Figgs & Phantoms


Ellen Raskin - 1974
    You would be too if your family consisted of: Sister Figg Newton (Tap Dancer, Baton Twirler, and also your mother); Truman, the human pretzel (your uncle); Aunt Gracie Jo, the dog catcher, and her son, Fido the Second. To name a few. The only person Mona really gets along with is Uncle Florence, the book dealer. And he keeps hinting that he may have to leave Mona soon to go to Figg family heaven, a place referred to as "Capri." But where is Capri, and why do all the Figgs go there? To find her uncle, Mona knows she must find out.

Graven Images


Paul Fleischman - 1982
    Crispin; and a statue commissioned by a ghost - effect revelations of murder and romance in three tales for young teens.

The Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories


Harold Courlander - 1947
    They tell about clever people and stupid people, about good ones and bad ones, about how things and animals got to be how they are. Some stories in this book will make you think. Some will make you laugh. All of them are retold with folk spirit full of generosity and vitality.Africa is many things --Cow-tail switch --Kaddo's wall --Talk --One you don't see coming --Kassa, the strong one --Anansi's fishing expedition --Younde goes to town --Singing tortoise --Time --Messenger to Maftam --Guinea fowl and rabbit get justice --Anansi and Nothing go hunting for wives --How Soko brought debt to Ashanti --Hungry spider and the turtle --Throw mountains --Ansige Karamba, the glutton --Don't shake hands with everybody

Our Only May Amelia


Jennifer L. Holm - 1999
    With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can′t seem to abide her family′s insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. She′s sure she could do better if only there were at least one other girl living along the banks of the Nasel River. And now that Mama′s going to have a baby, maybe there′s hope.Inspired by the diaries of her great-aunt, the real May Amelia, first-time novelist Jennifer Holm has given us a beautifully crafted tale of one young girl whose unique spirit captures the courage, humour, passion and depth of the American pioneer experience.∗Newbery Honour Book (USA), 2000Ages 10+

A Day on Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic


Hilda van Stockum - 1934
    Vividly illustrated.

The Avion My Uncle Flew


Cyrus Fisher - 1946
    "What a way to spend a summer," Johnny thought disgustedy. That was before he discovered a pistol hidden in a loaf of bread ... and got on the trail of a fugitive Nazi spy and a stolen fortune!

Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944


Aranka Siegal - 1981
    Upon the Head of the Goat is the winner of the 1982 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and a 1982 Newbery Honor Book.“This is a book that should be read by all those interested in the Holocaust and what it did to young and old.” —Isaac Bashevis Singer

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World


Virginia Hamilton - 1988
    With commentary by the author. “A must for mythology shelves.”--Booklist

The Upstairs Room


Johanna Reiss - 1972
    Annie de Leeuw was eight years old in 1940 when the Germans attacked Holland and marched into the town of Winterswijk where she lived. Annie was ten when, because she was Jewish and in great danger of being captured by the invaders, she and her sister Sini had to leave their father, mother, and older sister Rachel to go into hiding in the upstairs room of a remote farmhouse.Johanna de Leeuw Reiss has written a remarkably fresh and moving account of her own experiences as a young girl during World War II. Like many adults, she was innocent of the German plans for Jews, and she might have gone to a labor camp as scores of families did. "It won't be for long and the Germans have told us we'll be treated well," those families said. "What can happen?" They did not know, and they could not imagine... but millions of Jews found out.

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.

Homesick: My Own Story


Jean Fritz - 1982
    This fictionalized autobiography tells the heartwarming story of a little girl growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying their childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest. Jean Fritz tells her captivating story of the difficulties of living in a unfamiliar country at such a difficult time.

The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure


William Bowen - 1921
    Toby Littleback; his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda; and Mr. Punch, a hunchbacked man who sits outside the shop holding cigars. Toby warns young Freddie never to touch the jar shaped like a Chinese man's head because it is filled with magic tobacco. Freddie can't resist, and after smoking the tobacco he finds he and his friends on The Sieve, a leaky ship on the Spanish Main. They are first captured by pirates, then escape with the pirate treasure. Later they meet a Persian rug merchant who gives each of them their heart's desire. In the end Freddie falls ill, and goes into a coma. When he awakens he finds himself at home, recovered from the tobacco-induced dream.

The Windy Hill


Cornelia Meigs - 1921
    A family mystery is unraveled by a boy and girl visiting their uncle one summer.

After the Rain


Norma Fox Mazer - 1987
    She worries about whether her family understands her, whether her friends like her, and whether she'll get her first kiss before she turns sixteen. And she worries about whether she can handle having a real boyfriend if he does come along.But it takes a dying old man -- her grandfather -- who has never been easy for anyone to handle, to show Rachel she has very special abilities. With love and compassion, she reaches the heart of an old tyrant who has always been unreachable. And in so doing, she comes to a better understanding of her family, her friends, and herself.

The Great Wheel


Robert Lawson - 1957
    Keep your face to the sunset . . . and one day you'll ride the greatest wheel in all the world." When Aunt Honora reads this fortune in his tea leaves, Conn Kilroy knows he is destined for greater things than his small Irish village can offer. A letter from his uncle Michael in America offering Conn a partnership in his New York contracting company sets Conn on his western adventure. Just a few short months later Conn's Uncle Patrick lures him even farther west to Chicago, where they join the hardworking crew building what some called Ferris's Folly—the first Ferris wheel—then the largest wheel in the world and the showpiece of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.