Intermediate (ages 9-14)

Material appropriate for intermediate age groups

The Walls Of Cartagena

Calepino was blessed with good fortune. After his mother died giving birth to him on a slave ship, he was taken in by a wealthy woman who gave him every advantage. Then on his thirteenth birthday, Father Pedro, a devout priest, asks Calepino to assist him with the slaves coming into Cartagena. Soon he’s fighting seasickness, living in squalor, and cursing every minute. That all begins to change when he meets Mara and Tomi, a mother and son who remind him of his own past.

When Tomi and Mara are sold to a cruel man, Calepino is more determined than ever to find a way to save them. Will this be his chance to change someone else’s fortune, or will he put them all in more peril?

Richly detailed and researched, Julia Durango’s gripping first novel brings to life what it means to be truly free.

Birth Of A Warrior

Lysander thought he left his roots as a Helot slave far behind when he discovered his true identity as the descendant of a Spartan warrior. His training at the academy has been ruthless, but now he must face his toughest challenge yet: being sent to the mountains with two other boys to prove they can survive the harsh conditions on nothing but their Spartan strength and wits. Facing starvation, wild animals, and the elements, Lysander discovers that his real enemy is in fact one of the other boys, who’s bent on sabotaging him. And when war with Persia threatens, Lysander must decide where his allegiance truly lies. This sweeping, dramatic adventure story is an exciting follow-up to The Fire of Ares, and its action and intrigue will not disappoint.

Fly By Night

Twelve-year-old Mosca Mye hasn’t got much. Her cruel uncle keeps her locked up in his mill, and her only friend is her pet goose, Saracen, who’ll bite anything that crosses his path. But she does have one small, rare thing: the ability to read. She doesn’t know it yet, but in a world where books are dangerous things, this gift will change her life. Enter Eponymous Clent, a smooth-talking con man who seems to love words nearly as much as Mosca herself. Soon Mosca and Clent are living a life of deceit and danger — discovering secret societies, following shady characters onto floating coffeehouses, and entangling themselves with crazed dukes and double-crossing racketeers. It would be exactly the kind of tale Mosca has always longed to take part in, until she learns that her one true love — words — may be the death of her.Fly by Night is astonishingly original, a grand feat of the imagination from a masterful new storyteller.

DarkIsle

IT’S A MAGICAL world if you know where to look. . . .For 10-year-old Morag, that magical world is no farther than the cellar of her cruel foster parents’ home. That’s where she’s shocked to meet Aldiss, a talking rat, and his resourceful companion, Bertie the dodo bird. Morag jumps at the chance to escape a life of drudgery and join them on their quest to save their homeland from an evil warlock named Devlish, who is intent on destroying it. But first, Bertie and Aldiss will need to stop bickering long enough to free the only guide who knows where to find Devlish: Shona, a dragon who’s been turned to stone. Together, these four friends begin their journey to a mysterious island beyond the horizon, where danger and glory await—along with clues to the disappearance of Morag’s parents, whose destiny seems somehow linked to her own.

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.

My Ocean: A Novel of Cuba

After his grandparents emigrate, 12-year-old Enrique heads for the ocean, a source of comfort and solace. Why did they flee Cuba, leaving Enrique and his mother behind? Should they go, too? If not, will they, like so many others, be seen as disloyal? The sea has no answers for the boy. As the years pass, Enrique is invited to become a Pioneer, a special honor that bodes well for his future, but it means he’s forbidden from reading the letters his grandparents send home. Enrique wants to belong, to show that he’s deserving of the honor, and once again, he seeks the ocean’s solace. Once again, the ocean has no easy answers. Still, life goes on. There are games with his friends, swimming expeditions, girls to hang out with. And always, there’s the ocean, a place he can go in good times and bad as he tries to make sense of what the future holds for him, his family, and many other Cubans.

Marwe: Into the Land of the Dead

Marwe lives in a village where food is scarce. She tries to be obedient, but it’s hard to spend every day working in the field. When her carelessness ruins the village’s crops, she’s too scared to face her angry family and runs away to the strange Land of the Dead. Marawe knows she doesn’t belong there. But can she find the right sort of courage to return to the land of the living.