Materials from Italy
Meet Decimus Rex, who has been kidnapped by slave-takers and taken to an arena in Rome. Decimus is intent on escaping from captivity, and knows he must outshine his fellow slaves and endure the trials set before him: crossing burning coals, hammers, spikes, and hand-to-hand combat. He never gives up his hope of escape . . . if he only knew that this is just the beginning of his troubles.
A brief account of the life and accomplishments of Christopher Columbus.
Eating onions every day and having their house filled with onions is too much for the husband whose wife insists they keep away evil spirits.
Alone in a meadow one day, Proserpina is happily gathering flowers for her mother when she spies a blossom more beautiful than any she has ever seen. Moments later, she is gone–kidnapped by Pluto, lord of the Underworld, who wants to make her his bride. Sorrowing, Cres wanders her domain, searching for her lost child. At last, in a burst of wrath, she vows to turn the earth into a wasteland unless Proserpina is returned to her.
Filomena is a seamstress who spends her days creating gorgeous wedding dresses for many lovely brides. And when it’s finally her turn to be the one to walk down the aisle, she can hardly contain herself. She gets right to work, putting her heart and soul into making her dress. But Filomena gets carried away. She adds so many frills, feathers and lace that her groom barely recognizes the girl he loves. Here Comes the Bride is a story about staying true to your inner beauty.
Every hundred years, four kids from four cities must save the world.Rome, December 29.A mix-up with their reservations forces Harvey from New York, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai to share a room with the hotel owner’s daughter, Elettra. The four kids discover an amazing coincidence—they all have birthdays on February 29, Leap Day. That night, a strange man gives them a briefcase and asks them to take care of it until he returns. Soon afterward, the man is murdered.The kids open the briefcase. In it they find a series of clues that take them all over Rome, through dusty libraries and dark catacombs, in search of the elusive Ring of Fire, an ancient object so powerful that legend says even a Roman emperor couldn’t control it.In the first book of the Century quartet, Italian author P. D. Baccalario begins a mystery that will take four cities and four extraordinary kids to solve.
A biography of Leonardo Fibonacci, the 12th century mathematician who discovered the numerical sequence named for him.
Italian twists are given on “Cinderella” and “The Three Little Pigs” in this enchanting reissue. B&W illustrations.
It’s a sad day when father decides the family can no longer care for Grandfather and he has to be taken to the home for old people on the other side of the hill. His four grandchildren are determined to keep their grandfather out of the home for old people, and it is up to the oldest, Prima, to convince Father, in a story based on a traditional Italian folktale.
Pinocchio has delighted audiences since the late nineteenth century. Now in Graham Philpot’s fresh and lively new version, this sophisticated tale has been simplified into a fast-paced, funny adventure that introduces young readers to the enormous appeal of the original.