Europe

Materials from Europe

Believing Is Seeing: Seven Stories

Here are seven tales — seven doorways to bizarre, yet strangely familiar worlds — to transport one and all. In these worlds are a child born to an ordered society but preordained to spread Dissolution; a girl who so loves the sun that she renounces her humanity for eternity; a cat and a boy, held captive by an evil magician until they can find a bigger magic of their own; a woman imprisoned in a strange country dominated by three ravenous wolves; and many other characters and stories just as exceptional.

Butterfingers

PRINCESS BELLA HAS been snatched from her secret garden by a terrifying monster, leaving behind nothing but a glittering golden ball. Not even the bravest knights in the kingdom can save her from the huge, dark, firebreathing creature with enormous wings, a great swishing tail, and deadly claws. But clumsy Ned, the stable boy, is determined to succeed where the gallant knights have failed. Can he defeat the dragon and get the girl? Or will he let the chance to become a hero slip through his butterfingers?

The Secret World of Hildegard

Hildegard was a scientist. She studied plants and made medicines. Hildegard was a musician. She wrote hymns and sang harmonies. Hildegard was a writer. She spoke to priests and popes and the people. But before all of that, Hildegard was a girl with a secret world. Flames danced. Flowers blossomed. God said, “Write what you see.” And she could only become all she was when she let her light shine.

 

 

Eye of the Crow: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His First Case

Sherlock Holmes, just thirteen, is a misfit. His highborn mother is the daughter of an aristocratic family, his father a poor Jew. Their marriage flouts tradition and makes them social pariahs in the London of the 1860s; and their son, Sherlock, bears the burden of their rebellion. Friendless, bullied at school, he belongs nowhere and has only his wits to help him make his way.But what wits they are! His keen powers of observation are already apparent, though he is still a boy. He loves to amuse himself by constructing histories from the smallest detail for everyone he meets. Partly for fun, he focuses his attention on a sensational murder to see if he can solve it. But his game turns deadly serious when he finds himself the accused — and in London, they hang boys of thirteen. Shane Peacock has created a boy who bears all the seeds of the character who has mesmerized millions: the relentless eye, the sense of justice, and the complex ego. The boy Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating character who is sure to become a fast favorite with young readers everywhere.

Tell Me Lies

It is 1969, and Stephen meets up with old friend Astrid and her lover Spencer, and stays with them in the hippy household “The Hollies.” Peace and love are tangible, until his passionate attraction for another girl in the household goes sour. He drifts into the radical arts scene and far-left politics, and finally into a squalid squat in London. A return to the idyllic “The Hollies” seems a good idea, but now the house has become a commune, and Spencer is the guru.

First Light

Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland, where his father studies global warming. Peter will get to skip school, drive a dogsled, and–finally–share in his dad’s adventures. But on the ice cap, Peter struggles to understand a series of visions that both frighten and entice him. Thea has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world they’ve built deep inside the arctic ice. As Thea dreams of a path to Earth’s surface, Peter’s search for answers brings him ever closer to her hidden home.

Into The Woods

Storm, Aurora, and Anything Eden live in a decaying mansion on the edge of the wilds with their erstwhile father and indolent mother. When an accident leaves them orphaned and at the mercy of the sinister Dr. DeWilde, these three courageous and eccentric sisters are forced to flee into the woods, where they encounter kidnappers, sweet-filled orphanages, mountains of ice, diamond mines, and some ravenously hungry wolves. This fantasy incorporates numerous fairytales and weaves them into a wholly original story of imaginative happenings and dastardly deeds.

Hedgehog, Pig, and the Sweet Little Friend

It’s a quiet evening at Hedgehog’s house, until there’s a squeak at the gate. Someone’s outside who wants to come in. It’s dark and the hour is late. It’s someone who’s lost and wants to go home, someone who can’t find the way. “Come in,” invites Hedgehog, “come in and sit down. Tomorrow will be a new day.”