Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
“Paul, 10, is fascinated by insects, an interest engendered by his father, Henri Fabre, who has studied the creatures for most of his life. The boy and his two younger sisters help Père gather material for a textbook, often accompanying him on field trips into their untamed backyard…Admirable.”-School Library Journal
In the quiet of Hog’s Hollow, each member of the River family pursues a dream. Old Man River sets out to build a fallout shelter in case the war in Vietnam “brings the end of everything;” his wife Flo, who collects Gone with the Wind dolls, attempts to pen her own Southern saga; Beau, their older son, suffers from “space fever” and aspires to be an astronaut. As for Danny, the younger River boy, well, he just dreams of having a dog. Then in the spring of 1965 tragedy befalls the Rivers–a tragedy that makes the Old Man wish he’d never started building the shelter, stops Flo from finishing her bestseller, and leaves Beau grounded rather than airborne. But the tragedy does finally bring a dog into Danny’s life. And not just any old dog. Danny comes to believe that the mixed-breed stray embodies the spirit of someone he dearly loves. He won’t allow anyone to separate him from the dog, not even after it bites the neighborhood bully and the police are sent to take it away. Together Danny and his dog run off, heading toward Cape Caneveral, where the Gemini missions blast off from, and where dreams come true.
Hannah would much rather be back in Australia, starting high school with her friends. But Japan turns out to be nothing like she’d imagined, and when Hannah and her new friend Miki find an ancient message in the stationery shop, they are drawn into solving a mysterious riddle. Why do the beans go berserk during the bean-throwing festival? Who is the evil-eyed woman at Sarumaru Shrine? Why is Hannah attacked by flying donuts? Is the ocean boy really trying to tell her something? A compelling combination of fact, fantasy, and humor, this middle-grade novel is filled with intriguing characters, exotic locations and baffling events.
Featured in Volume II, Issue 1 of WOW Review.
Chosen from millions of children to serve in Mao’s cultural revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy, Li knows ballet would be his family’s best opportunity to escape the poverty in his rural China home. From one hardship to another, Li perseveres, never forgetting the family he left behind.
Thirteen-year-old Tina Dubois and her identical twin sister, Cilla, are extremely close and yet different personalities, and when Cilla is suddenly killed, Tina and her family struggle to come to terms with the loss.
Under no circumstances are girls EVER to be allowed anywhere near dragons. THE PENALTY FOR ANY GIRL CAUGHT BREAKING THE FIRST LAW IS DEATH. Kira is twelve, and strong willed. The daughter of a retired dragon knight, she yearns for adventure and dreams of following in her father’s footsteps astride her own magnificent mount. But this can never happen. According to the ‘stupid laws’ of the kingdom, she must be married by thirteen. Kira hates it, but being a girl she has no choice. Then Lord Dorcon arrives, in a whirl of destruction and fire and Kira knows the real fight is just beginning. To stand a chance of seeing her family again, and to protect the life of her younger sister, she will need every bit of willpower she can find. Let the battle commence.
Aided by magical creatures from Japanese myths, Mitsuko, a young girl in the imperial court of twelfth-century Japan, bravely ventures to the netherworld to search for her sister’s wandering spirit.
When Jane is invited to spend her summer vacation with her new—but admittedly odd—friend, Staffa, it feels like a dazzling daydream. Jane is lured by the promise of beautiful gowns as delicate as cobwebs, fancy parties as elegant as castle balls, and more fun than she can possibly imagine. But there’s something menacing about the gleam in Staffa’s mother’s eyes. Something not-quite-right about the long drive over the hills of Scotland. Something strangely alluring about the mysterious, glowing box she is told she must never open. Never, ever, for any reason . . . Until, of course, it is opened on her behalf. If Jane goes home with Staffa—if she enters the world of the box—will she be trapped forever? Or will she become every girl’s secret idea of a princess? Kate Saunders takes readers into a wildly imaginative miniaturized world of castle balls, death-defying bee riders, and giant racing spiders. A world where wicked plots are hatched, exciting rescues staged, and where the power of friendship can be a match for even the most dastardly of villains.
The story of revolution leader Toussaint L’Ouverture of St. Domingue (now Haiti).The island now known as Haiti was once a French colony called St. Domingue, where white plantation owners forced hundreds of thousands of African slaves to farm sugar cane. Toussaint L’Ouverture was one of those slaves . . . but not for long. The day would come when L’Ouverture would lead his island’s slaves into a revolution for freedom, and his efforts would influence the course of world history.
A revised and expanded edition of the 1996 book in which a group of eccentric Victorian scientists describes and catalogs dragons from around the world, including everything from their natural habitats to their unusual eating habits.