In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer. Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of adventure, faith, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless story reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. Her beautiful illustrations,... Views: 125
The second book in this breakout series that's been called "charming and delectably sweet." (Zoraida Córdova, award-winning author of the Brooklyn Brujas series)Leonora Logroño has finally been introduced to her family's bakery bruja magic—but that doesn't mean everything is all sugar and spice. Her special power hasn't shown up yet, her family still won't let her perform her own spells, and they now act rude every time Caroline comes by to help Leo with her magic training.She knows that the family magic should be kept secret, but Caroline is her best friend, and she's been feeling lonely ever since her mom passed away. Why should Leo have to choose between being a good bruja and a good friend?In the midst of her confusion, Leo wakes up one morning to a startling sight: her dead grandmother, standing in her room, looking as alive as she ever was. Both Leo and her abuela realize this might mean trouble—especially once... Views: 123
In this sequel to Year of the Dog, Pacy has another big year in store for her. The Year of the Dog was a very lucky year: she met her best friend Melody and discovered her true talents. However, the Year of the Rat brings big changes: Pacy must deal with Melody moving to California, find the courage to forge on with her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator, and learn to face some of her own flaws. Pacy encounters prejudice, struggles with acceptance, and must find the beauty in change.Based on the author's childhood adventures, Year of the Rat, features the whimsical black and white illustrations and the hilarious and touching anecdotes that helped Year of the Dog earn rave reviews and satisfied readers. Views: 119
'An amazing adventure story, told with sparkling style and sleight of hand' JACQUELINE WILSONVita set her jaw, and nodded at New York City in greeting, as a boxer greets an opponent before a fight.Fresh off the boat from England, Vita Marlowe has a job to do. Her beloved grandfather Jack has been cheated out of his home and possessions by a notorious conman with Mafia connections. Seeing Jack's spirit is broken, Vita is desperate to make him happy again, so she devises a plan to outwit his enemies and recover his home. She finds a young pickpocket, working the streets of the city. And, nearby, two boys with highly unusual skills and secrets of their own are about to be pulled into her lawless, death-defying plan.Katherine Rundell's fifth novel is a heist as never seen before - the story of a group of children who will do anything to right a wrong. Views: 118
A collection of pieces by contemporary Irish authors on John Milington Synge, from arguement to homage, from the school-room to the stage. Contributors include: offer Sebastian Barry, Marina Carr, Anthony Cronin,Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Hugo Hamilton, Joseph O'Connor, Mary O'Malley, Fintan O'Toole, Colm Toibin and Vincent Woods. Includes the One Act Synge play, 'When the Moon has Set'. Views: 118
Embrace possibility in this luminous novel about a girl in search of her past who discovers a secret rooftop world in Paris.Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck that left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive?but ?almost impossible? means ?still possible.? And you should never ignore a possible. So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian, threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has? the address of the cello maker. Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers?urchins who live in the hidden spaces above the city. Together they scour the city in a search for... Views: 116
Ten-year-old Nathaniel Fludd is the reluctant hero of Flight of the Phoenix (2009), the madcap debut of the American author R. L. LaFevers's Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series and a Junior Library Guild selection. The year is 1928, the setting England, and Nate's wayward parents have just been reported lost at sea. Nate is sent that very day to his Aunt Phil's house in Batting-at-the-Flies, but not for long . . . The morning after he arrives at the renowned beastologist's doorstep, she whisks him away to the Arabian desert to witness a phoenix lay an egg! A delightful adventure sure to please fans of mythology, maps, camels, and gremlins. Includes a glossary of terms from "cartographer" to "Tidy Sum." Don't miss the next books in the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series: The Basilisk's Lair (Book 2), The Wyverns' Treasure (Book 3), and The Unicorn's Tale (Book 4)! Views: 115
Warrior. Princess. Hero. Diana's destiny is to be the world's greatest female super hero... if she can survive this action-packed adventure!Twelve-year-old Princess Diana is fierce and whip-smart, and she loves her island home of Themyscira. Her deepest wish is to be able to train with the rest of the Amazons and protect her homeland—but she's not even allowed to hold a sword. This is the year Diana hopes to persuade her mother, Queen Hippolyta, to let her learn how to fight when the world's most powerful women gather on Themyscira for a festival to celebrate their different cultures.But at the start of the festivities, an unexpected and forbidden visitor—a boy!—brings news of an untold danger that threatens Themyscira and all of its sacred neighboring lands. It's up to Diana and her best friend, Princess Sakina, to save them, even if it means tangling with a cunning demon who reveals that a terrifying force is out to... Views: 115
