Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee 
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In this inspiring collection, children living all over the world speak about being forced to flee their homes as refugees. With original, autobiographical accounts, Making It Home gives a poignant voice to the millions of young people whose lives have been disrupted by war but who have escaped. With maps, brief histories of each country, and an eight-page photo insert, this book helps young people understand the world and the children who share the dream of freedom.

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking GlassLewis Carroll  
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Young and imaginative Alice follows a hasty rabbit underground and comes face-to-face with some of the strangest adventures and most fantastic characters in all literature.

The mad Hatter, the diabolical Queen of Hearts, the grinning Cheshire-Cat, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee could only have come from that master of sublime nonsense Lewis Carroll. In this brilliant satire of rigid Victorian society, Carroll also illuminates the fears, anxieties, and complexities of growing up. He was one of the few adult writers to enter successfully the children’s world of make-believe, where the impossible becomes possible, the unreal, real, and where the heights of adventure are limited only by the depths of imagination. 
 
With an Introduction by Martin Gardner
and an Afterword by Jeffrey Meyers
and the Original Illustrations by John Tenniel

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Al Capone Does My ShirtsGennifer Choldenko  
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A Newbery Honor Book

Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.

"Choldenko's pacing is exquisite. . . . [A] great read."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Where the Lilies BloomBill Cleaver, Vera Cleaver  
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Mary Call has promised her dying father to keep her brother and sisters together forever on the mountain, and never to take any help from strangers. She is determined to keep her word. No matter what. At first she is sure she can manage. Romey, Ima Dean, and Devola help gather herbs to sell in town; the riches of the mountains will surely keep the family clothed and fed. But then winter comes, fast and furious, and Mary Call has to learn that the land where the lilies bloom is also a cruel and unforgiving place, and it may take more than a promise to keep her family together.

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The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins  
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In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

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Bud, Not BuddyChristopher Paul Curtis  
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The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy who decides to hit the road to find his father—from Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963, a Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree.
 
It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him:

1. He has his own suitcase full of special things.
2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.
3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!!
 
Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself.
 
AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK
AN IRA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNER
NAMED TO 14 STATE AWARD LISTS
 
“The book is a gem, of value to all ages, not just the young people to whom it is aimed.” —The Christian Science Monitor
 
“Will keep readers engrossed from first page to last.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred
 
“Curtis writes with a razor-sharp intelligence that grabs the reader by the heart and never lets go. . . . This highly recommended title [is] at the top of the list of books to be read again and again.” —Voice of Youth Advocates, Starred

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The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963Christopher Paul Curtis  
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The Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree about the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan—from Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Bud, Not Buddy, a Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott Award Winner.

Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. There's Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron, who's thirteen and an "official juvenile delinquent."

When Byron gets to be too much trouble, they head South to Birmingham to visit Grandma, the one person who can shape him up. And they happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is blown up.

AN ALA TOP TEN BEST BOOK
AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK
AN IRA YOUNG ADULT'S CHOICE
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK
NAMED TO MULTIPLE STATE AWARD LISTS

"Every so often a book becomes a modern classic almost as soon as it arrives on bookshelves. That happened in the mid-'90s when Christopher Paul Curtis released his first book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963."  —NPR

From the Hardcover edition.

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Black Heroes of the American RevolutionBurke Davis  
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Crispus Attucks is known as the escaped slave whose freedom ended when he died in the Boston Massacre, but there are many other lesser-known black men and women who made enormous contributions to U.S. independence. Readers will discover Edward Hector, the brave wagoner of Brandywine; artilleryman and slave Austin Dabney; William Lee, the aide and closest companion of George Washington throughout the war; and many others.
     Includes a bibliography, a foreword by Senator Edward W. Brooke, and an index.

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Lincoln Shot: A President's Life RememberedBarry Denenberg  
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Lincoln Shot So begins this intimate portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Conceived as a one year anniversary edition of a newspaper, dated April 14, 1866, strongly evocative of the time and the nation's mood. The moment-by-moment recital of the events of the day that ended in assassination holds readers enthralled awaiting the tragic end. The account of the flight, capture, and hanging of some of the conspirators is riveting.

