Young Readers

Laura has just three weeks to go before her Jewish "coming of age" ceremony, called a Bat Mitzvah, when she is assigned a special project. She is to read the diary of Sara Gittler, a young girl her own age who was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Sara never had the chance to celebrate her coming of age, so Laura is to learn about Sara's life and then share her Bat Mitzvah with her "twin" by speaking of her at the ceremony.

At bedtime, parents read books to their children. Forty Bedtime Stories are specifically designed for both parents and their children. This audiobook includes as many as 40 lovely tales! These are short, written in a lively and contemporary style, relate to a reality close to children, and graced with warm, inviting illustrations. Agape with wonder, children will listen to the tales and then easily surrender to dreams of wonderful adventures, of noble heroes praised for their virtuous deeds.

On October 23, 2012, with Superstorm Sandy fast approaching, Captain Robin Walbridge made the fateful decision to sail the HMS Bounty from New London, Connecticut, to St. Petersburg, Florida, believing the wooden ship, a replica of the original, famous Bounty, would fare better at sea than at port. He told the crew that anyone who did not want to come on the voyage could leave the ship and there would be no hard feelings. No one took the captain up on his offer, and this decision would have fatal consequences.

Douglas W. Tallamy awakened thousands of readers to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this middle grade adaptation of the New York Times bestseller Nature's Best Hope, Tallamy outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation that everyone can participate in regardless of age. In Nature's Best Hope (Young Readers' Edition), Tallamy empowers kids to use their own yards to help combat the negative effects of climate change.

Humans live longer now than they ever have in their more than three hundred thousand years of existence on earth. And most (if not all) of the advances that have permitted the human lifespan to double have happened in living memory. Extra Life looks at vaccines, seat belts, pesticides, and more, and how each of our scientific advancements have prolonged human life.

Since the late 1800s, it has been believed that Native American civilization has been wiped from the United States. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee argues that Native American culture is far from defeated—if anything, it is thriving as much today as it was 100 years ago.

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and hallucinations.

One of the worst acts of racial violence in American history took place in 1921, when a White mob numbering in the thousands decimated the thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Burning recreates Greenwood at the height of its prosperity, explores the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its Black residents and Tulsa's White population, narrates events leading up to and including Greenwood's devastation, and documents the subsequent silence that surrounded this tragedy.

Jocelyn Wu has just three wishes for her junior year: to make it through without dying of boredom, to direct a short film with her BFF Priya Venkatram, and to get at least two months into the year without being compared to or confused with Peggy Chang, the only other Chinese girl in her grade. Will Domenici has two goals: to find a paying summer internship, and to prove he has what it takes to become an editor on his school paper.

A chilling thriller about an unlikely friendship between a true-crime fan and a former high school classmate suspected of murdering her influencer boyfriend, perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Courtney Summers.

After her mother passes away and her father retreats into his grief, 11-year-old Anne Applebaum is afraid the only happy endings she’ll ever have are in The World to Come, a collection of fairy tales about the flying forest of Bei Ilai. In its pages, children outsmart demons, girls train as knights, and songs come to life. But even these stories can’t stop Anne from feeling alone. So when a raven tells her that she has a long-lost twin brother named Rainer, she sets out to find him. Anne soon learns that Bei Ilai is a real place—and she must step through the door into this magical realm.

The Bumper Book of Funny Jokes for Kids is jam-packed with more than 1000 side-splitting jokes, riddles, and tongue twisters for hours of laugh-out-loud fun. It’s perfect to listen to on journeys, during holidays, in the playground, or anywhere else you want to have fun. Kids will literally be bursting at the seams to share these rib-tickling jokes with their friends and family members, making this a wonderful teaching and learning resource for young listeners.

Whitney Wallace loves her family, but she thinks they're all soooooo boring. Then one snowy day, something happens, and Whitney is left to go off on adventures all by herself. What will she discover that wonderful snowy day combined with her active imagination?

Parents, do you have a child in your family who is particularly interested in flying saucers, ghosts, monsters, and other bizarre topics that fall outside the normal school curriculum? If so, congratulations. Chances are you have a son or daughter of above average IQ. The greatest minds of the 20th century - people like Einstein, Lilly, Heisenberg, Goodall, and Tesla - accomplished what they did because they were willing to "think outside the box" and explore the fringe regions of what we call "reality".

Twelve-year-old Anna Krawitz is imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto with her older sister, Lina, and their father. Happy days spent reading about anatomy and science in Papa’s bookshop are long gone, and the knowledge they have is used to help their neighbors through the illnesses caused by starvation and war.

Bob Odenkirk began writing these poems with his children when they were little, compiling the poetry into a homemade book entitled Olde Time Rhymes. He wanted Nate and Erin to understand that actual people had written the books the family loved to read and to instill in them the feeling that they could be writers and illustrators themselves.

When Jake Sheffield, a typical Christian teenager, awakens to discover that he can hear the deepest spiritual needs of those around him, the reality of the deep needs of the world hits him. And the lives he touches, through the help of the Holy Spirit, will never be the same. As his friends witness the power of sharing Christ with others, they too begin the "hear" like Jake. The Heart Reader of Franklin High is a moving, evangelistic challenge for Christian teens.

Nick Abbott and Trent Dawson have nothing in common but basketball. Or so it seems. But as the basketball season progresses, their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. In this story of an unlikely bond, award-winning author Carl Deuker explores that dark and confusing place between loneliness and friendship, between faithfulness and betrayal.

Clare is the undead fox of Deadwood Forest. Here, leaves grow in a perpetual state of fall: not quite dead, but not quite alive…just like Clare. Long ago, he was struck by a car, and, hovering between life and death, he was given the choice to either cross into the Afterlife or become an Usher of wandering souls. Clare chose the latter: stepping into a solitary life of helping souls meet their destiny. Clare’s quiet and predictable days are met with upheaval when a badger soul named Gingersnipes knocks on his door.

Nina and Joe Popper have just moved to Hillport with their mother. There's a lot to do: unpacking, scrubbing the floors, investigating the basement - wait, what's this? Two penguin eggs are tucked snugly near the furnace! It's up to Nina and Joe to find their newly hatched penguin chicks a home. Setting off on the adventure of a lifetime, they endure perilous storms, a long journey to the Arctic, and of course, penguins. Lots and lots of Popper penguins!