Theme: Determination

An Elephant in the Garden

By Book Importer | Published: January 11, 2012

Lizzie and Karl’s mother is a zoo keeper; the family has become attached to an orphaned elephant named Marlene, who will be destroyed as a precautionary measure so she and the other animals don’t run wild should the zoo be hit by bombs. The family persuades the zoo director to let Marlene stay in their [...]

Descriptors: Europe, Germany, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

A Girl Named Faithful Plum

By Book Importer | Published: December 12, 2011

In 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She’d already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means [...]

Descriptors: Asia, Biography, China, Intermediate (ages 9-14) » Other Themes: , , , » Leave a comment

Nowhere Girl

By Book Importer | Published: December 5, 2011

Luchi Ann only knows a few things about herself: she was born in a prison in Thailand. Her American mother was an inmate there. And now that her mother has died, Luchi must leave the only place she’s ever known and set out into the world. Neither at home as a Thai, because of her [...]

Descriptors: Asia, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Realistic Fiction, Thailand » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Secret Garden

By Book Importer | Published: October 26, 2011

“The Secret Garden” is the story of Mary Lennox, a sick young girl living in India with her parents. Mary rarely sees her parents though, as her sick and unsightly condition is too much for them to bother with. She is placed in the constant care of Indian servants until an outbreak of cholera kills [...]

Descriptors: England (UK), Fantasy, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Primary (ages 6-9), Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , » Leave a comment

Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert

By Book Importer | Published: September 26, 2011

In early August 2010, the unthinkable happened when a mine collapsed in CopiapÓ, Chile, and 33 miners were trapped 2,000 feet below the surface. For sixty-nine days they lived on meager resources and increasingly poor air quality. When they were finally rescued, the world watched with rapt attention and rejoiced in the amazing spirit and [...]

Descriptors: Chile, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Latin America, Nonfiction » Other Themes: , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Sundiata: Lion King of Mali

By Book Importer | Published: August 15, 2011

The story of Sundiata, who overcame physical handicaps, social disgrace, and strong opposition to rule Mali in the thirteenth century.

Descriptors: Africa, Biography, Mali, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa

By Book Importer | Published: June 14, 2011

As a young girl growing up in Kenya, Wangari was surrounded by trees. But years later when she returns home, she is shocked to see whole forests being cut down, and she knows that soon all the trees will be destroyed. So Wangari decides to do something – and starts by planting nine seedlings in [...]

Descriptors: Africa, Biography, Kenya, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

Seeds of Change

By Book Importer | Published: May 3, 2011

A picture book biography of scientist Wangari Maathai, the first African womanand first environmentalistto win a Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004), for her work planting trees in her native Kenya.

Descriptors: Africa, Biography, Kenya, Nonfiction, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Clementine

By Book Importer | Published: March 17, 2011

Once there was a little snail who loved everything round-hoops and wheels and balls and balloons and, most of all, the moon. Oh, how she longed to glide gently over the moonrs”s surface, around and around and around. And so she made a daring decision-shers”d find a way to fly to the moon! This is [...]

Descriptors: Europe, Fantasy, Germany, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier De Saint-George

By Book Importer | Published: February 10, 2011

The musical superstar of 18th-century France was Joseph Boulogne—a black man. This inspiring story tells how Joseph, the only child of a black slave and her white master, becomes “the most accomplished man in Europe.” After traveling from his native West Indies to study music in Paris, young Joseph is taunted about his skin color. [...]

Descriptors: Biography, Caribbean, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9), West Indies » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment