Cocoa Ice
Have you ever wondered how chocolate is made? This picture book goes into detail about how the farmers pick the pods, dry the insides between banana leaves and turn the beans as they dry. One girl lives in Santo Domingo and tells about her life in creating chocolate, and how excited she is when the sailors bring ice to trade for cocoa beans Another girl lives in Maine and shares about her life where her father cuts ice from the river and packs the ice house. It was fascinating to hear about how these everyday things we love used to be made.
 | author: Diana Karter Appelbaum rating:  asin: 0531300404 binding: Hardcover list price: $17.95 USD amazon price: $17.95 |
The Paper Dragon
 | author: Marguerite W. Davol rating: asin: 0689319924 binding: Hardcover list price: $21.95 USD amazon price: $18.66 USD |
Mi Fei is a humble painter of scrolls. Between each day's sunrise and sunset, he paints scenes of the gods and their festivals' portraits of heroes and their deeds. Although the scrolls bring him fame, Mi Fei is content to live in his village, surrounded by people he loves.
But one day a messenger enters the village with terrible news: the dragon Sui Jen has awakened from its hundred years' sleep and is destroying everything in its path. Someone must find a way to return Sui Jen to its slumber. To the villagers, only one among them is wise enough to confront the scaly beast -- Mi Fei.
The power of the artist's vision and the ever-sustaining nature of love are brought together in Marguerite W. Davol's beautiful story, strikingly interpreted by Robert Sabuda in a series of gatefold illustrations that convey the storytelling majesty of the Chinese narrative scrollmaker's art.
The House on Maple Street
When you find an old china cup and an arrowhead in your backyard, do you wonder where they might have come from? This is a neat story of one piece of land and what happened on it over the past 300 years.
 | author: Bonnie Pryor rating:  asin: 0688120318 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
What would you see from your front porch if your neighborhood suddenly looked as it did three hundred years ago? When the two girls who live at 107 Maple Street discover an ancient arrowhead and a broken china cup, they begin to wonder.
Miranda the Explorer: A Magical Round-the-World Adventure
 | author: James Mayhew rating:  asin: 1842550004 binding: Hardcover list price: $20.00 USD amazon price: $20.00 |
An enchanting child’s–eye view of the wonders of the world, from the author of The Boy and the Cloth of Dreams, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year.
Lion in the Box, The
Margerite was born in 1889 and this book holds many values of a time past. A widow works in an office and leaves her five children in the apartment at home, and they take care of each other with such tenderness. It is a story of a simple Christmas made surprisingly abundant with "the lion in the box." A gem.
 | author: Marguerite De Angeli rating:  asin: 0440407400 binding: Paperback list price: $3.50 USD amazon price: $3.50 |
A meager Christmas seems to be in store for a turn-of-the-century New York family when its widowed mother is able to get work only occasionally, until a wonderful event occurs in her absence. Reprint.
Secret in the Tower: Time Spies, Book 1
Three siblings find a magic way to travel through time and have adventures. A nice bled of history of fun.
 | author: Candice Ransom rating: asin: 0786940271 binding: Paperback list price: $4.99 USD amazon price: $4.99 USD |
First in an exciting all-new series for children, complete with time travel, adventure, and American history!
In this brand-new series by acclaimed author Candice Ransom, three children meet unsung heroes who shaped America’s history. Follow the children as they hop in and out of various eras, learning important life lessons along the way. Children will enjoy the fun, easy-to-read style, and librarians, educators and parents will appreciate the learning their young readers pick up along the way. Each book ends with a fun, do-it-yourself craft project that encourages readers to delve deeper into the subject of the story.
The Roman Twins
 | rating: asin: 0374363390 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.00 USD amazon price: $16.00 |
Maximus and Vanilla, twin slaves, use all their wits to escape their cruel master, Slobbus Pompius.
The Witch Family
Amy and her friend Clarissa are 6 and they love to draw pictures and make up stories about Old Witch, and in some other reality they come true and even visit the girls. A story rich with imagination and full of all the things little girls love - mermaids, babies, and plenty of magic. Written in 1960.
 | author: Eleanor Estes rating: asin: 015202610X binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
Old Witch, Little Witch Girl, Weeny Witch, and two real girls in a fantasy that blends the worlds of reality and imagination. A Halloween classic about the power of make-believe.
The Curious Garden
We had a garden this year and it has been wonderful. I got several books about the joy of gardens and this is one we like - The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. What happens when someone helps nature reclaim an old elevated railway? It's beautiful.
 | author: Peter Brown rating: asin: 0316015474 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.99 USD amazon price: $11.55 USD |
One boy's quest for a greener world... one garden at a time.
While out exploring one day, a little boy named Liam discovers a struggling garden and decides to take care of it. As time passes, the garden spreads throughout the dark, gray city, transforming it into a lush, green world.
This is an enchanting tale with environmental themes and breathtaking illustrations that become more vibrant as the garden blooms. Red-headed Liam can also be spotted on every page, adding a clever seek-and-find element to this captivating picture book.
My Mother Is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World: A Russian Folk Tale
 | author: Becky Reyher Ruth Gannett rating: asin: 0688512518 binding: Library Binding list price: $16.93 USD amazon price: $16.93 |
