Explores the advanced civilization and unsolved mysteries of the Maya who reigned for over 2000 years and then disappeared.
Mystery of the Ancient Maya
Americas
Materials from the Americas
Elena’s Serenade
Who ever heard of a girl glassblower? In Mexico, where the sun is called el sol and the moon is called la luna, a little girl called Elena wants to blow into a long pipe… and make bottles appear, like magic. But girls can’t be glassblowers. Or can they? Join Elena on her fantastic journey to Monterrey — home of the great glassblowers! — in an enchanting story filled with magic realism.
Americas Award For Children’s And Young Adult Literature. Commended.
Chaska and the Golden Doll
Chaska wishes that she could learn to read and write, but the schoolhouse in her little village in the Andes Mountains is too small, and only the boys and older girls can attend. So she spends her days with Grandfather, who tells her stories about the proud Incas and their gold. Many years ago, the Incas lived in the same valley as Chaska’s village and made golden objects in honor of the Sun God, Papa Inti. A few still lie buried among the rocks and stones. One day, as Chaska is thinking about these stories, she finds a golden doll–real Inca idol.
Iguana Beach
Little Reina persuades her mother to let her go to the beach with her uncle and cousins, but she has to promise to not go near the waves. It becomes intolerable for her to keep that promise as her cousins frolic in the water–and then she finds a solution to her problem.
Necklace of Stars
Miguel was not lonely so much as he was curious. And, when he asked his father to tell him about the city beyond the mountains, he didn’t know what would happen. Now by the shore of the Emerald Lake he must choose between his world and another. High in the Andes, surrounded by giants, Miguel learns that even a boy can stand tall enough to reach the stars. Veronika Martenova Charles crafts a mystic tale, mixing dreams with reality, humility with grandeur, folk lore with history, and presents it with the clarity of a crisp mountain breeze.
Wilderness
A novel of mothers lost and found. Grainne’s Mom disappeared years ago when her parents were divorced, and Mom moved to the U.S. Now, bafflingly, she’s reappeared and wants to meet. To get out of the way of this mysterious reunion, Grainne’s half-brothers, Johnny and Tom, go with their mother, Sandra, on an “adventure holiday” in Finland. But before they’re more than a few days into the snowy north, the boys are separated from Sandra, taking impossible risks to save her life.
Manuela’s Gift
Manuela wants a new dress for her birthday, but times are hard and she is disappointed when she receives a hand-me-down instead.
Mcfig and Mcfly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge, and Death (with a Happy Ending)
From the unparalleled Henrik Drescher comes a wickedly funny story about the perils of runaway rivalry (with a happy ending). McFig lives with his daughter, Rosie, in a lovely little cottage far away from anywhere big and important. One day, McFly and his son, Anton, buy the land next door. At first McFig and McFly hit it off big-time and build McFly a cottage modeled exactly after McFig’s house. But then the two start to add things onto their houses — a medieval tower, a second-story playroom and soon McFig and McFly are in a lifelong competition to be bigger and better than each other.
The Mystery of the Martello Tower
Hazel and Ned are home for summer vacation and looking forward to long, lazy days of sleeping late, shooting hoops, building stink bombs, and spending time with their art-dealer father. But when he disappears without saying good-bye, their summer plunges into chaos. The babysitter leaves town, their apartment is burgled, and two menacing thugs start turning up everywhere. Ned and Hazel try escaping to an island castle belonging to long-lost relatives, only to find there’s no escaping this adventure. As the siblings work to untangle the threads that ensnare their father, they learn of a second, darker secret—one that surrounds their mother’s death years ago. Only by solving both mysteries can they bring their father home.
I Am A Taxi
For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Women’s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditional Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught in the middle of the government’s war on drugs. Diego’s parents are locked up, but he can come and go to school, to the market to sell his mother’s hand-knitted goods, and to work as a “taxi,” running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister runs away, earning his mother a heavy fine. The debt and dawning realization of his hopeless situation make him vulnerable to his friend Mando’s plan to make big money, fast. Soon, Diego is deep in the jungle, working as a virtual slave in an illegal cocaine operation. As his situation becomes more and more dangerous, he knows he must take a terrible risk if he ever wants to see his family again.