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EXPLORING THE BRITISH ISLES & IRISH ISLES
For Kids
Bard of Avon
• Diane Stanley
• Peter Vennema
HISTORY •
1998 •
PAPER
• 48 PAGES
• YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8)
An illustrated account of William Shakespeare's life and 16th-century England, thoughtfully relating the circumstances of the playwright's environment to the content of his plays. Written for readers ages 6 to 9.
(GBR151, $7.99) |
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Celtic Animals Coloring Book
• Mallory Pearce
NATURAL HISTORY •
1997 •
PAPER
• 48 PAGES
• YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8)
Kids can add their own hues to 43 colorable vignettes depicting stylized birds, fish, serpents, mythological creatures and other fabulous fauna.
(CLT06, $3.95) |
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Madeline in London
• Ludwig Bemelmans
LITERATURE •
2000 •
PAPER
• 64 PAGES
• YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8)
Miss Clavel, Madeline and her 11 classmates travel to London to cheer up their former neighbor, Pepito, who had to move away from Paris. With the help of an adopted horse, the group embarks on a mad, rhyming tale of adventure through the city's busy streets. Written for kids ages 4-8.
(GBR152, $7.99) |
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Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland
• Tomi De Paola
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •
1994 •
PAPER
• 30 PAGES
• YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8)
Celebrated children's author/illustrator de Paola retells the story of Saint Patrick in this delightful picture book, geared for ages 5 to 8.
(IRE104, $8.95) |
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A Wizard Abroad
• Diane Duane
LITERATURE •
2001 •
PAPER
• 355 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
One in Duane's popular series of books about the schoolgirl wizard Nita, who in this episode travels to Ireland to aid Irish wizards, fight folkloric demons and drink tea with her auntie. Children 9 to 12 will enjoy this book's creative approach to Irish myth and legend.
(IRE113, $6.95) |
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Adam of the Road
• Elizabeth Janet Gray
• Robert Lawson
LITERATURE •
1987 •
PAPER
• 320 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
A marvelous, classic children's book -- winner of a Newbery Medal in its day -- in which a minstrel's son loses his way on the highways and byways of 13th-century England. Jammed (but so subtly!) with period detail, this engrossing novel is an enduring introduction to merrie olde England for readers ages 8 to 12.
(GBR336, $7.99) |
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Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor
• Kathryn Lasky
LITERATURE •
1999 •
HARD COVER
• 240 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
• COMING IN
One in the clever "Royal Diaries" series by Scholastic, which pairs young-adult authors with famous princesses. Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Tudor's diary, as written by Kathryn Lasky, is full of longing, intrigue and sibling rivalry -- a gripping introduction to the "Virgin Queen." The book is designed to feel like a real princess's diary, with gold-embossed pages and a sturdy binding.
(GBR331, $10.95) |
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Great Northern?, A Scottish Adventure of Swallows and Amazons
• Arthur Ransome
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •
2003 •
PAPER
• 128 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
The last in a series of 12 sailing adventures for youngsters, originally published in the 1947 and wonderfully literate. In this tale the youngsters Dick and Dorethea Callum get mixed up with a villain (who is out to get the birds of the title), meet a Scottish laird and have a blast aboard the cutter Sea Bear. Based on his own travels, Ransome's tales mix adventure, seamanship and lots of local lore. Ransome (1884-1967), who also wrote travel accounts and transcribed Russian fairy tales, was a foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian.
(SCT78, $14.95) |
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King of Shadows
• Susan Cooper
LITERATURE •
1999 •
PAPER
• 186 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
A young actor joins a troupe to travel to London's Globe theatre and finds himself transported back in time to a production directed by none other than Mr. William Shakespeare. Intended for children ages 10-12.
(GBR161, $5.99) |
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Knight's Castle
• Edward Eager
LITERATURE •
1999 •
PAPER
• 198 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
An irresistible classic. Before the kids can say "Ivanhoe" three times fast, they'll be transported to castle battlements in medieval England, where Robin Hood is battling for Sir Ivanhoe's release. Appropriately enough, the novel's four American protagonists are also thus suddenly transported -- in their case, when a toy soldier comes to life. Eager's book is packed with period detail (especially molten lead!) and great good humor. Ages 8 to 12.
(GBR340, $6.99) |
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Nory Ryan's Song
• Patricia Reilly Giff
LITERATURE •
2002 •
PAPER
• 148 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
A historical novel, set in western Ireland in 1845 and narrated by 12-year-old Nory Ryan, whose family faces starvation as a consequence of the potato blight. Atmospheric and compelling, this book is a fine introduction to the potato famine, English-Irish tensions and the Irish migration to America. Ages 10 to 12.
(IRE106, $6.99) |
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The Midnight Folk
• John Masefield
LITERATURE •
2008 •
HARD COVER
• 304 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
Originally published in 1927, British Poet Laureate Masefield's engaging tale of pirates and treasure, witchcraft and adventure, beloved by children and adults, practically demands to be read aloud. Kay Harker, a mistreated orphan, is bored and alone save a few stuffed animals, until his great-grandfather appears from beyond the grave and sends him on an enchanted, dangerous mission.
(GBR792, $16.95) |
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The Midwife's Apprentice
• Karen Cushman
LITERATURE •
1996 •
PAPER
• 122 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
The 1996 Newbery Medal winner, this novel geared for 8-12 year olds recounts the apprenticeship of a waif named Brat, who learns to be a midwife in 14th-century England. Short, funny and atmospheric.
(GBR341, $5.99) |
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The Shakespeare Stealer
• Gary Blackwood
LITERATURE •
2000 •
PAPER
• 224 PAGES
• MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12)
Featuring an orphan boy, the Bard of Avon and an evil scene-stealer, this gripping novel will transport kids back in time to the Globe theatre and Elizabethan England. Young Widge is hired to infiltrate the Globe and steal "Hamlet" for another acting troupe. Recommended for readers ages 8 to 11.
