Finding a seriously hurt dolphin in the Amazon near her small Colombian village and suspecting her stepfather of having wounded it, Carmenza nurses it back to health and turns to the wise old Indian Omar to appease its spirit.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
The Waorani: People of the Ecuadoran Rain Forest (Global Villages)
Describes the culture and plight of the Waorani, an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadoran rain forest whose environment and way of life are threatened by the encroachment of the industrial world.
Popol Vuh: A Sacred Book of the Maya
One of the few Maya documents to survive the Spanish conquest, the Popol Vuh describes the creation of the Maya universe and of humans. It tells the tale of the Hero Twins, who defeated the gods of the underworld in a ball game, and details the legendary history of the Quiche Maya rulers until their imprisonment and torture by the Spanish. Equivalent to the Bible and the Greek and Roman mythologies, the Popol Vuh is the essential text of Mayan culture.
Different Kind Of Courage
In 1940, the Germans have come to Paris and Bertrand, his mother and sister are fleeing. Meanwhile, the Germans have not come to the south of France, where Zina and her family live–but there’s no work for ethnic Russians like Zina’s papa. Both Bertrand and Zina must go to America in order to survive. Each shows fear in a different way, but finally, through friendship, finds hope again.
The Silver Cup
It’s the year 1095, and fifteen-year-old Anna longs for a different life in her small German village. But as the seasons turn, the year proves anything but ordinary. Her beloved youngest cousin disappears, and another cousin, Martin, runs away to join a murderous army of renegade Crusaders. When Anna risks everything to rescue Leah, an orphaned Jewish girl whose only connection to her former life is a silver cup, the two girls forge a friendship that defies the intolerance of their time. Filling her story with fascinating period details, debut novelist Constance Leeds paints a rich, colorful picture of an eleventh-century life marked by courage, will, and most of all-hope.Winner of the 2008 IRA Children’s and Young Adult Book Award in the Intermediate Fiction Category.
Selma
A sheep ponders the meaning of happiness.
The Secret Garden
The beloved original text now offered in a definitive gift edition by esteemed illustrator Inga Moore. First published in 1909, THE SECRET GARDEN has entranced readers with the courage and strength of two unhappy and withered children who become determined to make their lives and the lives of others around them more joyful. In this remarkable new edition, Inga Moore’s beautifully observed illustrations capture the wonder of the secret garden springing to life under the tender care of Mary Lennox; her spoiled invalid cousin, Colin; and Dickon, a Yorkshire boy.
Bitter Dumplings
A tasty, original story. This striking picture book ends with a new beginning for three people who never expected to be friends – an orphaned girl cast out by her siblings, a slave escaping from a mighty emperor’s ship, and a hunchbacked old woman known for the bitter-melon and shrimp dumplings she brings to market each day – and for living in a haunted house at the edge of the marshes. As their hardship-filled paths cross, each of their lives begins to change for the better, in a moving affirmation of the power of compassion. Set long ago in a Chinese village by the sea, Jeanne M. Lee’s meticulously illustrated story has an extraordinary flavor all its own.
Alice through the Looking-Glass
An exuberant edition of the Lewis Carroll masterpiece, lavishly illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. Alice is ready for adventure. All it takes is a bit of curiosity about the room reversed in the mirror and suddenly Alice is in the Looking-Glass world with all manner of comical and magical characters — Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the lion and the unicorn, and a whole game board of chess pieces come to life.
I Was A Rat!: Or, The Scarlet Slippers
“I was a rat!”
So insists a scruffy boy named Roger. Maybe it’s true. But what is he now? A terrifying monster running wild in the sewers? The Daily Scourge newspaper is sure of it. A lucrative fairground freak? He is to Mr. Tapscrew. A championship wriggler and a budding thief? That’s the hope of Billy and his gang. A victim of “Rodent Delusion”? So says the hospital doctor.
Or just an ordinary small boy, though a little ratty in his habits? Only three people believe this version of the story. And it may take a royal intervention–and a bit of magic–to convince the rest of the world. . . .