Living with his mother in a small village on the edge of the suburbs, shy, often inarticulate, Joe Maloney frequently dreams of a beautiful, elusive tiger whose significance begins to be clear after he befriends a young trapeze artist who comes to town with a shabby traveling circus.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
Buried Thunder
The eerie and bizarre incidents begin as soon as fourteen-year-old Maya’s family takes over the quaint old Rowen Tree Hotel. First she makes a horrific discovery in the surrounding forest. Then Maya realizes that she is being closely watched, even as she sleeps. It is all too terrifying to believe. Perhaps she’s going mad and is only imagining the sounds in the night and the feeling of being stalked. Maybe she didn’t see anything in the forest after all. Certainly the police and villagers think she is either lying or crazy. And there’s another question: what was she doing alone in the woods in the first place? All she knows is that the mesmerizing eyes of a wild fox drew her there. Those eyes will find her again.
Racing the Sun
Being Navajo wasn’t something twelve-year-old Brandon Rogers liked to advertise. His father had left his Indian heritage behind when he went to college and Brandon had grown up in suburbia-just a regular kid. But then Brandon’s Navajo grandfather moved off the reservation and into the lower bunk in Brandon’s room! It wasn’t easy having a roommate who chanted himself to sleep and got you out of bed before sunrise to race the sun. But now Brandon’s learning lessons he’ll never forget. Like how to take on the old ways without giving up the new. And how to grow up proud and strong … with a heritage as real as an old man’s love.
The Wave Of The Sea-Wolf
Intricate cut-paper illustrations incorporating Pacific Northwest motifs accompany this original story of the Tlingit princess Kchokeen, who is rescued from drowning by a guardian spirit that later enables her to summon a great wave and save her people from hostile strangers.
Child’s Alaska
A year-round look at Alaska that describes its climate and wildlife as well as the different life-styles of its people and their children.
The Inuits (First Books)
Provides a look at the history, culture, and daily life of the Inuit people who live in the Arctic regions of the world, focusing on those living in North America.
Alaska’s Native Peoples
Beautiful glossy photographs and descriptions of the native people of the state of Alaska by Ken Graham.
The Kampung Boy
Lat recounts the life of Mat, a Muslim boy growing up in rural Malaysia in the 1950s: his adventures and mischief-making, fishing trips, religious study, and work on his family’s rubber plantation. Meanwhile, the traditional way of life in his village (or kampung>) is steadily disappearing, with tin mines and factory jobs gradually replacing family farms and rubber small-holders. When Mat leaves for boarding school, he can only hope that his familiar kampung will still be there when he returns.
Goha: The Wise Fool
A collection of fourteen tales about the folk hero Nasreddin Hoca, also known as Goha, a man with a reputation for being able to answer difficult questions in a clever way.
My Tattooed Dad
A young boy describes what life is like when his dad comes home — how he fries up chicken samosas for dinner, how he makes jokes and fools around, and how he carries him off to bed when he is sleepy. His dad also tells wonderful stories of his adventures in far-off lands, often inspired by his many, many exotic tattoos. His letters to his son are also full of great stories about the past — what the first date with his mother was like (it included a visit to a fortune teller and a bizarre circus) and about how the boy’s life was saved twice by this very same dad — once when he was stolen from his baby basket by a dog and once when he flew out the car window. But as his mother says, his dad has ants in his pants, which means he’s often not around.Still, life rolls along with one fantastical tale after another, in good times and bad. And this is this extraordinary father’s gift to his child — the life of the imagination — which is always with him, even when his father is not.The illustrations have a nostalgic, underground graphic-novel style feel to them that perfectly complements the very original text.