Sherry Shahan

Simple text and photographs depict a variety of zoo animals and the food-related activities of zoo staff, including planning menus, grocery shopping, stocking the refrigerator, food preparation, and feeding the animals.

Cousins Cody and Derek take a kayak trip in Alaska and find themselves battling the raw elements of an untamed wilderness.

A day trip to a mountain lake turns to disaster when lightning strikes a pack mule, a mud slide kills a horse, and hikers scatter, seeking shelter. Erin, 14, leaves her new friend Levi with the injured hikers to search for his sister, Mae, who has run off-trail in the confusion.

Author Laura Numeroff, whose first book, "Amy for Short," grew out of a college assignment, recounts her life and describes how her daily activities and creative process are interwoven.