Books with author Kristin Petrie

Centipedes are some of the world's most fascinating bugs! This book's easy-to-read text and larger-than-life color photos bring the centipede's world to life, introducing readers to a centipede's diet, habitat, enemies, and methods of defense. Diagrams help readers investigate the concept of metamorphosis and identify body parts, from the centipede's poisonous fangs to its many legs. The digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems are also described. A step-by-step approach to scientific classification helps place centipedes within the class Chilopoda. Readers are also encouraged to consider the benefits and drawbacks of centipedes, as well as how they impact our daily lives. From house centipedes to tiger centipedes, young entomologists will enjoy uncovering the lives of these amazing creatures. Informative sidebars and Bug Bytes aim to peak readers' interest, while bolded glossary terms, phonetic spellings, and an index enhance readability. Checkerboard is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

This biography introduces young readers to the life of American explorer Robert Peary. Readers learn about Peary's childhood, education, and family life. The book explains how explorer Elisha Kent Kane's books about his Arctic travels influenced Peary. Also discussed is Peary's work as a draftsman with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and his service in the U.S. Navy. Engaging text details Peary's numerous explorations to Greenland and how the native Inuit taught him survival skills. Readers discover that Peary led the first expedition to reach the North Pole, but that a man named Dr. Frederick Cook claimed that he had reached the North Pole first. Full-color photos, a map, an index, a timeline, discussion questions, bold glossary terms, and phonetics accompany easy-to-read text.

This book introduces the history of the invention of airplanes, including Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter, Joseph-Michel and Jacque-Étienne Montgolfier's hot air balloons, Sir George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal's work with gliders, Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart's flights across the Atlantic, and the work of modern record breakers Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. Other chapters delve into airplane parts, from wings and ailerons to landing gear and jet engines, as well as how these parts along with concepts such as lift, gravity, thrust, and drag help keep an airplane flying. Fun facts discuss black boxes, autopilot, and the requirements for a U.S. pilot's license. Other sections cover regimes of flight, mach numbers, and different kinds of airplanes, such as monoplanes, biplanes, floatplanes, and sailplanes, as well as the pilots, crews, flight attendants, and airport workers who run this form of transportation. The book also addresses the airplane's impact on society as swift carriers of passengers and products, as well as disease and pollution. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about airplanes, an everyday invention that makes travel faster and puts the world at our fingertips. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

Through engaging text, readers learn about the human body's respiratory system. Topics include the nose, sinuses, windpipe, bronchial tree, throat, tonsils, larynx, and lungs. Readers learn that snot keeps the lining of the body's airways from drying out and that the diaphragm is the main respiratory muscle. A detailed diagram allows readers to follow a molecule of oxygen through the respiratory system. Kid-friendly text introduces respiratory problems, such as the common cold and influenza, and diseases, such as asthma and lung cancer. Also highlighted are ways to keep the respiratory system in good shape. Full-color photos, medical models, phonetics, glossary, and index enhance the text.

This book introduces the history of the invention of televisions, including inventor John Logie Baird's mechanical television, Philo Taylor Farnsworth's electronic television, Vladimir Zworykin's iconoscope and kinescope, Allen Balcom du Mont's improved cathode ray tube, color television, the remote control, and the increasing prevalence of this relatively new invention. Other chapters delve into the parts and systems that make television technology possible, from video cameras and sound recording systems to tuners and electron guns. Other sections cover different kinds of televisions, broadcasting, and reception, including cathode-ray tube (CRT), liquid-crystal display (LCD), and plasma televisions, high-definition, cable, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television, as well as the switch from analog to digital broadcasting, and the engineers, technicians, repairers, producers, directors, and actors who work with this invention. The book also addresses television as an education tool, violence on television, and the importance of moderation and adult supervision. Fun facts discuss the source of television's nickname, "the tube," how closed captioning works, and the influence of the Nielsen Media Research ratings on television programming. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about televisions, an everyday invention that brings the world inside our homes and classrooms. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

With a wag and a "woof," this book invites readers to meet the loyal Doberman pinscher. Readers will examine the history, physical attributes, development, and behavior of the Doberman pinscher breed. Coat, color, size, and care instructions are also discussed. Full-color photos allow readers to see these affectionate, loyal dogs in a variety of situations. An index and glossary are also included. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

This book introduces the history of the invention of cameras, including early artists' use of the camera obscura, Johan Heinrich Schulze's use of silver salts, inventing ways to make photographic images permanent, Joseph-Nicéphore Niepce and the first photograph, Louis-Jacque-Mandé Daguerre's daguerreotype, William Henry Fox Talbot's talbotype, George Eastman's roll film and portable Kodak cameras, Oskar Barnack's handheld Leica, Paul Vierkotter's camera flash, Harold Edgerton's stroboscopic flash, Edwin Herbert Land's instant camera, Steven Sasson and the first digital camera, and cell phone cameras. Other chapters delve into camera parts, from the light-tight body to lenses and viewfinders, as well as how these parts work together to make a camera work, from framing a shot to how images form on film or a charge-coupled device. Other sections cover different kinds of cameras and photography, including daguerreotypes, the Kodak box camera, the Brownie, the Polaroid Land Camera, camcorders, and digital cameras, as well as the professional photographers, teachers, salespeople, film developers, and repair specialists who work with cameras. Fun facts discuss French photographer Nadar and the first aerial photograph, Mathew Brady's coverage of the American Civil War, and Eadweard Muybridge's photographs of a running horse. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about cameras, an everyday invention that has changed the way we look at the world. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.