This is the dramatic story (and probably true or based-on-a-true story) of a young boy in Japanese-occupied China who is separated from his parents and baby sister. He travels with his pet pig through dangerous territory and aids a wounded American airman. Still seeking his parents, he is adopted by the airmen (sixty "fathers") at an American military base who fly him about the area to find his parents in gratitude for his assistance to their fellow soldier.
This is a well-written and engaging account of the major events of World War II - military, political, humanitarian, etc. - treated at a level appropriate for children - particularly ages 10-14.
Whenever I hear the phrase "based on a true story", I want to know what the true story was. The World of the Trapp Family will provide just that for anyone interested in the real family behind The Sound of Music. The movie is just factual enough that Sound of Music fans will surely enjoy the flesh and blood behind the story. However, the real family is so much more vivid and fascinating than the movie that this book will probably be enjoyed even by those who didn't care for the movie (or grew tired of seeing it too many times.)
This is the actual book, written in 1949, which inspired the script of the movie the Sound of Music. It is Maria and her family's autobiography, covering some early details of the Captain and Maria's separate lives and the history of the family from Maria's position as teacher to the young Maria all the way through the late 1940s. After reading the World of the Trapp Family (reviewed below), I finally picked up this book which I had started to read years earlier, but never finished.
Biographies of eight famous flyers of World War I - from both sides of the War. From an historical perspective we see how quickly the war caused innovations in the fledgling aircraft industry. From a human perspective we admire the bravery of these men and the significant impact they had on the war. We see the awfulness of war as most of these great "aces" did not survive the war. Most surprising is the respect they held for their counterparts on the other side - during the funeral of one flyer, an enemy plane flew over and dropped a wreath to honor the dead.
While I believe that textbooks are useful tools in the study of history, they tend to quickly lose the interest of the student if used alone. "Living books" work well when read alongside history textbooks because they bring to life the characters and events related - engaging the imagination and helping the student to more fully understand the signifiance of the people and events being studied. Beorn the Proud is such a story - an exciting, dramatic tale, full of real characters and accurate historical information.
A fictional diary of a young Irish-English girl who is raised in a Catholic orphanage in London and is hired as a companion to a wealthy lady for the duration of the Titanic's voyage to America (where she hopes to meet up with her older brother). Margaret, having lived on the streets with her brother for some time before coming to the orphanage, is wise beyond her years with a somewhat cynical streak.
It is the late twelfth century and Christendom is threatened from within by the Albigensian heresy - a belief that the world is so evil that it must have been created by the devil. The consequences of this are more serious than one might at first think.
In the tradition of the Vision Series, this book is a very readable and even enjoyable story of one of the most popular saints whom no one seems to know very much about. Although he is commonly known as Saint Anthony of Padua (Italy) and Finder of Lost Things, Saint Anthony actually hails from Portugal. The beginning of the story, the author admits, is somewhat fictional as very little is known about Saint Anthony's early life.
This work of historical fiction brings to life the stories of the great monasteries of Ireland and their evangelization of Europe (in the 6th Century), which had fallen away from the true faith after the Barbarian invasions. The story focuses on Fingal, a poor, fatherless boy, who becomes a student at Bangor Monastery in Ireland and becomes a stowaway in order to follow his beloved teacher Columban to Gaul. His lengthy quest to find Columban has some interesting parallels to growth in the spiritual life.