From Jonas Salk to Steven Spielberg, the subjects of these biographical-inspired poems invented something, said something, stood for something, did something, changed something. They dared to dream. Thirty of our nation’s most prestigious poets focus their creative vision on people who not only changed their own lives, but the lives of people all over the world.
Throughout the year and around the globe, people use light — candles, bonfires, lanterns and fireworks — to celebrate special occasions. This richly illustrated book is an illuminating tour of the world’s brightest and warmest festivities.
Mr. King likes new things. When his stuff gets the slightest bit old, he just tosses it into the pond. But when a pond monster frightens Mr. King, he must think of new ways to deal with old messes — with delightful results!
This is a vivid graphic history of the Chinese experience in North America over the last 150 years, beginning with the immigration of Chinese to “Gold Mountain” (the Chinese colloquialism for North America) in the 1800s that resulted in decades of discrimination, subjugation, and separation from loved ones. Based on historical documents and interviews with elders, the book is also the epic story of the Wong family as they traverse these challenges with hope and determination, creating an immigrant’s legacy in their new home of North America.
Chock-full of playful pocket-sized poems that capture adventures big and small in a child’s day, this collection begs to be read aloud from sunup to sundown!
Mamma Toad does everything she can think of to save her unruly brood from Fox’s frying pan, including offering up herself, and eventually persuades Fox to try her own secret recipe for Toad-in-a-Hole, a tasty treat that they all end up enjoying together. The secret? No toads!
The Man in the Clouds lives up a mountain and shares his treasure–a beautiful painting–with all the people from the village below. Those whose lives are touched by unkindness and cruetly are especially moved by the painting, finding comfort in its promise of a beautiful world that does not know pain and suffering.
One day, a stranger comes up and tells the Man in the Clouds how much his painting is actually worth. Bit by bit, this changes how he perceives his art and begins to think of it in terms of monetary value. In fear of his precious painting being stolen, the Man in the Clouds puts locks on his doors and chases people away. Finally, he is all alone, then finds out that his painting has lost all its beauty.
He destroys the painting, opens his doors and windows, and discovers the real beauty lies outside.
Teddy can’t believe how fast his life has changed in just two years. When he was twelve, his father took off, and then his mother married Henry, a man Teddy despises. But Teddy has no control over his life, and adults make all the decisions, especially in 1959. Henry decides that Teddy should be sent to St. Ignatius Academy for Boys, an isolated boarding school run by the Catholic church.
St. Iggy’s, Teddy learns, is a cold, unforgiving place — something between a juvenile detention center and reform school. The other boys are mostly a cast of misfits and eccentrics, but Teddy quickly becomes best friends with Cooper, a wise-cracking, Wordsworth-loving kid with a history of neglect. Despite the priests’ ruthless efforts to crack down on the slightest hint of defiance or attitude, the boys get by for a while on their wits, humor and dreams of escape. But the beatings, humiliation and hours spent in the school’s infamous “time-out” rooms, and the institutionalized system of power and abuse that protects the priests’ authority, eventually take their toll, especially on the increasingly fragile Cooper.
Then one of the new priests, Father Prince, starts to summon Cooper to his room at night, and Teddy watches helplessly as his friend withdraws into his own private nightmare, even as Prince targets Teddy himself as his next victim.
The Boy and the Wall is a children’s book made and illustrated by youth at the Lajee Centre in the Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank, telling the story of their everyday lives and struggles as refugees.
Click here to read the Worlds of Words Review.
Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators. Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie’s cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off. Melanie and her mouse won’t take Chester’s antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead?
Take a closer look at Chester as examined in WOW Review.