Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones tells the story of Rama and her family, who are forced to flee their once-peaceful village to escape the ravages of the civil war raging ever closer to their home. With only what they can carry on their backs, Rama and her mother, father, grandfather and brother, Sami, set out to walk to freedom in Europe.

Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 3.

Stepping Stones is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for July 2017.

Up From The Sea

On the day the tsunami strikes, Kai loses nearly everyone and everything he cares about. But a trip to New York to meet kids whose lives were changed by 9/11 gives him new hope and the chance to look for his estranged American father. Visiting Ground Zero on its tenth anniversary, Kai learns that the only way to make something good come out of disaster is to return and rebuild.

Walk with Me

A deceptively simple, imaginative story depicting the complex emotional reality of a girl whose father no longer lives at home. The girl conjures up an imaginary companion, a lion, who will come with her on the long walk home from school. He will help her to pick up her baby brother from daycare and shop at the store (which has cut off the family’s credit), and he’ll keep her company all along the way until she is safe at home.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 2.

When An Elephant Falls In Love

When an elephant falls in love, he does many foolish things. He hides when the elephant-object of his affection is around. He writes dozens of letters that he will never send. And he tries to be healthy, but ends up finishing the cheesecake.

Winter’s Bullet

In January 1945, fifteen-year-old Tygo Winter, a locksmith’s son who has been forced by the Nazis to loot abandoned Dutch homes, finds himself protecting a Jewish girl he has found in a villa, and in possession of information about a German super-weapon that the Nazi high command plans to use to defeat the Allied forces in the Battle of the Bulge–information that the Resistance wants.

The Skeleton Tree

Less than forty-eight hours after twelve-year-old Chris sets off on a sailing trip down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly, they’ve got to forage, fish, and scavenge the shore for supplies. Chris likes the company of a curious, friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive.

The Tin Snail

Thirteen-year-old Angelo knows that his father’s job is in jeopardy. Only one thing can save it: inventing a car the world has never seen before. On vacation in the French countryside, Angelo gets an idea. So far, cars have only been made for the rich. Someone should create a car for everyday working people. Angelo thinks he’ss up to the challenge!

The Voyage To Magical North

Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she’s spent the past years keeping house for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.