Understood Betsy


Dorothy Canfield Fisher - 1916
    When the year is up and Aunt Frances comes to get her niece, she finds a healthier, prouder girl with a new name--Betsy--and a new outlook on life.Understood Betsy has delighted generations of young readers since it was first published by Henry Holt and Company in 1917.

The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans


Barbara Elizabeth Walsh - 2012
    Known as the Poppy Lady, Michael dedicated her life to servicemen and women, buying and placing fresh flowers in rooms where they would gather before heading overseas. Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts and primary documents, as well as Moina's great-nieces to better understand Moina's determination to honor the war veterans. A portion of the book’s proceeds will support the National Military Family Association’s Operation Purple®, which benefits children of the U.S. military.

Children Just Like Me: Celebrations!: Festivals, Carnivals, and Feast Days from Around the World


Barnabas Kindersley - 1997
    For 12 months, Barnabas and Anabel traveled around the world, meeting children and talking to them about the celebrations and festivals they enjoy. The children's stories were recorded in this beautiful book, published in association with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Original photography and the children's own words bring to life many of the world's major religious and local celebrations from countries as far apart as Japan and Mexico, India, and Sweden. From the dazzling costumes of the Rio Carnival to the role of the elephants in Sri Lanka's Esala Perahera, children everywhere will love learning about the festivals and the wonderful ways in which these events are celebrated around the world.

The Winged Watchman


Hilda van Stockum - 1962
    Every element of occupied Holland is united in a story of courage and hope: a hidden Jewish child, an "underdiver," a downed RAF pilot, an imaginative, daring underground hero, and the small things of family life which surprisingly carry on in the midst of oppression. The Verhagen family, who live in the old windmill called the Winged Watchman, are a memorable set of individuals whose lives powerfully demonstrate the resilience of those who suffer but do not lose faith.

Favorite Medieval Tales


Mary Pope Osborne - 1998
    3 Sword in the Stone - Boy Merlin tells evil king, red dragon slain is his future, hides son Arthur for Uther. 4 Island of the Lost Children - Griffin flies Dutch Prince Hagen to isle with Hilda and princesses. 5 Roland - Count Ganelon from Charlemagne in France, betrays to pagan Spaniards, who flee when devout Roland sounds horn 6 Werewolf - Faithless wife hides clothes so Sir Marrok stays animal. 7 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Youngest Camelot knight beheads green bearded stranger with own axe, after promising to allow return on New Year Day.8 Robin Hood and his Merry Men - archer disguised in red beggar robes and eye patch contests for Sheriff's gold arrow. 9 Chanticleer and the Fox - Fable where fox captures rooster by flattery.

Little Pilgrim's Progress: From John Bunyan's Classic


Helen L. Taylor - 1947
    Taylor took John Bunyan's Pilgrim'sProgress and simplified the vocabulary and concepts for young readers, whilekeeping the storyline intact. The result was a classic in itself, which has nowsold over 600,000 copies. It's both a simple adventure story and a profound allegoryof the Christian journey through life, a delightful read with a message kids ages6 to 12 can understand and remember. A new look and fresh illustrations for today'schildren enlivens the journey to the Celestial City.

Who Was Theodore Roosevelt?


Michael Burgan - 2014
    Find out more about The Bull Moose, the Progressive, the Rough Rider, the Trust Buster, and the Great Hunter who was our larger-than-life 26th president in Who Was Theodore Roosevelt?

The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints


Tim Severin - 1978
    Brendan, award-winning adventure writer Tim Severin painstakingly researched and built a boat identical to the leather curragh that carried Brendan on his epic voyage. He found a centuries-old, family-run tannery to prepare the ox hides in the medieval way; he undertook an exhaustive search for skilled harness makers (the only people who would know how to stitch the three-quarter-inch-thick hides together); he located one of the last pieces of Irish-grown timber tall enough to make the mainmast. But his courage and resourcefulness were truly tested on the open seas, including one heart-pounding episode when he and his crew repaired a dangerous tear in the leather hull by hanging over the side--their heads sometimes submerged under the freezing waves--to restitch the leather. A modern classic in the tradition of Kon-Tiki, The Brendan Voyage seamlessly blends high adventure and historical relevance. It has been translated into twenty-seven languages since its original publication in 1978.With a new Introduction by Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming

I, Galileo


Bonnie Christensen - 2012
    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.

Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes


Kathleen Krull - 1995
    But what's behind all that painting, drawing, and sculpting? What was Leonardo da Vinci's snack of choice while he painted Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile? Why did Georgia O'Keeffe find bones so appealing? Who called Diego Rivera "Frog-Face"? And what is it about artists that makes both their work and their lives so fascinating—to themselves, to their curious neighbors, and to all of us? This book presents the humor and the tragedy in twenty artists' lives as no biography has done before.

By the Great Horn Spoon!


Sid Fleischman - 1963
    Joined by his trusty butler, Praiseworthy, Jack finds adventure and trouble at every turn. Will Jack strike gold in San Francisco or come home empty-handed? This new edition features illustrations by Brett Helquist.

Thomas Edison: Young Inventor


Sue Guthridge - 1947
    A biography focusing on the childhood of the inventor who patented more than 1,100 inventions in sixty years, among them the electric light and the phonograph.

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison


Lois Lenski - 1941
    Meticulously researched and illustrated with many detailed drawings, this novel offers an exceptionally vivid and personal portrait of Native American life and customs.

The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War


Jim Murphy - 1990
     Winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction   “Making extensive use of the actual words—culled from diaries, journals, memoirs, and letters—of boys who served in the Union and Confederate armies as fighting soldiers as well as drummers, buglers, and telegraphers, Murphy describes the beginnings of the Civil War and goes on to delineate the military role of the underage soldiers and their life in the camps and field bivouacs. Also included is a description of the boys' return home and the effects upon them of their wartime experiences…An excellent selection of more than 45 sepia-toned contemporary photographs augment the text of this informative, moving work.” —School Library Journal (starred review)   “This wrenching look at our nation’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of its youthful participants serves up history both heartbreaking and enlightening.” —Publishers Weekly   “This well-researched and readable account provides fresh insight into the human cost of a pivotal event in United States history.” —The Horn Book (starred review)

The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam


Huynh Quang Nhuong - 1982
    Encounters with tigers, wild hogs, and deadly snakes were as much a part of his life as tending the rice fields while on the back of his pet water buffalo, Tank.Perfect for classrooms, as well as fans of Linda Sue Park and Thanhha Lai, these fifteen tales will transport readers into a world of lush beauty and terrible danger—and a way of life that is gone forever.