Mary Griffin

Triggering a Venus flytrap to snap its trap takes just two light touches from an insect's wing or a spider's legs. Unlike many plants, the Venus flytrap doesn't just get nutrition from photosynthesis and soil. Readers learn all about how the Venus flytrap draws in bugs to eat, as well as how the plant digests. The main content includes science curriculum information such as plant structures, habitat facts, and other unique elements of this plant's...

In 1095, Pope Urban II ordered Christians to capture Jerusalem from the powerful Muslim forces that held it. This war would become known as the First Crusade, and many more crusades followed as Muslims and Christians contended for territory in the Middle Ages. Fascinated readers will find out why these wars were waged as well as the lasting effects they had on the Western world. Maps and a timeline help them follow the action, while stunning historical...

Forests can be found all over the world-including underwater! Giant kelp forests grow in coastal areas where the water is so clear that sunlight can reach the sea floor. Kelp can grow more than a foot in a day if the conditions are right, meaning kelp forests spring up quickly. Full-color photographs and accessible language take readers under the sea to discover an extraordinary habitat. Information about photosynthesis and algae structures supplement...

Deserts aren't home to many plants. Those that live in such dry, hot environments need special adaptations to survive and thrive. Many species of cacti do just that! Readers of this beautifully designed book explore the ways cacti conserve water in their habitat, the features that make them similar to and different from other plants, and the reasons they're such vital parts of their ecosystems. Full-color photographs, interesting fact boxes, and a...

Most leaders do not want to move behind or come after. But seeing the effects that following has on effective leadership, it puts you in the willingness to want to follow. Sometimes leaders do not start out on a leadership journey expecting to follow behind. There is that assumption to always be up front. But God is saying in this book, "When you fall behind and see things from behind, you will see the effects of your leadership." Waiting first on...

Our influence is our greatest responsibility. And our greatest gift. We are influenced by every person and interaction we have, and, in turn, we influence everyone and everything around us. We all have a choice about what to do with our influence: Will we leave a negative impact on others or use our influence to become a shining beacon of positivity? Smith and Griffin upskill readers with tools to stay humble, lead themselves and the people around...

While most of us have grown up being taught that the letter "I" has no place in the word "team," teams are wholly made up of individual advantages that contribute to the collective power of the group. In Individual Influence, authors Brian and Mary Smith go far beyond this axiom, making a persuasive case that even a company or team of individual players is still an "Individual" at its core-expressing the collective influence of all those who play...