Materials from Europe
Sam’s big brother Ben is going away on a school trip for an entire week and Sam is thrilled: for one whole week he can play with all the toys and have the whole bedroom to himself. What’s more, he certainly won’t be getting squirted by Ben’s water pistol. But it’s too quiet without Ben, so Sam writes his brother to say he “very really” misses him.
Ireland, 1984. After Shell’s mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning, and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, who is charming, eloquent and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.
Owen has always been different, and not only because his father committed suicide, but he is not prepared for the knowledge that he has a mission to help the Wakeful–the custodians of time–to stop the Harsh from reversing the flow of time.
Little Roo and his friends usually have a great time playing together, but not today. They are too busy making fun of each other. When everyone is left in bad moods, Little Roo’s wise mother comes up with an idea that might just help the threesome make amends.
Portocristo has clear skies, sandy beaches, bustling streets–and a spoiled rotten, six-year-old king. The little despot is grouchy, whiny, outrageous…everything you’d hate to find in a boy on a throne. But here in Portocristo, anything he says goes, no matter how bizarre or harebrained. Young King Ethelbert swaps his country’s kids for Ethelbert robots, tests his bodyguard’s mettle by putting a price on his own head, shrinks the world down to his size, and brings a dinosaur back from the past. A graphic novel, originally published in France.
Persephone Hadley is six months pregnant with a mixed-race baby.In their society this fact alone will threaten the child’s life every day. To make matters worse, the baby’s father, Callum, is dead. He was hanged for terrorism months ago, but his presence still torments Sephy. And she’s not alone. Callum’s brother, Jude, blames Sephy for the death, and thirsts for revenge in the form of her life. Obviously, Sephy is not fond of Jude, but when his actions take him to the brink of disaster, his life poised on a knife edge.
In this sweet, touching story, a mother tries to choose a time to tell her little girl how much she loves her. Over the course of a beautiful day at the seaside, the two roam over sandy beaches and grassy hills as the mother searches for just the right time and spot.
It’s June A.D. 80. Everyone is thinking about love at the lavish Villa Limona, where friends Flavia, Jonathan, Lupus, and Nubia have come to visit for the summer. But their host suspects that there’s a poisoner among the houseguests, and the friends are asked to investigate.
One ordinary Monday morning in May, Hilmer Eriksson walks into his high school classroom and discovers that he has become invisible. No one can see him, no one can hear him. In fact, a police detective named Harald Fors arrives at school that very morning to investigate Hilmer’s disappearance. The boy has no idea what’s going on, but he’s frightened, and he’s starting to forget things – including what happened to him a few nights earlier. Detective Fors suspects foul play, and those suspicions lead him – trailed by the ghostlike presence of Hilmer – to a group of skinheads. These unpopular, disaffected kids are vocal about their Nazi sympathies. But how does Hilmer’s life intersect with theirs? As Fors scours the village and interviews area residents for clues, he begins to piece together the puzzle of Hilmer’s disappearance. Meanwhile Hilmer waits, silently, to discover what has happened to him.
It’s Baby Rooster’s job to wake everybody up in the morning, but there’s just one problem—he doesn’t know how! The pigs and cows and ducks all try to help, but nothing seems to work. Luckily, the wise old owl comes to the rescue.