Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Because it is home to anacondas weighing over three hundred pounds, Goliath birdeater tarantulas with a leg span the size of your face, and electric eels who have enough voltage to stun a horse, you might think the Amazon is a place that can cause more harm than good. But you'd be wrong...

Considered the "lungs of the world," the Amazon provides a full fifth of the world's oxygen, and every year unsustainable human practices destroy 2.7 million acres of it. What can be done to help? That's where Project Piaba comes in.

The world's seeds are in crisis.

Of 12,000 plant species used for human food, only about 150 are being grown for sale, only eight grains are traded throughout the world, and half of our calories come from just three: rice, wheat, and maize.

This means that our food diversity is diminishing at a shocking rate. More than on in five plants on earth are threatened with extinction. Our lives depend on all kinds of seeds, but they are facing many threats: war-torn countries, damaged habitats, and climate change, to name a few.

Christopher Ludwick is a German-born American patriot with a big heart and a talent for baking the best gingerbread in Philadelphia. No one goes hungry if he can help it--"Not in my America!" he says. When cries of "Revolution!" begin, Christopher marches off to feed General George Washington and his hungry troops. But Washington never expects his favorite baker to sneak off on a risky secret mission across enemy lines...

Emma is Jess's little sister . . . and her dilemma. How can one small girl be sweet, funny, imaginative, playful, and affectionate as well as a clinging vine, brat, tattletale, and nuisance–all at the same time? Why is Jess supposed to be a good big sister while Emma doesn't have to be a good little sister? The highlights and low points of this sibling relationship are insightfully evoked in short and simple poems, some funny, some touching, and all resonant with emotional truth.