Materials from Europe
Otto is an otter who can do many things. But there’s one thing he can’t do: swim. Little by little, and with a some help from his big sister, Otto gets the courage–and the practice– to splash and tumble in the water with his friends.
The story and illustrations will encourage kids, showing them that if they take it step-by-step, any new skill is within their reach!
IT’S A MAGICAL world if you know where to look. . . .For 10-year-old Morag, that magical world is no farther than the cellar of her cruel foster parents’ home. That’s where she’s shocked to meet Aldiss, a talking rat, and his resourceful companion, Bertie the dodo bird. Morag jumps at the chance to escape a life of drudgery and join them on their quest to save their homeland from an evil warlock named Devlish, who is intent on destroying it. But first, Bertie and Aldiss will need to stop bickering long enough to free the only guide who knows where to find Devlish: Shona, a dragon who’s been turned to stone. Together, these four friends begin their journey to a mysterious island beyond the horizon, where danger and glory await—along with clues to the disappearance of Morag’s parents, whose destiny seems somehow linked to her own.
An innocent summer holiday turns out to be anything but for Athene and her younger brother, Zach, when they find themselves caught up in a skirmish between two groups of gnome-like creatures: The Humble Gloam live above ground and get along with humans; the Low Gloam live below ground and despise everyone. But when Zach stumbles into Low Gloam territory, Athene disguises herself to rescue him—and discovers a secret that could bring the two Gloam tribes together—if it doesn’t tear them apart, first.
When Holland was under Nazi rule, the Dutch lived extremely harsh lives. Thousands were in hiding, especially Jews who had managed to escape transport to the death camps. Frans Braal and his wife Mies took in anyone in need of help — Jews, children whose parents could no longer look after them, resistance fighters, and people who were starving — providing them with a temporary home. Twice their place was searched by the Nazis, and on both occasions they managed to hide everyone in time. Told through the eyes of a child, this is the story of the Braals, two people who willingly put themselves in great danger in order to save the lives of those less fortunate. Throughout, sidebars provide further information about Dutch resistance workers and traitors, Dutch Jews, bombing missions, false identity cards, the war, and more.
Many things happen in the life of a car: it’s built, sold, driven, washed . . . sometimes it even crashes! In this book, preschoolers see all of these events, and in the end learn that an old car can even be recycled to start anew. Each two-page spread focuses on a certain stage in a car’s existence. Susan Steggall’s brightly colored collage art will attract all automobile lovers and invite them in for a fun look at the life of a car.
Set in Talia, a parallel-world version of Italy, the Stravaganza series combines Renaissance court intrigue with time travel, subterfuge, romance, and revenge. In this new story arc, we meet Matt, a painfully dyslexic and insecure boy (despite a beautiful and clever girlfriend!). Matt has just discovered that he is a Stravagante – someone capable of traveling between two worlds. A leather-bound book transports Matt from our world to Talia, where he meets Luciano. Luciano has killed the head of the powerful di Chimici family in a duel, and has gone into hiding. The di Chimici are on the verge of making a terrifying breakthrough into our world, and it will fall to Matt, Luciano, and the other Stravaganti to stop them.
Twelve-year-old Mosca Mye hasn’t got much. Her cruel uncle keeps her locked up in his mill, and her only friend is her pet goose, Saracen, who’ll bite anything that crosses his path. But she does have one small, rare thing: the ability to read. She doesn’t know it yet, but in a world where books are dangerous things, this gift will change her life. Enter Eponymous Clent, a smooth-talking con man who seems to love words nearly as much as Mosca herself. Soon Mosca and Clent are living a life of deceit and danger — discovering secret societies, following shady characters onto floating coffeehouses, and entangling themselves with crazed dukes and double-crossing racketeers. It would be exactly the kind of tale Mosca has always longed to take part in, until she learns that her one true love — words — may be the death of her.Fly by Night is astonishingly original, a grand feat of the imagination from a masterful new storyteller.
The Dane as never seen before — in a daring, dazzling, sexy prose retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy by best-selling author John Marsden.Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, but Hamlet can’t be sure what’s causing the stench. His rage at his mother’s infidelities — together with his greed for the sensual Ophelia and his dead father’s call to revenge a “murder most foul” — have his mind in chaos, and he wants to scatter his traitorous uncle’s insides across the fields. But was it really his father’s ghost that night on the ramparts, or a hell-fiend sent to trick him? “Action is hot,” he tells Ophelia, who lives shut up in a tower with her longings and lust. “Action is courage, and reflection is cowardly. Picking up the knife has the colors of truth. As soon as I hesitate. . . .” In this dark, erotically charged, beautifully crafted novel, John Marsden brings one of Shakespeare’s most riveting characters to full-blooded life in a narrative of intense psychological complexity.
The Pied Piper had his reasons for enchanting the children of Hamelin and stealing them away—ones rooted in a deep history of wild magic. Mari and her brother Jakob are among the children who followed the piper’s song, and they are now trapped in a beautiful but cruel world inhabited by a horrid Beast. They must remain there until he finds the right child, the chosen one, who can lift his century old curse. But the price of breaking the curse is a terrible one. This fast-paced, richly fantastical continuation of a familiar tale is a powerful story of a family torn apart by tragedy, and the magical adventure that heals them.
Madeleine must work in her horrible Uncle Lard’s restaurant, The Squealing Pig, every summer. Though a fairly good cook herself, Madeleine is only allowed to wash dishes and stay out of the way. But one evening while on an errand for the chef, her luck changes. As she wanders through the streets of Paris, she happens upon a tiny shop. Not just any shop, but Edibles owned by Madame Pamplemousse. When Uncle Lard learns of the extraordinary and delicious ingredients brewing in Madame Pamplemousse’s kitchen, he decides to steal her recipes and he’ll use his niece to do it. Lucky for Madeleine, Madame Pamplemousse may not be the only chef capable of culinary magic….