Central Kansas Library System

Mattimeo, the son of the warrior mouse Matthias, learns to take up the sword and joins the other animal inhabitants of Redwall Abbey in resisting Slagar the fox and his band of marauders. Sequel to "Redwall."

In early January 2004, two spacecraft carrying identical robotic explorers will touch down on the surface of Mars. On that day, NOVA will present a special television event that climaxes with live coverage as NASA/JPL scientists await the first critical signals confirming that the rovers have landed safely. The show features a gripping behind-the-scenes glimpse of the design, testing, and launch of the mission. The engineers face a tense deadline...

THERE'S A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS RESERVED FOR MIRACLES . . . From Luanne Rice, the celebrated author of Beach Girls and many other New York Times bestsellers, comes this powerful novel of a mystery, a love affair, and a bond that cannot be broken set in a seaside town where miracles are made . . . On the first day of summer, Mara Jameson went out to water her garden-and was never seen again. Years after her disappearance, no one could forget the expectant...

A million or more years ago, during the Ice Age, Australia was home to a wide range of extraordinary giant animals. None was quite as bizarre or fearsome as Thylacoleo, the meat-eating marsupial lion. Pound for pound, this creature had the most powerful bite of any mammal, living or extinct. Even though it was at the top of the ancient Australian predators, Thylacoleo was eventually toppled from its throne, dying out along with all the rest of the...

In "Birth of Humanity," the second part of the three-part series "Becoming Human," NOVA investigates the first skeleton that really looks like us–"Turkana Boy"–an astonishingly complete specimen of Homo erectus found by the famous Leakey team in Kenya. These early humans are thought to have developed key innovations that helped them thrive, including hunting large prey, the use of fire, and extensive social bonds.

Part 1, "First Steps," examines the factors that caused us to split from the other great apes. The program explores the fossil of "Selam," also known as "Lucy's Child." Paleoanthropologist Zeray Alemseged spent five years carefully excavating the sandstone-embedded fossil. NOVA's cameras are there to capture the unveiling of the face, spine, and shoulder blades of this 3.3 million-year-old fossil child. And NOVA takes viewers "inside the skull" to...

This archeological detective story tackles some of the biggest questions in biblical studies. Where did the ancient Israelites come from? Who wrote the Bible, when, and why? How did the worship of one god - the foundations of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - emerge? Home use only.

What killed the mammoths? Near the end of the last ice age 13,000 years ago, these mighty beasts disappeared from North America together with some 35 other groups of mammals. For four decades, debate has raged over the cause of their abrupt demise. NOVA presents an in-depth investigation of a controversial new hypothesis which suggests that a massive impact from space could be the culprit, and also explores alternate theories.

"Where did we come from? What makes us human? NOVA's ... investigation explores how new discoveries are transforming views of our earliest ancestors. Featuring interviews with world-renowned scientists, footage shot "in the trenches" as fossils were unearthed, and ... computer-generated animation, [these programs] bring early hominids to life, examining how we became the creative and adaptable modern humans of today ... In the first episode ... encounter...

From the discovery that the Milky Way is just one galaxy among billions to the stunning revelation that these galaxies are speeding away from each other faster every second, this episode investigates the universe's distant past - and its future. Now, modern telescopes have added a mysterious new twist to the plot: The vast majority of the stuff of the universe is invisible, tied up in dark matter and dark energy. But what are these mysterious dark...