independence

The White Bicycle

The White Bicycle is the third stand-alone title in the Wild Orchid series about a young woman with Asperger’s Syndrome. This installment chronicles Taylor Jane’s travels to the south of France where she spends a summer babysitting for the Phoenix family. Including flashbacks into Taylor’s earliest memories, along with immediate scenes in Lourmarin, a picturesque village in the Luberon Valley, The White Bicycle results in a journey for independence both personal and universal, told in Taylor’s honest first-person prose.

Shoes from Grandpa

Jessie, an active girl of nine or so, is growing out of her clothes, and all of the members of her large and loving family get carried away in their eagerness to provide her with a new wardrobe. As each of Jessie’s relatives gets into the act, the rhythmic cumulative tale builds momentum. Finally she tactfully speaks her mind: ‘You’re all so kind that I hate to be mean, but please, would one of you buy me some jeans?’ Youngsters will enjoy seeing Jessie’s free spirit gently triumph.

Vasalisa and Her Magic Doll

A retelling of the old Russian fairy tale in which beautiful Vasalisa uses the help of her doll to escape from the clutches of the witch Baba Yaga.

My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood

Relates events in the childhood of architect Secundino Fernandez, who left his beloved Havana, Cuba, with his parents, first to spend a year in Spain, and later to move to New York City.

My Little Polar Bear

A polar bear reassures a cub by describing what a polar bear is and does, and promising to lovingly teach such necessary skills as hunting and walking securely on ice.

Berkeley’s Barn Owl Dance

This is a lyrical and reassuring story about growing up and leaving the barn to dance on one’s own. At the biggest barn owl dance of the year, the Leave the Nest Fall Fest, keen dancer Berkeley shines as usual. Next moonrise, however, she and her fellow fledglings Bo and Bree must leave home. Though Berkeley is frightened, the winking, smiling, laughing moon lights her way. After thousands of silent wingbeats, she finds a new audience, and Flippity, Tappity, Clap Clap Clap, Berkeley’s new barn dance begins. Berkeley’s Barn Owl Dance ushers children into an unseen animal world, while the young owl’s journey will help them prepare to spread their wings and fly on their own.

Hold My Hand and Run

When the beatings she receives from cruel Aunt Latimer get worse, Kazy decides to run away from home and take her little sister, Beth, with her. Although the country roads of seventeenth-century England are full of obvious and hidden dangers for two young girls, she has no choice–Beth has become a frightened shadow of her lively self. Kazy is determined to save her. The girls travel for a time with seemingly kind tinkers who soon betray them in exchange for reward money. Quick-thinking Kazy has the courage to keep going, but when Beth becomes seriously ill, Kazy faces disaster. She is desperate to do the right thing. But once you’ve run away, it’s impossible to go back…isn’t it?Margaret McAllister has created a thrilling tale that combines the suspense of The Perilous Gard with the kind of historical adventure loved by readers of The Midwife’s Apprentice. Filled with narrow escapes, hardships, and discomforts, this book also celebrates the joy of independence, the unexpected kindness of strangers, and the deep satisfaction that comes from relying on oneself.

Flight to Freedom

In Flight to Freedom, Anna Veciana-Suarez brings us Yara, an eighth-grader who lives in a middle-class neighborhood of 1967 Havana, Cuba. Her parents, who do not share the political beliefs of the Communist party, finally are forces to flee Cuba with their children to Miami, Florida. There, Yara records in her diary the difficulties she encounters in a strange land with foreign customs. She must learn English and go to school with new children. Her parents also adjust to the new country differently, and Yara’s father grows frustrated with her mother when she becomes more independent.