In this tale set in Neolithic Siberia, seventeen-year old Liok becomes the shaman for his tribe. His new and innovative ways, based on reason rather than magic, bring him into conflict with the customs of his tribe.
Awards
Smoky Night
When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background or nationality.
Biggest Bear
Johnny goes hunting for a bearskin to hang on his family’s barn and returns with a small bundle of trouble.
The Polar Express
A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa Claus.
Fables
Twenty original fables about an array of animal characters from crocodile to ostrich.
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
A collection of poems describing the characteristics and activities of a variety of insects.
White Snow Bright Snow
When it begins to look, feel, and smell like snow, everyone prepares for a winter blizzard.
Golem
Retold from traditional sources and accompanied by David Wisniewski’s unique cut-paper illustrations, Golem is a dramatic tale of supernatural forces invoked to save an oppressed people. It also offers a thought-provoking look at the consequences of unleashing power beyond human control. The afterword discusses the legend of the golem and its roots in the history of the Jews.
A Caldecott Medal Book.
A Story, A Story (Story A Story Lib)
Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the “spider man,” are called, “Spider Stories.” This book is about how that came to be. The African storyteller begins: “We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go.” And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see. How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.
Maniac Magee
When Jeffrey Lionel Magee, a twelve-year-old kid, wanders into Two Mills, Pennsylvania, a legend is in the making. Before too long, the stories begin to circulate about how fast and how far he can run, about how he knocks the world’s first ever “frogball” for an inside-the-park-home run bunt, and more stories that earn him the nickname “Maniac”.