"Mister Umbrella Man and stories about inventions." An umbrella! Peanut butter! A vacuum cleaner! Who invented these familiar items? This book combines a collection of thirteen stories about inventions we all know. Some were invented by one inventor, others were the collaboration of several inventors and companies. "Chef Potato Chip" and "Doctor Peanut Butter" tell us who invented these delicious foods. "Balloons, Balloons" and "When Watches Were Eggs" are narrated stories about tools we still use told as if we were standing beside the inventors. Unfortunately, the inventor's name has probably been forgotten. Grades 3-4

Adrian Morgan sails from England as a bond servant surviving a hurricane to reach America. As a young adult she is strong-willed and determined to earn her freedom and start a new life in Baltimore City. But when her bond is sold to a possessive lawyer, she decides to run away to Indian Territory where freedom is guaranteed. She teams up with Daniel Dunn another bond servant who shows initiative and confidence. They combine their skills to escape but Adrian breaks her arm fighting off a horse thief. When wanted posters for them appear they take refuge traveling south on the “Trail of Tears” with Cherokee Indians forced from their homes in Tennessee. Challenged by a flood and caught up in a tornado they finally reach Pleasantville, a town that needs their help rebuilding. Adrian begins sharing her English schooling as a teacher. It seems like a dream come true! But Daniel yearns to see what lies over the next mountain. Is this what they both really want? Are those wanted posters still following them and complicating their lives? Out of Adrian’s past an unexpected threat suddenly draws them together again strengthening their friendship and renewing their bond as partners. Now they must decide whether to part or face whatever dangers are ahead. What’s beyond the next mountain tops? Alison wonders whether to take the risk, and whether she might, just maybe even find a flicker of romance in a future beyond the horizon.

Gilbert goes to the rescue shelter to buy a dog, but instead falls in love with Reggie, a goat. Together they start home, but Reggie takes a detour, dragging Gilbert through a bakery and a discount store. Cakes and cookies tumble! Hats and shoes fall to the floor. They leave havoc everywhere behind them. Exhausted they try to take a taxi home and find even a disguise doesn’t hide the fact that Reggie is a goat. Once they reach home, they are met with a dog house that is too small and no place in the basement for Reggie to sleep. Gilbert’s father finally solves their dilemma by finding a new home for Reggie at the Zoo! A fun story for every fun-loving reader.

Highlighting the life of Mary Edwards Walker, Maverick Suffragist, Doctor, and Medal of Honor Recipient: An Advocate for Women from Then to Now Follow in her steps, as Walker pursues a dream to become one of America's first female physicians in a society of opposition. She was swept up in unfolding events that never could have been predicted, serving under fire in the Civil War, imprisoned at Castle Thunder; championing women's dress reform and lecturing on temperance, smoking and women's abuse. She found camaraderie among soldiers on the battlefield, in Congressional hallways, and patrons of colorful Dime Museums. She charmed generals, presidents, a Queen, and newsmen. She persevered as a strong, opinioned woman who rebutted suffragist leaders but influenced the Postal Service to make changes. Walker urged women to become independent and to support themselves in a chosen occupation. She recognized her value, turning protesting into a marketing tool for women's rights. Destiny's Daughter is a creative chronology emphasizing a woman's personality resilience and achievements. Her philosophy and actions parallel the goals of many women today. She still makes a notable model to admire and follow.

Author and poet Marilyn Joy’s first collection of poetry, The Geography of Longing, is divided into three sections: The Map of Me , The Map of My World , and The Map to Nowhere . The collection is a travelogue of sorts, where the poet invites you into her life of movement—across the earth, inside her mind, and at home in her heart. Also included are occasional pen and ink sketches taken from her journals where the poems first found their voice.

The Top End of Australia is a strange place to choose to end one's life, but that is what Dinah Pelerin's wealthy American uncle has done. He has summoned his entire family to a remote, comfortless lodge where he intends to rewrite his will and commit suicide with the aid of a rogue Australian physician. Dinah sees this time with her uncle as a last chance to learn the truth about her father, who died while running drugs when she was a child. But when she arrives, she discovers that the truth has darker ramifications. When a man none of them claims to know is murdered on a nearby island, Dinah must sort out her family's complicated history while struggling to understand Aboriginal song lines and solve not one, but two bizarre murders.

Hewn out of a frozen mountain in the Norwegian Arctic, the Doomsday Seed Vault was designed to safeguard the earth's agricultural heritage from every conceivable disaster. But no fortress, however remote, can protect against human corruption and those scheming to gain control of the world's food supply. Dinah had no idea when she left sunny Hawaii with a donation of banana seeds that she would become embroiled in the politics of genetic engineering - let alone murder. In December, polar temperatures rarely climb above zero and bodies don't decompose in the permafrost. The dead have to be shipped south for burial and soon there are two murder victims headed south. If Dinah doesn't stop the murderer, she may be next.