(GBR335, $6.99) |
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A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
• E.L. Konigsburg
LITERATURE •
2001 •
PAPER
• 208 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
A marvelous fictionalized portrait of Eleanor of Aquitaine who was queen of France and England successively, traveler to Constantinople, wife of a future saint, mother of Richard the Lionheart and for 15 years a prisoner of the English Crown. E.L. Konigsburg's irreverent, feminist, educational young-adult novel begins on a cloud in heaven, where Eleanor is awaiting the induction into heaven of her husband Henry II of England, who has spent the last 800 years in -- well -- not in heaven, at any rate. The rest of the book is a flashback.
(GBR245, $5.99) |
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A String in the Harp
• Nancy Bond
LITERATURE •
2006 •
PAPER
• 370 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
With the aid of a magic harp key, three American teens in Wales are transported to the 6th-century, where they encounter the great Welsh bard Taliesin and become absorbed in the world of Celtic mythology. Readers will be absorbed, too. A Newbery Honor Book first published in 1976.
(GBR592, $7.99) |
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Beware, Princess Elizabeth
• Carolyn Meyer
LITERATURE •
2002 •
PAPER
• 224 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
An acclaimed young-adult novel, in which Henry VIII is recently dead and young Elizabeth Tudor must endure the tumultuous reigns of her brother Edward and sister Mary -- before ascending the throne herself, 11 years after her father's death. It's a very human portrait of the future queen, set squarely in Tudor England, from an author who has also written a novel about Mary Tudor (GBR333).
(GBR332, $6.99) |
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Coram Boy
• Jamila Gavin
LITERATURE •
2005 •
PAPER
• 336 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
Jamila Gavin offers a textured, nuanced, evocative story of the upper and lower classes in England in 1741, concentrating her focus on two 13-year-old boys and their intertwined ambitions. It's a big, ambitious, old-fashioned book about England at the dawn of the industrial age. The word most frequently used to describe this young-adult novel, which won the Whitbread for best children's book of 2001, is "Dickensian" -- in the very best sense.
(GBR339, $7.95) |
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Mary, Bloody Mary
• Carolyn Meyer
LITERATURE •
2001 •
PAPER
• 240 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
An unusually generous portrayal of the young Mary Tudor, nicknamed "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant subjects. Popular young-adult author Meyer richly recreates the Tudor era and its religious conflicts for audiences ages 11 and up.
(GBR333, $6.99) |
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Patience, Princess Catherine
• Carolyn Meyer
LITERATURE •
2009 •
PAPER
• 208 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
Meyer captures the politics and intrigue of the Tudor Court in this entry in the Young Royal series for young adults. Betrothed to Arthur, the son of Henry VII of England at age three, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, determined to be the Queen of England, would famously become one of the wives of Henry VIII.
(EUR331, $6.99) |
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Ring of Bright Water, A Trilogy
• Gavin Maxwell
NATURAL HISTORY •
2011 •
PAPER
• 352 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
One of the great wildlife stories, published in a new omnibus edition by David R. Godine and faturing Maxwell's orginal drawings, this magical book weaves together the Scottish otter stories from Gavin Maxwell's three non-fiction books, Ring of Bright Water (1960), The Rocks Remain (1963), and Raven Meet Thy Brother (1969). Maxwell was also talented as an artist, and his sinuous line drawings of these amphibious and engaging creatures, and the homes they occupied, illustrate his story. This book stands as a lasting tribute to a man, his work, and his passion. It was received and has endured as a classic for its portrait not only of otters but also of a man who endured heartaches and disappointments, whose life embodied both greatness and tragedy. He writes with rare eloquence about his birth, his devotion to the beloved Scottish highlands, and the wildlife he loved.
(SCT17, $18.95) |
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The Queen's Own Fool
• Robert J. Harris
• Jane Yolen
LITERATURE •
2001 •
PAPER
• 400 PAGES
• YOUNG ADULTS
This excellent historical young adult novel relates the life of Mary Queen of Scots as witnessed by her jester, a spunky orphan named Nicola. Following Nicola (and Mary) from France to Scotland, the authors expertly recreate an era of intrigue, nationalist conflicts and entrenched class divisions.
(SCT55, $7.99) |
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Ancient Celts, Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Celts' Past
• Jen Green
ARCHAEOLOGY •
2008 •
HARD COVER
• 64 PAGES
• FAMILY
The distinctive languages, art, and mythologies of the ancient Celts give archaeologists with an enduring quest in Northern Europe. The Celts rarely used their written language, passing along beliefs, knowledge, and wisdom through oral traditions. Artifact-rich burial grounds, like the megalithic tombs at Newgrange, Ireland, inscribed stones, and stone circles like Stonehenge, all yield clues to their mysterious ways.
(CLT05, $17.95) |
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Boy, Tales of Childhood
• Roald Dahl
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •
2009 •
PAPER
• 176 PAGES
• FAMILY
With his usual gift for storytelling, Dahl recalls growing up in a Norwegian-English family, spending his mischievous boyhood scheming in a boys' boarding school, working as a chocolate tester for Cadbury's and summering in Wales and the Norwegian islands.
(GBR183, $6.99) |
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Darwin and Evolution for Kids, His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities
• Kristan Lawson
SCIENCE •
2003 •
PAPER
• 160 PAGES
• FAMILY
An interactive, illustrated biography of Darwin for kids 10 and up (and their families). The book, which includes hands-on activities, covers Darwin's career from his youth to his mind-expanding voyage aboard the Beagle to the development of the theory evolution through natural selection. This is a challenging, serious-minded overview.
(GPS64, $16.95) |
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