Ann Malaspina

A Scarf for Keiko

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, as two girls work hard all day to help support their family by chipping bricks into small pieces, older sister Yasmin seeks a way to attend school and learn to read so that she can have a better life one day. Includes author's note about conditions in Bangladesh, child labor, and how to help.

Yasmin's Hammer

In Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, in 1942, after Sam's Japanese neighbor, Keiko, is sent to an internment camp with her family, he makes a special effort to send her a gesture of friendship.

Yasmin longs to go to school, but her family needs the money she and her sister earn at the brickyard to keep the rice bag full and the roof repaired at their Bangladesh home. As she hammers away day after day, Yasmin dreams of a different life, in which she can be anything she wants when she grows up, in which she can read. One night she comes up with a secret plan to achieve those dreams. Compassionately told and inspired by contemporary news stories, Yasmin's Hammer offers a fresh perspective on the value of education.

Retells an African American folktale in which slaves forced into hard labor fly free in their hearts and minds.

An African-American Folktale

The People Could Fly

Bare feet shouldn't fly. Long legs shouldn't spin. Braids shouldn't flap in the wind. 'Sit on the porch and be a lady,' Papa scolded Alice. In Alice's Georgia hometown, there was no track where an African-American girl could practice, so she made her own crossbar with sticks and rags. With the support of her coach, friends, and community, Alice started to win medals. Her dream to compete at the Olympics came true in 1948. This is an inspiring free-verse story of the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Photos of Alice Coachman are also included.

Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper

Touch the Sky

Tami Charles

Kelly Starling Lyons

Carole Boston Weatherford

Madison Moore

Glenda Armand

Rose Viña

These stories of Black trailblazers, communities, and experiences will inspire kids of all backgrounds. This uplifting collection of eight stories introduces readers to barrier-breaking artists and athletes, as well as Black culture and traditions. This collection includes e-book editions of Fearless Mary, Gordon Parks, Ice Breaker, More than Just a Game, Song in a Rainstorm, Sugar Hill, Tiara's Hat Parade, and Touch the Sky.

Black History and Culture Collection

Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Revolution, rescued China from years of corrupt rule, foreign domination, and civil war. Through Mao's tactics of guerilla warfare and peasant support, China became a Communist nation in 1949. Mao unified China under a central government, yet the legacy of his achievements -- and mistakes -- still lingers. By isolating China for over two decades, Mao let it lag behind the progress made in other countries. In The Chinese Revolution and Mao Zedong in World History, author Ann Malaspina relates the history of the Chinese Communist party and the People's Republic of China during the time of Mao Zedong. Key events include the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and Mao's helping China emerge from isolation by reaching out to the United States. Book jacket.

The Chinese Revolution and Mao Zedong in World History

Highlighting Mahatma Gandhis key ideals and details of his life through source documents, photos, and informative text, this book will help students understand the revolutionary ideas that Gandhi portrayed. They will learn how he helped free India from British rule through nonviolence and shaped the behaviors of politicians and activists for generations to come.

Mahatma Gandhi and India's Independence

Explores global traditions surrounding the arrival of a new year, including food, parties, finding good luck, and making resolutions. Additional features to aid comprehension include a table of contents, a phonetic glossary, informative captions, detailed maps, sources for further research, an index, and introductions to the author and illustrator.

New Year Traditions Around the World

Through first-person accounts, informational text, and photos, students will learn about Chairman Maos theories, military strategies, and political policies known as Maoism, which forever changed the culture of China and communication between the East and the West.

Mao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution

Nelson Mandela's fight to end apartheid in South Africa is a riveting story of hardship, courage, and triumph. One of the great moral leaders of modern history, Mandela never gave up his struggle against racial oppression. Through Mandela's own words, primary documents, photographs, and engaging text, readers will learn about his early life in a small village, the stirrings of his political consciousness, his twenty-seven years of imprisonment for defying apartheid, and the events leading to his election as the first black president of South Africa. The book also explores Mandela's legacy of justice, equality, and dignity, which has inspired people to action around the globe.

Fighting to Dismantle Apartheid

Nelson Mandela

Recounts the suffragist Susan B. Anthony's first trip to the ballot box on November 5, 1872, her subsequent arrest, and trial.

