Jessie Bollier often played his fife to earn a few pennies down by the New Orleans docks. One afternoon a sailor asked him to pipe a tune, and that evening Jessie was kidnapped and dumped aboard The Moonlight, a slave ship, where a hateful duty awaited him. He was to play music so the slaves could "dance" to keep their muscles strong, their bodies profitable. Jessie was sickened by the thought of taking part in the business of trading rum and tobacco for blacks and then selling the ones who survived the frightful sea voyage from Africa. But to the men of the ship a "slave dancer" was necessary to ensure their share of the profit. They did not heed the horrors that every day grew more vivid, more inescapable to Jessie. Yet , even after four months of fear, calculated torture, and hazardous sailing with a degraded crew, Jessie was to face a final horror that would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Torak crouched on a beach of black sand, his clothes in tatters, his face wild and hopeless as he lashed out with a flaming brand, lashed out at Wolf.
Ior two moons Torak has hidden a terrible secret, and now it is revealed. He bears the mark of the Soul-Eater and must pay the price. Cast out from the clans, he is alone and on the run: cut off from his best friend, Renn, and his beloved pack-brother, Wolf.
In the haunted reed-beds of Lake Axehead he is hunted by the Otter Clan and taunted by the Hidden People and, as soul-sickness claims him, falls prey to an even greater menace. Tormented by secrets and broken trust, he uncovers a deception that will turn his world upside down.
Outcast is a thrilling story of friendship, survival, and the need to belong. Like all the books in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, Outcast explores the complexities of an ancient world filled with good and evil.
Annika never has a birthday - no one knows the date she was born. She celebrates her Found Day instead. For Annika was abandoned as a baby and found by a cook and a housemaid from Vienna. Her upbringing in the servants' quarters of the house of three eccentric professors means that at an early age she can bake and ice a three-tier cake, and polish parquet floors to perfection.
One summer's evening a very old lady comes to stay with Annika's awful neighbours. The stories of her extraordinary life as a famous dancer are spellbinding. Especially the tale of the besotted Russian count who gave her the legendary emerald, the Star of Kazan. Then suddenly a glamorous stranger arrives at Annika's door. Her mother, after years of guilt and searching, has come to claim her. Annika is no servant but a Prussian aristocrat whose true home is a great castle. But at crumbling, spooky Spittal she discovers that all is not as it seems in the lives of her new-found family . . .
Eva Ibbotson's hugely entertaining The Star of Kazan is a timeless classic for listeners young and old.
On the plain between the Greek fleet and the Trojan walls, Heroes clash in a decade of epic contests.
Homer's classical poem ""Illiad"", recomposed as prose for Children. The events of the story occur over several weeks in the 10th and final year of the war.
CONTENTS:
1. Sulky Achilles
2. Menelaus and Paris
3. General Agamemnon
4. The Deeds of Diomed
5. Diomed and Glaucus become Friends
6. Hector and Andromache
7. The Fatal Gifts
8. The Thunder-Storm
9. Old Nestor's Advice
10. The Night Adventure of Ulysses and Diomed
11. The Battle goes against the Greeks
12. The Conflict at the Wall
13. The Death of Patroclus
14. The Fight around the Body of Patroclus
15. Achilles and his New Armor
16. The Reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon
17. The Exploits of Achilles
18. The Death of Hector
19. The Funeral Rites of Patroclus
20. Hector's Body ransomed and buried
21. The End of the Siege
A powerful sorceress, horrid monsters, terrific storms, scheming usurpers, and the gods themselves, all conspire to prevent Ulysses from returning to his home in Ithaca.
Homer's classical poem ""Odyssey"", recomposed as prose for Children. The events of the story occur over a ten-year period, following the Trojan War.
