Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

Philippines

An illustrated overview of the history, geography and culture of the Philippines and the people who inhabit these tropical islands.

Megan’s Year

Ten-year-old Megan Brady tells of her family’s lifestyle, spending summers traveling in a caravan through the Irish countryside getting work where they can, and winters in Dublin so the children can attend school.

Galileo’s Journal 1609-1610

This fictional journal is from the year in which Galileo constructed his own telescope and began to record his astronomical discoveries. Includes additional nonfiction biographical information.

Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales

For young and old alike — 8 captivating tales filled with whimsy, charm, and magic: “The Fate of the Children of Lir,” “The Shepherd of Middvai,” “Beth Gellert,” “The Tale of Ivan,” “Morraha,” “The Story of Deirdre,” “The Llanfabon Changeling,” and “The Sea-Maiden.” Reset in large, easy-to-read type.

A Greyhound of a Girl

Mary O’Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can’t let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary’s street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny’s own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.

Mother Number Zero

Fay was adopted when he was a baby and lives in the Netherlands. He knows only that his birth mother escaped the war in Bosnia and that he arrived in his adopted home with nothing more than a squeaky toy and a few clothes. His older sister Bing was adopted too, from China, where she was found abandoned on the street. While drawing birds at the aviary in the park, his favorite passtime, Fay meets Maud the new girl in town. Maud who urges him to search for his birth mother. With mixed feelings, Fay, along with his parents, pursues the search, but this creates mayhem at home, since there is no possibility of Bing ever being able to find her birth mother. Fay’s complicated feelings about searching for his mother and his ambivalent feelings for Maud unfold in this compelling story of finding your true identity.

Isabella of Castile

In a twist on the classic fairy tale, a princess in 15th-century Spain refused to wait to be rescued by a prince and instead chose one for herself. Even then, she would not marry him until they’d reached an agreement that was revolutionary for her time—their marriage was an equal partnership captured in the motto “To stand as high, as high to stand, Isabella and Ferdinand.” This book tells Isabella of Castile’s story with sections on the clothes she wore, the foods she ate, and why she is remembered today. Without her, both Spain and the United States would not exist in their current forms.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

Lyrical descriptions, a lush historical backdrop, and colorful artwork tell the story behind Antonio Vivaldi’s composition of The Four Seasons. He is inspired by his talented and determined students, young girl musicians at a Venetian orphanage. Together, they bring Vivaldi’s masterpiece to life.

Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman

This book presents information about the life of the fourteenth-century Persian noblewoman who was captured and sold into slavery as a child, but whose intelligence, beauty, and compassion led her to become princess, and eventually sole ruler of Kirman after the death of her husband.