In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a bad second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and meets the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
Rose Blanche
A young German girl watches as the streets of her town fill with soldiers and tanks. Then, one day, she follows a truck into the woods and discovers a secret.
Margrit’s World War Ii
In 1943, five-year-old Margrit was separated from her mother, father, and siblings and sent to a farm in Bavaria to escape the bombing in the big city of Hamburg.
Boori
It traces the early years of an Australian Aboriginal boy as he grows to be both a hero of the People and a skilled magician. Scott’s tale is enhanced by his use of real locations in Northern Australia.
Even A Little Is Something: Stories Of Nong
Twenty-three vignettes present Nong, a ten-year-old girl living in present-day Thailand, and the characters of her village as they slowly make the transition from rural poverty to western modernization.
Notso Hotso
Anthony, a neglected pet dog, develops an irritating skin condition and has most of his hair shaved off, which embarrasses him greatly until he realizes he now looks like a lion and can frighten other animals and people.
Lydia, Queen Of Palestine
Ten-year-old Lydia describes her childhood escapades in pre-World War II Romania, her struggles to understand her parents’ divorce amid the chaos of the war, and her life on a kibbutz in Palestine. Based on the life of the Israeli poet Arianna Haran.
The 7 Professors Of The Far North
Eleven-year-old Sam and his new friends, brother and sister Ben and Zara, set off for the Arctic to try and rescue the siblings’ great-uncle and five other professors from the mad scientist holding them prisoner.
Sir Thursday
When Arthur is drafted into the Glorious Army of the Architect, he must survive basic training, avoid getting posted to the Front, and figure out how to free Part Four of the Will, while Leaf tries to banish Arthur’s doppleganger on Earth. (Book 4)
From Charlie’s Point Of View
Best friends Bernadette and Charlie begin seventh grade and help unravel the mysterious case of the Stocking Bandit.