When his father is killed fighting for the Union in the War Between the States, thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll must take a job to help support his family. He manages to find work at a bustling ironworks in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, where dozens of men are frantically pounding together the strangest ship Tom has ever seen. A ship made of iron. Tom becomes assistant to the ship's inventor, a gruff, boastful man named Captain John Ericsson. He soon learns that the Union army has very important plans for this iron ship called the Monitor. It is supposed to fight the Confederate "sea monster"-another ironclad-the Merrimac. But Ericsson is practically the only person who believes the Monitor will float. Everyone else calls it "Ericsson's Folly" or "the iron coffin." Meanwhile, Tom's position as Ericsson's assistant has made him a target of Confederate spies, who offer him money for information about the ship. Tom finds himself caught between two certain dangers: an encounter with murderous spies and a battle at sea in an iron coffin... Great family listening for ages 9 and up.
Torak circled the fire and Thiazzi came after him: slowly, cracking his whip, playing with his prey as a lynx plays with a lemming. Torak was exhausted. He wasn't going to last much longer.
When he was outcast, Torak was the hunted one. Nine moons later he becomes the hunter, when he vows to avenge the killing of one of his closest friends.
Racked by guilt and grief, he follows the killer into the Deep Forest, where the World Spirit stalks the hidden valleys as a tall man with the antlers of a stag. But there is a rottenness at the heart of the Forest, for its clans have succumbed to the lies of the Soul-Eaters. Here Torak must face fire, war, and overwhelming evil.
The fifth book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, Oath Breaker is a story about keeping promises and the true cost of vengeance.
Alice's life is about to change.
She's a skinny orphan. She's never been able to hear too well. And she can't speak too well, either. The only person who seems to care for her-one of the nuns at the orphanage-gets taken away from Alice in a freak accident.
And then one day somebody calls Alice by the wrong name.
Miami, she says.
Miami Shaw.
Miami Shaw, who may be Alice's twin sister.
Who lives only a few miles away.
Who has what Alice has always dreamed of-a whole wonderful family. But is there a place in that family for Alice?
From bestselling author Gregory Maguire comes a funny, heartrending story of the strength of sisterhood and the struggle to find a family of one's own.
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson received the Coretta Scott King Award for her children's book Almost to Freedom. Here she relays the extraordinary story of Bass Reeves, a lawman in the Old West who escaped slavery to become one of the most successful U.S. Marshals in history.
'Here, children can saddle up with a genuine Western hero in a narrative that hits the bull's-eye.''Kirkus Reviews
Following on the success of The Story of Classical Music, Darren Henley and Aled Jones combine forces again to tell, in more detail, the lives of six key composers Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvo?ák and Shostakovich. Their colourful lives and their love of music is told against the backdrop of some of their finest works - an ideal combination.
In 1939, nine-year-old Piri is happy to spend her spring vacation at her grandmother Babi's house in the Ukrainian countryside. There, Piri freely enjoys the meadows, rivers and wildflowers. In her busy household, Babi makes sure her granddaughter continues to speak Yiddish and observe the Sabbath. But there is a darker side to this paradise. The Hungarian soldiers riding through the beautiful landscape are a threat not only to the Ukrainians but also to Jews. And when Piri returns to Hungary, she hears rumors of the ghettos. Gradually, the young girl realizes that the world she loves has changed forever. Aranka Siegal's powerful story is drawn from her own life. She was a survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. A Newbery Honor Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Upon the Head of the Goat creates a personal view of the Holocaust that was mirrored in countless lives during that ominous time.
In his celebrated novels A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck carried us happily back to the Midwest of the 1930's. Now he's ready to transport us all the way back to 1893, to the Chicago World's Fair and its breathtaking mix of personalities and glimpses of the future. Here is a tour de force that combines the real people of the time with an enormously engaging new fictional family, spinning them all into a whirlwind of humor, misadventure, and charms beyond measure.
