Condemned to a penal colony in Australia for stealing a woman's bonnet, young Mary Bryant braves every danger in Britain's newest colony, Australia -- disease, famine, rape, and the cruelty of the penal system. As the first convict married in Australia, Mary and her husband Will learn from aboriginal friends how to survive. In time they also learn how to escape. Traveling three months and three thousand miles, Mary's courageous feat is yet unequaled by a woman with two young children traversing rough seas for so many miles in an open boat without training or navigational equipment. Mary's...

Andy and his best friend George, a Blue-fronted Amazonian parrot, live on an island off the Gulf coast of Florida. When Andy's father gets hurt on a Fish and Game mission to catch a poacher, Andy and his almost-human, chip-on-the-shoulder, opinionated parrot go deep into the backwaters to uncover a vine-covered, lethal secret....

A literary and historical legacy of 67 dogs breeds covering the legend and lore of our best friend. From Afghan to Yorkie, the stories in this book are surprising, funny, touching, and philosophical and they go back to the dog who plugged the hole in Noahs Ark, the dog who hid under the skirt of Mary Queen of Scots at her beheading, and to the mythological dog that walked the decks of the Titanic and saved his master from drowning.

The authors have a special rapport with felines and have created a collection of stories about the arcane side of cats. The writings, cleverly shaped around the verses of 18th century English poet Christopher Smart, deal with cats psychic abilities, telepathic powers, astral comings and goings, history and behavior, and relationships with the inferior life forms who share their earthly environment.