Age

Catalog sorted by age group

Marwan’s Journey

One night they came… The darkness grew colder, deeper, darker, and swallowed up everything… Marwan is a young boy on a journey he never intended to take, bound for a place he doesn’t know. On his journey, he relies on courage and memories of his faraway homeland to buoy him. With him are hundreds and thousands of other human beings, crossing the deserts and the seas, fleeing war and hunger in search of safety. He must take one step after another—bringing whatever he can carry, holding on to dreams. This is the journey of one boy who longs for a home, and we follow his path, walking hand in hand with him as he looks forward with uncertainty and hopes for a peaceful future. This beautiful, heartfelt story gives a human face to the plight of refugees all over the world. Marwan’s journey is everyone’s journey.

The Unwanted

Starting in 2011, refugees flood out of war-torn Syria in Exodus-like proportions. The surprising flood of victims overwhelms neighboring countries, and chaos follows. Resentment in host nations heightens as disruption and the cost of aid grows. By 2017, many want to turn their backs on the victims. The refugees are the unwanted. Don Brown depicts moments of both heartbreaking horror and hope in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. Shining a light on the stories of the survivors, The Unwanted is a testament to the courage and resilience of the refugees and a call to action for all those who read.

The Unwanted has been discussed in My Take/Your Take for August 2020.

The Log Driver’s Waltz

Based on the perennially popular Canadian folk song and animated short film of the same name, The Log Driver’s Waltz showcases a spunky, independent young woman whose parents are keen for her to marry. The town’s well-to-do doctors, merchants, and lawyers try to impress her, but it’s the humble log driver—with his style, grace, and joie de vivre—who captures her attention. When she and the log driver finally meet on the dance floor, their joy leaps off the page.

Sylvia’s Bookshop

Told by the bookstore itself, Sylvia’s Bookshop tells the story of the legendary Shakespeare and Company, its owner Sylvia Beach, and the many great writers who gathered there to meet, read, and remind us that books are more than the words on the page.

The Boy Who Went To Mars

On the day that Stanley’s mom takes a work trip overnight, Stanley decides to leave planet Earth. But when his spaceship touches down again in the backyard, a young martian crawls out, proclaiming to Stanley’s dad that residents of Mars don’t wash before dinner, eat their vegetables, or brush their teeth. It just so happens that martians tend to act out in school, too. . . . With whimsy and sympathy for a familiar dilemma, Simon James ushers us into the coping fantasies of an imaginative, sensitive kid — and shares the pleasure of his sheepish reunion with a most accepting family.

El Vacío

Julia was a happy girl, until one day everything went away, leaving her a big “vacío.” Her “vacío” was huge; cold came through it, and monsters emerged from it. She tried to fill it with food, social media and medicine, but nothing helped. In a moment of extreme frustration and tiredness, Julia collapsed and cried without comfort until falling asleep. Suddenly, a voice coming from the ground told her to look through her “vacío.” When she did, she saw and felt colors, melodies and magic worlds that gave her a sense of connection to herself, to others and to nature. She began approaching people differently and noticed that they also had their own “vacíos” and wonderful worlds. Julia’s “vacío” started to shrink, but rather than disappearing, it remained as a window into Julia’s magical worlds; a reminder of the importance of feeling connected to the world.

Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 4.

Hide And Seek

When their dog goes missing, Cy and Poppy play hide-and-seek in the woods to distract themselves from feeling sad. Poppy counts to ten and looks for Cy, but she can’t find him anywhere. She keeps thinking she’s found him, but it’s never him. Then there’s a rustling in the woods. Is it Cy. . .or something else? A reassuring tale of sibling love with surrealist artwork by author-illustrator Anthony Browne.