Figgs & Phantoms
10 best books like Figgs & Phantoms (Ellen Raskin): All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud, Journey Outside, Graven Images, Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount Saint Helens, After the Rain, When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stories, Frontier Living: An Illustrated Guide to Pioneer Life in America, Belling the Tiger, Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, All Alone
| Author | Armstrong Sperry |
| ISBN | 0879235233 |
I found this title in an used bookstore in the little town of Columbia Falls, Montana, and paid $10 for it thinking it was a non-fiction account of the legendary sailing ship Flying Cloud. My copy is a 1935 edition and includes a very large number of superb woodcut illustrations. Instead of the factual...
| Author | Mary Q. Steele |
| ISBN | 0140305882 |
Grandfather said they were headed for the Better Place, but Dilar suspected they were headed nowhere, simply following the dark underground river blindly. And so one night he leaped onto a shelf of rock and watched the flotilla of the Raft People disappear. And from there he found his way Outside, into...
| Author | Paul Fleischman |
| ISBN | 0763627755 |
Paul Fleischman spins three engrossing stories about the unexpected ways an artist's creations reveal truths - tales whose intriguing plots and many moods will entertain readers and inspire future writers.
Can wood, copper, or marble communicate? They can if they are the graven images...
| Author | Patricia Lauber |
| ISBN | 0689716796 |
May 18, 1980, 8:32 A.M.: An earthquake suddenly triggered an avalanche on Mount St. Helens, a volcano in southern Washington State. Minutes later, Mount St. Helens blew the top off its peak and exploded into the most devastating volcanic eruption in U.S. history.
What caused the eruption?...
| Author | Norma Fox Mazer |
| ISBN | 0380750252 |
At fifteen, Rachel is a worrier. She worries about whether her family understands her, whether her friends like her, and whether she'll get her first kiss before she turns sixteen. And she worries about whether she can handle having a real boyfriend if he does come along.
But it takes a dying...
| Author | Isaac Bashevis Singer |
| ISBN | 0374383162 |
"In our time, when literature is losing its address and the telling of stories is becoming a forgotten art, children are the best readers."
—When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw & Other Stories, from the Foreward
I have to admit, Isaac Bashevis Singer really has a way with folk tale humor....
I did not read every word. It is very readable, but there was too much history (compared to the Guide as promised in the title) in it for me. The illustrations were great, esp. of the actually tools and gear. Now, I wouldn't necessarily object to all that text of Westward Ho, but too much of it was written in...
| Author | Mary Stolz |
| ISBN | 0762418893 |
At last, Mary Stolz's 1962 Newbery Honor-winning book is back. And now, for the first time, the classic story is brought to life with colorful illustrations in a picture book format. Award-winning illustrator Pierre Pratt adds whimsical new art to this charming tale about two little mice assigned...
| Author | Virginia Hamilton |
| ISBN | 0380651939 |
Why had he come to her, with his dark secrets from a long-ago past? What was the purpose of their strange, haunting journeys back into her own childhood? Was it to help Dab, her retarded older brother, wracked with mysterious pain who sometimes took more care and love than Tree had to give? Was it for her...
| Author | Claire Huchet Bishop |
| ISBN | 0590457071 |
Oloo!-Oo-oo-oop!-ooooo! All alone, high on the slope of the Little Giant in the French Alps of Saucie, ten-year-old Marcel yodeled to keep himself company. Like other boys in his village, Marcel would have to look over the family's cows during the summer; and the flexible, age-old rule was, "Don't...
| Author | Marguerite de Angeli |
| ISBN | 0856860824 |
Vikings & Scotland in the 10th century.
"Now we shall go a-Viking," Harald Redbeard announced, and so it was that Kan and Brus, Harald's twin sons, found themselves on the dragon-prowed Raven of the Wind, its striped sails set for England. But storms, ancient enemies of the sea-faring...
| Author | Erick Berry |
| ISBN | 1589881206 |
Inas leaps at adventure. She dives to the bottom of the Aegean Sea to harvest sponges and somersaults over charging bulls in front of thousands of people. Best of all, she soars from cliffs wearing the glider-wings her father builds in secret, safe from the prying eyes of their neighbors, who think flying...
| Author | Mari Sandoz |
| ISBN | 0803291604 |
Praised for swift action and beauty of language, The Horsecatcher is Mari Sandoz's first novel about the Indians she knew so well. Without ever leaving the world of a Cheyenne tribe in the 1830s, she creates a youthful protagonist many readers will recognize in themselves. Young Elk is expected to be...
| Author | Caroline Dale Snedeker |
| ISBN | 9997489179 |
Chloe, the young daughter of a noble Roman man, has been lost to her father, and has spent her life unknown to him, as a slave on one of his own villas. Cruelly treated, and with no hope of freedom, her only escape is into the stories of her Grecian mother's home town of Eresos, as told to her by Melissa, a fellow-slave...
| Author | Mavis Jukes |
| ISBN | 0440421225 |
This is a brief story about an episode in the life of Alex and his stepfather, Jake. The two are not close, and a wolf spider on the porch brings them both the opportunity to start building a relationship. Since the story is so short, there is much left out. And the episode with the spider can read like slapstick....
| Author | Cyrus Fisher |
| ISBN | 0802776930 |
As read from OpenLibrary, I found this surprisingly charming.
It's mostly about the boy, John (Jean when he's in France) as he faces the challenges of growing from a pampered boy to a stronger and wiser young man. He's sort of forced to 'man up' in just a few weeks, as he's left to live with his 'oncle'...
| Author | Harold Courlander |
| ISBN | 0805002987 |
Read for Newbery, would not have picked it up otherwise, would have missed a fun & enlightening read.
Concise, a fast and enjoyable read, with lovely pictures. The notes and the vibe make it feel authentic and respectful, and I have seen some of the stories in more modern books, so I trust...
Prolific children's author Kathryn Lasky tells the story of sugaring season - that "time between the seasons... when winter seems tired and spring is only a hoped for thing" - in this beautifully-written work of picture-book non-fiction. Her lyrical but informative text is paired with her husband...
I guess I'm not a Caudill fan across the board. It wasn't like this was terrible; it just wasn't terribly good either. The family relationships weren't sweet like I assumed they would be since several of her other books score nicely on that point. And it was just kind of boring ...
In 1780, Stephanie...
| Author | Cynthia Rylant |
| ISBN | 1416948287 |
How much do you have to give up to find yourself?When Pete first sets eyes on the Man, he's convinced he's an ax murderer. But at the revival meeting, Pete discovers that the Man is actually a savior of souls, and Pete has been waiting all his life to be saved.
It's not something Pete's parents can...
| Author | William Bowen |
| ISBN | 9997488679 |
The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure is a children's fantasy novel by William Bowen that was named a Newbery Honor book.
Five-year-old Freddie meets the owner of a nearby tobacco shop, Mr. Toby Littleback; his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda; and...
Michael loves his great-great-aunt Dew, even if she can't always remember his name. He especially loves to spend time with her and her beloved hundred penny box, listening to stories about each of the hundred years of her life. Michael's mother wants to throw out the battered old box that holds the pennies,...
| Author | Meindert DeJong |
| ISBN | 0064401154 |
Even after Davie had had the little black rabbit, Shadrach, for several weeks, it was still almost unbelievable. Every morning when Davie woke up it was a miracle all over again there in his grandfather's barn sat a little black rabbit, and it was his. David had never been happier... until the day Shadrach...
