Europe

Materials from Europe

Run for Your Life

A talented young runner, Santino lives in Palermo, Sicily—a beautiful region of Italy that’s dominated by the Mafia. With Santino’s first communion approaching, his father and grandfather carry out a theft to pay for the party—but they steal from the wrong people. A young, cocky Mafioso summons them to a meeting, and they bring the boy. As Santino wanders off into the old abandoned neighborhood, he hears shots and runs back to see two armed men and his father and grandfather slumped over in the car. The boy barely escapes with his life. Now, he’s left with a choice: cooperate with police and be a “rat,” or maintain Omertà: the code of silence. Twelve-year-old Lucio lives in the northern Italian city of Livorno and dreams of sailing when not taking care of his his young sister, Ilaria, and his sick mother, who is convinced that a witch has cursed her. One day, Lucio’s mother goes missing and he receives a mysterious text: “Come to Palermo. Mamma is dying.” Panicked, Lucio grabs Ilaria and rushes to Sicily, where Lucio’s and Santino’s stories converge with explosive results.

The Fox on the Swing

Learn about family, happiness, and friendship in this hope-filled children’s book. Our story starts with a boy named Paul, who lives in a cozy treehouse in a big city with his family. And then something unexpected happens―Paul befriends a wise, friendly fox on a walk home from the bakery. The fox gives Paul a space to think about what makes him happy and what friendship means―all in the pages of a bright and quirky storybook. Join Paul and the fox while helping young readers decide what makes them happy. Illustrated in color throughout.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 3.

The Faithful Spy

Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the Bible with the Nazi Party’s evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler must be stopped by any means possible!

A Case For Buffy (Detective Gordon)

The final story in this big-hearted series takes on the most important case everinvestigated in Detective Gordon’s forest. Where is Buffy’s mother? Gordon faces his old nemesis, the fox, in an investigation that leads to the edges of the forest.

The Fox Girl And The White Gazelle

Reema runs to remember the life she left behind in Syria. Caylin runs to find what she’s lost. Under the gray Glasgow skies, twelve-year-old refugee Reema is struggling to find her place in a new country, with a new language and without her brother. But she isn’t the only one feeling lost. Her Glasgwegian neighbor Caylin is lonely and lashing out. When they discover an injured fox and her cubs hiding on their estate, the girls form a wary friendship. And they are more alike than they could have imagined: they both love to run. As Reema and Caylin learn to believe again, in themselves and in others, they find friendship, freedom and the discovery that home isn’t a place, it’s the people you love.

The Sound of Freedom

Life is becoming dangerous for the Jews of Krakow in 1936 with incidents of violence and persecution increasing day by day. Twelve-year-old Anna begs her father to leave Poland, but he is reluctant to give up his position as an acclaimed clarinetist in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. After barely escaping from an attack by a group of violent thugs, it becomes clear that the family must leave. Anna’s father auditions for the famous Bronislaw Huberman, a world renowned violinist, who is searching for Jewish musicians to play in a new orchestra in Palestine. This poignant story is based on real events in pre-war Poland and Palestine. After saving 700 Jews and their families, Bronislaw Huberman went on to establish what later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The House Of Lost And Found

Niles lives all alone in a big dirty house filled with memories of the people who used to live there. Then one day, a little boy appears on his doorstep and asks Niles to take care of his plant. Astonished, Niles takes the pot of dirt, and wonders what to do with it. As a seedling appears, Niles realizes how empty and lonely his house is and begins to care for the plant, his house and himself. By the time the little boy returns his flower has bloomed into a beautiful poppy and Niles, and his house, are filled with hope again.

Stories Of The Night

First, Little Bear hears the story of the Night Guardian, who lives in the woods and makes sure all animals go to bed. But who tells the Night Guardian when it’s bedtime? The second story is about the brave girl Zhara who seeks the forest’s most delicious blackberries. In the third we meet Bo, the little man with the big overcoat, who finds it hard to sleep. Finally, Little Bear falls asleep, and there in bed beside her are her new storybook friends.

Swallows Dance

Leira is about to start her initiation as a priestess when her world is turned upside down. A violent earthquake leaves her home – and her family – in pieces. And the earth goddess hasn’t finished with the island yet. With her family, Leira flees across the sea to Crete, expecting sanctuary. But a volcanic eruption throws the entire world into darkness. After the resulting tsunami, society descends into chaos; the status and privilege of being noble-born are reduced to nothing. With her injured mother and elderly nurse, Leira must find the strength and resourcefulness within herself to find safety.