On the brink of adulthood (not to mention a whole new century), Rosie makes her first trip to the big city, along with her wide-eyed siblings and their rascally old granddad. There, amidst the wonders of the fair, Rosie discovers the world and herself, while also coming face-to-face with some of the era's most famous people-including showgirl Lillian Russell and Colonel William F. Cody (a.k.a. Buffalo Bill).
Myers is at his clever best in this witty and action-packed, coming-of-age story of a teenager's summer during the Harlem Renaissance and his run-ins with famous gangsters, writers, and musicians.
It's 1925 and Mark Purvis is a 16-yr-old with a summer to kill. He'd rather jam with his jazz band (they need the practice), but is urged by his parents to get a job. As an assistant at The Crisis, a magazine for the ""new Negro,"" Mark rubs shoulders with Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. He's invited to a party at Alfred Knopf's place. He's making money, but not enough, and when piano player Fats Waller entices him and his buddies to make some fast cash, Mark finds himself crossing the gangster Dutch Schultz.
That"s the Stonewall.
The Stonewall Inn.
Pay attention.
History walks through that door.
In 1969 being gay in the United States was a criminal offense. It meant living a closeted life or surviving on the fringes of society. People went to jail, lost jobs, and were disowned by their families for being gay. Most doctors considered homosexuality a mental illness. There were few safe havens. The Stonewall Inn, a Mafia-run, filthy, overpriced bar in New York City"s Greenwich Village, was one of them.
Police raids on gay bars happened regularly in this era. But one hot June night, when cops pounded on the door of the Stonewall, almost nothing went as planned. Tensions were high. The crowd refused to go away. Anger and frustration boiled over.
The raid became a riot.
The riot became a catalyst.
The catalyst triggered an explosive demand for gay rights.
Ann Bausum"s riveting exploration of the Stonewall Riots and the national Gay Rights movement that followed is eye-opening, unflinching, and inspiring.
Debut novelist Lisa Lewis Tyre vibrantly brings a small town and its outspoken characters to life, as she explores race and other community issues from both the Civil War and the present day.
Lou might be only twelve, but she's never been one to take things sitting down. So when her Civil War-era house is about to be condemned, she's determined to save it, either by getting it deemed a historic landmark or by finding the stash of gold rumored to be hidden nearby during the war. As Lou digs into the past, her eyes are opened when she finds that her ancestors ran the gamut of slave owners, renegades, thieves and abolitionists. Meanwhile, some incidents in her town show her that many Civil War era prejudices still survive and that the past can keep repeating itself if we let it. Digging into her past shows Lou that it's never too late to fight injustice, and she starts to see the real value of understanding and exploring her roots.
In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex—the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history.
In 1819 the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats. During ninety days at sea under horrendous conditions, the survivors clung to life as one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear.
In the Heart of the Sea tells perhaps the greatest sea story ever. Philbrick interweaves his account of this extraordinary ordeal of ordinary men with a wealth of whale lore and with a brilliantly detailed portrait of the lost, unique community of Nantucket whalers. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, the book delivers the ultimate portrait of man against nature. At once a literary companion and a page-turner that speaks to the same issues of class, race, and man’s relationship to nature that permeate the works of Melville, In the Heart of the Sea will endure as a vital work of American history.
“A book that gets in your bones…Philbrick has created an eerie thriller from a centuries old tale…Scrupulously researched and eloquently written…It would have earned Melville’s admiration.”—New York Times Book Review
It"s 1955, and Benjamin Burrows and Janie Scott are trying to live a safe, normal life in America. It"s not easy, when they have the power to prevent nuclear disaster, and sinister forces are circling. Soon the advice of a mysterious, unscrupulous magician propels Janie and Benjamin into danger, and toward the land of the dead.
Meanwhile, their friend Jin Lo washes up on a remote island where an American spy is stationed, and finds herself on the trail of a deadly threat in China. But she"s on the other side of the world-how can Janie and Benjamin reach her?
The triumphant finale in the trilogy that began with Maile Meloy"s bestselling, critically acclaimed The Apothecary, and continued in its captivating sequel, The Apprentices, The After-Room is full of enchantment and heart, with Ian Schoenherr"s stunning illustrations throughout.
From the Hardcover edition.
