Perro Viejo was taken away from his mother at birth and has known no other life than that of servitude on a sugar plantation. His name, which means “Old Dog,” was given to him by the plantation master because, like the bloodhounds that chased fugitive slaves, Perro Viejo is always searching for the scent of his long lost mother. The only thing that keeps him alive is the memory of Asunción, a beautiful girl he once met while washing his master’s horses at a river. Never to see her again, he closes his heart to all forms of love. Nearing the end of his life, Perro Viejo meets Beira, an old slave who is avoided by the other slaves because they think she is a witch. She warms Perro Viejo’s heart, and together they hatch a plan to escape from slavery. Young readers join Perro Viejo as he finally learns what it is to love — and to feel free.
Age
Catalog sorted by age group
When I Was Puerto Rican
Esmeralda Santiago’s story begins in rural Puerto Rico, where her childhood was full of both tenderness and domestic strife, tropical sounds and sights as well as poverty. Growing up, she learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of tree frogs in the mango groves at night, the taste of the delectable sausage called morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby’s soul to heaven. As she enters school we see the clash, both hilarious and fierce, of Puerto Rican and Yankee culture. When her mother, Mami, a force of nature, takes off to New York with her seven, soon to be eleven children, Esmeralda, the oldest, must learn new rules, a new language, and eventually take on a new identity.
Cleopatra Confesses
The last of the pharaohs before the beginning of the Common Era, Cleopatra ascended the throne at age eighteen following the death of her father. Charming as well as smart and ambitious, she made two Roman leaders fall madly in love with her. Her greatest challenge was not her kingdom but her own sisters, blinded by their ambition. The tale of her teenage years is a story of power and romance that stands the test of time—centuries later, Cleopatra remains a figure of mystery and intrigue.
Explorers: Rainforests
Readers can dive into one of the most biologically diverse environments in the world, and explore the plants, animals, and people of the rainforest through a series of story scenes designed to highlight key topics in rainforest education. From the towering trees, to life in the canopy, dwelling in the dark on the forest floor, and the role the river plays in the rainforest environment.
Lifecycles: Rainforest
The rainforest is one of the most bio-diverse environments on the planet with some of the most amazing creatures on earth. In this first introduction to lifecycles in three different rainforests, young readers learn how animals they might not expect-like the Amazon’s leaf cutter ant and the jaguar, or Borneo’s butterflies and saltwater crocodiles-are part of the same food chain. At the end of each spread, readers use a picture clue to guess which predator is about to pounce. At the end of the book, young scientists explore how the three chains interact to form a food web, the basis for all life in an ecosystem. Age appropriate text and dynamic photographs make this a perfect introduction to this core scientific concept.
Ones and Twos
This concept book explores numeracy, sorting, and pairing. Each brightly illustrated page invites children to identify familiar objects ranging from kites to socks, from one nest to the two birds sitting in it. Ones and Twos gives little toddlers and their caregivers much to discuss and to enjoy together, and it introduces an exciting new creative team.
The Wish Pony
When the balloon was born I was going to tell it exactly what I thought about it, how sick it had made my mother and how it had ruined my life. Ruby’s mum is having a baby, but why does she need one of those when she’s already got a Ruby? To make matters worse, her best friend Sarah has just found another, BETTER friend. It seems like everyone is abandoning her. But when Ruby meets the mysterious Magda, who gives her a very special gift that might, just MIGHT even be a bit magical, everything begins to change.
The Wish Pony was Catherine’s first exploration of magic realism. It was partly inspired by a small ornamental horse she once saw in a relatives display cabinet.
A Rose for the Anzac Boys
The story starts in 1915. Midge Macpherson is at school in England, having been sent there from New Zealand after her father’s death. Her brothers are both serving in the war; her younger brother was last heard of at the Gallipoli campaign earlier that year. Her cousins are serving in the British army. Keen to ‘do their bit’ for the war effort, Midge and her school friends, Ethel and Anne, start up a canteen behind the front in France. Anne, daughter of English aristocracy, can’t wait to escape her inevitable future of being married off to someone ‘suitable’, and Ethel, a Yorkshire lass, six foot tall and built like a rugby player, isn’t exactly debutante material.
As the war goes on, the girls start to see the consequences of the ‘noble cause’ they’re supporting, graphically illustrated by letters from Midge’s brother Dougie, her aunt Lallie (who is running a hospital ward in Alexandria), and a couple of Australians also serving on the front, Gordon Marks and Harry Harrison. Midge, resourceful for her years, is ‘borrowed’ by the ambulance service, thus witnessing at close hand the carnage of the battlefields, and hearing the stories of those who come back. She sings songs to the dying, learns to tolerate hit-and-miss anaesthesia and twelve-hour shifts, and meets some remarkable people. She accepts a birthday gift of a drawing, done by a blinded soldier, of a vase of roses. And, on her return to New Zealand, discovers that her world has changed, and she must seek out her future in Australia.
Nips Xi
If white boys can’t jump, can Asian boys play cricket? And if they can why aren’t there any in the district cricket team? Vietnamese born Tran is fed up with being called a nip, sick of being on the sidelines so he and Izram decide to establish their own cricket team, and after a series of elimination trials, Nips XI is born!
Perry Angel’s Suitcase
It has taken Perry Angel almost seven years to find the place where he belongs. Perry arrives at the Kingdom of Silk one day on the 10:30 express, carrying only a small and shabby suitcase embossed with five golden letters. What do those letters mean? And why won’t Perry let go of his case?