The civilization of ancient Egypt disappeared two thousand years ago, yet we still marvel at the wonders it left behind. This engaging primer for young readers introduces the land, people, and culture of Egypt, including the pyramids, the Great Sphinx, and mummification. In his signature style of creating three-dimensional illustrations, Bruce Strachan brings to life the monuments and everyday customs of an enthralling society for children just beginning their discovery of ancient Egypt.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
Snakehead
Persues, the son of Zeus and a mortal princess, takes his easy life on the island of Serifos for granted, but lives in troubled times. First the gods, now the politicians, send trouble rumbling across land and sea. When a beautiful stranger, a fugitive from another disaster zone, arrives on the island, Perseus is smitten. But Andromeda isn’t all she seems. She must die to save her people, and a stunning, world-changing discovery will die with her, unless Perseus abandons everything to confront the Medusa quest.
The Neverending Story
Bastian embarks on a wild adventure when he enters the magical world of Fantastica, a doomed land filled with dragons, giants, and monsters, and risks his life to save Fantastica by going on a very dangerous quest.
Muddle Earth
Joe Jefferson is an ordinary schoolboy from ordinary Earth. At least, he was. But something strange happened when he was walking his dog, and now he’s Joe the Barbarian—fearless warrior-hero, summoned by Muddle Earth’s leading wizard to slay ogres, wrestle dragons, and bravely confront villains. Joe doesn’t feel much like a warrior-hero. But evil is stirring in the heart of Elfwood, and the people of Muddle Earth need help (although most of them don’t know it yet). Perhaps Joe Jefferson really is a hero after all. Actually, Muddle Earth’s only wizard. And he’s not very good. He doesn’t really look much like one either.
Qatar
This book provides comprehensive information on the geography, history, governmental structure, economy, cultural diversity, peoples, religion, and culture of Qatar.
Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope
We are the young people, We will not be broken! For almost fifty years, apartheid forced the young people of South Africa to live apart as Blacks, Whites, Indians, and “Coloreds.” This unique and dramatic collection of stories—by native South African and Carnegie Medalist Beverley Naidoo—is about young people’s choices in a beautiful country made ugly by injustice. Each story is set in a different decade during the turbulent years from 1948 to 2000, and portrays powerful fictional characters who are caught up in very real and often disturbing events.
The Book of Time
A statue; a coin; an old book. They look as dusty as everything else in the Faulkner Antiquarian Bookstore, where 14-year-old Sam Faulkner seeks his father, who’s been missing for days. But when Sam slips the coin into the statue, he’s swept back in time — to Scotland in 800 A.D. — where he must find both the statue and another coin in order to return to the present. It’s the first step in an adventure that will take him to ancient Egypt, World War I, even Dracula’s castle and a mystery that will end only when Sam saves his father, or loses him in time.
Finland
This book provides comprehensive information on the geogrpahy, history, wildlife, governmental structure, economy, cultural diversity, peoples, religion, and culture of Finland.
Algeria
This book provides comprehensive information on the geography, history, wildlife, governmental structure, economy, cultural diversity, peoples, religion, and culture of Algeria.
Escape the Mask
Coriko has never known a world beyond his cell and the fields where he toils all day. He does what he’s told and tries not to anger the Spears, the cruel, masked jailers who guard him and the other child slaves. If he gathers baskets of shards and keeps quiet and orderly, then he can spend time with his cellmate and best friend, Pippa. But without warning, the children’s orderly lives begin to change—slowly at first, with the arrival of a pair of siblings who speak Coriko and Pippa’s language. Soon after, violent events shake up the quiet world of Grassland, and Coriko must find the strength to grasp his freedom.