Books in Motion Close-Up series

Bill Gates is many things: the richest person in the world; the ruthless businessman who co-founded Microsoft and led it to domination of the computer software industry; and now, the leading global philanthropist. When Gates was born in 1955, no one in the world owned a personal computer. A window had a pane of glass. A mouse was a rodent. As a teenager, Gates realized how computers were about to change the world, and made his fortune by riding that wave; modern teens look to him as their model of how technology can be turned into wealth. Marc Aronson’s biography is a probing portrait of a man whose name is a household word.

Caps, hats, helmets, and hoods--they keep you warm, or cool, or dry. They can stop sunlight from getting in your eyes or protect your skull from injury. And, lots of animals have their own special form of headgear too! From the two scaly horns that help the African adder find food to the feathers kingfishers use to communicate, see just what dozens of creatures do with their manes, crests, and other head-topping adornments. Some, like elks, need their antlers to fight. Others, including decorator crabs, adorn themselves in a homemade headdress (seaweed, sponges, and sea anemones) that blends with their surroundings and keeps them safe. And, of course, just like us, animals wear hats to look pretty and for play! With great pictures of a wide range of "beasts" from buffaloes and chimpanzees to tube worms and whales.

"Elvis left no one indifferent to rock and roll"—so begins award-winning author Wilborn Hampton’s thoughtful account of the beloved and controversial Elvis Presley. When Elvis shook his hips and sang his soulful songs, teenagers screamed and parents fretted. Fans, record executives, movie producers, and even the army wanted a piece of this enigmatic performer and shy boy from Tupelo, Mississippi. What Elvis gave them changed music forever. This latest addition to Viking’s ongoing biography series, Up Close, includes gorgeous black-and-white photographs and introduces readers to the complicated life of the king of rock and roll.