The very idea of life on a tropical island appeals to popular fantasy: the sea, the sky, the sand, the tranquillity, the escape-from-it-all...Mental images abound at the mere mention: white linen and straw hats; hibiscus and palm trees; languid cocktails taken on the verandah; the intensity of colours and the sound of the sea. This fantasy is reality to India Hicks, David Flint Wood and their two children. Over the past five years, India and David have impeccably restored, built or redecorated three houses and one hotel on the island. Each interior reflects India's keen sense of colour and style, inherited in part from her father, David Hicks, and influenced by her travels with David Flint Wood to India and Africa, and from the wealth of Caribbean style that surrounds them. 'Island Life' celebrates India's unique style, which mixes classic European and Caribbean influences, and their houses and the island are beautifully portrayed by leading photographer David Loftus. Following a unique design influenced by the authors' meticulously made sketchbooks and journals, a mix of tracing paper (used innovatively to recreate some of India's designs), gloss and uncoated papers are combined to give the book a novel approach. This is the first book to reveal the secrets of India's style which have long been championed by style gurus such as Ralph Lauren, who shot his catalogue at their home, and Martha Stewart.

Recipient of a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award Recipient of a Bologna Ragazzi Non-Fiction Special Mention Honor Award A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 From celebrated author and illustrator Ashley Bryan comes a deeply moving picture book memoir about serving in the segregated army during World War II, and how love and the pursuit of art sustained him. In May of 1942, at the age of eighteen, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a black soldier in a segregated army. He endured the terrible lies white officers told about the black soldiers to isolate them from anyone who showed kindness—including each other. He received worse treatment than even Nazi POWs. He was assigned the grimmest, most horrific tasks, like burying fallen soldiers…but was told to remove the black soldiers first because the media didn’t want them in their newsreels. And he waited and wanted so desperately to go home, watching every white soldier get safe passage back to the United States before black soldiers were even a thought. For the next forty years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story. The story of the kind people who supported him. The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark. And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again. Filled with never-before-seen artwork and handwritten letters and diary entries, this illuminating and moving memoir by Newbery Honor–winning illustrator Ashley Bryan is both a lesson in history and a testament to hope.

Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the island of San Nicholas. Dolphins flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kep beds, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches. Here, in the early 1800s, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this beautifully written novel is her story. It is a romantic adventure filled with drama and heartache, for not only was mere subsistence on so desolate a spot a near miracle, but Karana had to contend with the ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply. More than this, it is an adventure of the spirit that will haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. Karana's quiet courage, her Indian self-reliance and acceptance of fate, transform what to many would have been a devastating ordeal into an uplifting experience. From loneliness and terror come strength and serenity in this Newbery Medal-winning classic.

Ages 4 to 8 years. This storybook is a lyrical and beautifully illustrated account of a day in the life of a Ta-no boy living 500 years ago on the island of Puerto Rico. It gives a child's-eye account of the strong bonds that these ancient people had with the natural world and one another. From poetic descriptions of the morning gathering of the crops to the magic of storytelling by the evening fire with Mother and Father, young readers will discover the rewards of a life lived close to the earth. Children will find additional pleasure in the antics of Tahite, a colourful pet parrot, and in vivid illustrations of the island's inhabitants, from the smallest coqui frog to the mightiest ceiba tree. As readers become enthralled with the workings of the ancient Ta-no culture, a philosophy of strength of community, respect for resources, and the value of friendship will inspire them to enjoy and protect the natural world that surrounds them.

A Newbery Medal Winner Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions.Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal, this classic fantasy-adventure is now available in a handsome new edition. "William Pene du Bois combines his rich imagination, scientific tastes, and brilliant artistry to tell astory that has no age limit."—The Horn Book

Robben Island – best known as the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for eighteen years – has been a place of harshness and brutality; its history steeped in the suffering of those banished there. Yet it has also become a universal symbol of hope, forgiveness, and triumph. With a storyteller’s sensibility, combined with rigorous research, Charlene Smith charts the evolution of the Island’s political and social history, from mail station, place of exile, and military defence post to maximum security prison and World Heritage Site. Fully revised, this new edition of Robben Island provides absorbing accounts of daring escapes, maritime disasters, lepers ostracized from mainland society, the fates of the great Xhosa chiefs of the nineteenth century, and the unique bonds of friendship and compassion forged among the political prisoners confined on the Island during the apartheid era. Today Robben Island is recognised for both its environmental riches and its cultural significance. More than just a geographical location or a tourist attraction, it is an enduring tribute to the resilience` of the human spirit. Sobering and uplifting, Robben Island is an essential read for anyone interested in South Africa’s turbulent journey to democracy and the people who made it possible.