Europe

Materials from Europe

Andre The Giant

Andre Roussimoff is known as both the lovable giant in The Princess Bride and a heroic pro-wrestling figure. He was a normal guy who’d been dealt an extraordinary hand in life. At his peak, he weighed 500 pounds and stood nearly seven and a half feet tall. But the huge stature that made his fame also signed his death warrant. Box Brown brings his great talents as a cartoonist and biographer to this phenomenal new graphic novel. Drawing from historical records about Andre’s life as well as a wealth of anecdotes from his colleagues in the wrestling world, including Hulk Hogan, and his film co-stars (Billy Crystal, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, etc), Brown has created in Andre the Giant, the first substantive biography of one of the twentieth century’s most recognizable figures.

The True Adventures Of Nicolo Zen

“Orphan Nicolo Zen is all alone in 1700s Venice, save for his clarinet, enchanted by a mysterious magician to allow its first player to perform expertly. Soon Nicolo is a famous virtuoso, wealthy beyond his dreams, but he can’t stop wondering if he earned the success — or the girl he met in Venice is safe from the harm”–

Dream Land

One girl’s struggle to find her true home. It was meant to be like coming home…All her life, Safi’s parents have dreamed of returning to Grandpa’s native village in Crimea. But exchanging their sunny Uzbekistan house for a squalid camp is more like a nightmare. Will the return to a country where no one welcomes them tear Safi’s family apart, or can this strange land ever become home? This is a compelling story about the Crimean Tatars’ struggle to reclaim the land from which they were exiled in the Second World War.

Egg & Spoon

Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been dead for years. One of her brothers has been conscripted into the Tsar’s army, the other taken as a servant in the house of the local landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in Saint Petersburg — a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena’s age. When the two girls’ lives collide, an adventure is set in motion, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and — in a starring role only Gregory Maguire could have conjured — Baba Yaga, witch of Russian folklore, in her ambulatory house perched on chicken legs.

Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly and Gravy (Book & CD)

You Can’t Catch Me and You Can’t Put Mustard in the Custard were first published 25 years ago and were groundbreaking collections of poems for children. You Can’t Catch Me won the Signal Poetry Award in 1982, and both books went on to become bestsellers. Combined here for the first time, the conversational and fun poetry from both these collections is fantastically matched by silly but perfectly detailed full-color illustrations. An audio CD is also provided so that children can listen to their favorite poems.

The Scarecrows’ Wedding

Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay are planning the best wedding the barnyard has ever seen. But when Harry sets off to fetch some flowers for his bride-to-be, the wicked scarecrow Reginald Rake tries to take his place.

Naughty Kitty

When Lily is finally allowed to have her very own kitten, strange things are afoot. Lily’s brand new, teeny-tiny Kitty shouldn’t be any trouble at all, but as soon as Lily leaves Kitty alone, hilarious hijinks are always around the corner. Kitty ruins the kitchen, Kitty ruins the den. And we won’t talk about what Kitty did to the rug. A loveable story that will have kids laughing out loud.

Hello, Moon!

The boy asks the moon if it enjoys some of his favorite activities–and they share in some, like pretending to be pirates, together. But then the boy starts to think big. Can the moon see the city? Can the moon see the whole wide world? What are the moon’s friends like? Soon the boy grows tired, says good night to the moon, and falls asleep.

The Feather-Bed Journey

As she tries to repair a torn feather pillow, Grandma tells about her childhood in Poland, about the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II, and about the origin of this special pillow.