Stravaganza: City of Secrets

Set in Talia, a parallel-world version of Italy, the Stravaganza series combines Renaissance court intrigue with time travel, subterfuge, romance, and revenge.  In this new story arc, we meet Matt, a painfully dyslexic and insecure boy (despite a beautiful and clever girlfriend!). Matt has just discovered that he is a Stravagante – someone capable of traveling between two worlds. A leather-bound book transports Matt from our world to Talia, where he meets Luciano.  Luciano has killed the head of the powerful di Chimici family in a duel, and has gone into hiding. The di Chimici are on the verge of making a terrifying breakthrough into our world, and it will fall to Matt, Luciano, and the other Stravaganti to stop them.

Wild Magic

The Pied Piper had his reasons for enchanting the children of Hamelin and stealing them away—ones rooted in a deep history of wild magic. Mari and her brother Jakob are among the children who followed the piper’s song, and they are now trapped in a beautiful but cruel world inhabited by a horrid Beast. They must remain there until he finds the right child, the chosen one, who can lift his century old curse. But the price of breaking the curse is a terrible one. This fast-paced, richly fantastical continuation of a familiar tale is a powerful story of a family torn apart by tragedy, and the magical adventure that heals them.

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship

When Ethan and Cathy fall ill during a storm, their father must leave them to fetch the doctor. . .but they are not alone for long. A sailor comes begging for shelter. So, the children agree to let him sit out the throes of the storm as they listen to his grisly tales. But something about the man puts Ethan on edge, and he is anxious for the storm to blow over, their father to return and the long night to come to an end.  Storms whistling through the sails, evil pirates pacing the floorboards, and of course, a haunted ship of ghostly beings…  All this and more is waiting to give you goose bumps in an atmospheric and thrilling collection of spooky seafaring tales.

The Owl and the Pussycat

After a courtship voyage of a year and a day, the owl and the pussycat finally buy a ring from Piggy and are blissfully married, in this illustrated version of Lear’s nonsense poem.

Mei Ling in China City

Based on a true story of events during World War II in China City, a 12-year-old Chinese American girl named Mei Ling Lee was separated from her best friend Yayeko Akiyama when she and her family were interned in the Manzanar War Relocation Center. By writing letters to each other, both young girls recounted their lives and hardships in China City and Manzanar. This unprecedented children’s book depicts the cross-cultural experiences of Americans of Chinese and Japanese ancestry during the war years.

Mothstorm: The Horror from Beyond Uranus Georgium Sidus!

A sinister cloud has appeared on the edge of the solar system, and seems to be moving closer. The closest planet, Georgium Sidus, has but two human inhabitants: the missionary Reverand Cruet and his daughter Charity. Their last communication: ‘Great danger—  imperative that—’And then nothing. Art, Myrtle and family decide to investigate whatever monstrous force of darkness was hiding within the cloud. But how could they know what mothy horrors lay in wait!? Because the evil they discover is far beyond anything their imaginations could concoct. Now, with the Empire in dire peril, it’s up to Art (and his family, truth be told) to muster all their cunning and courage to try to Save It (again).

Pigling: A Cinderella Story: A Korean Tale

Cinderella has many different versions throughout the world, and this book is from Korea.

After Pigling’s mother dies, her widowed father remarries a wicked woman who has her own daughter. Her stepmother and stepsister make her life miserable. Pigling’s stepmother gives her three impossible tasks to complete, but with the help from magical creatures, she is able to complete the tasks. On her way to the festival, when a nobleman passes by and notices her, she is frighten and runs away. The nobleman finds the sandal that Pigling had lost. When he finds the girl whose foot the sandal fits, he proposes marriage on the spot.

This book is written in graphic format.

Grandfather’s Story Cloth

Chersheng’s grandfather is beginning to forget things: little things like turning off the water faucet and big things like Chersheng’s name. Sometimes he even forgets that he is in America now. Chersheng feels sad and helpless when he learns that Grandfather has Alzheimer’s Disease, but then Chersheng’s mother presents him with a story cloth stitched by Grandfather himself, embroidered in the Hmong tradition. Through the story cloth, Grandfather’s memories of his life in Laos come alive. And inspired by Grandfather’s tales about his life before the war forced him to immigrate to America, Chersheng comes up with a plan to capture his family’s new life with his own art project. This way, they can all remember that their love is stronger than Alzheimer’s Disease, no matter in which country they live. This volume is an English-Hmong edition.