Fifteen-year-old Mara leaves her mother and their Puerto Rican home to live in the barrio of New York with her father, feeling torn between the two cultures in which she has been raised.
Call Me Maria
Americas
Materials from the Americas
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.
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.
Joy to the World!: Christmas Stories from around the Globe
All over the world, there is a wealth of fascinating traditions and legends surrounding the Christmas story. Here are five festive folk tales, retold by Saviour Pirotta, originating from places as far-flung as Mexico and the Middle East, Northern Europe and North Africa. Sheila Moxley’s vivid artwork adds to the seasonal spirit, making this a true celebration of Christmas, throughout the world.
Read how the lost little camel’s perseverance, resourcefulness and bravery led him back to his mother and baby Jesus’ manger; How an old Baker woman’s kindness and ingenuity saves the life of Baby Jesus and feeds a starving village; The story of a how a goatherding father and daughter, guided by angels, journey to meet the newborn Saviour and present him with weeds that have been transformed into beautiful red Christmas flowers; How selfless little Kumbi puts the needs of others before her own and is rewarded with a gourd of overflowing water to replenish supplies amid drought in her village; Lastly, a Russian variation of the Father Christmas story, where Babushka delivers presents to children from her bottomless basket of toys.
The Christmas Coat
Virginia and her brother are never allowed to pick first from the donation boxes at church because their father is the priest. Virginia is heartbroken when another girl gets the beautiful coat that she covets. Based on the author’s memoirs of life on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
Racing the Sun
Being Navajo wasn’t something twelve-year-old Brandon Rogers liked to advertise. His father had left his Indian heritage behind when he went to college and Brandon had grown up in suburbia-just a regular kid. But then Brandon’s Navajo grandfather moved off the reservation and into the lower bunk in Brandon’s room! It wasn’t easy having a roommate who chanted himself to sleep and got you out of bed before sunrise to race the sun. But now Brandon’s learning lessons he’ll never forget. Like how to take on the old ways without giving up the new. And how to grow up proud and strong … with a heritage as real as an old man’s love.
Alaska’s Native Peoples
Beautiful glossy photographs and descriptions of the native people of the state of Alaska by Ken Graham.
Child’s Alaska
A year-round look at Alaska that describes its climate and wildlife as well as the different life-styles of its people and their children.