Cynthia Overbeck Bix

College students crammed into phone booths. Couples dancing until they drop. Daredevils swallowing one live goldfish after another. Streakers dashing naked down the street. Planking and flash mobs and robotic pets. These are just some of the crazy fads that have caught hold in the United States over the last century. Where do these ideas come from and why do they catch people's imagination? Fads reflect the mood and spirit of a particular time, and...

Discusses the largest land animal on earth, which now lives only in Africa and Asia.

Text and photographs describe the growth of a sunflower from a seed to a full-grown plant.

Introduces dragonflies and damselflies, closely related winged insects which undergo a three-stage process of development called incomplete metamorphosis.

Describes the macaque monkeys of Japan and explains how they have learned to survive the cold, snowy winters on the northern island of Honshu.

Discusses the physical characteristics, birth, habits, and behavior of cats.

Describes the complex and dangerous life of lions on the African savannas.