In the two years since his mother left him with his grandparents in Des Moines, Washington, Sam has avoided making friends and perfected the art of being a slacker, but being paired with a frightening new student for a slam poetry unit transforms his life.
As in the middle grade series debut Island of Thieves, scrappy twelve-year-old Tom Trelawney and his swashbuckling Uncle Harvey are a dynamite combination—in the dangerous, explosive sort of way. This time around, they impulsively fly from Ireland to India in hot pursuit of a small bejeweled tiger that yet another Trelawney, a British soldier, allegedly plundered in 1799. They’re pretty sure they can get a couple million dollars for it too, if they can make it past a gun-happy Aussie and a pit of man-eating tigers.
Three very busy families engage in such activities as school, soccer, piano playing, and cooking.
When the famous wrestler Forever Mountain tickles a plump little girl, the consequence is that he must be trained by her, her mother, and her grandmother.
When his father leads him on a magical trip of discovery through new fallen snow, a young boy who emigrated from his warm island home overcomes fears about living in New York.
GREEN CORN TAMLAES – TAMALES DE ELOTE narrates the experience of one small girl growing up in an Hispanic-American family which gathers every year at grandmother’s ranch to make wonderful green corn tamales
It is Grandmother Bibi’s ninetieth birthday and when she travels to Tanzania from America to visit her son and grandchildren they surprise her with a birthday safari.
Osa’s grandmother tells her a tale about the sins of pride and helps Osa gain a better perspective on what things are important.
A grandmother explains to her listeners why in their village on the side of a volcano the men live in square houses and the women in round ones.
When Mr. Zinger’s hat flies in and interrupts Leo’s playing, the two of them construct a story as to how exactly the hat took off.