Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
In this unique collection of ten domino games from countries as diverse as Mexico, Vietnam, and France, the creators of the bestselling Hopscotch Around the World and Christmas Around the World clearly explain domino basics, then show young readers all sorts of ways to improve their math, memory, and thinking skills — just by playing dominoes!
In the world of “Muggles” Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. In the world of wizards Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he’s altogether different.
This is the first in the seven-book series following the adventures of Harry Potter.
England’s National Book Award, Smarties Prize, the Children’s Book Award
Djinn twins John and Philippa are off on another whirlwind adventure that takes them around the globe and into unknown worlds. And it’s a race against time as they attempt to rescue their mother from her fate as the Blue Djinn of Babylon. An aging curse has been placed on their father and if the twins are gone too long, he’ll rapidly become an old man. Meanwhile, museums all over the world are reporting robberies of valuable jade from their collections, as well as bizarre hauntings. As the twins and their friends travel around the globe on their rescue mission, they notice that something very strange is happening: An evil force has awakened the terracotta warriors created by an ancient Chinese emperor, and someone with very bad intentions has cast a spell possessing the soldiers with wicked spirits. And now, the very fate of the world hangs in the balance.
As a member of the Kin, a band of people living in prehistoric times, young Po wants to prove his bravery but finds that doing so requires overcoming great obstacles.
During World War II, eleven-year-old Alice, whose life has been sheltered and comfortable, discovers some important things about herself and the people she meets when she and her grandfather board a train and begin an increasingly intolerable journey to an unknown destination.
Zachary and his aunt travel through time to ancient Egypt where they have many adventures.
A large, beautiful blue stone is discovered in a forest. It is cut in half, and one half stays in the forest while the other starts on a long and mystical journey through many places, many owners, and many transformations. It begins as a statue of an elephant, admired by museum goers, and then becomes a carved bird residing in an elderly woman’s garden. It becomes a moon, a cat, a necklace, and more. Throughout it all, the stone longs to return home, and finally it crumbles to dust and flies with the wind back to rest with its other half in the forest.
Grace’s grandmother has died, and she and her mother must travel back to the Cambodian community to give her a proper Cambodian funeral. Grace wants to use the trip to solve a few mysteries, like who her father was, why her mother and grandmother moved from St. Petersburg to Pennsylvania, where they’re the only Cambodians Grace has ever seen, and what Cambodian culture is really about. Embraced by her mother’s old friends, Grace feels both at home and lost, fascinated by the traditions she’s never known, but strangely judged by some members of the community.
Pressed into service as a canal woman, 10-year-old Emma finds ways to utilize her artistic gifts. Although it is a better existence than her strenuous job in the English silk mill, she feels guilty over the sister she left behind. Authentic details make this an engaging story–one that reveals the hardships of the mid-1800s when life for the poor in England was unrelentingly cruel. It is also a liberating tale as Emma draws on her inner strength to find her true calling.
It is election time in Haiti, and bombs are going off in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. During a visit from her home in rural Haiti, Celiane Espérance and her mother are nearly killed. Looking at her country with new eyes, Celiane gains a fresh resolve to be reunited with her father in Brooklyn, New York. The harsh winter and concrete landscape of her new home are a shock to Celiane, who witnesses her parents’ struggle to earn a living, her brother’s uneasy adjustment to American society, and her own encounters with learning difficulties and school violence.