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Ten-year-old Babo has grown up on an abandoned circus camp in a war-torn country. She sleeps in the old lion cage and takes care of the other parentless "leftover kids" telling them fantastical stories about the old circus days and finding ways to make them laugh. They need her. So Babo is not one single bit happy when an American couple wants to adopt her and change her name to Betti. How will her real parents ever find her all the way in America?

Best friends Ray and Jose are not your typical teenagers. They've escaped foster care and juvenile detention centers to live on their own together in an abandoned stationhouse in New York City's Ten Mile River Park. Ray and Jose are as close as brothers. But then they meet Trini, the smart, beautiful, and confident girl from their local barber shop, and they both fall for her immediately. As tension creeps into their relationship, Ray must struggle to find an identity separate from Jose and try to envision a future for himself beyond Jose and Ten Mile River.

When 12-year-old Casey's sole guardian - her stepmother Sylvia - doesn't come home one night, Casey believes she's run off with her boyfriend. The question is - will Sylvia come back? And even more urgent - how will Casey fend for herself in their New York City apartment?

Through a series of fascinating events, Homer's older brother has been illegally sold to the Union Army. It is up to Homer to find him and save him. Along the way, he encounters strange but real people of that era: two tricksters who steal his money, a snake-oil salesman, a hot-air balloonist, and finally, the Maine regiment who saved Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg and won the war for the Union.

Otis, Willie, and Hibernia are three children with a lot in common: they've all lost a loved one, they each have secret dreams, and they won't stop fighting for what they want. And they're also a lot like their hero, famed boxer Joe Louis. Throughout this moving novel, their lives gradually converge to form friendship, family, and love. Their trials and triumphs echo those of Joe Louis, as he fights to become the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion.

In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn't have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn't believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She's sure they will become slaves to strangers. Anyway, who would ever adopt a large, tough, stubborn girl of Polish origin? As the train heads west, all Rodzina has is a small suitcase and her family memories from the past.

It all started when Jan Louch, assistant librarian at the Douglas County Public Library in Carson Valley, Nevada, and a coworker acquired two Scottish fold cats to keep mice away from the town's new library. Jan called the cats Baker and Taylor because the names fit the felines' mild temperaments - and because she dealt with the book distribution company on a daily basis.

It was a dumb idea, but one of those dumb ideas that accidentally turns out to be brilliant - which, I’ve come to realize, is much worse than being dumb. My name’s Antsy Bonano - but you probably already know that - and unless you got, like, memory issues, you’ll remember the kid named the Schwa, who I told you about last time. Well, now there’s this other kid, and his story is a whole lot stranger. It all started when Gunnar Ümlaut and I were watching three airborne bozos struggle with a runaway parade balloon. That’s when Gunnar tells me he’s only got six months to live.

Can you hear the distant howling of hounds and the thunder of ghostly hooves? It's All Souls' Eve and Zamiel the Demon Huntsman has come to claim his prey! He's headed straight for Castle Karlstein, where the evil count has hatched an evil plan; he'll sacrifice his two young nieces to save himself. Can Lucy and Charlotte outwit their uncle and his oily henchmen to escape their dreadful fate?

Told in multiple viewpoints, A Tangle of Knots is a magnificent puzzle. In a slightly magical world where everyone has a Talent, 11-year-old Cady is an orphan with a phenomenal Talent for cake baking. But little does she know that fate has set her on a journey from the moment she was born. And her destiny leads her to a mysterious address that houses a lost luggage emporium, an old recipe, a family of children searching for their own Talents, and a Talent Thief who will alter her life forever. However, these encounters hold the key to Cady's past and how she became an orphan.

The stars are out in Kansas City - the baseball stars, that is! Mike and Kate are at the All-Star game, and even get to go on the field during the Home Run Derby to catch pop-ups! That's where they meet Andy, whose dad, Josh Robinson, is an All-Star catcher. But before the Home Derby ends, Josh finds himself in hot water. Someone is playing practical jokes on the other players, and the coach is sure it's him. Andy swears his dad is innocent. Who would want to frame Josh? And why?

When Estrella's Tía Fortuna has to say goodbye to her longtime Miami apartment building, The Seaway, to move to an assisted living community, Estrella spends the day with her. Tía explains the significance of her most important possessions from both her Cuban and Jewish culture, as they learn to say goodbye together and explore a new beginning for Tía.

De pequeña, todos la conocían por Bibi. Entraba y salía por las casas de la urbanización como si fueran suyas. Los vecinos se compadecían de ella por ser huérfana de madre y porque su padre, además de no trabajar, se pasaba gran parte del día borracho. El carácter alegre y abierto de la niña pone en el relato un fondo amable a un problema social duro, al que el autor ha sabido buscar solución sin provocar desgarros ni amarguras.

In a classroom of sandwiches, four students stand out with their homemade, culturally specific lunches. But before they can dig in and enjoy their favorite foods, their lunches are spoiled by scrunched noses and disgusted reactions from their sandwich-eating classmates.

Everything has changed since the war started. Nanea had hoped that going back to school would make life seem normal again. But it hasn’t. There are still curfews and blackouts and constant reminders of war. Nanea’s dear friend Donna had to leave Hawaii, and Nanea’s big brother won’t stop talking about joining the Army. In the swirl of changes, Nanea turns to hula. Dancing makes her feel better, and soon she learns how much it lifts the spirits of the soldiers, too. When a surprising hula partner boosts everyone’s morale, Nanea gets a big idea.

Little Mary Lennox is a bad-tempered, disagreeable child. When her parents die in India, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle in a big, lonely, old house. There is nothing to do all day except walk in the gardens – and watch the robin flying over the high walls of the secret garden . . . which has been locked for ten years. And no one has the key. An Oxford Bookworms Library reader for learners of English, adapted from the Frances Hodgson Burnett original by Clare West.

In this delightful sequel, award-winning author-illustrator dePaola shares engaging childhood memories about siblings, school, and life as a five-year-old.

In a heartwarming first-person account, dePaola retells his experiences at home and in school when he was a boy. 26 Fairmount Avenue is full of humor, drama, suspense and just the day-to-day ups and downs of a little boy's life.

きものは単に民族衣装というだけでなく、それ自体が日本の伝統と文化を体現する存在です。このオーディオブックでは、きものを知ろうと題して、きものが日本の文化の中に占める位置や大まかなきものの種類やその役割、きものの各部分の名称、帯や小物に関する紹介等を加えました。また同等の内容の英語版を加えることにより、海外の方にも理解しやすいように、できるだけ平易な語り口でまとめました。(C)2012トラディションジャパン

Joined by Hiram the farmhand, Katie begins the journey west. At first, she is unsure if the mustang will follow, but much to her relief, he seems to trust her. Soon, Katie and Hiram meet up with a large family who invite them to join their caravan. For the first time, it seems as though they might really make it to Oregon. But then tragedy strikes, and Katie finds herself having to choose between parting ways with Hiram, or abandoning her dreams of going west - and giving up on the chance to return the mustang to his homeland.