Americas

Materials from the Americas

The Boy In The Burning House

Two years after his father’s mysterious disappearance, Jim Hawkins is coping — barely. Underneath, he’s frozen in uncertainty and grief. What did happen to his father? Is he dead or just gone? Then Jim meets Ruth Rose. Moody, provocative, she’s the bad-girl stepdaughter of Father Fisher, Jim’s father’s childhood friend and the town pastor, and she shocks Jim out of his stupor when she tells him her stepfather is a murderer. “Don’t you want to know who he murdered?” she asks. Jim doesn’t. Ruth Rose is clearly crazy — a sixteen-year-old misfit. Yet something about her fierce conviction pierces Jim’s shell. He begins to burn with a desire for the truth, until it becomes clear that it may be more unsettling than he can bear. What is the real meaning of the strange prayers Father Fisher intones behind the door of his private sanctuary? Why does Ruth Rose suddenly disappear? And what really happened thirty years ago when a boy died in a burning house?

The Lime Green Secret

Not every flower girl enjoys “her” wedding day quite the way Gloria does!Nothing has made Gloria happier than being chosen as flower girl for sister Fran’s wedding. Thrilled with her beautiful satin gown, long white gloves, shiny white shoes, lace socks, and sparkling tiara, Gloria dreams of donning her wedding finery and transforming herself. Hanging on a hook on her bedroom door, the dress glows “like a radiant angel.” When Gloria gives in to temptation and puts on the entire wedding outfit to entertain the dog, it leads to unpredictable and comical results. In this hilarious romp through the days leading up to the wedding, Gloria’s unstoppable desire to dress up in her flower-girl attire will appeal to any little girl whose fantasies pester her until she comes up with a creative way to fulfill them. Georgia Graham’s playful chalk pastel illustrations bring the antics in The Lime Green Secret magically to life.

Under the Ramadan Moon

Ramadan is one of the most special months of the Islamic year, when Muslims pray, fast, and help those in need. This story serves as an introduction to Ramadan.

Red Midnight

When guerrilla soldiers strike Santiago’s village, they shoot at everyone in their path. Dos Vías is on fire, and the night glows red. “Take the cayuco and sail to the United States of America. Now go!” Santiago’s uncle Ramos tells him, and Santiago, twelve, and his four-year-old sister, Angelina, flee.

With a map, a machete, and very little food, Santiago and Angelina set sail in their uncle Ramos’s sea kayak, built for just such an escape, but not for a sailor who is only a boy. Santiago heads for the United States on a voyage that will take them through narrow channels guarded by soldiers, shark, infested waters, and days of painful heat and raging storms. Santiago knows that he and Angelina probably will die trying to make the voyage, but they certainly will die at the hands of rebels or government soldiers if they do not try.

Would You

WOULD YOU RATHER know what’s going to happen or not know? A summer night. A Saturday. For Natalie’s amazing older sister, Claire, this summer is fantastic, because she’s zooming off to college in the fall. For Natalie, it’s a fun summer with her friends; nothing special. When Claire is hit by a car, the world changes in a heartbeat. Over the next four days, moment by moment, Natalie, her parents, and their friends wait to learn if Claire will ever recover.

Wildflower Girl

Thirteen-year-old Peggy O’Driscoll, left orphaned and homeless by the Great Famine of the 1840s, leaves Ireland to seek her fortune in America.

Same Same

Forget about differences! Here’s a wonderful new concept book to explore and enjoy!Marthe Jocelyn and Tom Slaughter team up again to deliver a delightfully simple book. Jocelyn’s marvelous concept — finding common characteristics in different creatures and objects — coupled with Slaughter’s masterful paper cuts makes Same Same a clever introduction to similarities, as well as a preface to modern art. The duo’s previous titles have received numerous awards worldwide; from Japan to Denmark, from France to Mexico. Fashioned in the traditional and stunning style of the pair’s past books, Same Same is a wonderful addition to their already impressive library.

1968

1968, the year America grew up from racial and gender equality fights to the struggle against the draft and the Vietnam war. In 1968 Americans asked questions and fought for their rights.  Now, 30 years later, we look back on that seminal year–from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assasination to the Columbia University riots to our changing role among other nations–in this gripping introduction to the events home and abroad.  The year we first took steps in space, the year we shaped the present, 1968 presented by a former New York Times writer who lived through it all, shares the story with detail.