Journey

Kaito’s Cloth

With the winter days approaching, young Kaito journeys to the Mountain of Dreams to watch her butterflies soar one last time. However, when she reaches her destination after an arduous three-day trek, she is too late. Her butterflies have died. “Weep no more,” says the Lord of Flight, creator of all butterflies. “Only the wings are stilled. Flight is eternal.” Kaito has an idea: She takes a silver needle and soft spider’s silk, and sews a pair of wings that take breath in the wind. With her kite, now everyone can enjoy the beauty of a butterfly’s flight all winter long.

In Kaito’s Cloth, Glenda Millard and Gaye Chapman offer an emotionally resonant and visually arresting story about the beauty of butterflies, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Around the World in 80 Tales

This illustrated book takes readers on a journey across six continents, with entertaining folktales from eighty different storytelling traditions. An excellent introduction to foreign countries, these beautifully told stories are perfect for reading aloud and encouraging children to learn about different cultures and other parts of the world.

Afrika

For thirteen-year-old Kim, travel to South Africa with her journalist mother will mark the end of her childhood and the beginning of a remarkable journey. Expecting nothing more than three months in her mother’s homeland, Kim comes to terms with the country’s diverse and often shocking history. The Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in post-apartheid South Africa open her eyes to the tragedy and brutality of its segregationist policies.

Kim’s first meeting with her relatives, her contact with schoolmates and cousins, bring her face-to-face with the realization that she is not as removed from this powerful story as she thought. As her mother struggles with her past, Kim becomes more and more determined to unlock the secret that has always kept her from knowing her father. Helped by the young son of a long-time family servant, whose own father was a casualty of Apartheid history, Kim eventually unlocks her mystery and brings her mother and herself to their own truth and reconciliation.

Letters from Rifka

In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.

The River

A river takes a long and winding path on its way to the ocean. It begins as a humble trickle high in the moutains, and flows through a plethora of landscapes as it grows bigger. Here we witness this journey from the point of view of five little pinecones, who ride the current to find new homes. Along the way, they encounter a woodsy stream, a rushing waterfall, a marshy fork and a big-city delta. One by one, they choose to stop and stay in a particular spot, leaving the rest to continue the trip. Finally, one lone pinecone drifts out to sea, and washes up on another shore, where he begins to sprout. Perfect for introducing young children to ecology and geography, this book brings an original point of view to a little-studied subject.

The Mutiny On The Bounty

Life sailing with the Royal Navy in the 1780’s was particularly miserable: sailors slept in crowded hammocks, ate moldy cheese and maggoty bread, and were subject to very harsh discipline.  So when the HMS Bounty arrived in Tahiti after 11 months at sea, the crew of the Bounty thought it was heaven on earth. Living on the island paradise made them lazy and careless.  As the return journey began, Captain Bligh’s crew proved reluctant to leave. His temper began to flare, and his second-in-command and old friend Fletcher Christian suffered the worst of Bligh’s outbursts. His honor at stake and a longing to return to the island, Christian led a mutiny, then set Bligh and 18 loyal crew members adrift in a launch.   A daring escape by Christian and the mutineers, paired with Bligh’s amazing story of survival all make up one of history’s most rousing true maritime tales.  Patrick O’Brien’s 85 illustrations reach epic proportions of drama and realism.

The Shadowmancer Returns: The Curse Of Salamander Street

Sequel to Shadowmancer. Kate and Thomas have barely escaped the evil sorcerer Demurral, and are sailing to London to make a fresh start. But someone knows they are coming, and is lying in wait to lure them into the darkest heart of the city. Meanwhile, Raphah, who has had a narrow escape of his own, sets out on a terrifying journey to find his friends, all the time haunted by a shadowy beast. Eventually, the friends’ paths meet on a cursed street, hidden from the world–a place where fates are decided and old enemies seek revenge. They thought it was over . . . but can evil ever be destroyed?

Once upon a Full Moon

Elizabeth Quan’s father had made a success in the New World, but he longed for his home in China. So in the early 1920’s, he and his family set out on an arduous trip to the far side of the world. By train, ship, ferry, cart, and on foot, Elizabeth, her parents, and her brothers and sisters set off from Toronto to a village in China to visit the grandmother they have never met.From the mountain of luggage to the whales breaching in the Pacific and geishas on wooden sandals on the cobbled streets of Yokohama, Elizabeth Quan describes sights that would captivate any child. But hers is also a journey of personal discovery. Did she fit in in Canada, where her straight dark hair and even the foods she ate set her apart? Would she fit in in China where she was just as different to the people she met? In the course of her family’s travels she learns that home is a state of mind and that the moon can find us, no matter where we are.

Der Standhafte Zinnsoldat

Two vanished dolls are discovered by a home builder. They are given to children and they are dumped after the children grew so that they didn’t need the dolls any more. The dolls’ journey begins from sewers, ocean, exotic foreign land, and placed in a museum in the end of the story.

The Steadfast Tin Soldier