Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
When Nadia arrives in Canada in 1950 with Marusia, the woman she calls mother, she is glad to finally be out of the displaced persons camp where she has lived for five years, but troubled by confused memories of World War II; she speaks Ukrainian, but she seems to remember living with a German Nazi family who called her by a different name. As she tries to settle into the Canadian-Ukrainian community of Brantford, she is haunted by one question: who is she, and where was she stolen from.
All around the world there are festivals that reach back through the sands of time to medieval carnival traditions, and beyond. The festivals in this book are often little known outside their locale and they are all characterised by spectacular costumes and compellingly bizarre rituals. The Jarramplas of Piornal, Spain is a spooky devil character dressed in rags, who is pelted by two tons of turnips every year. In Japan, the Kasedori wear a suit of straw and run barefoot through the snow as villagers douse them in freezing water to protect their houses from fire. The Courir de Mardi Gras is a lesser known cousin of the New Orleans carnival, in which members of rural Louisiana communities dress in Medieval French jester costumes and chase down chickens thrown from the roofs of local farmsteads.
A beating heart. A talking tree. The rain forest. Love. Mysticism. Harvest. And above all, chocolate.
Lety Muñoz’s first language is Spanish, and she likes to take her time putting her words together. She loves volunteering at the Furry Friends Animal Shelter because the dogs and cats there don’t care if she can’t always find the right word. When the shelter needs a volunteer to write animal profiles, Lety jumps at the chance. But grumpy classmate Hunter also wants to write profiles — so now they have to work as a team. Hunter’s not much of a team player, though. He devises a secret competition to decide who will be the official shelter scribe. Whoever helps get their animals adopted the fastest wins. The loser scoops dog food. Lety reluctantly agrees, but she’s worried that if the shelter finds out about the contest, they’ll kick her out of the volunteer program. Then she’ll never be able to adopt Spike, her favorite dog at the shelter!
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
When her best friend, Ness, dies suddenly, Ember finds a way into the Afterworld, determined to bring Ness back.
Once upon a time, these stories of magical transformation were told to young women by their mothers and grandmothers and the wise women of the clan. The heroines of these old tales set out on a difficult road of trials to discover their true destiny. And marrying a prince was not the only goal. These ancient tales of wonder and adventure are about learning to be strong, brave, kind and true-hearted, and trusting in yourself to change the world for the better.
Nine-year-old Sumac Lottery considers it her job to make sure none of the Lottery celebrations are forgotten, especially now at Christmas time, and in her large, gay, and multiethnic family there are a lot of occasions for celebration in the house they all call Camelottery–but when a terrible ice storm hits Toronto, one of her dads, and her favorite brother cannot make it home from India, and it becomes increasingly difficult to hang on to the holiday spirit.
In 1940, a group of British children, their escorts, and some sailors struggle to survive in a lifeboat when the ship taking them to safety in Canada is torpedoed. Includes historical notes.
Four determined homeless children make a life for themselves in Chennai, India.
The Bridge Home was our WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for October 2019 and also featured our August 2019 My Take/Your Take, June 2020 My Take/Your Take, and July 2020 My Take/Your Take.
Grisha the dragon is born in the Black Forest in 1803, the last year any dragon was born, and while young he was trapped by the emperor’s sorcerer, and turned into a teapot, which was frustrating but kept him alive while magic and other dragons were disappearing–until one day he meets Maggie, a poet’s daughter, and the two of them set out to discover what happened to all the other dragons.