A Bridge to the Stars

12-year-old Joel lives with his father in the cold northern part of Sweden. At night he often sneaks out of the house to look for a lonely dog he has seen from his window. On the bridge across the icy river he starts a secret society and has adventures. But one night he discovers that his father’s bed is also empty, and so he will have to come to terms with his father’s newfound love.

City of Dogs

Sam has always wanted a dog, but Jenny is a dog like no other. She has come from another world—a parallel world of mythology, where the whims of the gods decide the course of Destiny. Jenny fled in terror after her attempt to save the life of her first beloved boy interrupted the gods’ plans for a battle for control of the world. But now her escape threatens Sam’s world as well. So Jenny has to convince her motley pack of dog friends—tiny Pico, giant Gentleman Jim, slow-moving Boris, excitable Checkers, and nervous Flo—that it’s their destiny to restore the worlds to order before it’s too late. Norse mythology, a huge respect for the hearts and minds of dogs, and many dashes of humor combine to tell the tale of a grand, epic quest to save the world for humans, gods, and dogs.

The Boy Who Dared

When 16-year-old Helmuth Hubner listens to the BBC news on an illegal short-wave radio, he quickly discovers Germany is lying to the people. But when he tries to expose the truth with leaflets, he’s tried for treason. Sentenced to death and waiting in a jail cell, Helmuth’s story emerges in a series of flashbacks that show his growth from a naive child caught up in the patriotism of the times, to a sensitive and mature young man who thinks for himself.

The Shakespeare Stealer Series

The three novels in Gary Blackwood’s award-winning Shakespeare Stealer series are in one volume, which includes the complete texts of The Shakespeare Stealer, Shakespeare’s Scribe, and Shakespeare’s Spy. Each novel is about the adventures of an orphan named Widge who becomes an actor with Will Shakespeare’s acting troupe. He navigates intrigue, betrayal and romance in Elizabethan London.

I Am A Taxi

For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Women’s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditional Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught in the middle of the government’s war on drugs. Diego’s parents are locked up, but he can come and go to school, to the market to sell his mother’s hand-knitted goods, and to work as a “taxi,” running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister runs away, earning his mother a heavy fine. The debt and dawning realization of his hopeless situation make him vulnerable to his friend Mando’s plan to make big money, fast. Soon, Diego is deep in the jungle, working as a virtual slave in an illegal cocaine operation. As his situation becomes more and more dangerous, he knows he must take a terrible risk if he ever wants to see his family again.

Swordbird

The blue jays and cardinals of Stone-Run Forest have turned against each other. According to legend, only Swordbird, son of the Great Spirit, has the power to conquer evil and restore peace to the land. But is he real or just a myth? Can Swordbird arrive in time to save the forest . . . or will it be too late? Twelve-year-old author Nancy Yi Fan has woven a captivating tale about the birds of Stone-Run Forest and the heroism, courage, and resourcefulness in their quest for peace.

How to Catch a Fish

Thirteen linked verses and handsome, mood-drenched paintings show how we catch fish from New England to the Arctic, to Japan and Namibia and beyond. This lovely picturebook about fishing, geography, people and customs, and the bond between parent and child fishing together will appeal to everyone who’s cast a line in the water.

Bee-Bim Bop!

Bee-bim bop is a traditional Korean dish of rice mixed with meat and vegetables. In bouncy rhyming text, a hungry child tells about helping her mother make bee-bim bop: shopping, preparing ingredients, setting the table, and finally sitting down with her family to enjoy a favorite meal. The energy and enthusiasm of the young narrator are conveyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the artist’s childhood in Korea to his depiction of a modern Korean American family.

Clockwork

An apprentice clockmaker facing failure…a writer with a story he can’t control….a girl whose courage will need to match her kindness…a prince whose mechanical heart is winding down…a clockwork knight with murderous tendencies…and a doctor who just may be the Devil. Their stories come together piece by piece in this chilling tale where nothing is as it seems, but like the gears of a strange and wonderful clock, everything fits together.

My New Shirt

Receiving the yearly birthday gift from his grandmother has become David’s living nightmare. The “surprise” she always has for him never varies. How can he stop this never-ending flow of stiff, white, scratchy shirts — “perfect gentlemen” shirts that make him squirm and pull and shift and twitch? David closes his eyes and imagines a long line of shirts — one for every year of his life — stretching on forever. Then suddenly, without really intending to, he has done the unthinkable. “DAVID!” his mother screams. And when David opens his eyes, there are his mother, his father, and his bubbie staring at him. The shirt is no longer in his hands. He has thrown it out the window! Now it is out on the street, in the jaws of his dog, and the very merry chase is on. Bitingly funny and keenly observed, My New Shirt is graphically presented as a photo album commemorating David’s desperate act of liberation from a family tradition badly in need of a change.