Susan E Goodman

Introduces the history of trains, from the nineteenth-century steam locomotives that bridged the American East and West to the Japanese "pusher" commuter trains and the Scottish train used as the Hogwarts Express in the "Harry Potter" films.

Shares the story of Sarah Roberts and her 1847 case petitioning that she be allowed to attend a white school in Boston, explaining how her heroic efforts established key precedents and paved the way for civil rights advancements.

Describes monster trucks.

A look at the prehistoric world of saber-toothed cats.

Over his mother's objections Robert Henry Hendershot has joined the Union Army as a drummer boy. He wants to see battle and capture a Confederate soldier, but his company commander says he's too young and removes him from the pontoon carrying troops across the Rappahannock to face the rebels at Fredericksburg. Can Robert find a way to become a hero?

"Few realize how fascinating, and even educational, this subject can be. You can learn about all sorts of things from pee--American history (Civil War belles hoarded urine for making gunpowder); the animal kingdom (when lobsters fight they squirt each other with pee from bladders on either side of their eyes); even espionage (scientists are using urine to classify "odortypes" that will identify individuals as accurately as their fingerprints).--From...