Africa Is My Home

“Sarah Margru Kinson, as she came to be known, was only nine years old when she was taken from her home in Africa and brought to Cuba, where she and fifty-two other captives, including three other children, were sold and taken aboard the Amistad. The Africans revolted and took over the ship, but were later captured and put on trial, a trial that went all way to the Supreme Court and was argued in the Africans’ favor by John Quincy Adams, allowing them to return home to Africa. Here is that extraordinary story as told by one of those children. A fictionalized account.”–Jacket flap.

Pride of Baghdad

A graphic novel looks at life on the streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War, inspired by true events. In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during an American bombing raid. Lost and confused, hungry but finally free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets in a desperate struggle for their lives. Pride of Baghdad raises questions about the true meaning of liberation – can it be given, or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live life in captivity?

Paint the Wind

A photograph, a box filled with toy horses, and a fractured memory are all that Maya has left of her mother. Now, in Grandmother’s house in California, she lives like a captive, until a shocking event changes everything. A world away, in Wyoming, a wild Paint horse, called Artemisia, runs free. In a land where mountain lions and wranglers pose an ever-present threat, Artemisia must protect her new foal, until a devastating act separates them from their bond. Maya’s and Artemisia’s lives will ultimately intertwine. And together, they hold the key to each other’s survival.

Chee-Lin: A Giraffe’s Journey

Eighty years before Columbus, China sent ships to explore the world. The Chinese discovered many marvelous things, but one discovery stood out above the others: the chee-lin. This chee-lin was just a giraffe, but to the Chinese it was an omen of good fortune so rare that it had appeared only once before—at the birth of Confucius. In a storybook in which each page evokes the richness of far away places and long-ago days, James Rumford traces the chee-lin’s journey from Africa to Bengal to China, weaving a tale not just of a giraffe but of the people he meets along the way.

Homesick

This fictionalized autobiography tells the heartwarming story of a little girl growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying their childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest. Jean Fritz tells her captivating story of the difficulties of living in a unfamiliar country at a difficult time.

Aria

Aria is different from the other children in her village because she cannot speak. But Aria loves being with the birds around her jungle home — with them, she is free to be herself. When the village men begin to catch the birds to sell in their market-place, Aria moves out of the village to protect her friends. But then the villagers try to catch Aria. She flies away to freedom with the birds.