The Boy and the Wall

The Boy and the Wall is a children’s book made and illustrated by youth at the Lajee Centre in the Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank, telling the story of their everyday lives and struggles as refugees.

Click here to read the Worlds of Words Review.

Saving the Baghdad Zoo

The Baghdad zoo was once home to more than six hundred magnificent animals. But after the war in Iraq began in 2003, the city faced widespread destruction. When U. S. Army Captain William Sumner was asked to check out the state of the zoo, he found that it, too, was devastated. Hundreds of animals were missing, and the few remaining were in desperate need of care. And so Captain Sumner accepted a new mission. Together with an international team of zoologists, veterinarians, conservationists, and dedicated animal lovers, Captain Sumner worked tirelessly to save the neglected—but tenacious—animals of Baghdad. Saving the Baghdad Zoo tells the poignant stories of these remarkable animals. Meet the abandoned lions who roamed an empty palace with no food or drink; the camel, Lumpy, who survived transport through sniper fire; the tigers, Riley and Hope, who traveled 7,000 miles from home; and many more. The Baghdad Zoo, open once again to the people of Iraq, has become an oasis of hope and safety in a city where both are precious gifts.

Click here to read the Worlds of Words review.

Goal!

A lyrical, strikingly illustrated story celebrates the unifying power of soccer. In a dusty township in South Africa, Ajani and his friends have earned a brand-new, federation-size soccer ball. They kick. They dribble. They run. They score. These clever boys are football champions! But when a crew of bullies tries to steal their ball, will Ajani and his friends be able to beat them at their own game?

Pika: Life In The Rocks

A pika scurries across a rock pile high in the Rocky Mountians. He watches out for hungry hawks and weasels. Quickly, he nips leafy twigs off bushes and carries them to his rocky den.  This hamster-size cousin of the rabbit is storing up food.  He will build a “hay pile” as big as a bathtub.  As summer changes to autumn and winter settles in, the pika feeds from his hay pile and tunnets through the snow.  In the spring, he sings for a mate.  Soon, pika pups are climbing on the rocks.

Stunning photographs catch the pike in the act of living naturally.  A fact-filled text tells the story of how one of the world’s cutest animals can survive when life is pretty rocky.

The Red Scarf

Amazing stories can be told with almost no words, as Anne Villeneuve demonstrates in The Red Scarf, originally published in French as L’echarpe rouge. One day, a taxi driver finds a red scarf left behind in his cab by a customer. Determined to find the scarf’s owner, the cabbie unknowingly walks into a world filled with strange characters: a friendly lizard, a mischievous bear, a fearsome lion and his tamer, a daredevil, and a mysterious magician. Before he knows it, the cabbie becomes part of the show. Young readers will relish this almost wordless picture book about a seemingly ordinary day, which quickly turns into an extraordinary adventure.

Wiggle Giggle Tickle Train

“Hold on to the saddle, pony might prance, bucking and frisky, he’s roaming the ranch. GIDDY-UP!”A pony inspires a child to ride high on her father’s shoulders, a sailboat stirs two others to set off to sea in a cardboard box, and an airplane invites kids to soar like a bird.In 13 striking spreads, we see how children use the world around them as the inspiration for play. Vibrant photographs are juxtaposed with lively drawings to reveal the child’s own inventive interpretation. Short bursts of action-packed, rhythmic poetry encourage preschoolers to identify the patterning throughout the text and the sounds associated with each idea.While developing language skills, kids can join in the fun as they create their own imaginative play from what they see around them.

Mortimer (Board Book)

Even after his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters, and even two policemen try to get Mortimer to be quiet and go to sleep, he still insists on making noise.

The revised text and child-friendly format make it appropriate for preschoolers, but it retains all the humor of the original story .