CONTENTS:
1. The Cyclops Polyphemus
2. Circe the Enchantress
3. The Descent into Hades
4. The Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the Shipwreck
5. Telemachus starts in Search of his Father, Ulysses
6. Telemachus at the Court of Menelaus
7. Ulysses at the Island of Calypso
8. Ulysses at the Court of Phaeacia
9. Ulysses' Return to Ithaca
10. The Return of Telemachus and his Meeting with Ulysses
11. Ulysses, disguised as a Beggar, visits his Palace
12. Ulysses recognized by his Old Nurse
13. The Trial of the Bow
14. Ulysses makes Himself known to his Wife and Father
A NEWBERRY MEDAL WINNERKeeping her family together is what thirteen-year-old Dicey does best. But now that all four Tillerman children have found a new home with their grandmother, Dicey has to learn the hard lesson of letting go. Dicey's got other problems than finding her new role in the family: she's bored with everyone and everything at school and doesn't think anyone can tell her anything she wants to know. But slowly, Dicey discovers that everyone has something to teach, and life is a lesson that doesn't get easier . . . From the Paperback edition.
The touching story of one girl's journey to find herself, In Search of Mockingbird is Loretta Ellsworth's heartfelt novel. It's 1986, and 15-year-old Erin is none too pleased by her widowed father's announcement that he's getting married. When she discovers her late mother's diary, she learns that she wanted to be a writer just like Erin does. So she runs away from home on a Greyhound bus, determined to track down Harper Lee-the author of both her and her mother's favorite book. What unfolds is a poignant quest of self-discovery and the making of a strong young woman.
Laura Amy Schlitz wrote the Newbery Medal winner Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! for the students at the school where she is a librarian. The 22 monologues introduce readers to everyone in a medieval village, from the town half-wit, to Nelly the Sniggler, to the Lord's daughter.
Samantha Parkington is an orphan being raised by her wealthy grandmother at the start of a brand-new century, a time when new ideas and inventions are changing everyone's lives. Samantha's own world is filled with elegance and privilege, but she sees that not everyone's life is changing for the better-especially her friend Nellie, a servant girl who lives next door. Some people consider "mixing with servants" bold and improper. But for Samantha, a person's worth isn't measured by wealth. True friendship is what matters most.
For Cedric of Chessington, every day is the same: full of poverty and despair. And he knows that will never change. Or so he thinks. Then a stranger comes to the city. Drawn to the man’s mysterious ways, Cedric discovers the stranger’s humility belies great strength and wisdom. That’s when an astounding truth becomes clear – the stranger is a Master of the Sword, and He is there to train Cedric. Suddenly propelled into a desperate battle against evil, Cedric must rely on the Master’s training if he is going to survive. But the ultimate battle is yet to come, for the Dark Knight is at work, implementing his plan to take over the kingdom. Will Cedric be ready to stand in the face of pure evil? Journey to Arrethtrae in this multi-voice dramatization, where the King and His Son implement a bold plan to save their kingdom; where courage, faith, and loyalty stand tall in the face of opposition; where good will not bow to evil; and where hope and compassion are as powerful weapons as the sword.
Sixteen-year-old Leinad thought he was a common farmer’s son, nothing more. He wondered why his father had trained him for years to master the sword—not exactly a tool of the trade for farmers—but one tragic event initiates a world of revelation. Only then does he begin to understand his calling—a calling no other man in the entire kingdom of Arrethtrae can fulfill—a calling given him by the King himself. Teamed with a young slave girl, Leinad is thrust into adversity and danger—for the Dark Knight and his vicious Shadow Warriors will stop at nothing to thwart the King’s plan to restore the kingdom. Leinad will need more than a sharp blade and a swift hand to fulfill his mission and survive the evil plots of the King’s sworn enemies! Journey to Arrethtrae in this multi-voice dramatization, where the King and His Son implement a bold plan to save their kingdom; where courage, faith, and loyalty stand tall in the face of opposition; where good will not bow to evil—and the future of a kingdom lies in the hands of a young man.
Billie Jo has a great deal to forgive: her father for causing the accident that killed her mother; her mother for leaving when Billie Jo needed her most; and herself for being the cause of her own sorrow. Daddy's too wrung out to help her, and there's no one else to care. So at fourteen, Billie Jo must heal herself - even if it means tearing up her roots and leaving behind everything she's ever known. - See more at: http://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/79276/out-of-the-dust/#sthash.0nrhofCC.dpuf
