Pippo the Fool


Tracey E. Fern - 2009
    This fictionalized version of a true story emphasizes the importance of artistic vision and personal resilience. Editorial Reviews In fifteenth century Florence, a contest is announced for the best design of a dome for the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith called Pippo the Fool for his practice of designing peculiar machines and structures, vows to win. No one has been able to figure out how to build a dome of the necessary size. Pippo studies the problem and prepares sketches. The contest judges eliminate him. But he builds a model, and the judges are impressed. However, to his anger, they insist that he work with the sneering, arrogant Lorenzo Ghilberti. Overcoming his pride, Pippo begins. It takes sixteen years to finish—without Ghilberti—but the result is the marvel we can see today. Estrada takes pains to depict Florence with historic thoughtfulness. At the same time, his characters are effectively humorous. Lorenzo is depicted with foolish bravado, while Pippo has youthful arrogance. The detailed watercolor-and-gouache scenes with crowds of citizens are informative as well as attractive; the images of the building in process and finished at last are truly impressive. Notes by both author and illustrator add factual information. Includes a list of resources for those who want to learn more. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors


Chris Barton - 2009
    Bob was a studious planner who wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Joe dreamed of making his fortune in show business and loved magic tricks and problem-solving.When an accident left Bob recovering in a darkened basement, the brothers began experimenting with ultraviolet light and fluorescent paints. Together they invented a whole new kind of color, one that glows with an extra-special intensity--Day-Glo.This cover reproduction is not printed with Day-Glo colors. The actual book, however, is printed using three Day-Glo colors: Saturn Yellow, Fire Orange, and Signal Green.

Who Was Albert Einstein?


Jess M. Brallier - 2002
    Everyone has heard of Albert Einstein-but what exactly did he do? How much do kids really know about Albert Einstein besides the funny hair and genius label? For instance, do they know that he was expelled from school as a kid? Finally, here's the story of Albert Einstein's life, told in a fun, engaging way that clearly explores the world he lived in and changed.

Favorite Poems Old and New


Helen Josephine Ferris - 1957
    This is a collection of over seven hundred classic and modern poems grouped by children's interests, such as pets, playtime, family, nature, and others.

Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, wife of Charles H. Spurgeon


Ray Rhodes Jr. - 2018
    Spurgeon, the beloved preacher and writer, few are familiar with the life and legacy of his wife, Susie.  Yet Susannah Spurgeon was an accomplished and devout woman of God who had a tremendous ministry in her own right, as well as in support of her husband. Even while dealing with serious health issues, she administered a book fund for poor pastors, edited and published her husband’s sermons and other writings, led a pastor’s aid ministry, wrote five books, made her home a hub of hospitality, and was instrumental in planting a church. And as her own writing attests, she was also a warm, charming, and fascinating woman.Now, for the first time, Susie brings this vibrant woman’s story to modern readers. Ray Rhodes Jr. examines Susannah’s life, showing that she was not only the wife of London’s most famous preacher, but also a woman who gave all she had in grateful service to the Lord.Susie is an inspiring and encouraging account of a truly remarkable woman of faith that will delight Spurgeon devotees and fans of Christian biographies alike.“I am writing in my husband’s study, where he thought, and prayed, and wrote. Every inch of the place is sacred ground. Everything remains precisely as he left it. His books (now my most precious possessions), stand in shining rows upon the shelves, in exactly the order in which he placed them, and one might almost fancy the room was ready and waiting for its master. But oh! That empty chair! That great portrait over the door! The strange, solemn silence, which pervades the place now that he is no longer on earth! I kneel sometimes by his chair, and laying my head on the cushioned arms, which so long supported his dear form, I pour out my grief before the Lord, and tell Him again that though I am left alone, yet I know that ‘He hath done all things well’…”

Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout


Lauren Redniss - 2010
    A brilliant visual storyteller, Redniss has hand-designed more than 100 color collages to tell Curie’s story, fascinating in its scientific significance and its sometimes whimsical, sometimes haunting mix of romance and intrigue. Bringing together archival photos, images, and clippings with dazzling line drawings and a compelling narrative, Radioactive is far more than just an art book or a graphic novel: It is a stunning visual biography and a true work of art.

Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears


Cornelia Cornelissen - 1998
    . .the west. Soft Rain is confident that her family will not have to move, because they have just planted corn for the next harvest but soon thereafter, soldiers arrive to take nine-year-old, Soft Rain, and her mother to walk the Trail of Tears, leaving the rest of her family behind.    Because Soft Rain knows some of the white man's language, she soon learns that they must travel across rivers, valleys, and mountains. On the journey, she is forced to eat the white man's food and sees many of her people die. Her courage and hope are restored when she is reunited with her father, a leader on the Trail, chosen to bring her people safely to their new land.  Praise for Soft Rain:    "An eye-opening introduction to this painful period of American history."--Publisher's Weekly    "The characters themselves transform a sorrowful story of adversity into a tale of human resilience."--Kirkus Reviews    "This gentle child's-eye view will move readers enormously."--Jane Yolen

Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John "Appleseed" Chapman


Esmé Raji Codell - 2012
    Use what you have2. Share what you have3. Respect nature4. Try to make peace where there is war5. You can reach your destination by taking small stepsAn insightful and friendly text, stunning mixed-media illustrations that combine wood, paper, paint, and fabric, and a winning mixture of information and inspiration make for a stellar picture book for all ages. Sure to be a classroom and seasonal favorite.

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story


Ben Carson - 1992
    Gifted Hands will transplace you into the operating room to witness surgeries that made headlines around the world, and into the private mind of a compassionate, God-fearing physician who lives to help others. In 1987, Dr. Carson gained worldwide recognition for his part in the first successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head -- an extremely complex and delicate operation that was five months of planning and twenty-two hours of actual surgery, involving a surgical plan that Carson helped initiate. Gifted Hands reveals a man with humility, decency, compassion, courage, and sensitivity who serves as a role model for young people (and everyone else) in need of encouragement to attempt the seemingly impossible and to excel in whatever they attempt. Dr. Carson also describes the key role that his highly intelligent though relatively uneducated mother played in his metamorphosis from an unmotivated ghetto youngster into one of the most respected neurosurgeons in the world.

Tortured for Christ


Richard Wurmbrand - 1967
    This history of the Underground Church reflects the continuing struggle in many parts of the world today.

Rickshaw Girl


Mitali Perkins - 2007
    In her Bangladesh village, ten-year-old Naima excels at painting designs called alpanas, but to help her impoverished family financially she would have to be a boy--or disguise herself as one.

The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom


Corrie ten Boom - 1971
    For the first fifty years of her life nothing at all out of the ordinary had ever happened to her. She was an old-maid watchmaker living contentedly with her spinster sister and their elderly father in the tiny Dutch house over their shop. Their uneventful days, as regulated as their own watches, revolved around their abiding love for one another. However, with the Nazi invasion and occupation of Holland, a story did ensue. Corrie ten Boom and her family became leaders in the Dutch Underground, hiding Jewish people in their home in a specially built room and aiding their escape from the Nazis. For their help, all but Corrie found death in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is their story.

The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets: True-Life Stories to Read Aloud


Jean Craighead George - 1996
    From bestselling nature writer and Newbery Medal winner Jean Craighead George comes an autobiographical story about how wild it can be living in a house full of animal fans.Imagine living with a skunk in your closet, a bat in your refrigerator, and a tarantula in your purse!In this hilarious autobiographical account, Newbery Medal–winning author and acclaimed naturalist Jean Craighead George describes her adventures in a house full of wildlife enthusiasts—and the amazing animals themselves.

The Way Things Work


David Macaulay - 1988
    Full-color illustrations.

Mother Teresa


Maya Gold - 2008
    "DK Biography: Mother Teresa" tells the story of Catholic nun Agnes Bojaxhiu, from her early work with the poor in Calcutta, to the expansion of her Missionaries of Charity, to her recognition as a saint after her death.Supports the Common Core State Standards.