Susan B. Anthony Votes for President

Heart on Fire

Nathan and Nicole visit to the Statue of Liberty. Nicole takes along her notebook and writes poems using all kinds of nouns. Nathan uses his camera to snap pictures of all the nouns he can see. But their teacher, Miss Gomez, has a mystery for them: how can you take a photo of a noun you can’t see? Concepts covered include: basic definition and usage; common and proper nouns; possessive nouns; compound nouns; plural and collective nouns; irregular nouns; and concrete and abstract nouns. Glossary and additional resources.

Nathan and Nicole Learn about Nouns

What's so great about New York? Find out the top ten sites to see or things to do in the Empire State! Explore New York's busy Big Apple, beautiful waterways, and rich history. The New York by Map feature shows where you'll find all the places covered in the book. A special section provides quick state facts such as the state motto, capital, population, animals, foods, and more. Take a fun-filled tour of all there is to discover in New York.

What's Great about New York?

When the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed by Congress, the flight to freedom for runaway slaves became even more dangerous. Even the free cities of Boston and Philadelphia were no longer safe, and abolitionists who despised slavery had to turn in fugitives. But the Underground Railroad, a secret and loosely organized network of people and safe houses that led slaves to freedom, only grew stronger. Since the late 1700s, blacks and whites had banded together to aid runaways like Maryland slave Frederick Douglass, who disguised himself as a sailor to board a train to New York. Virginia slave Henry Brown packed himself in a box to get to Philadelphia. The minister John Rankin, who hung a lantern to guide runaways to his house by the Ohio River, endured beatings for speaking against slavery. Quaker storeowner Thomas Garrett was put on trial for helping fugitives in Delaware. Meanwhile, the nation marched on toward Civil War. At its height, between 1810 and 1850, these secret routes and safe houses were used by an estimated 30,000 people escaping enslavement. In The Underground Railroad: The Journey to Freedom, read how this secret system worked in the days leading up to the Civil War and the pivotal role it played in the abolitionist movement.

The Journey to Freedom

The Underground Railroad

Born Araminta Ross, Harriet Tubman was a former slave who became an abolitionist and a spy for the Union army during the Civil War. Tubman is most famous for rescuing more than 70 runaway slaves by using a network of safe houses owned by other abolitionists known as the Underground Railroad. She had escaped a harsh life in Maryland, where she worked first as a child nurse and then a field hand. After escaping to Philadelphia at the age of 29, Tubman immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. She faced great danger as she was hunted by the law, but her uncanny ability to find food and shelter during these hazardous missions meant she never lost any of her charges. Later, Tubman worked as a nurse, scout, cook, and spy for the Union army and continued to fight for the rights of women everywhere.

Harriet Tubman

Victor is training for a race, but he doesn't know his friend Vivian is also training to run in the race! While studying for their test on verbs, Vivian and Victor use several verbs to describe the upcoming race, and soon Victor guesses Vivian's secret! Concepts covered include: basic definition and usage of verbs; action and being verbs; past, present, and future tense; progressive tense; irregular verbs; main verbs; and helping verbs. Writing activity in the back reinforces text concepts. Glossary and additional resources.

Vivian and Victor Learn about Verbs

On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony made history--and broke the law--when she voted in the US presidential election, a privilege that had been reserved for men. She was arrested, tried, and found guilty: "The greatest outrage History every witnessed," she wrote in her journal. It wasn't until 1920 that women were granted the right to vote, but the civil rights victory would not have been possible without Susan B. Anthony's leadership and passion to stand up for what was right.

A small slice of land wedged on the edge of Asia, Lebanon sits precariously on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. To the west lies Europe, the seat of Christianity and Western culture; to the east lies the Arab world, the heart of Islam. An Arab nation with a government led by Christians since the late 1940s, Lebanon's place on the world map has allowed it to bridge the two worlds, but often at a stiff price. After years of civil war that began in 1976, Lebanon had started to rebuild. Very briefly, the country enjoyed a golden moment of peace, but tensions kept simmering. In 2006, eight Israeli soldiers were killed by Hezbollah, Lebanon's Shiite militia, and in 2007, several political leaders were assassinated during this country's fledgling attempts to achieve stability in a region dominated by turmoil.

Ann Malaspina

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