From there, Denenberg moves to the log cabin in Kentucky and Lincoln's life unfolds. The boy, the man, the husband and the father is portrayed as a trifle clumsy, often unsure of himself, and plagued by dark moods. Denenberg's Lincoln is ambitious and modest. He struggles with his role as leader as the Civil War nears.

In the third part of the book, the year-by-year account of the Civil War is seen through Lincoln's eyes. Every defeat and every victory deepens his struggle and resolve.

Award-winning artist Christopher Bing evokes an 1866 newspaper with pen-and-ink scenes from Lincoln's life: Lincoln wrestling Jack Armstrong, Lincoln taking vows with Mary Todd, Grant and Lee at Appomattox, and Booth shooting Lincoln.

Rich Deas, book designer, has folded Bing's art and sourced archival images into layouts that are undistinguishable for 1866 newspaper design. Every facet of design, from frames to advertisements, has been exactingly molded to evoke the era.

The oversized vertical trim underscores the newspaper look and feel. Meticulously researched and exquisitely designed, Lincoln Shot is a uniquely inviting and accessible tribute to Lincoln, whose birth bicentennial is February 12, 2009.

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When I Was Your Age: Volumes I and II: Original Stories About Growing UpAmy Ehrlich  
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"Memoirs of adolescence by renowned YA authors. . . . Readers can journey to places where the seeds of imagination and keen powers of observation are planted." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Tell me a story of when you were little" is something children love to ask. Twenty award-winning authors respond in these two extraordinary volumes, now combined in one book. The writers of these stories make it clear that despite the difference between one childhood and another, all children share a complex humanity and a deep capacity for joy.

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Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain ScienceJohn Fleischman  
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Phineas Gage was truly a man with a hole in his head. Phineas, a railroad construction foreman, was blasting rock near Cavendish, Vermont, in 1848 when a thirteen-pound iron rod was shot through his brain. Miraculously, he survived to live another eleven years and become a textbook case in brain science.

At the time, Phineas Gage seemed to completely recover from his accident. He could walk, talk, work, and travel, but he was changed. Gage "was no longer Gage," said his Vermont doctor, meaning that the old Phineas was dependable and well liked, and the new Phineas was crude and unpredictable.

His case astonished doctors in his day and still fascinates doctors today. What happened and what didn’t happen inside the brain of Phineas Gage will tell you a lot about how your brain works and how you act human.

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Johnny TremainEsther Hoskins Forbes  
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Johnny Tremain, winner of the 1944 Newbery Medal, is one of the finest historical novels ever written for children. As compelling today as it was seventy years ago, to read this riveting novel is to live through the defining events leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work. In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper, The Boston Observer, and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon Johnny is involved in the pivotal events shaping the American Revolution from the Boston Tea Party to the first shots fired at Lexington. Powerful illustrations by American artist Michael McCurdy bring to life Esther Forbes's quintessential novel of the American Revolution.

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The Great Little MadisonJean Fritz  
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In the days before microphones and TV interviews, getting people to listen to you was not an easy task. But James Madison used his quiet eloquence, intelligence and passion for unified colonies to help shape the Constitution, steer America through the turmoil of two wars, and ensure that our government, and nation, remained intact.u?An excellent, fascinating, indispensable resource.? —Kirkus Reviews, pointer review?The book is rich in the sort of detail that illuminates the man, but is not limited to personal information; a great deal of government history is woven into the biography.? —Horn Book, starred review?Fritz has given a vivid picture of the man and an equally vivid picture of the problems that faced the leaders of the new nation in the formative years.? —The Bulletin of the Center for Children?s Books, starred review?Young readers will feel like they know the ?Great Little Madison? very well.? —School Library Journal

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Built for Success: The Story of McDonaldsSara Gilbert  
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Since it was founded in the USA in 1955, McDonald's has become one of the most famous companies in the world, running thousands of fast-food restaurants in dozens of countries and touching the lives of millions of people. This is the story behind McDonald's success.

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