Americas

Materials from the Americas

Look Around, Baby!

This beautifully photographed series of board books shows us the major stages in a baby’s first year — the first day, sitting, crawling, and walking. Mother, father, and big brother also appear. In Look Around, Baby!, photos show the young baby just beginning to sit up — now he sees the world from a whole new perspective. He holds his rattle, plays peek-a-boo, and even begins to interact with his big brother. He loves to laugh but has frequent crying bouts since his teeth are bothering him. Maybe that’s why he loves to chew on his toes!

Fatty Legs

The moving memoir of an Inuit girl who emerges from a residential school with her spirit intact.Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential schools.At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a black-cloaked nun with a hooked nose and bony fingers that resemble claws. She immediately dislikes the strong-willed young Margaret. Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to all the girls — all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant Margaret is the laughing stock of the entire school.In the face of such cruelty, Margaret refuses to be intimidated and bravely gets rid of the stockings. Although a sympathetic nun stands up for Margaret, in the end it is this brave young girl who gives the Raven a lesson in the power of human dignity.Complemented by archival photos from Margaret Pokiak-Fenton’s collection and striking artwork from Liz Amini-Holmes, this inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl’s determination to confront her tormentor will linger with young readers.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 2

My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood

Relates events in the childhood of architect Secundino Fernandez, who left his beloved Havana, Cuba, with his parents, first to spend a year in Spain, and later to move to New York City.

The Secret Of The Yellow Death: A True Story Of Medical Sleuthing

Red oozes from the patient’s gums.  He has a rushing headache and the whites of his eyes look like lemons. He will likely die within days. Here is the true story of how four Americans and one Cuban tracked down a killer, one of the word’s most vicious plagues: yellow fever.  Set in fever-stricken Cuba, the reader feels the heavy air, smell the stench of disease, hear the whine of mosquitoes biting human volunteers during the surreal experiments. Exploring themes of courage, cooperation, and the ethics of human experimentation, this gripping account is ultimately a story of the triumph of science.       

I Know Here

The little girl in this story lives in a trailer near a forest where her father is building a dam. Everything in her world is familiar and precious to her. But the family is moving to the city, which the little girl knows only as a place marked by a big red star on the map at school. The teacher suggests that she draw something that she wants to remember to take away with her when she leaves, and the little girl decides to draw what she knows — her road and everything her world contains — so that she can keep it with her always.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 2

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

This lavishly illustrated book brings Gordon Lightfoot’s heart-stirring song to readers. Commissioned by the CBC in 1967 to mark Canada’s centennial year it eloquently describes the construction of the transcontinental railway, a great feat of nation building that changed Canada forever. Award-winning illustrator Ian Wallace brings the song to visual life with his sweeping landscapes and evocative portrayals of the people who lived the building of the railroad. The book includes Gordon Lightfoot’s music and lyrics, a brief history of the railroad and notes on the illustrations.

In Front of My House

A whimsical celebration of a child’s imagination and all the places it can travel. Filled with inventive twists, this charming circular story begins and ends in a tidy front yard, but in between winds its way through the wilds of a magical reality.

The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy

An alcoholic mother, a distracted father, a best friend who spends all his time with his new “girlfriend,” and three relentless schoolyard bullies: Prinny Murphy’s past, present, and future certainly are “tense.” Adding to her misery, she still can’t read well enough to escape from remedial lessons with the dour Mrs. Dooks. But when a kindly substitute teacher introduces her to LaVaughn’s inner-city world in the free verse novel, Make Lemonade, Prinny discovers that life can be full of possibilities – and poetry.  

Aloha Is…

Learn the various meanings of the word “aloha” while enjoying the beautiful illustrations and sing-song rhymes that grace the pages of “Aloha is…” A delightful and playful look at our island home and what it means to live aloha each day. Beginning reader book: 2 to 7 years of age.