Flowers For Sarajevo

In 1992, a young boy whose father is away at war discovers, from their flower stall, the power of beauty and kindness in the wake of the bombing of Sarajevo.

This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.

Featured in WOW Review Volume IX, Issue 4.

Pedal Power

Cycling rules the road in Amsterdam today, but that wasn’t always the case. In the 1970’s, Amsterdam was so crowded with vehicles that bicyclists could hardly move, but moms and kids relied on their bicycles to get around the city.

The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!

So the villagers elect the bossy Don Pepe as their mayor. Before long, singing of any kind is outlawed. Even the teakettle is afraid to whistle! But there is one noisy rooster who doesn’t give two mangos about this mayor’s silly rules. Instead, he does what roosters were born to do.

The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for August 2017.

John Ronald’s Dragons

John Ronald loved dragons. He liked to imagine dragons when he was alone, and with his friends, and especially when life got hard or sad. After his mother died and he had to live with a cold-hearted aunt, he looked for dragons. He searched for them at his boarding school. And when he fought in a Great War, he felt as if terrible, destructive dragons were everywhere. But he never actually found one, until one day, when he was a grown man but still very much a boy at heart, when he decided to create one of his own.

Snake Charmer

A little boy in India longs to become a snake charmer. Vishnu dreams of being a snake charmer like his father. He already knows how to handle cobras and he is learning to play the special flute. He longs to go to the city to charm snakes while the tourists watch. But his father thinks that education is more important, so Vishnu must stay home. Life in the village is never dull, though. There are plenty of games and chores to keep everyone busy, and then there’s school, which is taught outdoors. And every few weeks Vishnu’s father-and the snakes-return home to visit. A striking introduction to life in India as seen through the eyes of one little boy.