The Usborne Book of Wild Places: Mountains, Jungles & Deserts (Explainers)


Angela Wilkes - 1999
    This colourful book explores the exciting worlds of mountains, jungles and deserts, their dramatic landscapes, the animals and plants that inhabit them and the people who live in the most beautiful and remote areas of the earth.

Mary On Horseback: Three Mountain Stories


Rosemary Wells - 1998
    Instead, she spent her life fording icy streams and climbing untracked mountains to bring medical help to those in need. More nurses on horseback joined Mary . . . and the Frontier Nursing Service was born. Mary's story is amazing. And it is true."Wells's realistic yet poetic prose perfectly captures the dichotomy of the majestic beauty of Appalachia and the harsh realities of mountain life. . . . This one's a gem."--School Library Journal

The Light at Tern Rock


Julia L. Sauer - 1951
    Ronnie loves living in the lighthouse, and looks forward to telling his family about it at Christmas. But will lighthouse keeper Byron Flagg return in time for Ronnie and Aunt Martha to make it home for Christmas? A Newbery Honor Book.

A Grain of Rice


Helena Clare Pittman - 1986
    Who ever heard of a peasant marrying a princess? But Pong Lo is wiser than the Emperor knows. And when he concocts a potion that saves the Princess's life, the Emperor gladly offers him any reward he chooses--except the Princess.   Pong Lo makes a surprising request. He asks for a single grain of rice, doubled every day for one hundred days. The baffled Emperor obliges--only to discover that if you're as clever as Pong Lo, you can turn a single grain of rice into all the wealth and happiness in the world! Praise for A Grain of Rice: "Clever and quietly told in simple, yet evocative language."-Kirkus Reviews"Pittman invites readers into her story through her choice of concrete objects, sensory images, and universal messages. She borrows from the motifs of oral literature, and also weaves in information about arithmetical progression and 15th-Century Chinese people, patterns, and traditions. Pittman's well executed pencil drawings ooze with emotion, and there is a fusion of text and illustrations...[A] book that is wise and humorous, and one to be perused and savored."-School Library Journal"Gracefully illustrated with finely shaded drawings, this picture book tells of Pong Lo, a poor Chinese peasant who wins the hand of the emperor's daughter through his knowledge of mathematical principles."-Booklist

Dolphin Treasure


Wayne Grover - 1996
    Wayne is left stranded far from shore. The storm is making huge, powerful waves. Sharks are closing in. Can Baby, the dolphin Wayne recused as a calf, come to the diver's rescue?

No Children, No Pets


Marion Holland - 1957
    A quite humorous story of the Sanders family, Mother, Don and Jane, four-year-old Betsy, and Victoria the cat off to Florida to take possession of the apartment house they've just inherited.

The Good News Must Go Out: Stories of God at Work in the Central African Republic


Rebecca H. Davis - 2011
    Missionaries from the West came with the message of Jesus Christ, but it was the men and women saved from cannibalism, the young boys who herded goats and who carted water who brought the Good News even farther to more and more villages and homesteads in Africa. Sixteen true stories from the life of Margaret Nicholl Laird display the power of God in the salvation of people who had never heard the Good News.

Capyboppy


Bill Peet - 1966
    Born in Grandview, Indiana, Bill Peet nurtured his childhood drawing talent and was awarded a scholarship to the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, where he studied painting and design. After a brief apprenticeship period, he went to work for Walt Disney as a sketch artist, eventually becoming a screenwriter and helping to produce such beloved films as Fantasia, 101 Dalmations, and Peter Pan. In 1959 Bill Peet published his first book, Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure, going on to write and illustrate over thirty successful books for children.

Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend


Will Moses - 2001
    Everyone knows the story of Johnny Appleseed: how he traveled westward across our young country, spreading apple trees wherever he went and wearing outlandish hats, like a soup pot, on his head. But did you know that Johnny Appleseed was a real person? Born John Chapman in 1774, he grew up in a family of twelve children, and as a young man, struck out to find the frontier. It was along this journey that he discovered the wonders of apple trees, and where he had his life adventures. In the tradition of his great-grandmother, Grandma Moses, Will Moses's much-loved folk art perfectly illustrates this American tale.

Five True Dog Stories


Margaret Davidson - 1977
    Dox finds jewels, and criminals. Grip picks pockets, and Barry rescues people from the snow. Adventure, suspense, and animals are all here.

In Grandma's Attic


Arleta Richardson - 1974
    And best of all was the remarkable grandmother who made magic of all she touched, bringing the past alive as only a born storyteller could.Here are those marvelous tales—faithfully recalled for the delight of young and old alike, a touchstone to another day when life was simpler, perhaps richer; when the treasures of family life and love were passed from generation to generation by a child's questions...and the legends that followed enlarged our faith.Gifted storyteller Arleta Richardson grew up an only child in Chicago, living in a hotel on the shores of Lake Michigan. Under the care of her maternal grandmother, she listened for hours as her grandmother told stories from her own childhood. With unusual recall, Arleta began to write these stories for an audience that now numbers over 2 million. "My grandmother would be amazed to know her stories have gone around the world," Arleta says.

The Apple and the Arrow


Mary Buff - 1951
    Walter lives happily in the remote heights of the Alpine Mountains, caring for his family’s goat herd and practicing his marksmanship in the hopes of making his father proud. But as the end of the year approaches, Walter’s peaceful life is shaken as his country enters a revolution, and Walter must carry a secret that could threaten the life of the father he loves so dearly. More than seven hundred years have passed since the day Walter stood in the marketplace balancing an apple on his head while the Austrian tyrant Gessler commanded Walter’s father, William Tell, to take aim at the apple with his great crossbow. The dramatic tale of William’s arrest and escape and the daring revolt of the Swiss against the Austrians has become a legend around the world.

God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah


Joanne Williamson - 2002
    It is 701 B.C - rule of the Kushite dynasty in ancient Egypt. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son, succeeds unexpectedly to the throne of Kush and Egypt - a "divine" rulership. It's not long, however, before a treacherous plot pushes him into sudden exile and into the hands of Amos, an emissary of King Hezekiah seeking help with whom he will fight - the mighty Assyrian, Sennacherib, promising alliance or Hezekiah, the Jew who trusts in Yahweh. A novel inspired by research of the historical King Taharka and period. Includes an introduction with home-education suggestions.

Here's a Penny


Carolyn Haywood - 1944
    These adorable stories of childhood adventures are as fresh today as when they were written more than a half century ago. And now, thanks to dynamic new covers, they're ready to charm a whole new generation of readers. Penny's name is really William, but when he was adopted as a baby, he had hair the color of a new copper penny. Adopted or not, Penny decides to prove his friend Patsy wrong when she says he doesn't truly have a family!

The Kitchen Madonna


Rumer Godden - 1967
    For quietly aloof Gregory and his sister Janet, Marta, with her thick Ukrainian accent, her good cooking, and her stories, is the anchor of the house. Mother and Father, both busy architects, are gone all day and sometimes at night. Marta is always there; and the children, sensing her unhappiness, do not want her to go away. When they find out that Marta desires a good place in the kitchen, nine-year-old Gregory, with precocious young Janet in tow, sets out to find her a Ukrainian icon in busy, modern London.