Author: Book Importer

Book Importer

Halley’s Comet

in the final years of South Africa’s Apartheid era, an unlikely trio-a sheltered white rugby player, a black farmworker’s son, and an Indian shopkeeper’s daughter-discover the consequences of knowing the truth and having the courage to speak it. Halley’s Comet is the coming-of-age story of Pete de Lange, a white 16-year-old schoolboy, set in small-town South Africa in 1986. Pete lives a relatively sheltered life, primarily concerned with girls and rugby- until one January night changes everything. Thrust together with two complete strangers-Petrus, a black farmworker’s son and Sarita, an Indian shopkeeper’s daughter-the trio find themselves running for their lives from the vicious Rudie, whose actions will ripple far beyond that fateful night. This era-defying friendship-sparked by a shared secret- challenges everything Pete thought he knew and believed. And when anti-Apartheid revolutionaries set their sights on the town, it will change the course of the three young people’s lives forever. Halley’s Comet is a story of friendship, love, change, taking chances, hope, a comet, and some pretty cool 80s music. Hannes Barnard is a South African-born author of both English and Afrikaans novels. He debuted in 2019 with the YA novel, Halley se komeet, which he translated into English as Halley’s Comet. In 2020, Wolk, his apocalyptic YA adventure, was released, and coming up in 2022 is his crime novel, die wet van Gauteng. When not writing, traveling, or planning his next adventure, Hannes works in marketing. He has called England and Seychelles home but now lives in Johannesburg with his wife.

It’s Me, Henry!

This picture book about a young boy on the autism spectrum highlights the way he functions differently than his classmates. His way of being in the world has both its challenges and its strengths.

The Callers

In Elipsom the ability to call, or summon objects, is a coveted skill, and Quintus Octavius is from a family of powerful Callers, but Quin does not have the gift, and he is mortified when his mother and sister cheat for him at his test; but in a moment of frustration Quin makes something disappear and discovers that the all the objects that Callers summon are not conjured out of air, but come from a place called Evantra, which his people have been pillaging for years–and pulled into Evantra, he meets Allie who is determined to retrieve everything that has been stolen.

My Life At The Bottom

“From award-winning Nordic author and illustrator Linda Bondestam comes a new kind of climate change story, narrated by an adorable axolotl who is-possibly-the last of its kind. In a forest of seaweed there was ME, a rare and beautiful little axolotl, going for my first-ever swim. So graceful, and yet so lonesome-out of 987 eggs, mine was the only one that hatched. Who knows, maybe I was the last axolotl in these waters? At the bottom of a lake in a busy city, our axolotl narrator goes to underwater school, collects treasures tossed away by the big lugs on land, and has dance parties with tiger salamander friends. Life is good! But as the world gets hotter and hotter, the water gets murkier. Friends become harder to find, and the lonesome axolotl grows even lonelier. Until one day when, out of the blue, a colossal wave carries the axolotl into a surprising new future…. Bittersweet, funny, existential, and hopeful, My Life at the Bottom is a tale of the climate crisis unlike any other. Combining her irresistible visual wit with exquisite aquatic art and rare empathy, Linda Bondestam brings us a story of catastrophe that bursts with life”–

The Musician

In ancient China, a young musician named Yu Boya gained fame for his talents. On the night of the Moon Festival, he encounters a mysterious woodcutter who is also a musician and admires Boya’s most famous song: Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water. Their friendship deepens and Boya vows to play the song for his new friend every year on the festival night. But the next year, upon hearing of his friend’s death, Boya smashes his instrument and never plays again. To this day, the word for “close friendship” means “understanding the music.”

The Family Tree

When her teacher gives her class a simple family tree assignment, Ada is stumped. How can she make her family fit into this simple template?

Ada is adopted. She can see where to put her parents on the tree, but what about her birth mom? Ada has a biological sister, but her sister has different adoptive parents — where do they go on the tree?

With the help of her friends and family, Ada figures it out. She creates her family tree . . . and so much more.

Why Humans Build Up: The Rise Of Towers, Temples And Skyscrapers (Orca Timeline, 1)

“Part of the nonfiction Orca Timeline series, with photographs and illustrations throughout. This book explores why and how people have constructed taller and taller buildings over the course of human history”–