Europe

Materials from Europe

All Shining In The Spring

This child-centred book focuses on SIDS and helps children and families cope with the loss of a baby. Written by Ireland’s first Children’s Laureate.

Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women Of The Holocaust

Discover nine ordinary women who took extraordinary measures to save lives during the Holocaust, resisting terror and torture while undercover or in hiding, in concentration camps, in forests, and in exile.

The Secrets Of Cricket Karlsson

Eleven-year-old Cricket Karlsson is a warm and complex character with an artistic soul. Written as a diary, tween readers will fall in love with Cricket’s tough yet charming voice as she shares her secret thoughts about her best friend break-up, her Aunt’s breakdown and experimental chewing gum sculptures. Punkish and surprising comic-style illustrations perfectly compliment this coming of age story

The Woman Who Turned Children Into Birds

“Go on. Be happy. Off you fly!” A charming tale from a beloved storyteller and award-winning illustrator urges readers of all ages to take chances and find joy. Nanty Solo is new in town and claims she can turn children into birds. Terrified parents forbid the idea, but the children want to fly-they want it very much-and they do. One by one, they approach Nanty Solo. One by one, they are transformed until the sky over town teems with rooks and goldfinches, parakeets and sparrows. The adults take one look and cry, “Get out of that sky this very minute!” But the sight of their offspring-set free to soar, hope, and explore-soon has the grown-ups wondering what it might be like to have wings to fly and a beak to sing.

The lilting, dreamy tale, told in David Almond’s inimitable voice and playfully illustrated, assures us it’s never too late to say yes to life.

Ratty’s Big Adventure

“Ratty is an enormous rat who lives deep inside the crater of an extinct volcano nestled in the rain forest. One day, he spies a particularly delicious-looking fruit high in the treetops and sets out to reach it. From this high vantage point a spectacular view stretches before him-the world outside his mountain crater. In this big outside world, Ratty imagines, the fruit must be much sweeter, the bird songs more beautiful, and the other animals far more interesting and sophisticated. So he sets off in search of better things. But when is he is asked to attend a dinner party by a crocodile who seems just a bit too friendly, Ratty realizes that perhaps there is no place like home after all”–

Grandad’s Pink Trousers

The grandfather of our story isn’t like other grandparents. He wears pink trousers! And that’s not all that’s strange about him. People say that he’s a strange old codger altogether. Some even think that he’s grumpy. But as his grandson grows up, he comes to understand why Grandad does strange things like refusing to give up his silly trousers. The child reader of this thought-provoking story will learn that quiet heroism can be more effective than a thousand grand gestures.