Join the caravan for an exciting year-long trek along China's ancient Silk Road. Following the rhyming, treasure-filled story are informational endnotes about the history of the Silk Road, the story of silk, important cities of China, and a full-spread map. Ages: 4-10 Colour illustrations

In 9th century China, a little girl sends a small jade pebble to travel with her father along the Silk Road. The pebble passes from his hand all the way to the Republic of Venice, the end of the Silk Road, where a boy cherishes it and sees the value of this gift from a girl at the end of the road. A Neal Porter Book

From Roman times until the Age of Exploration, the Silk Road carried goods and ideas across Central Asia between two major centers of civilization, the Mediterranean Sea and China. In The Silk Road: Explore the World’s Most Famous Trade Route, readers ages 9–12 will learn about the history, geography, culture, and people of the Silk Road region. Marco Polo was just one of many who set out on the Silk Road in search of wealth, power, or knowledge. These adventurers braved vast deserts, towering mountain peaks, warring tribes, and marauding bandits. Silk garments, wool rugs, and fine glass were the prizes for those who survived the trip. Activities using everyday materials bring the Silk Road to life. Young readers will see how ideas in math, science, religion, and art were spread by travelers along with the treasures they found. The Silk Road takes readers on an exciting, interactive adventure to a faraway place and celebrates its important role in human history and development. .

In Acts of Courage, Connie Brummel Crook dramatizes the life of one of Canada's most enduring heroines, Laura Secord. From young Laura Ingersoll's early days in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, amidst the turmoil that followed the American Revolutionary War, the story outlines her father's difficult decision to move his family to Upper Canada. Laura's subsequent meeting and courtship with James Secord is described against the backdrop of homesteading in the Niagara Peninsula and of enduring the imminent threat of American invasion. These first sections of the book provide the background for Laura's courageous rescue of her husband from the battlefield at Queenston Heights, and her even more amazing trek to warn Col. FitzGibbon of the American's secret plans to attack the British outpost at Beaver Dams. Laura's extraordinary life, peopled with characters like Joseph Brant and Col. Fitzgibbon, is given even more poignancy and interest by the author's inventive and surprising characterization of the young FitzGibbon, by her acute eye for historical detail, and through her insights into the character of a young woman whose acts of courage have captured the imagination of generations of young Canadians.

Chengli is an orphaned errand boy who lives in Chang'an China in 630 A.D. His mother has died from illness and his father is presumed dead after disappearing into the desert when Chengli was a baby. Now thirteen, Chengli feels ready for independence. He is drawn to the desert, beckoned by the howling of strange winds and the hope of learning something about his father--who he was and how he died. Chengli joins a caravan to travel down the merchant route known as the Silk Road, but it is a dangerous life, as his father knew. The desert is harsh, and there are many bandits--bandits interested in Chengli's caravan because a princess, her servants, and royal guards are traveling with them. But the desert is full of amazing places and life-changing experiences, as the feisty princess learns the meaning of friendship and Chengli learns the heroism of which he is capable.

Reading the World’s Stories is volume 5 in the Bridges to Understanding series of annotated international youth literature bibliographies sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People. USBBY is the United States chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), a Switzerland-based nonprofit whose mission is bring books and children together. The series promotes sharing international children’s books as a way to facilitate intercultural understanding and meet new literary voices. This volume follows Children’s Books from Other Countries (1998), The World though Children’s Books (2002), Crossing Boundaries with Children’s Books (2006), and Bridges to Understanding: Envisioning the World through Children’s Books (2011) and acts as a companion book to the earlier titles. Centered around the theme of the importance of stories, the guide is a resource for discovering more recent global books that fit many reading tastes and educational needs for readers aged 0-18 years. Essays by storyteller Anne Pellowski, author Beverley Naidoo, and academic Marianne Martens offer a variety of perspectives on international youth literature. This latest installment in the series covers books published from 2010-2014 and includes English-language imports as well as translations of children’s and young adult literature first published outside of the United States. These books are supplemented by a smaller number of culturally appropriate books from the US to help fill in gaps from underrepresented countries. The organization of the guide is geographic by region and country. All of the more than 800 entries are recommended, and many of the books have won awards or achieved other recognition in their home countries. Forty children’s book experts wrote the annotations. The entries are indexed by author, translator, illustrator, title, and subject. Back matter also includes international book awards, important organizations and research collections, and a selected directory of publishers known for publishing books from other countries.

Written with a focus on the English Language Arts Common Core Standards, this book provides a complete plan for developing a literacy program that focuses on boys pre-K through grade 12. Despite the fact that reading and literacy among boys has been an area of concern for years, this issue remains unresolved today. Additionally, the emphasis and focus have changed due to the implementation of the English Language Arts Common Core Standards. How can educators best encourage male students to read, and what new technologies and techniques can serve this objective? The Common Core Approach to Building Literacy in Boys is an essential resource and reference for teachers, librarians, and parents seeking to encourage reading in boys from preschool to 12th grade. Providing a wide array of useful, up-to-date information that emphasizes the English Language Arts Common Core Standards, the bibliographies and descriptions of effective strategies in this book will enable you to boost reading interest and performance in boys. The chapters cover 16 different topics of interest to boys, all accompanied by a complete bibliography for each subject area, discussion questions, writing connections, and annotated new and classic nonfiction titles. Information on specific magazines, annotated professional titles, books made into film, websites, and apps that will help you get boys interested in reading is also included.