A Case For Buffy (Detective Gordon)

The final story in this big-hearted series takes on the most important case everinvestigated in Detective Gordon’s forest. Where is Buffy’s mother? Gordon faces his old nemesis, the fox, in an investigation that leads to the edges of the forest.

The Patchwork Bike

When you live at the edge of the no-go desert, you need to make your own fun. That’s when you and your brothers get inventive and build a bike from scratch, using everyday items like an old milk pot (maybe Mum is using it, maybe not), a bent bucket seat, and bashed tin-can handles. The end result is a spectacular bike, perfect for going bumpetty bump over the sand hills, past your fed-up mum, and right through your mud-for-walls home.

Too Young To Escape: A Vietnamese Girl Waits To Be Reuited With Her Family

After the end of the Vietnam War, Van wakes up one morning to find that her mother, sisters, and brother are gone. They have escaped the new communist regime that has taken over Ho Chi Minh City for freedom in the West. Van is too young–and her grandmother too old–for such a dangerous journey by boat, so the two have been left behind. Once settled in North America, her parents will be able to sponser them, and Van and her grandmother will fly away to safety. But in the meantime, Van is forced ot work hard to satisfy her aunt and uncle, who treat her like an unwelcome guest. And at school she must learn that calling attention to herself is a mistake, especially when the bully who has been tormenting her turns out to be the son of a military policeman.

Tomorrow

Yazan no longer goes to the park to play, and he no longer sees his friend who lives next door. Everything around him is changing. His parents sit in front of the television with the news turned up LOUD and Yazan’s little red bike leans forgotten against the wall. Will he ever be able to go outside and play? An uplifting story about a courageous little boy growing up in a time of conflict, and the strength of family love.

Anya’s Ghost

Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn’t kidding about the “Forever” part . . . Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century. Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya’s normal life might actually be worse. She’s embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she’s pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs. Or so she thinks. Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya’s Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut from author/artist Vera Brosgol.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 2.

A Drop Of The Sea

Ali lives with his great-grandmother in a tiny clay house at the edge of the desert. Just her and him. Just him and her. They don’t need anything more to be happy. But lately, Ali has begun to notice how his great-grandmother has aged. And one day, he asks if her life’s dreams have come true. All except one, she tells him. She had a dream to see the sea, but now she is too old to go. So, the next morning, Ali sets off with a pail in hand. He is going to make his great-grandmother’s final dream come true. He is going to bring the sea to her.

Astrid the Unstoppable

Speed and self-confidence that’s Astrid’s motto, Nicknamed “the little thunderbolt,” she loves to spend her days racing down the hillside on her skis or sled, singing merrily as she goes, and drinking hot chocolate made from real chocolate bars with her grumpy best friend and godfather, Gunnvald. She just wishes there were other children to share in her hair-raising adventures. But her world is about to be turned upside down, first by the arrival of a family with children to her village, and then by a mysterious woman whom everyone but Astrid seems to know.

Eye Spy: Wild Ways Animals See The World

Ever wonder what your cat is watching through the window? Or how having eyes on the sides of its head changes the world for a horse? And what would life be like seeing in 5 colors instead of only 3? After a whirlwind tour of how eyes work, children will lift the flaps to find out how animals as different as dogs, owls, and chameleons see the same scene.

Missing Mike

Cara and her family have been packed for days, ready to take everything they can’t live without and flee when the wildfire reaches their home. But when the evacuation order comes, all that preparation was not enough. Because what Cara can’t live without most is her dog Mike, and he is nowhere to be found.