Dinah Pelerin has finally put her life in order. Living in Berlin with her Norwegian boyfriend Thor, she has landed a job teaching Native American cultures at the university. She's never felt happier. And then her Seminole mother Swan shows up with a crazy scheme to blackmail a German tax dodger and dredges up a secret Dinah has kept hidden from the IRS and from straight-arrow Thor, an ex-cop who's been promoted to hush-hush international duties. Germans harbor a century-long fascination with the American Wild West and American Indians. Some enthusiasts dress up as Indians and adopt Indian names. Der Indianer Club has invited Swan to a powwow where she plans to meet her blackmail victim. Dinah tries to head her off, but arrives too late. A man has been killed and scalped and Swan quickly becomes the prime suspect. Torn between love for her mother and dismay at her constant lies, Dinah sets out to find the killer, hoping the killer doesn't share her DNA. But Swan isn't the only liar. Everyone is lying about something - including Thor and especially Dinah. Ghosts of Germany's terrible history haunt Berlin and Dinah must exorcise a hateful ghost from her own past.

A wedding beside a volcano sounds risky to Dinah Pelerin, the reluctant maid of honor. The bride has bet her heart on Mr. Right. The groom has bet his fortune on a real estate deal. But the sacred bones of a Hawaiian king are buried on the property he plans to develop and Pele, the local fire goddess, is angry. When a member of the wedding is shoved onto a molten lava flow, all bets are off.

In 1973, on the beautiful Greek island of Samos, movie star Marietta Stephan murdered her boyfriend, his mother, and a powerful colonel in the military junta, a crime for which she was executed. Forty years later, Dinah Pelerin expects only sunshine and romance when she arrives to spend the summer with her Norwegian boyfriend, Thor, before joining a nearby archaeological dig. But does the mystery surrounding Marilita's death interest Thor a little too much? When an Iraqi immigrant to Samos is killed in front of the village taverna, Dinah suspects Thor hasn't told her the truth about being on sabbatical from his policeman's job. Norwegian intelligence has traced former CIA weaponry to the island and Thor has been assigned to investigate. Before he can reveal what he's discovered, his car plunges off a cliff and he disappears. Dinah fears he's been betrayed by the local police and either kidnapped or killed. Unable to trust anyone but her unruly and unpredictable niece who shows up out of the blue, Dinah sets out to find Thor and prevent another Greek tragedy.

Detectives Garnick & Paschal take on big trouble when the most celebrated author in the world hires them to recover his stolen diary. Charles Dickens' 1867 American reading tour is about to begin. Dickens mania has gripped the country, but the author is filled with dread. Fearing blackmail or worse - the loss of his readers' love and admiration - if his secrets are revealed, he sneaks away to Chicago where he believes the thief has absconded with his diary. Detective Quinn Paschal agrees to investigate, but the agency already has its hands full. While pursuing a gang of grave robbers, the detectives discover the body of a young woman who was murdered and buried in a man's grave. Quinn vows to track down the victim's identity and expose the murderer, only to encounter another VIP who, like Dickens, has secrets best left hidden. To solve their two cases, the detectives must delve into the darkest corners of their clients' private lives. But too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing. As Quinn soon learns, three can keep a secret only if two are dead.

It's 1867 and Chicago is a boomtown. Quinn Sinclair, the 22-year-old widow of a Union soldier, has been cheated out of her share of her husband's estate by her Irish-hating in-laws. She's had some training in the Female Bureau of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and wants to start her own detective agency. Gabe Garnick, an ex-Confederate POW with no family to return home to, joins Quinn to form the Garnick & Paschal Detective Agency. She uses the name Mrs. Paschal professionally because "nice women" don't work outside the home, let alone rub shoulders with criminals. If the landlady of her respectable boarding house were to find out she carries a derringer and investigates murders, Quinn would be evicted. The Garnick & Paschal agency gets two cases on the same day - one to help a man prove he didn't kill his wife, another to help an attorney establish reasonable doubt that his client killed her ex-lover's new bride. As the detectives dig deeper, they unearth facts that tie the cases together in disturbing ways. The investigation embroils them in the affairs of colorful bawdyhouse madams, corrupt politicians, yellow-press reporters, notorious gamblers, unscrupulous lawyers, and at least one vicious murderer. Despite all the danger, an unlikely romance begins to evolve between Quinn and Garnick. Devil by the Tail is a story about feminism before the word was invented; post-traumatic-stress syndrome before it had a name; and Chicago before it was safe to drink the water without choking on a fishbone or getting cholera.