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The Statue of Liberty is one of America's most famous and recognizable landmarks and is one of the first sights many people see when entering the United States by ship. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France following the end of the American Civil War and was built to celebrate freedom and the friendship between France and America. Leanne Walters brings you 51 fascinating facts to tell the story of the Statue of Liberty, from the original idea in France to its assembly on an island in New York Harbor.

Julia Child was born hungry, but she was not born a chef. In fact, Julia didn’t discover her passion for cooking until she had a life-changing luncheon in France and became determined to share her newfound love of food with everyone. In Paris, Julia devoured recipe books, shopped in outdoor markets, consumed all kinds of foods, and whipped through culinary school. Through perseverance and grit, Julia became a chef who shared her passion with the world, making cooking fun, and turning every meal into an event. Alex Prud'homme showcases Julia's life and celebrates her enduring legacy.

Do you know why we celebrate Presidents’ Day? Find out in this fact-filled audiobook about Presidents’ Day. Patriotic music and fun sound effects will engage kids and encourage them to learn more about this important American holiday.

Before May 31, 1921, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a thriving neighborhood of 10,000 Black residents. There, Black families found success and community. They ran their own businesses, including barbershops, clothing stores, jewelers, restaurants, movie theatres, and more. There also were Black doctors, dentists, and lawyers to serve the neighborhood. Then, in one weekend, all of this was lost. A racist mob tore through the streets, burning everything to the ground and killing scores of innocent residents.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “In rhyming couplets, Cortez leads readers on a journey through Black life that acknowledges pain and struggle while building confidence with examples of triumph. It’s a tricky maneuver when writing for children, but Cortez pulls it off.” – The New York...

Taking over a rowdy gym class right before winter vacation is not something James Naismith wants to do at all. The last two teachers of this class quit in frustration. The students—a bunch of energetic young men—are bored with all the regular games and activities. Naismith needs something new, exciting, and fast to keep the class happy—or someone's going to get hurt. Saving this class is going to take a genius. Discover the true story of how Naismith invented basketball in 1891 at a school in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In addition to slave uprisings and escapes on the Underground Railroad, enslaved people also resisted their mistreatment through small acts in their everyday lives. Discover the many forms of resistance to slavery. Inspired by a belief that knowledge is power, Read Woke Books seek to amplify the voices of people who are not white, provide information about groups that have been disenfranchised, share perspectives of people who have been underrepresented or oppressed, challenge social norms and disrupt the status quo, and encourage listeners to take action in their community.

Everybody knows about the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the founders weren't the only ones who believed that everyone had a right to freedom. Mumbet, a Massachusetts enslaved person, believed it too. She longed to be free, but how? Would anyone help her in her fight for freedom? Could she win against the richest man in town? Mumbet was determined to try. Mumbet's Declaration of Independence tells her story for the first time in a biography. Her brave actions set a milestone on the road toward ending slavery in the United States.

With lyrical text, Their Great Gift explores the experiences of immigrants in the twenty-first century, focusing on the lives of children. Stories of families who came to the United States from many different parts of the world celebrate the diversity of our country and contain a vision of hope for the future.

When they piled into cars and drove through Durham, North Carolina, the members of the Duke University Medical School basketball team only knew that they were going somewhere to play basketball. They didn't know whom they would play against. But when they came face-to-face with their opponents, they quickly realized this secret game was going to make history. Discover the true story of how in 1944, Coach John McLendon orchestrated a secret game between the best players from a white college and his team from the North Carolina College of Negroes at a time of segregation and racism.

The Civil War began after eleven southern states seceded in order to keep slavery. Discover how enslaved people experienced the war, from serving on the front lines to glimpsing and winning freedom.

With the freeing of four million enslaved people after the Civil War, the Reconstruction period brought new victories and challenges in the fight for Black rights. Learn more about this crucial period in US history.

Abolitionists campaigned for freedom for enslaved people. Abolitionists used print materials, passionate speeches, and direct action to disrupt the racist system of slavery. Learn about abolitionist leaders such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, setbacks and victories for the movement, and the work abolitionists continue to inspire.

From the March on Washington to March for Our Lives to Black Lives Matter, the powerful stories of kid-led protest in America.   Kids have always been activists. They have even launched movements. Long before they could vote, kids have spoken up, walked out, gone on strike, and marched...

For thousands of years, the Elwha river flowed north to the sea. The river churned with salmon, which helped feed bears, otters, and eagles. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, known as the Strong People located in the Pacific Northwest, were grateful for the river's abundance. All that changed in the 1790s when strangers came who did not understand the river's gifts. The strangers built dams, and the environmental consequences were disastrous.

In 1947, during the early years of the Cold War, a field in Roswell, New Mexico was disturbed by a strange crash and smattering of debris. Some say the bodies of extraterrestrial beings were strewn across the ground, that a UFO had crashed there, and that the government was covering up the evidence in a massive conspiracy.

The Tuskegee Airmen heroically fought for the right to be officers of the US military so that they might participate in World War II by flying overseas to help defeat fascism. However, after winning that battle, they faced their next great challenge at Freeman Field, Iowa, where racist white officers barred them from entering the prestigious Officers' Club that their rank promised them. The Freeman Field Mutiny, as it became known, would eventually lead to the desegregation of the US armed forces, forever changing the course of American history and race relations.

Arrested? For teaching? John Scopes’s crime riveted the world, and crowds flocked to the trial of the man who dared to tell students about a forbidden topic—evolution. The year was 1925, and discussing Darwin’s theory of evolution was illegal in Tennessee classrooms. Lawyers wanted to challenge the law, and businessmen smelled opportunity. But no one imagined the firestorm the Scopes Trial would ignite—or the media circus that would follow.

This revelatory and gripping nonfiction middle grade book explores a deeply troubling chapter in American history that is still playing out today: the strange case of Prince Edward County, Virginia, the only place in the United States to ever formally deny its citizens a public education, and the students who pushed back.

When Frank Thompson sees a poster requesting recruits for the new Union army, he is ready and willing to enlist. Except Frank isn’t his real name. In fact, Frank isn’t a man—he is really Sarah Emma Edmonds. At only nineteen years old, Sarah had already been dressing as a man for three years and living on the run in order to escape an arranged marriage. She had tasted freedom, and there was no going back.