Fans of Brandon Mull and James Riley will love this heart-pounding second novel in the action-packed, accessible fantasy adventure series Order of the Majestic, which Booklist called a "delight!"Joey Kopecky and his friends, Shazad and Leanora, have the weight of the world on their shoulders. As the new Order of the Majestic, it is their responsibility to keep magic alive and free for all, and to fight the influence of the Invisible Hand, a sinister group of magicians intent on rounding up the world's remaining magical items and keeping everything to themselves. It's a vital mission and a sacred duty, but the Invisible Hand has been playing this game—and playing it well—for centuries. Joey, Shazad, and Leanora are still learning their powers—and lately, they can't seem to agree on anything. But all of that changes when Fate taps them on the shoulder, and puts the Secret Map of the World in their hands. Together, Joey and his friends... Views: 110
I imagined lamplight, shadows, soft voices, clothes put away, the low sound of late news on the radio. And I thought as I crossed the bridge at Baggot Street to face the last stretch of my own journey home that no matter what I had done, I had not done that.' In the captivating stories that make up The Empty Family Colm Toibin delineates with a tender and unique sensibility lives of unspoken or unconscious longing, of individuals, often willingly, cast adrift from their history. From the young Pakistani immigrant who seeks some kind of permanence in a strange town to the Irish woman reluctantly returning to Dublin and discovering a city that refuses to acknowledge her long absence each of Toibin's stories manage to contain whole worlds: stories of fleeing the past and returning home, of family threads lost and ultimately regained. Views: 110
From School Library JournalGrade 4–8—A combination of Nancy Drew and Indiana Jones, Theo Throckmorton is in big trouble. The 11-year-old lives in London in 1906 and spends most of her time in an antiquities museum headed by her father and filled with objects from her mother's archaeological expeditions to Egypt. Bossy, clever, and learned in the lore of ancient Egypt, the girl constantly worries that the work-obsessed parents who ignore and neglect her will be destroyed by virulent ancient curses that only she can detect. When her mother returns from her latest trip with an amulet inscribed with curses so powerful they could unleash the Serpents of Chaos and destroy the British Empire, Theo finds herself caught up in a web of intrigue and danger. It pits her, along with some unexpected allies, against German operatives trying to use the scarab as a weapon in their political and economic rivalry with England. Theo must draw on all her resources when she confronts her enemies alone, deep in an Egyptian tomb. There, she makes some surprising discoveries, both personal and archaeological. Vivid descriptions of fog-shrouded London and hot, dusty Cairo enhance the palpable gothic atmosphere, while page-turning action and a plucky, determined heroine add to the book's appeal. Unfortunately, Theo's narrative voice lurches between the diction of an Edwardian child and that of a modern teen. The ambiguous ending, with its hints at the approaching World War, seems to promise a sequel. A fine bet for a booktalk to classes studying ancient Egypt.—Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistStarred Review "You'd be surprised by how many things come into the museum loaded with curses--bad ones," says 11-year-old Theodosia, whose parents run London's Museum of Legends and Antiquities. The twentieth century has just begun, and Theodosia's mum, an archaeologist, has recently returned from Egypt with crates of artifacts. Only Theodosia can feel the objects' dark magic, which, after consulting ancient texts, she has learned to remove. Then a sacred amulet disappears, and during her search, Theodosia stumbles into a terrifying battle between international secret societies. Readers won't look to this thrilling adventure for subtle characterizations (most fit squarely into good and evil camps) or neat end-knots in the sprawling plot's many threads. It's the delicious, precise, and atmospheric details (nicely extended in Tanaka's few, stylized illustrations) that will capture and hold readers, from the contents of Theodosia's curse-removing kit to descriptions of the museum after hours, when Theodosia sleeps in a sarcophagus to ward off the curses of "disgruntled dead things." Kids who feel overlooked by their own distracted parents may feel a tug of recognition as Theodosia yearns for attention, and those interested in archaeology will be drawn to the story's questions about the ownership and responsible treatment of ancient artifacts. A sure bet for Harry Potter fans as well as Joan Aiken's and Eva Ibbotson's readers. This imaginative, supernatural mystery will find word-of-mouth popularity. Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 109
(Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist Book 1)
EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Nathaniel Fludd’s life has taken a turn for the worst. With his parents lost at sea, he lands on the doorstep of a distant cousinthe world’s last remaining beastologist. Soon Nate is whisked off on his first expedition, to Arabia, where the world’s only phoenix prepares to lay its new egg. When disaster strikes, Nate quickly finds himself all alone.
Will he be able to see the phoenix safely hatched, keep his accidental pet gremlin out of trouble, and rescue his guardian from the Bedouin? If he fails, nothing will stand between the world’s mythical creatures and extinction.
Too bad Nate’s not the sort of boy who enjoys adventure . . .yet. Views: 108
Dating! Drama! Driving!Remember what it was like to be sixteen? Whether it was the year your teeth were finally free of braces or the year you were discovered by the opposite sex, that magical, mystical age is something you will never forget. Edited by Megan McCafferty, author of the runaway hit novels Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday is a compilation of short stories inspired by all the angst, melodrama, and wonderment of being sixteen.Sarah Dessen's "Infinity" is about a girl confronting two major milestones: getting her driver's license and losing her virginity. The Dead Girls in Jacqueline Woodson's "Nebraska 99" have already decided to "do it" and must now cope with being teenage mothers. And Carolyn Mackler's "Mona Lisa, Jesus, Chad, and Me" explores whether friendship can survive when partying and prayer clash. Also included is a new Jessica Darling story by Megan McCafferty about... Views: 108
