Theme: Family life

Kung Fooey

By Book Importer | Published: December 12, 2011

Fourth-grader Cal learns a lot about teasing and standing up for others when a weird new student joins his class, while Stella, the tenth-grader who lives with Cal’s family to help his mother, practices for her driving test.

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

Flyaway

By Book Importer | Published: December 12, 2011

If they saved the swan together, could she then save her friend?In a heartbeat, in a wingbeat, it happens. Isla’s father falls. They’re racing across the fields, following the swans flying in to winter at the lake like they do every year, when something goes wrong. And before she can even catch her breath, they’re [...]

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

Moon Pie

By Book Importer | Published: December 12, 2011

Someone has to keep their head, as Mum used to say, and 11-year-old Martha is used to being that someone in her family. Her little brother, Tug, is too small. Her dad has been acting too strange. And Mum’s not here anymore. So when Dad falls off the roof, it’s Martha who ices his knee [...]

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

Cat Found

By Book Importer | Published: December 5, 2011

A heartwarming tale about the importance of caring for strays.In Billy’s small town, stray cats are running wild, and there’s growing pressure to get rid of them. The school bullies don’t even hesitate to throw rocks at the poor creatures! So when Billy finds a wounded, starving kitten and sneaks her home, he has to [...]

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

Lala Salama

By Book Importer | Published: November 21, 2011

A mother relates the events of a peaceful day along the banks of Lake Tanganyika to her baby, wrapped up and ready for sleep.

Descriptors: Africa, Early Years (ages 2-6), Picture Book, Rhymes/songs, Tanzania » Other Themes: , » Leave a comment

Only The Mountains Do Not Move

By Book Importer | Published: November 7, 2011

Nobody can say he is settled anywhere forever;
it is only the mountains which do not move from their places.
So goes a Maasai proverb, and so goes the lives of the Maasai in Africa. For hundreds of years they have moved with their herds of cattle and goats across thousands of miles in Kenya and [...]

Descriptors: Africa, Fiction, Kenya, Primary (ages 6-9), Tanzania » Other Themes: , , , » Leave a comment

Life: An Exploded Diagram

By Book Importer | Published: October 26, 2011

In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer in this tale that flashes back through the stories of three generations.

Descriptors: England (UK), Historical Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

A Year Without Autumn

By Book Importer | Published: October 26, 2011

Twelve-year-old Jenni’s much-anticipated vacation with her family and best friend Autumn goes awry when an old elevator transports her to a future in which everything has changed, and she must not only return to her time but find a way to prevent what she has seen from coming true.

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

Pearl Verses the World

By Book Importer | Published: September 26, 2011

Pearl feels like an island in school, isolated and alone, but at home she feels loved and secure until her grandmother’s illness changes the way Pearl views her world.

Descriptors: Australia, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Poetry » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

My Brother’s Shadow

By Book Importer | Published: September 26, 2011

As World War I draws to a close in 1918, German citizens are starving and suffering under a repressive regime. Sixteen-year-old Moritz is torn. His father died in the war and his older brother still risks his life in the trenches, but his mother does not support the patriotic cause and attends subversive socialist meetings. [...]

Descriptors: Europe, Germany, Historical Fiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment