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.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
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.
Joan of Arc
The life of a major figure in Frances history who is now one of its patron saints.
The Boy Who Wanted To Cook
Ten-year-old Pierre dreams of being a chef at his parents’ restaurant, La Bonne Vache, in the south of France and is told he is too young, but when an important guest comes Pierre sees a chance to prove himself. Includes notes about dining in France and a glossary.
Ballywhinney Girl
Young Maeve feels a strong connection to the mysterious, mummified body of a young girl that her grandfather uncovers while cutting turf in an Irish bog. Includes facts about bogs and the mummies that have been found in them.
Titanic: The Search for the Lost Fugitives
Readers become investigators in this interactive mystery about one of history’s most ill-fated voyages. While looking through documents connected with the Titanic’s maiden trip, a journalist discovers that he might be related to a pair of fugitives who disappeared from his hometown and perished in the disaster. Readers follow the trail of evidence in clues hidden in codes and symbols in order to discover the identities of the runaways and the reasons for their flight. Along the way, they will build critical problem-solving skills and encounter many different levels of clues and information in the atmospheric artwork and narrative text. Foldout panels help translate the symbols, and kids will love the specially created code wheel which will allow them to create and decode their own secret messages.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen’s popularity never seems to fade. She has hordes of devoted fans, and there have been numerous adaptations of her life and work. But who was Jane Austen? The writer herself has long remained a mystery. And despite the resonance her work continues to have for teens, there has never been a young adult trade biography on Austen. Catherine Reef changes that with this highly readable account. She takes an intimate peek at Austen’s life and innermost feelings, interweaving her narrative with well-crafted digests of each of Austen’s published novels. The end result is a book that is almost as much fun to read as Jane’s own work—and truly a life revealed. Includes bibliography and index.
A Long Way From Chicago
What happens when Joey and his sister, Mary Alice–two city slickers from Chicago–make their annual summer visits to Grandma Dowdel’s seemingly sleepy Illinois town?August 1929: They see their first corpse, and he isn’t resting easy.August 1930: The Cowgilll boys terrorize the town, and Grandma fights back with a dead mouse and a bottle of milk.August 1931: Joey and Mary Alice help Grandma to trespass, pinch property, poach, catch the sheriff in his underwear, and feed the hungry–all in one day.And there’s more–much more–as Joey and Mary Alice make seven summer trips to Grandma’s, each one funnier and more surprising than the year before. In the grand storytelling tradition of American humorists from Mark Twain to Flannelly O’Connor, Richard Peck has created a memorable world filled with characters who, like Grandma herself, are larger than life and twice as entertaining. And year round, you are sure to enjoy your stay with them.