A fictional account of the experiences of Jim Jarvis, a young orphan who escapes the workhouse in 1860’s London and survives brutal treatment and desparate circumstances until he is taken in by Dr. Barnardo, founder of a school for the city’s “ragged” children.
Europe
Materials from Europe
The Suitcase Kid
Shuffling back and forth between her parents’ new homes, Andy struggles to fit in with stepparents and five stepsiblings while wishing she could have her old family back.”
The Love of Friends
A teenage girl finds friendship challenging on an emotion-filled journey to Scotland. Instead of exploring London on her first visit from Massachusetts, 16-year-old Charlotte travels to the north of Scotland with 18-year-old Oliver in this deeply moving novel.
Anne Frank and Me
The successful play is now a gripping novel. Knocked unconscious after explosions ring out during a field trip to an Anne Frank exhibit, boy-crazy Nicole Burns wakes to find herself living a parallel life as a Jew in 1942 Paris. This Nicole is dating the boy of her present-day dreams, but living under the Nazis gradually becomes a nightmare. Her family survives the Nazi occupation with the help of friends, but when her father is exposed as a resistant, their fate takes a dire turn. The shifts in Nicole’s lives — from a carefree, sophisticated Parisian girl to a wretch riding in a cattle car with Anne Frank; from a modern girl focused only on the drama of her high school life to a thoughtful observer of the potential of everyday injustices — will engage teens and change their views of history found in books and the history we’re making today.
Storm: The Black Sphere
Six of the world’s leading scientists were at work on a top-secret assignment—Project FIREball. Now five of them are dead, and one is on the run. He carries with him plans for a world-changing technology—one the CIA, MI6, and a ruthless megalomaniac will stop at nothing to obtain. Will, Andrew, and Gaia, the teen geniuses of STORM, join the high-stakes manhunt, racing to the Swiss Alps and into mortal danger, as they enter the heart of the Black Sphere. Armed robotic eagles, laser-fi ring Frisbees, hightech surveillance roaches—STORM is back in their third high-speed, high-adrenaline adventure. E. L. Young, science journalist and master of suspense, bases all the science, technology, and gadgets in this story on real-life research, patents, and inventions.
Legend Of Orpheus And Eurydice
Orpheus, a brave musician who is dearly loved by the gods and admired by all of humankind, attempts to use the power of song to rescue his beautiful wife, Eurydice, from the Underworld after she dies from a serpent bite on their wedding day. When Orpheus finally reaches the center of the Underworld, Hades relents to his beautiful music and agrees to set Eurydice free. However, he tells Orpheus that he must not look back at his wife as he leads her to the surface. Just before the couple reaches the upper world, Orpheus cannot help but look back at Eurydice, and he therefore loses her forever.
Gangsta Rap
School, what school? My name is X-Ray-X So be careful how you flex I used to freestyle in me bedroom But me daddy got me vex The teacher kicked me out of the classroom Now I’m rapping in The Rex.
Ray has trouble at home and trouble at school. It’s the last straw for everyone when Ray and his friends Prem and Tyrone are permanently suspended. But they know what they want, more than most, perhaps. Their headmaster decides to give them a second chance, a chance to live their dream of forming a rap group. Through a specialized social program, the boys are taught the business of the music industry, what it takes to record an album, and how to lay down a track. Within weeks they have become the Positive Negatives, and within a few months they have signed a record deal and are on their way to the top. But their dream soon becomes a nightmare as violence escalates around them. Suddenly, not only their careers but their very lives are at stake. The Positive Negatives are determined to prove that you don’t need to be a gangster to be a great rapper.
Teen’s Top 10 (Awards)
Granny Was a Buffer Girl
Eighteen-year-old Jess is leaving for college–and she’d like to leave her family behind. But when the family gathers to bid Jess farewell, they begin to tell stories. And each story binds them closer to Jess’s heart. A novel which celebrates the continuity of life and the importance of family, sure to appeal to a wide audience.
You’ve Got Blackmail
Lozzie Cracknell is a girl on the edge. Her parents have recently separated; she forgot to mail the invitations to her mum’s super-important client party; the school bully is out to get her following an unfortunate e-mail incident involving Photoshop and a picture of a horse’s behind; and now it looks like Mum might be dating her English teacher, the utterly loathsome Mr. Hilary Barnett. Just when she’s got about as much stress as she can handle, Lozzie and her best mate Dex stumble upon a tantalizing mystery—it seems Mr. Barnett is being blackmailed. But who on earth would blackmail a bore like him, and why? As they delve deeper into the mystery, questions pile on top of questions, and the one thing that does become clear is that danger can lurk in totally unexpected places . . . Packed with irresistibly quirky characters, startling twists, and laugh-out-loud humor, this breathlessly paced comic mystery is all but impossible to put down.
Olly And Me 123
A renowned picture book creator makes learning numbers a breeze by weaving them into the familiar scenes of a young child’s world. One is me, Katie. Here I am, all by myself. But I’m not by myself for long. Katie and her baby brother, Olly, make two, which is a good thing when they want to play hide-and-seek. Like every young child, Katie has plenty of things to count, like a friend’s four kittens, six guests at a tea party, or ten people on a crowded bus. Shirley Hughes’s sure, simple language and beguiling, realistic illustrations add up to a gentle story that easily builds preschoolers’ familiarity with numbers.