Sarah L. Thomson – författare

A long overdue book that lyrically celebrates and teaches positive associations with two of the most important colors on Earth, black and brown. Have you ever paused to savor the power and beauty of brown and black? Brown is strong as a tree and sweet as honey in tea; black is the hopeful promise of a seed and the grace of a bird in flight... and the quiet space where dreams begin.In this groundbreaking picture book, poetic text and lush imagery celebrates two essential colors that capture all the richness and depth life, love, and the natural world have to offer.

Inspired by viral online stories during the 2019-2020 wildfires in Australia featuring wombats 'saving' other animals taking shelter in their burrows, here is a lyrical story about strangers in need of refuge.Up on the hill, Wallaby licks a puddle's last drop. Skink slips into the shade. Echidna hides in grass as dry as tinder. Under the hill, Wombat carves out a cave that's all his own. Then-KABOOM!-lightning strikes.Written in simple and concise language perfect for a read aloud, award-winning author Sarah L. Thomson invites readers to see through the eyes of a wombat as the fire rages through Australia. Nearly 3 billion animals were affected by the Australian wildfires of 2020, and wombats played a crucial part in allowing their homes to transform as safe havens for other animals whose homes were destroyed in the fires. Paired with stunning and richly layered art by Charles Santoso, Wombat Underground teaches us that the time of greatest danger is also the time to open our door to those in the greatest need.

Did you know that a lion can eat hundreds of pounds of meat at a time, as much as is in four hundred hamburgers? How about that lions are the only kind of cat that lives, hunts, and eats in a group? Or that a lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away? Perfect for all animal lovers--and lion fans in particular--this book is filled with information that young readers will love to learn. From where lion habitats are found to what it's like to be a lion to why lions are endangered and who has been working hard to save them, this book gives readers all the facts they need to know to become lion experts. Complete with black-and-white photographs, a list of fun lion facts, and things that kids can do right this very moment to help save lions from extinction, this book, with an introduction by animal advocate Chelsea Clinton, is a must for every family, school, and community library.

Did you know that elephants can't jump? How about that no two elephants have ears that are exactly alike? Or that elephants all walk on tiptoe? Perfect for all animal lovers - and elephant fans in particular - this book is filled with information that young readers will love to learn. From where elephant habitats are found to what it's like to be an elephant to why elephants are endangered and who has been working hard to save them, this book gives readers all the facts they know to become elephant experts. Complete with black-and-white photographs, a list of fun elephant facts, and things that kids can do right this very moment to help save elephants from extinction, this book, with an introduction by animal advocate Chelsea Clinton, is a must for every family, school, and community library.

Imagine a night when you can ride your bike right up the stairs to your bed. Imagine a night when your toy train rumbles on its tracks out of your room and roars back in, full sized, ready for you to hop on for a nighttime adventure. Imagine a night when a farmer plays a lullaby on his fiddle, and his field of sunflowers begins to dip and sway to the rhythm. Imagine a night when ordinary objects magically become extraordinary...a night when it is possible to believe the impossible. With the intrigue of an Escher drawing and the richness of a Chris Van Allsburg painting, renowned Canadian artist Rob Gonsalves depicts that delicious time between sleep and wakefulness, creating a breathtaking, visual exploration of imagination and possibility that will encourage both children and adults to think past the boundaries of everyday life, and see the possibilities beyond.

Once upon a time, a rich merchant lived with his daughter. He loved the girl for her beautiful face and her sweet heart. But after his wife died, he decided to marry a second time, and his new wife was selfish and cruel. She had two daughters of her own who were just like her…This story of Cinderella is based on the version collected and published by the seventeenth-century author Charles Perrault. Perrault’s Cinderella echoes the elegance and luxury of the French court of King Louis XIV, and it’s from his version that we get Cinderella’s famous glass slippers. Sarah L. Thomson’s beautiful retelling of the classic fairy tale is matched with the uniquely stunning artwork of Nicoletta Ceccoli rendered in acrylics on paper and digitally. This is a picture book to treasure.

When Little Monkey's curiosity causes her to slip and fall to the dark, shadowy rainforest floor, she must hide—quick!—because an ocelot is looking for lunch. Thanks to Papa, Little Monkey knows just what to do to stay safe. And thanks to her own wit and speed, she escapes. But no sooner is she safe from the ocelot than she finds herself wrapped in the coils of an emerald tree boa. This exciting adventure will enthrall readers as Little Monkey faces one challenge after another and will also teach them about the fascinating lives of pygmy marmoset monkeys, the smallest monkeys in the world.

Kata, a ninja, embarks on her first solo mission, for which she must enter a warlord's castle and make sure that a certain sleeping occupant never awakens. But then Kata discovers that her target is just a young boy (and that her new accomplice is that boy's slightly older sister), and suddenly her mission is much more complicated than she bargained for. Faced with taking someone's life or confronting the dire consequences of failure in her mission, Kata must make a hard choice, one that leads her into a more dangerous battle than she ever expected. In this action-packed coming-of-age novel, Kata discovers that while a ninja must always act alone, humanity requires that you accept the trust and friendship of others.

In this sequel to Deadly Flowers, set in Feudal Japan, girl-ninja Kata must outwit other ninjas; her enemy, Saiko; and a cast of dangerous, supernatural creatures, as she tries to dispose of a magical pearl without wishing on it—the demon in the pearl can grant any wish, but the demon will win the soul of the last wisher.

Douglas W. Tallamy awakened thousands of readers to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this middle grade adaptation of the New York Times bestseller Nature's Best Hope, Tallamy outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation that everyone can participate in regardless of age. In Nature's Best Hope (Young Readers' Edition), Tallamy empowers kids to use their own yards to help combat the negative effects of climate change. He does so by breaking down complex concepts into simple terms and real-world examples that kids can easily grasp. Black and white photographs help further clarify concepts. In addition to sharing the science, Tallamy encourages kids to take direct action. Some of these ideas include planting an oak tree (one of the most important tree species) at home. If that's too large of a task, he suggests they can plant asters-a beautiful flower whose pollen bees use to feed their young. By helping the next generation see that they have power and agency over our collective future, this empowering book will drive home the positive point that kids are truly nature's best hope.

This two-volume set, LNCS 15612 and 15613 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 28th European Conference on Applications of Evolutionary Computation, EvoApplications 2025, held as part of EvoStar 2025, in Trieste, Italy, during April 23–25, 2025, and co-located with the EvoStar events, EvoCOP, EvoMUSART, and EuroGP.The 50 full papers and 18 short papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 104 submissions. These papers have been organized in the following topical sections:Part I: EvoApplications.Part II: Evolutionary machine learning; 30 years of particle swarm optimisation; Analysis of Evolutionary Computation Methods: Theory, Empirics, and Real-World Applications; Bio-inspired Algorithms for Green Computing and Sustainable Complex Systems; Computational Intelligence for Sustainability; EvoLLMs (Integrating Evolutionary Computing with Large Language Models (LLMs); Evolutionary Computation in Edge, Fog, and Cloud Computing; Evolutionary Computation in Image Analysis, Signal Processing, and Pattern Recognition; Machine Learning and AI in Digital Healthcare and Personalized Medicine; Soft Computing Applied to Games.