Helaine Becker

"Sloth is a sloooooow creature. She's supposed to be going to the Zzzzzoo, but is mistakenly delivered to the ZOOM! She wants to make friends in her new home, but it seems like all the animals here are always busy, late, and in a rush. Finally, the sloth meets someone more to her speed: a tiny snail who invites the sloth down for a cup of tea. The friendship of these two animals is surprising and delightful enough to stop all the other animals in...

"A millipede the size of a basketball player? A pit-bull-sized scorpion? It's hard to believe, but such mega-critters once lived on our planet. In this peek into prehistory, award-winning science writer Helaine Becker introduces us to nine of these terrifying giants. You'll discover when and where they lived, how they grew to their mega-sizes and what (thankfully!) caused their extinction. On each spread, a highly realistic illustration shows us what...

In this fun and funny celebration of literacy, kids of all ages will discover that the act of reading is a daring adventure that can take you anywhere! You can read at the playground, under the sea, at the opera and even in outer space! It turns out you can read everywhere! And when you do, you open yourself to a universe of adventure. Presented in light-hearted, rib-tickling verse that's perfect for reading aloud, You Can Read sings it loud and proud:...

"When Emmy Noether is born in 1882, no one knows she's going to become a visionary mathematician. Back then, girls were expected to be gentle and quiet -- definitely not geniuses. But Emmy is a genius! And she's much more interested in math than in learning to cook and sew. Though she faces sexism and anti-Semitism, she perseveres to earn her mathematics degree and teach at a university. And when Einstein's famous Theory of Relativity has a problem...

"The most powerful pirate in history was a woman who was born into poverty in Guangzhou, China, in the early 1800s. When pirates attacked her town and the captain took a liking to her, she saw a way out. Zheng Yi Sao agreed to marry him only if she got an equal share of his business. When her husband died six years later, she took command of the fleet. Over the next decade, the pirate queen built a fleet of over 1,800 ships and 70,000 men. On land...

"Born in Scotland more than 250 years ago, William Playfair was a dreamer who saw the world differently from other people. Unfortunately, this difference sometimes got in the way of his success. Early on, as he attempted to apply his unique perspective to a series of career opportunities in order to gain riches! fame! glory! he instead suffered one failure after another. Then, while writing a book about economics, Will's innovative vision inspired...

"A picture book biography about First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's early years and how the challenges she faced early in life helped her become a compassionate public servant and champion of human rights"--