Americas

Materials from the Americas

Walking On Glass

Your mother’s suicide attempt has left her in a coma from which she’s never waking up. You know that she wouldn’t want to live like this, but could you really help her die? Here you are, making the hardest decision of your life and there’s no one to help you: Your father has disappeared into depression. Your best friend is becoming someone you no longer want to know. There is a girl who could help, maybe, if you’d let her. But in the end, it’s all up to you.

A free-verse novel from debut author Alma Fullerton plunges deep inside the psyche of a young man faced with a life-and-death decision.

Starclimber

Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos. Before they even set foot aboard the ship, catastrophe strikes: Kate announces she is engaged—and not to Matt. Despite this bombshell, Matt and Kate embark on their journey into space, but soon the ship is surrounded by strange and unsettling life-forms, and the crew is forced to combat devastating mechanical failure. For Matt, Kate, and the entire crew of the Starclimber, what began as an exciting race to the stars has now turned into a battle to save their lives. Award-winning and bestselling author Kenneth Oppel brings us back to a rich world of flight and fantasy in this breathtaking new sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker.

Guttersnipe

Early in the twentieth century, ten-year-old Ben and his family live in the poorest part of their city with other Jewish immigrants. There is never enough money to make ends meet, so Ben, determined to do his part, lands a job delivering hat linings to a hat factory after school. He sets out on his boss’s bicycle feeling strong and free, and has a grand time until, on his way up Hill Street, he gets a harsh comeuppance, one that hurts his body and threatens to destroy his dreams as well. Based on the experiences of the author’s father and illustrated in Emily Arnold McCully’s signature style, this book celebrates a boy who nearly loses hope, but then learns that the future shines bright and full of second chances.

Operation Siberian Crane: The Story Behind the International Efforts to Save an Amazing Bird

This book describes the cooperative effort by scientists in the Soviet Union and the United States to save the Siberian crane, with the support and aid of conservationists from other nations.

The Cuckoo’s Child

Eleven-year-old Mia refuses to believe that her parents are not coming back after they are reported lost at sea. In 1962, Mia’s parents suddenly disappear while sailing off the coast of Greece. Mia and her two sisters are returned to the United States to the custody of her aunt they barely know. Mia wishes for a regular American life and spends a summer in her aunt’s Tennessee home, waiting for news of her parents. By summer’s end, Mia gradually understands why her mother left her and how she disrupted her aunt’s life.

The Dandelion Garden

Ten stories that follow themes of life changes includes a girl discovery a painful secret about an older brother, a girl who falls in love with an older man, a character who realizes human potential, and more. By the author of The Leaving.

In Spite Of Killer Bees

In Spite of Killer Bees is a novel about not giving in and not giving up. Aggie and her two sisters have had to move to the small village that had been their father’s childhood home. Their mother is long gone, and their father – who’d been in and out of prison – has died. Although the village holds little charm for the girls, they have hopes. It seems that their late grandfather has made them heiresses.In the small, judgmental village, Aggie must fight to keep her diminishing family together. By refusing to abandon those she loves and comes to love, she risks more than her happiness.

Big and Small, Room for All

A captivating look at how a child, fits into the great, big universe around us. “Big sky, big sky, what is bigger than the sky? ”In this clever concept book for young readers, award-winning author Jo Ellen Bogart explores the size of animate and inanimate objects and their place in the universe. She introduces children to the concept of “we” — that humans are a big part of the world, but a small part of existence. In the vastness of the universe, with galaxies swirling through space, the book begins with simple words printed on the darkness. Moving closer to our world, we see the solar system, our sun at the center. Closer still, we see the huge ball of fire, which is the sun, and the third planet out from it — our blue Earth. From Earth looming huge on the page, young readers view smaller and smaller objects, from mountain to tree to man to child to kitten to mouse to flea to microscopic beings, amazing in their complexity. Accompanied by artist Gillian Newland’s lavish watercolor paintings, Big and Small, Room for All places the immensity and wonder of space in perspective so young readers comprehend they are part of creation, but a small part of all that exists.

Yum Yum!: What Fun!

Creak, crack, creak, crack. There’s a mysterious noise in the house, but Katie and James and their little dog, Harry, are too busy cooking up something delicious to notice. Crash! Bash! Crash! Bash! Everyone heard that noise! What could it be? Katie and James and their little dog, Harry, are happy to share their snacks with anyone who drops by . . . but what if this boisterous surprise guest wants to snack on them instead? Yum, Yum!