Europe

Materials from Europe

The Wee Christmas Cabin

All her life Oona dreams of having a cabin of her own. Since she has no family, she moves from cabin to cabin, helping wherever there is trouble or need. But when the Great Famine comes and the last of the potatoes is eaten, Oona knows that no one will want another mouth to feed. On a snowy Christmas Eve, she bids a silent farewell to the village and sets out. Much to her surprise, the magic of a white Christmas awaits her, as do hundreds of fairies who have been keeping watch over Oona since the day she was born.

Where’s Tumpty?: A Tilly And Friends Book

Tumpty the elephant has his eyes tightly closed. What is he doing? He’s hiding, of course. But Tilly can still see him, even when he puts a cardboard box over his head or lies upside down behind a potted plant. All of Tumpty’s friends find his antics very funny . . . but wait! Where did Tumpty go?

Footprints On The Moon

Best-selling author Mark Haddon recalls his boyhood fascination with the moon and his pure wonder at witnessing the first lunar landing. Years ago, a little boy gazed at the moon, dizzy with the thought that he was looking at a world 200,000 miles away. As he read atlases and library books and kept clippings on astronauts orbiting the moon, he hoped and hoped that they would find a way to land there. And one extraordinary day they did, captured on his flickery TV, like giants bouncing in slow motion. When the boy fell asleep, he dreamed that he walked with them too. In this lyrical, transporting tale, Mark Haddon — the boy in the story — conveys the thrill of one moment in history through a child’s eyes, aided by Christian Birmingham’s evocative illustrations.

Moon Rabbit

Little Rabbit loves living in the city. She has a wonderful home. Her favorite café. A park to play in. But sometimes she is just a little lonely. And then one night, as the moon shines brightly, Little Rabbit meets and befriends Brown Rabbit, but soon she misses her home with its cafes and bright lights.

 

The Book of Jude

In 1989, when fifteen-year-old Jude’s mother wins a Fulbright fellowship to study art in Czechoslovakia, the family postpones a planned move to Utah to join her, but the political situation and the move itself are too much for Jude, who is overwhelmed by a previously undiagnosed psychological disorder.

The Illusion of the Epoch

Written nearly fifty years ago, at a time when the world was still wrestling with the concepts of Marx and Lenin, ‘The Illusion of the Epoch’ is the perfect resource for understanding the roots of Marxism-Leninism and its implications for philosophy, modern political thought, economics, and history. As Professor Tim Fuller has written, this “is not an intemperate book, but rather an effort at a sustained, scholarly argument against Marxian views.” Far from demonising his subject, Acton scrupulously notes where Marx’s account of historical and economic events and processes is essentially accurate. However, Acton also points out that Marx is generally right about things that were already widely known and accepted in his own time and indeed had been long understood in the nineteenth century. On the other hand, Acton shows that in many cases Marx either is simply wrong or has stated his views so as to render his theories immune to disproof. Acton also explains why the embodiment of Marxist-Leninist theory in an actual social order would require coercive support if it were not, sooner or later, to collapse of its own contradictions.

A Parcel of Patterns (Plus)

parcel“A parcel of patterns brought the plague to Eyam. A parcel sent up from London to George Vicars, a journeyman tailor, who was lodging with Mrs. Cooper in a cottage by the west end of the churchyard.

So begins Mall Percival’s account of how her village of Eyam struggled against the plague. George Vicars dies on September 6, 1665, and by the end of October, twenty-five more townsfolk have been buried. As the deaths continue, the villagers, including Mall, begin to panic–helpless to fight off the disease. Uncertain as to how it is contracted and passed from one person to another, Mall forces herself to make a sacrifice that radically changes her life–she decides to stops seeing Thomas Torre, a man from another village, the man she hopes to marry. In June of 1966, at their minister’s urging, the entire village makes a pact to protect those who live in the surrounding countryside by staying within the boundaries of Eyam. Although Mall longs to see Thomas, she remains steadfast in her resolution, until one day Thomas runs into the center of Eyam, knowing that he will not be allowed to leave, yet fearing that Mall has died. Mall and Thomas marry, but their happiness is short-lived. Finally, in October of 1666, the pestilence subsides. Mall, overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, decides to write a chronicle of all she has witnessed in Eyam, hoping that it will set her free.

Lucas

Caitlin is spending the summer on the windswept island that is her home. She is caught between girlhood and maturity, and feels utterly isolated from the rest of the world. Then she meets Lucas, who is the embodiment of freedom and honesty. She is instantly drawn to him. But Caitlin must also grapple with the darker forces that seem to be confronting her family. Lucas himself further complicates matters when he is hunted for an awful crime that Caitlin herself becomes involved in. This gripping story, which takes place over one incredible month, will captivate young adult readers.

The Patchwork People

Privileged, isolated Helena and impoverished, unemployed Hugh find some fulfillment in their love, but they are still trapped in this dismal Wales of the future — until they meet an unusual group of “patchwork people,” who are working carefully and thoughtfully with what remains of the Earth’s resources.