The Ramsay Scallop

The year is 1299. Fourteen year-old Elenor reluctanly awaits the return of her betrothed — a man she hardly knows — from the Crusade. Thomas, broken and disillusioned from years of fighting, finds the very idea of marriage and lordship overwhelming. So When the village priest sends them on religious pilgrimage before the marriage, both are relieved.

Storm

The rain starts suddenly, hard and fast. After days of downpour, her family lost, Sebah takes shelter in a tree, eating pine cones and the raw meat of animals that float by. With each passing day, her companion, a boy named Aban, grows weaker. When their tree is struck by lightning, Sebah is tempted just to die in the flames rather than succumb to a slow, watery death. Instead, she and Aban build a raft. What they find on the stormy seas is beyond imagining: a gigantic ark. But Sebah does not know what she’ll find on board, and Aban is too weak to leave their raft.

Los Tres Reyes (A Caballo)/ The Three Kings (On Horseback)

Una historia antigua, relatada en el estilo de la decima puertorriquena. Los Tres Reyes Magos, Gaspar, Melchor y Baltasar, llegan a Puerto Rico en una nube voladora. Se les aparece un caballo que los lleva a repartir sus regalos por toda la isla. A partir de entonces, los Reyes visitan Puerto Rico a caballo, en vez de en camello. An old tale retold in the lively Puerto Rican folksong style called decima. The Three Kings, Gaspar, Melchor and Baltasar, reach Puerto Rico on a flying cloud. They are met by a horse that helps them distribute their gifts to children all over the island. Ever since then, the Kings visit Puerto Rican homes on horseback, rather than on camels.

Boxers

China, 1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers – commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from “foreign devils.” Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful. But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of “secondary devils” – Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity. —- Boxers & Saints is an innovative new graphic novel in two volumes – the parallel stories of two young people caught up on opposite sides of a violent rift.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 1.

The White Ram: A Story Of Abraham And Isaac

Made on the sixth day of Creation, a white ram waits patiently in the Garden of Eden. The other animals leave one by one, but the ram waits and waits until he is needed to fulfill God’s will. Running to the aid of Abraham, the ram must prevail over many temptations in order to save a child. In this lyrically told and beautifully illustrated story, a white ram sacrifices himself to save a boy’s life. It is a book that will be adored by readers of all faiths and ages, and will be of special interest during the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The Shadow of a Flying Bird: A Legend from the Kurdistan Jews

This powerful and poetic story, drawn from a Kurdistani tale based on the Old Testament, retells the story of the death of Moses. With graceful and moving prose and richly colored illustrations, Gerstein has created a memorable book.

The Coven’s Daughter

It’s Spring again in the village of Montacute, and people want nothing more than to celebrate the season with maypole dances, festivals, and visits from the nobility. The festivities are dampened, though, when a young boy turns up dead outside the village. Then they learn that three other boys have also disappeared lately. To the parson, this tragedy is a perfect excuse to kick off the only thing guaranteed to get his spring-giddy parishioners back to church – a witch hunt. Cecily may have occasional visions, but that doesn’t make her a witch! Fatherless and without friends, Cess knows she’s lucky to be employed by a grand estate like Montacute House, even if it is as a poultry girl. On her thirteenth birthday, Cess finds a precious locket in one of her chicken coops, a strange discovery that’s quickly overshadowed by her best friend John’s disappearance two days later. The parson has already started planting rumors that the missing boys were bewitched, and the villagers think Cecily may be the culprit.  The only way Cess can prove her innocence is by finding John, but she’s soon embroiled in a plot that threatens her world and forces her to draw upon powers she never knew she possessed. Witchcraft, politics and religious ambition combine in this gripping and wonderfully realized novel set in the Somerset of the 1500s.