After the Great Bellini teaches young Mirette to walk the high wire, she uses her talent to free him from prison, and both resolve to help others become free.
Starring Mirette and Bellini
Europe
Materials from Europe
Run, Dog!
Wherever a buoyant red ball goes, a dog follows close behind, running, jumping, and wreaking delightful havoc in its wake. The ball and the dog enter each new scene.
Marco Polo
Marco Polo’s travels are recorded in a diary and scrapbook such as the great explorer might have kept.
Catherine, Called Birdy
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.
Boxes For Katje
After a young Dutch girl writes to her new American friend in thanks for the care package sent after World War II, she begins to receive increasingly larger boxes.
The Thief Lord
Escaping the aunt who wants to adopt only one of them, two orphaned brothers run away from Hamburg to Venice, finding shelter with a gang of street children and their leader, the thirteen-year-old “Thief Lord,” while also eluding the detective hired to return them to Germany.
There’s A Hole In My Bucket
A retelling of a German folksong about a bear unable to water his flowers because every attempt to repair the hole in his bucket only leads to further problems.
Oliver
Paper-over-board novelty book with ribbon that shows Oliver the egg on one side and Oliver the chick on the other in penultimate spread. “Oliver was an egg. There was nothing he could do about it. He could roll to one side. He could roll to the other. He could even stand on his head. But he was simply an egg and that was that. Until one day, everything changed because miracles happen.”
A Gift From The Sea
Unaware of its eons-old history, a boy finds a rock and takes it home to a shelf beside his sea glass and starfish.
The Family Romanov
Here is the riveting story of the Russian Revolution as it unfolded. When Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II, inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. With their four daughters (including Anastasia) and only son, a hemophiliac, Nicholas and his reclusive wife, Alexandra, buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew. Deftly maneuvering between the lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia’s peasants—and their eventual uprising—Fleming offers up a fascinating portrait, complete with inserts featuring period photographs and compelling primary-source material that brings it all to life. History doesn’t get more interesting than the story of the Romanovs.
Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 2.