Readers will be surprised to find out that their poop is good for building things. They'll learn how animals use poop to construct nests, homes, and even fences. People mold it into bricks for houses and plop it on fences for support. It's biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and can add a bit of spice to any home construction project. This book meets NGSS Standards for grades 3 to 5 for STEM curriculum.

Fecal Matters is your definitive guide to the new global phenomenon of public poos. From the “Mystery Pooper” terrorizing Manhattan, to Japan’s “Mr. Poop,” to England’s “Party Pooper” (who you do not want to invite to your swim-rave), these crappy criminals can’t stop making headlines worldwide. Explore the stories behind their smelly sprees, and find out facts about feces you never figured. With special sections on poop in pop culture, you’ll be bewildered, befuddled, and bemused by all the crap the world puts up with.

So you have decided to build an addition. Have you gotten a loan and your permits? Have you purchased your materials? Before you even begin, you should read this hilarious guide, filled with humorous stories as well as helpful advice on what NOT to do when you undertake a major house renovation. If you've already built your addition or are in the midst of your project, you will be nodding your head and laughing at every page. Mr. Rayment delivers helpful hints on dealing with inspectors, recruiting neighbors to help and making the project fun. Chapters cover everything from electrical work, plumbing, finish carpentry and even digging your foundation. Any book can tell you how you should do it. W. J. Rayment will go one step further, pointing out the pitfalls and common problems—what NOT to do. Fun and informative.

Increasingly, schools are requiring students to produce science portfolios to reflect their body of work in scientific study. This book introduces students to the portfolio concept and how to select and present what they wish to include. It also covers the four types of project-based learning, controlled investigations, field investigations, design investigations, and secondary-research investigations, with projects drawing on the Next Generation Science Standards. A dozen hands-on projects connect readers with real-world skills they can apply in their community. Engaging sidebars provide students with interesting additional information related to the projects.

What prompts children to tell stories? What does the word "story" mean to a child at two or five years of age? The Folkstories of Children, first published in 1981, features nearly five hundred stories that were volunteered by fifty children between the ages of two and ten and transcribed word for word. The stories are organized chronologically by the age of the teller, revealing the progression of verbal competence and the gradual emergence of staging and plot organization. Many stories told by two-year-olds, for example, have only beginnings with no middle or end; the "narrative" is held together by rhyme or alliteration. After the age of three or four, the same children tell stories that feature a central character and a narrative arc. The stories also exhibit each child's growing awareness and management of his or her environment and life concerns. Some children see their stories as dialogues between teller and audience, others as monologues expressing concerns about fate and the forces of good and evil. Brian Sutton-Smith discusses the possible origins of the stories themselves: folktales, parent and teacher reading, media, required writing of stories in school, dreams, and play. The notes to each chapter draw on this context as well as folktale analysis and child development theory to consider why and how the stories take their particular forms. The Folkstories of Children provides valuable evidence and insight into the ways children actively and inventively engage language as they grow.

Is “The Origin of Feces” a Darwinian concern? Perhaps not, but it is the title to the preface of this tongue-in-cheek and unexpectedly revealing exploration of human behavior by the webmaster behind the popular PoopReport.com. This book is not a history of poop, but a study of today. Its goal is to understand how poop affects us, how we view it, and why; to appreciate its impact from the moment it slides out of our anal sphincters to the moment it enters the sewage treatment plant; to explore how we’ve arrived at this strange discomfort and confusion about a natural product of our bodies; to see how this contradiction—the natural as unnatural—shapes our minds, relationships, environment, culture, economics, media, and art. Paul Provenza, the director of The Aristocrats, says in his foreword: “It’s shocking to think that a book about poop can be considered an act of courage. But it is. Most of us have knee-jerk responses to the topic that we are not even aware of. Attitudes that, like the awful stench of poop itself, permeate all of society and culture. This book has some very profound and beautiful things to say. It takes a dirty, smelly, unpleasant subject like shit and brings forth ideas that are empowering, dignifying and life affirming.”

Addison Holmes has her hands full. Marriage changes a woman, and pregnancy hormones are no joke. But despite her promise to retire from dangerous P.I. work, she has no choice but to take this case. Twenty years ago, her father and his partner cracked the case of their careers. But it was all a set up. They sent the wrong men to prison, and now it's time for the real culprits to tie up loose ends. Her father is dead, but his partner, who happens to be her mom's new husband, is very much alive. At least for the time being. Discovering the truth is no easy task, but saving her father's legacy and her step-father's life is her top priority. Because family means everything.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1869.