Golem  •  David Wisniewski  •  Lee Salsberry LITERATURE •  1996 •  HARD COVER  • 32 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A retelling of a Jewish legend, set in Prague in the 16th century, a dark time for the city's Jewish residents. A rabbi builds a clay giant to protect his people from persecution; the golem, in this version, speaks with a child's simplicity. The remarkable paper-cutout illustrations brilliantly evoke the Prague of old, and the author includes a helpful historical note. It's suitable for 9 to 12 year-olds. (CZH38, $17.00)
The Good Master  •  Kate Seredy LITERATURE •  1986 •  PAPER  • 196 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) Here's a book that will make 9-12 year-olds wish they had lived in Hungary a hundred years ago. First published in the 1930s, "The Good Master" tells of two cousins who ride horses across the Hungarian plains, encountering shepherds and gypsies en route. It's all marvelously evocative of the folk customs and lifestyles of old Hungary. Kate Seredy continued the cousins' story in a sequel, "The Singing Tree" (HGR26). (HGR25, $5.99)
Hippocrene Children's Illustrated Czech Dictionary, English-Czech/Czech-English  •  Hippocrene REFERENCE •  2001 •  PAPER • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A visual dictionary geared for middle schoolers and useful for the whole family. (CZH63, $11.95)
The Singing Tree  •  Kate Seredy LITERATURE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 247 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) The sequel to "The Good Master," in which cousins Jancsi and Kate are now older -- and Hungary (and all of 1914 Europe) are on the brink of war. (HGR26, $6.99)
The Three Golden Keys  •  Peter Sis LITERATURE •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • FAMILY Either by magic or trick of memory, author/illustrator Peter Sis is transported to the Prague of his childhood. As in all of Sis's books, the imaginary gets mixed up with the real -- in this book, he meets characters from Czech folklore, including the Golem and Hanus the Clockmaker. Prague, so often called a "fairy tale city," is at its most fairy tale-ish in this sophisticated, entrancing picture book. Intended for grade-school children, the book will appeal equally (or more) to parents. (CZH39, $23.00)
Upon the Head of the Goat, A Childhood in Hungary, 1939-1944  •  Aranka Siegal BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS This spare memoir of a Jewish girlhood in a German-occupied Hungarian town won its author a Newbery Honor citation. Its serious subject and introspective tone are recommended for sophisticated young adults. (HGR24, $6.95)
The White Stag  •  Kate Seredy LITERATURE •  1979 •  PAPER  • 96 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) It isn't every children's novel that features Attila the Hun among its cast of characters, but this re-telling of the Hungarian national epic not only casts the long-vilified Attila, it casts him as none other than the father of the Hungarian nation. And so he was. Kate Seredy drew on oral traditions and folklore for this gripping novella about the Huns' and Magyars' fifth-century migration from Asia to Central Europe. It won her a Newbery Medal in 1938. Ages 9 to 12 (HGR27, $4.99)