In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, 10-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values and beliefs.
So, you’ve been in trouble. Your -parents tell you they’re calling the bogeyman. You laugh. There’s no such thing!
Then—you hear a sharp knock. Standing at the door is the oldest man you have ever seen. It’s el Cucuy (coo-COO-ee)! With that big red ear, he hears everything!
In this cautionary tale, storyteller Joe Hayes tells about two girls who didn’t believe in el Cucuy until he snatched them up. Of course, the story has a happy ending.
In this retelling of a Jewish folktale, Rachel and Jacob must work together to solve the trickiest riddles of all.
Through his plan to share the wealth of his wheat crop with three friends, a Chinese farmer teaches the importance of allowing other people to help in time of need.
A mouse deer and a tortoise trick some hungry crocodiles into helping them cross a river but fail to plan for their getting back.
Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie’s help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.Jasper takes him to his secret glade, where Charlie witnesses Jasper’s horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion. He locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love, and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
A debut novel set in the early 1980s at a boy’s boarding school in the newly formed country of Zimbabwe.
Nasrudin Hoja was a mullah (teacher) in Turkey. He was a busy man – he worked in a vineyard, gave sermons at the mosque, and was sometimes even a judge. He did all of this with a nagging wife, a constant stream of uninvited visitors, and many animals. Although Hoja’s life wasn’t easy, his heart was always light and his observations about life held a witty twist. For instance, when his donkey got lost, his neighbors offered sympathy, but Hoja found the bright side: “Imagine if I were riding the donkey at the time. I’d be lost too!”Though the ten Hoja stories presented by Rina Singh and richly illustrated by Farida Zaman are funny, each one contains such insight into human nature that Sufi teachers use them to illustrate their teachings. Traditional Turkish Hoja stories are much-loved throughout Asia, and Nearly Nonsense brings them to a North American readership sure to enjoy them and, through laughter, to learn from them.
“Provides comprehensive information on the geography, history, wildlife, governmental structure, economy, cultural diversity, peoples, religion, and culture of Trinidad and Tobago”–Provided by publisher.
The highly regarded Cultures of the World series celebrates the diversity of other cultures in this fully updated and expanded edition.