Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Geography & Cultures

Meg will soon be named the princess-heir of Trelian, but her connection to her dragon, Jakl, is making her parents’ subjects uneasy. Calen is about to receive his first true mage’s mark, but the ceremony is disrupted by a mysterious magical attack. Will the people of Trelian accept a dragon princess as their future queen? Will Calen be able to forestall the ominous prophecies that predict a terrifying new danger?

Famed inventor Henry "Hank" Witherspoon has gone missing, and it's up to Jack and his brilliant siblings, Ava and Matt, to find him. At Hank's ransacked lab, the siblings discover clues to the project he's been working on - a new way to generate and store electricity, inspired by the electric eels of the Amazon.

No one thought Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass would ever become friends. The former slave and the outspoken woman came from two different worlds. But they shared deep-seated beliefs in equality and the need to fight for it. Despite naysayers, hecklers, and even arsonists, Susan and Frederick became fast friends and worked together to change America.

Best-selling author Georgia Bragg delights young people with her quirky characters and unique subject matter. How They Croaked provides all the gory details of the awful ends of 19 awfully famous people. It details Ludwig Van Beethoven’s expansive finale, Henry VII’s explosive end, Albert Einstein’s great brain escape, and Marie Curie’s glowing demise.

In 2014, Flint, Michigan, was a cash-strapped city that had been built up, then abandoned by General Motors. As part of a plan to save money, government officials decided that Flint would temporarily switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Within months, many residents broke out in rashes.

Every morning, I'm up at four o'clock. I brush my teeth, get dressed, and drag my sister Melanie to the car where Mami's waiting for us. ¡Se nos va hacer tarde! ¡Apurarse! For the next two hours, we'll be in the car driving—past tamale vendors (my favorite part), through la linea (my least favorite part), and across the US border. That's how we get to school every day. This is our normal. ¡Vamos!

The dramatic and immersive story of an ambitious young empress who was the only woman to ever rule the Mughal Empire. More than four centuries ago in India, a Muslim woman ruled a magnificent empire: Nur Jahan, whose name means “light of the world.” Nur led troops into battle atop an elephant, hunted tigers, designed public buildings, and issued coinage and royal decrees in her own name.

Nosotros, la familia Vargas Ramírez, venimos de un lugar lejano al norte de Tenochtitlan llamado Iztapalapa, lugar de la loza sobre el agua. Una tierra rodeada de autos y pasto seco. Un sitio donde estaban repartidos los pedazos de nuestro pequeño mundo. Ahí vivimos algún tiempo, pero un día mi padre escuchó un canto hermoso de un ave que se elevaba y parecía decir tihui, tihui, tihui: vamos, vamos, vamos. Y así reunimos a nuestros amigos que conformaban ese pequeño mundo y decidimos partir hacia el norte, hacia el otro lado, hacia una vida mejor.

It's 1975, Tamil Nadu, South India, and nine-year-old Pavi is living a carefree life with her large intergenerational family. Everyday is an adventure. Why not steal 233 mangoes from the neighbor's tree? Or make up grand stories that take her to Jupiter? If only there wasn't a sadness lingering over the family. You see, her uncle Selva died just five months after she was born. Pavi may have been just a baby when Selva died, but she feels close to him, as if he's watching over her, helping her when she needs it. But she has so many questions about Selva's death.

We, the Vargas Ramírez family, come from a faraway place north of Tenochtitlan called Iztapalapa, Land of Clay Upon Water. A land surrounded by cars and dry grass; a place where the pieces of our small world were scattered. For some time we lived there, but then one day my father heard a beautiful birdsong that rose up and appeared to say tihui, tihui, tihui: let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. And so we gathered up our friends who made up that small world and decided to head north, for the other side, and a better life.

Once Mariam decides to start a food business in the refugee camp where she’s spent her whole life, she must see her dream through. She will need money. She will need the right papers. People will tell her it’s impossible. They will tell her not to risk it. But with the women of the camp behind her, she is determined to make it happen.

Told from the perspective of a young refugee girl, debut children's book author and New Voices winner Maham Khwaja tells the story of a family forced to flee their home due to violence. Emotive illustrations by Daby Zainab Faidhi balance the family's love for one another and hope for the future with the harrowing journey to escape on foot, travel by boat, and then finally resettle in a safe place. Through it all, the young girl tries to hold on to all the pieces of her life before and find a way to rebuild a sense of home.

THE HARVEST FESTIVAL of Pongal is days away, and V. Malar could not be more excited for the celebration. With her aunt, uncle, and cousins Priya and Kamal flying in to visit her home in Pori, India, Malar and her parents have food to prepare and a house to clean, so they can be gracious hosts to their guests. When Priya and Kamal arrive, they take over Malar’s room and compare everything about Pori to their home in Seattle. Even when Malar shows them the farm animals and the local temple, her cousins whisper secrets to each other, laughing and making Malar feel left out.

Growing up, Jung-soon spent every moment she could at her grandparents' house. Dressing up and watching cartoons. Dyeing each other's fingernails with crushed balsam petals. Getting the whole neighborhood together to sweep their streets. Falling asleep together...just the three of them, happy. Grandfather was Grandmother's best and only friend. On every Jesa day, during the ancestral ritual, he would gently place the okchundang candy in her mouth, a big smile spreading across her face as it melted on her tongue.

Adults wage war, while children are unwitting victims, pulled into a maelstrom of fear and hate without any choice. This is a story about two groups of teenagers on opposite sides of the world, forever connected by an act of war. It is a story about the adults some of those teens became, forever connected by acts of forgiveness, understanding, and peace. And it is a story about one remarkable man, whose heart belonged to both America and Japan, who put that peace and understanding in motion.

Martin longs to be a musician. But a piano wouldn't fit in his mobile home, even if his father would let him have one. Martin's father wants him to play baseball and forget about all that "sissy" music stuff. If it weren't for the harmonica he plays when he's out of the house, and the music he creates in his head when his father is yelling at him, Martin would have no music at all. Then he sees a violin for sale for $50 in a pawn shop window, and he can think of nothing else. There's just one problem: he only has $12.78.

Jade is starting eighth grade in a new city—Atlanta. She just wants to go back to Chicago, where her friends are. Where her Abuela lives. But Jade does like walking to her new school on the trail that winds through the woods behind her house, where lush flowers bloom and soft leaves rustle beneath her feet. In the forest, Jade feels protected. Sometimes, it's as if it's listening to her. There, Jade meets Itztli, an elderly storyteller who exists between dreams and reality. In the golden afternoons when Itztli appears, he steps out of the forest as a lithe, agile jaguar.

Fabio flies through the streets of Bogotá on his bicycle, the children of his neighborhood trailing behind him. It is there that life feels right - where the world of adults, and their lies, fades away. But then one day, he simply forgets. Forgets how to ride his bicycle. And Fabio will never be the same again.

It’s Rashin’s first day of school in America! Everything is a different shape than what she’s used to: from the foods on her breakfast plate to the letters in the books! And the kids’ families are from all over! The new teacher asks each child to imagine the shape of home on a map. Rashin knows right away what she’ll say: Iran looks like a cat! What will the other kids say?

Third grader Max is heading off on a road trip with Mom. With miles to travel, cousins to meet, and a tall roller coaster to ride (maybe), it will be an adventure! But Max always spends weekends with Dad; will Dad be okay if he's left behind? And will Max be brave enough for all the new explorations ahead of him?