike Kennedy, Roger Robinson
Paperback:  96 pages
Company: Dark Horse  (2006-12-07)
ISBN: 1593073429
List Price: $6.95
Amazon Price: $3.26
Used Price: $3.66

Investigating the disappearance of two sisters in Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta follows clues that twist and turn, leading her into the psychopathic depths of a jailed serial killer's mind.

Author: Patricia Cornwell
Mass Market Paperback:  464 pages
Company: Berkley  (2006-09-26)
ISBN: 0425210278
List Price: $9.99
Amazon Price: $0.01
Used Price: $0.01

Author: Connie Bruck
Paperback:  400 pages
Company: Penguin (Non-Classics)  (1989-06-01)
ISBN: 0140120904
List Price: $16.00
Amazon Price: $9.01
Used Price: $0.80