Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school.

Discusses several plants and animals that live on the prairie in Badlands National Park, including the pronghorns, meadowlarks, rattlesnakes, and prairie dogs, to the traditional rhyme scheme of "Over in the Meadow."

An introduction to the history and customs of Thanksgiving.

Jesse Owens' mother frequently told him, "Put your best foot forward." So Jesse followed her advice, worked hard, and made his dreams come true as one of the greatest Olympic champions of all time. But it wasn't easy, as Jesse had to overcome many obstacles. Even though World War II hadn't started yet, Adolf Hitler controlled Germany during the 1936 Olympics. He wanted to prove during the games that Germans were a superior "race" to other people of...

Examines the achievements of forty American women in a variety of fields, each of whom accomplished a significant "first, " including Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to become Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American woman writer to be published, and Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to obtain a license to fly.

"Kroll introduces four notable groups referred to by their enemies as barbarians: the Goths, the Huns, the Vikings, and the Mongols. In each case, he looks at the lives of common people within the group, their religious beliefs, their leaders, their history, and the results of their attacks on other civilizations"--Amazon.com.

In a twist on the classic tale of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," a ravenous old lady swallows a bell, some bows, gifts, a sack, a sleigh, and finally some reindeer.

On another special field trip on the magic school bus, Ms. Frizzle's class learns about the ocean and the different creatures that live there.

The memoir of a twelve-year-old boy who grew up in North Korea looks at how he was forced to live on the streets, fend for himself, and live with a gang after his parents disappeared.

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father--a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man--has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey, first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of...