Sent by her mother to the edge of the Niger to gather rushes for the Ceremony of Beginnings, Nsia encounters many distractions, until the ancestors’ spirits guide her on her way to becoming a wise little woman.
Fiction
Fiction genre
Notso Hotso
Anthony, a neglected pet dog, develops an irritating skin condition and has most of his hair shaved off, which embarrasses him greatly until he realizes he now looks like a lion and can frighten other animals and people.
The Illustrated Mum
Ten-year-old Dolphin is determined to stay with her family, no matter what, but when her sister goes to live with her newly-discovered father, sending their mother further into manic-depression, Dolphin’s life takes a turn for the better.
The Bullock
In the Haryana plains of India, an old man and his wife barely make a living selling vegetables. Their only possession, a strong, beautiful bullock, pulls a cart with the vegetables along a busy and dangerous road to the market and back again.
Drita, My Homegirl
When Drita and her family, refugees from Kosovo, move to New York, Drita is teased about not speaking English well but eventually forms a friendship with Maxie, who is forced to learn about Kosovo as a punishment for teasing Drita.
An Innocent Soldier
A sixteen-year-old farmhand is tricked into fighting in the Napoleonic Wars by the farmer for whom he works, who secretly substitutes him for the farmer’s own son.
My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out
Lola does not ever never want her wobbly tooth to fall out until she learns that the Tooth Fairy will leave money in place of a lost tooth.
My House Has Stars
Young people describe the different kinds of homes they live in around the world and how they see the stars. Eight children–from the Philippines, Ghana, Japan, the American Southwest, Brazil, Alaska, Mongolia, and Nepal–share stories of the stars that they can see from their homelands.
Taking Wing
With his father in the Army Air Corps and his mother diagnosed with tuberculosis, thirteen-year-old Gus sets out to incubate a nest of orphaned duck eggs on his grandparents’ farm in Vermont.
Spring-Heeled Jack
Three children make their escape from a London orphanage and after a series of misadventures are reunited with their father through the efforts of the legendary Spring-Heeled Jack.