Madani’s Best Game

“A neighborhood soccer star has a secret plan for his team’s big game–a plan even more impressive than his bicycle kicks”–

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”–

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.”

Ratty’s Big Adventure

“Ratty is an enormous rat who lives deep inside the crater of an extinct volcano nestled in the rain forest. One day, he spies a particularly delicious-looking fruit high in the treetops and sets out to reach it. From this high vantage point a spectacular view stretches before him-the world outside his mountain crater. In this big outside world, Ratty imagines, the fruit must be much sweeter, the bird songs more beautiful, and the other animals far more interesting and sophisticated. So he sets off in search of better things. But when is he is asked to attend a dinner party by a crocodile who seems just a bit too friendly, Ratty realizes that perhaps there is no place like home after all”–

Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock (Who Wrote Classics)

What if you wrote a story about a detective, and he became the most famous detective ever? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Or . . . would it? Arthur has always loved stories. Even as he grew up poor, endured hardships at school and experienced danger on the high seas, Arthur was always thrilled and inspired by stories. Eventually, he writes his own, and after many years of struggle as a writer, he finally finds success with a series of mystery stories starring his genius detective, Sherlock Holmes. But is it possible for a character to become too successful? Too popular? And if that happens to Arthur, will he really throw his greatest literary creation . . . over a cliff?!

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.

Room For More

When afire sweeps through the Australian bush, wombats Dig and Scratch are glad to have a cool, damp burrow to keep them safe. But Dig notices that other animals are not so lucky. When Dig invites a wallaby mother and her joey to shelter with them, Scratch grumbles. When Dig beckons to a koala, Scratch complains. And when Dig welcomes in a tiger snake, Scratch is fit to be tied—but Dig is sure there’s always room for more. And when the rains come to douse the fire and bring a new threat of flooding, a crowd of creatures may turn out to be just what the wombats need.