Illustrator Christoper Bing adds luminous paintings, historically rich engravings, and other enrichments to Longfellow's poem, tying the fiction into the fact of what really happened on that April night.

    Focuses on his military exploits, including his victories in battle after battle, followed by his exile to the island of Elba, his subsequent return to lead the disastrous Russian campaign, his final loss at Waterloo, and his last days on the lonely island of St. Helena. A volume in the highly-acclaimed Children's Heroes series, edited by John Lang.

    Lucky for us, award-winning book illustrator and political cartoonist David Catrow has taken the most important introduction in our country's history and made it easy to understand in a hilarious, inspiring new book.We the Kids follows three adorable youngsters and one remarkable dog as they get ready for a camping adventure in the great outdoors. What makes this adventure different is that it is told through the Preamble. Just as the historical document starts out with "We the People of the United States," we're introduced to the children and their energetic pooch friend, who is standing by with a gargantuan, overloaded backpack. As the Preamble goes on, then, so does the story: They find themselves forming a More Perfect Union by finding their camping site, promoting the General Welfare by telling stories around a campfire, and securing the blessings of Liberty by settling down for a good night's sleep -- all in the backyard under the watchful eyes of two parents. With bright watercolor illustrations and sweet, cartoonlike characters, Catrow provides an entertaining story that brings the Preamble to life. The dog's actions throughout the book are truly sidesplitting, but they also explain to young readers each line of the Preamble. A fun introduction from Catrow called "Big Words, Big Ideas.&quot and a line-by-line explanation of the Preamble add to the book's pleasures.For school reports and American holiday celebrations, this is one book young historians won't want to miss. (Matthew Warner)

    All through the winter at Valley Forge, Molly watched and listened. Then in July, in the battle at Monmouth, she would show how much she had learned. Molly could tell the day would be a scorcher, so she decided to bring water from a nearby spring to the fighting men. More than 50 British soldiers would die of heatstroke that day, but the American soldiers need only cry, “Molly–pitcher!” On one trip through the fighting field, she saw her husband get shot. She satisfied herself that he wouldn’t die from his wound, then took over his job–firing off the cannon! Molly epitomized the feisty, self-reliant spirit of the colonists who would soon win their battle for independence–and her story has rightly become a beloved legend of American history.From the Hardcover edition.

    Both were brilliant students who attended college--one at Princeton, the other at Columbia--and studied law. Both were young staff officers under General George Washington, and both became war heroes. Politics beckoned them, and each served in the newly formed government of the fledgling nation. Why, then, did these two face each other at dawn in a duel that ended with death for one and opprobrium for the other? Judith St. George's lively biography, told in alternating chapters, brings to life two complex men who played major roles in the formation of the United States.

    Through his eyes, the pleasures and perils of ranching in the early twentieth century are experienced... auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes and wind storms all give authentic color to Little Britches. So do wonderfully told adventures, which equip Ralph to take his father's place when it becomes necessary.Newly republished in a hardcover edition with a 1950s cover, jacket and pictorial endpages. Interior illustrations by Edward Shenton.

    Along with searchlight towers and armed guards, Manzanar ludicrously featured cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, sock hops, baton twirling lessons and a dance band called the Jive Bombers who would play any popular song except the nation's #1 hit: "Don't Fence Me In."Farewell to Manzanar is the true story of one spirited Japanese-American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention—and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.

    All children know who Albert Einstein grew up to be--but what was he like as a child? The clear text in this book is enhanced by illustrations and paintings, documents and photographs from the Smithsonian and the National Gallery.

    Phoebe gets a job as George Washington's housekeeper, but her real job is to work as a spy. She listens and watches very carefully, and she meets her father every day to tell him what she has learned. One day Phoebe's father tells her that Washington is planning to leave town in a few days, and the person plotting against him will act before then. Phoebe is very frightened, but she is determined to figure out who is after Washington before it's too late. . . . "This episode drawn from the Revolutionary War is related with historical accuracy and suspense and illustrated with finesse."(School Library Journal)

    Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move, yet they develop an extraordinarily close, almost telepathic relationship. As Toby fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff does a masterful job of re-creating the frustrations and cruelties of adolescence. His various schemes - running away to Alaska, forging checks, and stealing cars - lead eventually to an act of outrageous self-invention that releases him into a new world of possibility.

    The first person narration gives this book a friendly, personal feel that makes Galileo's remarkable achievements and ideas completely accessible to young readers. And Christensen's artwork glows with the light of the stars he studied.Galileo's contributions were so numerous—the telescope! the microscope!—and his ideas so world-changing—the sun-centric solar system!—that Albert Einstein called him "the father of modern science." But in his own time he was branded a heretic and imprisoned in his home. He was a man who insisted on his right to pursue the truth, no matter what the cost—making his life as interesting and instructive as his ideas.

    A biography of the modest Frenchman who, after being blinded at the age of three, went on to develop a system of raised dots on paper that enabled blind people to read and write.

    For centuries, Japan had isolated itself from the outside world by refusing to trade with other countries and even refusing to help shipwrecked sailors, foreign or Japanese. The country's people still lived under a feudal system like that of Europe in the Middle Ages. But everything began to change when American Commodore Perry and his troops sailed to the Land of the Rising Sun, bringing with them new science and technology, and a new way of life.NOTE: Blumberg's "Shipwrecked! The True Adventure of a Japanese Boy" is a companion volume.

    He was tall and strong, fair in judgment, and respected by his friends as agood leader. As he grew older, George saw how England took advantage of the American colonies—and he didn't like it. When the colonies declared their independence, George was chosen to lead their army as its general. And when the colonies won their freedom, George was elected to lead the new nation as its first president.

    We are English and England was our home...But our lives were ruled by King James, and for many years it seemed as though our very hearts were in prison in England... September, 1620, our lives changed. We were seventy menfolk and womenfolk, thirty-two good children, a handful of cocks and hens, and two dogs, gathered together on a dock in Plymouth, England, ready to set sail for America in a small ship called the Mayflower... After an abundance of prayers and tears we made farewells at dockside and boarded our small ship. Our voyage across the Atlantic Ocean "began with a prosperous wind," but the sea soon became "sharp and violent" and storms howled about us. When the pilgrims set out for America, they brought with them a dream for the future. Sickness, hardship, and heartache stood in the way of that dream. But the pilgrims worked hard, keeping their dream close to their hearts, until they were finally able to make it come true.