Sabotage

The invasion begins at night, with German cruisers slipping into harbor, and soon the Nazis occupy all of Norway. They station soldiers throughout the country. They institute martial rule. And at Vemork, an industrial fortress high above a dizzying gorge, they gain access to an essential ingredient for the weapon that could end World War II: Hitler’s very own nuclear bomb.

Kumak’s Fish: A Tall Tale From The Far North

On a beautiful Arctic morning, Kumak looks out the window of his house at the sun rising over the frozen river. “Ahhh, spring,” says Kumak to his family. “The days are long, the nights are short, and the ice is still hard. Good day for fish.” Eager to give Uncle Aglu’s amazing hooking stick a try, Kumak packs up his family and heads out to go ice fishing. “Good day for fish!” they all agree. Hapless Kumac is the only one in his family without fish until the tug at the other end of his line incites a mighty battle. A clever ending reveals that the whale-sized fish that Kumak imagined was actually a line of small fish in tug o’ war position. Kumak reigns, and there’s plenty for everybody. Authentic details throughout the playful art and text, as well as endnotes on Inupiat fishing, provide young readers with a fascinating window into another culture in this follow up to KUMAK’S HOUSE a 2003 Children’s Book Council Notable Trade Book in Social Studies.

In a Cloud of Dust

In a Tanzanian village school, Anna struggles to keep up. Her walk home takes so long that when she arrives, it is too dark to do her homework. Working through the lunch hour instead, she doesn’t see the truck from the bicycle library pull into the schoolyard. By the time she gets out there, the bikes are all gone.

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Grumpy Feet (Lily and Bear)

Lily loves to draw, but today something feels different. Things feel a little frumpy and bumpy, just not so and not quite right. Her pencils are too pointy. Her paints are too sloshy. And her crayons are too stubby. Even her friend Bear can’t help, until they realize that Lily has Grumpy Feet! It takes a special friend like Bear to turn Lily’s day around!

Growing Peace

On the morning of September 11, 2001, J. J. Keki, a Ugandan musician and coffee farmer, was in New York, about to visit the World Trade Center. Instead, J.J. witnessed the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. He came away from this event with strong emotions about religious conflict. Why should people be enemies because of their religions?