World Geography

A stray kitty gets a job in a sumo stable, chasing mice in exchange for food. But when eating like a sumo wrestler slows our feline hero down, he realizes he must train like a wrestler, too. Through hard work and perseverance - and with a little help from a big buddy - SumoKitty is born! A funny and heartwarming story inspired by the Japanese saying, "Fall down seven times, stand up eight."

The fishermen on Lesvos call her Kanella because of her cinnamon color. She's a scrawny, nervous stray - intimidated by the harbor cats and the other dogs that compete for handouts on the pier. One spring day, a dinghy filled with weary, desperate strangers comes to shore. Other boats follow, crowded with refugees who are homeless and hungry. Kanella knows what that is like, and she follows them as they are taken to a temporary refugee camp set up in the parking lot of an abandoned nightclub. There she comes to trust a bearded man - an aid worker.

Santos Paola Santiago has recently returned from Oregon, where she defeated the Hitchhiker ghost and saved her father from the vengeful spirit that was possessing him. The poor girl deserves a rest! But first she has to rescue Dante from the void, where he's been imprisoned by some unknown force. Paola's prophetic dreams seem to have dried up, so she has to find other ways to locate a new rift where she can enter the void. Signs point to Texas—but how is she going to get there from Arizona?

Decorations made of straw cover your Christmas tree. A girl dressed in a crown of candles sings songs as she visits people’s homes. People gather together to exchange gifts called julklappar. These are the sights and sounds of Christmas in Sweden. Come explore the many Swedish traditions that bring people of this country together at Christmas.

A yule log burns brightly in a fireplace. Children pop open Christmas crackers to get a surprise. Families enjoy treats such as mince pie and plum pudding. These are the sights and sounds of Christmas in England. Come explore the many English traditions that bring people of this country together at Christmas.

In researching one of history's greatest scientific quests, a mission to measure the Earth and define the meter, Ken Alder stumbled on a 200-year-old secret: The meter, it turns out, is in error. This is a story of two men, a secret, and a timeless human dilemma: is it permissible to perpetuate a small lie in the service of a larger truth?

Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal. The cook's daughter, Sakina, still hasn't told her parents that she'll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score - but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family's kitchen?

Fifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. This number is very important. The higher the number, the safer they are, because the bosses won't beat them. The higher the number, the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home to Moke and Auntie. Maybe. The problem is, Amadou doesn't know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won't tell him.

Entrepreneurs, educators, humanitarians: an entire province's worth of Canadian citizens live outside Canada. Some will return, others won't. But what they all share is the ability, and often the desire, to export Canadian values to a world sorely in need of them. And to act as ambassadors for Canada in industries and societies where diplomatic efforts find little traction. Surely a country with people as diverse as Canada's ought to plug itself into every corner of the globe. We don't, and sometimes not even when our expats are eager to help.

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything. Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent. Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Fun, relatable, and inspirational, The Glimmer Girls Audio Collection, written by Grammy-award winning Natalie Grant, will bring hours of enjoyment for tween girls. This 4-in-1 audio collection is a great value for these popular realistic fiction books, which take girls on adventures with a little bit of mystery across the world and back. Follow twin sisters Mia and Maddie and their little sister LuLu as they travel with their mother and dad and super-fun nanny, having adventures and solving mysteries along the way.

Humans versus Nature tells a history of the global environment from the Stone Age to the present, emphasizing the adversarial relationship between the human and natural worlds. Nature is cast as an active protagonist rather than a mere backdrop or victim of human malfeasance. Daniel R. Headrick shows how environmental changes - epidemics, climate shocks, and volcanic eruptions - have molded human societies and cultures, sometimes overwhelming them.

Native American tribes from the Northwest Coast learned to use the wood of cedar trees for many of their daily needs. Tribes used recycling to conserve resources hundreds of years ago. Pounding bark until it was fluffy to make diapers and with special thin branches called withes, cedar trees were soaked and used to make rope. What special technique did tribes use to take down big cedar trees?

The Magic Tree House carries Jack and Annie back to the Old West, where they roam the Great Plains with a Lakota boy.

Corinne LaMer defeated the wicked jumbie Severine months ago, but things haven't exactly gone back to normal in her Caribbean island home. Everyone knows Corinne is half-jumbie, and many of her neighbors treat her with mistrust. When local children begin to go missing, snatched from the beach and vanishing into wells, suspicious eyes turn to Corinne. To rescue the missing children and clear her own name, Corinne goes deep into the ocean to find Mama D'Leau, the dangerous jumbie who rules the sea.

Sarah Miller's accomplished debut presents a fictionalized account of Anne Sullivan's life and her time as Helen Keller's teacher. Arriving at Ivy Green in 1887, Anne was a partially blind orphan who had been tasked with teaching the difficult blind, deaf, and mute girl to communicate. Anne quickly learned, along with Helen, that "words are a miracle".

A young boy wakes up to the sound of the sea, visits his grandfather's grave after lunch, and comes home to a simple family dinner, but all the while his mind strays to his father digging for coal deep down under the sea. With curriculum connections to communities and the history of mining, this beautifully understated and haunting story brings a piece of history to life. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a maritime mining town will enthrall children and move adult listeners.

Get ready to hop on a mythical time machine and travel to Japan—a land of legendary samurai, magical creatures, and ancient wisdom! Prepare to dive into a world where brave warriors battle dragons, spirits roam enchanted forests, and gods and goddesses shape the destiny of mortals.

Packed with fascinating details, this fast-paced narrative will transport listeners back in time. In an exploration of the political and social landscape at the time of Jesus’s life, Bill O’Reilly takes on the questions surrounding his death. Who was involved in the trial and sentencing of Jesus? What circumstances led to his conviction? What were the motivations in killing Jesus? In the same way that the author gave fresh insight into the lives and times of Lincoln and Kennedy, this is an intimate portrait of the Jesus of history.

Aref does not want to move to Michigan. He's sure the kids there won't like him. Also, he has everything he needs right where he is! But Sidi has another point of view. Sidi says Aref will go and come back. Just like a falcon or the turtles of Oman, he'll travel far and make his way home to Muscat. So Aref sets out to say good-bye to everything he loves. Good-bye to Mish-Mish, Diram, Sulima, dunes, Sidi…. But how can he stand it?