Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
10 best books like Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? (Richard J. Maybury): Shadow Spinner, Habibi, Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, The Golden Goblet, Mara, Daughter of the Nile, Hittite Warrior, Burying the Sun, Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, The Cat Who Went to Heaven, The Trojan War
| Author | Susan Fletcher |
| ISBN | 0689830513 |
Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher is set in Ancient Persia and it is a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights. The original tale is the story of Shaharazad, the young woman who tells stories each night to the Sultan, ending before...
| Author | Naomi Shihab Nye |
| ISBN | 0689825234 |
An award-winning novel about identity, family, and friendship from renowned writer and editor Naomi Shihab Nye.
The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father announced that the family was moving from St....
| Author | Barbara Cohen |
| ISBN | 0688135633 |
In an ancient Arab nation, one woman dares to be different. Buran cannot—Buran will not—sit quietly at home and wait to be married to the man her father chooses. Determined to use her skills and earn a fortune, she instead disguises herself as a boy and travels by camel caravan to a distant city. There,...
| Author | Eloise Jarvis McGraw |
I really liked this book when I was 11, and I really liked this book twenty-one years later. Somehow Eloise Jarvis McGraw makes Ranofer, the main character, easily relatable without turning him into a kid that thinks, talks and acts like a twentieth century American kid who happens to be living in ancient...
| Author | Eloise Jarvis McGraw |
| ISBN | 0140319298 |
Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom. In order to gain it, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies - each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt.
Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters,...
| Author | Joanne Williamson |
| ISBN | 1883937388 |
When Uriah Tarhund's Hititte home is destroyed by invading Greeks, his dying father tells him to go seek a Canaanite named Sisera. "He will help you. For my sake...." When Uriah reaches Judea and saves a young boy from being sacrificed to Molech, he is given succor for a time by the Hebrews. Later, he finds...
| Author | Gloria Whelan |
| ISBN | 0060541121 |
The third book in the St. Petersburg Quartet depicts the horror of the 900 day siege of Leningrad.
Rich in historical detail, haunting in imagery, the tale of Georgi and Marya continues. Previously they traveled to Siberia to locate their parents.
Now residing in Leningrad, the characters...
| Author | Elizabeth Foreman Lewis |
| ISBN | 0805081135 |
A classic Newbery Award winner, with an introduction by Katherine Paterson and new illustrations
When Young Fu arrives with his mother in bustling 1920s Chungking, all he has seen of the world is the rural farming village where he has grown up. He knows nothing of city life. But the city, with...
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
| Author | Elizabeth Coatsworth |
| ISBN | 0689714335 |
This delightful little fable has a compilation of several meaningful animal stories within its pages with the cream of the crop saved for Good Fortune the cat.First published in 1930 and winner of the 1931 Newbery Medal, this wonderful little classic brings together an intelligent and loving white...
| Author | Olivia E. Coolidge |
| ISBN | 0618154280 |
This book is great in some ways but it falls apart in other ways. First, the characters are absolutely amazing in their description for instance, it gives the back story of Achilles and how he was dipped into the River Styx. While it does give a detailed explanations, the book is not 100 percent accurate....
Born on the Mongolian steppes during the reign of Kublai Khan, Oyuna's future seems decided when, as an infant, her foot is crushed by a horse. Her clan believes she has been cursed by bad luck, and she is confined to her family's tent to cook and sew. But Oyuna dreams of bringing honor and good luck to her...
| Author | Linda Sue Park |
| ISBN | 0440418135 |
In Seoul, Korea, in 1473, Young-sup and his older brother Kee-sup are excited about the New Year kite competition. Young-sup is an expert at kite flying. He knows just what his kite wants him to do. Kee-sup has trouble handling his kite, but can build and design a kite fit for a king.
Each brother...
| Author | Katherine Paterson |
| ISBN | 0064402819 |
Who is the man called Sabura, the mysterious bandit who robs the rich and helps the poor? And what is his connection with Yosida, the harsh and ill- tempered master of feudal Japan's most famous puppet theater? Young Jiro, an apprentice to Yosida, is determined to find out, even at risk to his own life.
Meamwhile,...
| Author | Huynh Quang Nhuong |
| ISBN | 0064401839 |
An ALA Notable Children’s Book and a Booklist Editors’ Choice, about one young man’s memories of the land he called home.
The land I love was lost to me forever.
Huynh Quang Nhuong grew up in the highlands of Vietnam, next to the jungle teeming with wildlife. Encounters with tigers,...
| Author | Louise S. Rankin |
| ISBN | 0140363351 |
Momo has always wanted a Lhasa terrier--a dog like the ones the Buddhist priests hold sacred in their temples. And her dream is realized when a trader brings Pempa to her parents' tea house. But after a band of robbers steals the valuable dog and quickly escapes with him into the mountains, Momo is determined...
| Author | Emily Crofford |
| ISBN | 0876146795 |
It is the mid-1800s and Manjiro, a young fisherman, is shipwrecked far off the coast of his native Japan. At this time in history, Japan is an isolated country that allows its citizens no contact with the rest of the world. Foreigners are called "barbarians"--and none are more despised than Americans....
| Author | D. Jeanene Watson |
| ISBN | 0880620129 |
Serving the Poorest of the Poor Agnes and her family lived in Macedonia in eastern Europe. Agnes eagerly read letters by missionaries from faraway places. She especially enjoyed the letters from Calcutta, India. Eventually Agnes arrived in Calcutta where she taught young, well-to-do girls. They...
Yes, I know this is not a new book. But, it is such a good one and so often overlooked, that I wanted to mention it here. It is not your typical classroom read aloud-it is a little slow and dry at parts and the teacher should really pair it with other materials to build background knowledge on Saudi Arabia. However,...
| Author | Carolyn Treffinger |
| ISBN | 0802774687 |
While I do in some if not actually in many ways consider Carolyn Treffinger's Li Lun: Lad of Courage both readable and inspiring (that is to say I find the main protagonist's, I find Li Lun's courage, his inventiveness and his skills at solving the multitude of problems that his being sent to plant and grow...
| Author | Janet Benge |
| ISBN | 1576581470 |
I have been wanting to read about William Carey for years. It was perfect to read to my children who are nine and eleven years old. We were doing a study on India. This book was the last part of the study.
This book really covers a lot. The first half of it talks about Williams time as a child being a weaving...
Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar
| Author | Janet Benge |
| ISBN | 1576581489 |
Inspiring book about a woman's journey for 39 years in the deepest area of the African jungle. She would take very limited furlough and serve these people in any way she could. She helped the people break from their dangerous and deadly practices by offering education, medical care, and hope. She rescued...
| Author | Mitali Perkins |
| ISBN | 1580893082 |
The Rickshaw Girl is a fictional story about a young girl growing up in Bangladesh named Naima. In order to make ends meet, her father had to borrow money to buy a rickshaw and must make payments. Naima wants desperately to help her family, but girls are not allowed to work, and she has no brothers to take...
| Author | Eugene Yelchin |
| ISBN | 0805092161 |
One of Horn Book's Best Fiction Books of 2011
Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six:
The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.
A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.
A...
| Author | Nathaniel Bluedorn |
| ISBN | 0974531502 |
The Fallacy Detective has been the best selling text for teaching logical fallacies and introduction to logic for over 15 years.
What is a fallacy? A fallacy is an error in logic a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking. This is a handy book for learning to spot common errors in reasoning.
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