My Shoes and I

As Mario and his Papa travel from El Salvador to the United States to be reunited with Mama, Mario’s wonderful new shoes help to distract him from the long and difficult journey.

Century #1: Ring Of Fire

Every hundred years, four kids from four cities must save the world.Rome, December 29.A mix-up with their reservations forces Harvey from New York, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai to share a room with the hotel owner’s daughter, Elettra. The four kids discover an amazing coincidence—they all have birthdays on February 29, Leap Day. That night, a strange man gives them a briefcase and asks them to take care of it until he returns. Soon afterward, the man is murdered.The kids open the briefcase. In it they find a series of clues that take them all over Rome, through dusty libraries and dark catacombs, in search of the elusive Ring of Fire, an ancient object so powerful that legend says even a Roman emperor couldn’t control it.In the first book of the Century quartet, Italian author P. D. Baccalario begins a mystery that will take four cities and four extraordinary kids to solve.

Adam Of The Road (Puffin Modern Classics)

Eleven-year-old Adam loved to travel throughout thirteenth century England with his father, a wandering minstrel, and his dog, Nick. But when Nick is stolen and his father disappears, Adam suddenly finds himself alone. He searches the same roads he traveled with his father, meeting various people along the way.

Balarama: A Royal Elephant

The authors recount how the trained elephants of southern India, in particular the one chosen to be the lead elephant in the Mysore Dasara, are raised, cared for, and prepared for performing in ceremonial processions.

 

14 Cows for America

In June of 2002, a very unusual ceremony begins in a far-flung village in western Kenya. An American diplomat is surrounded by hundreds of Maasai people. A gift is about to be bestowed on the American men, women, and children, and he is there to accept it. The gift is as unsought and unexpected as it is extraordinary.

A mere nine months have passed since the September 11 attacks, and hearts are raw. Tears flow freely from American and Maasai as these legendary warriors offer their gift to a grieving people half a world away.

Word of the gift will travel news wires around the globe. Many will be profoundly touched, but for Americans, this selfless gesture will have deeper meaning still. For a heartsick nation, the gift of fourteen cows emerges from the choking dust and darkness as a soft light of hope and friendship.

Featured in Volume II, Issue 2 of WOW Review.

Panorama: A Foldout Book

Illustrations and simple text invite the reader to visit different places around the world, then to view the same scenes at night on the reverse of the fanfolded page.

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.

I Is Someone Else

It is 1966, and the times, they are a-changin’. Fifteen-year-old Stephen is on his way to a summer program in France when he meets two glamorous new friends of his older brother, Rob, who has been missing for 18 months. They persuade Stephen to travel to Istanbul with them, to find his brother. And what a world opens up to him: a world of beautiful girls, drug busts, fascinating cultures, fast-moving friendships, and betrayals. As he travels further into Asia, the nature of Stephen’s journey changes: The search for his brother is replaced by an inner exploration, in which he must confront his own past, and his own dark secret.