As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara is luckier than the slaves who work the fields. Still, she dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation-and even of running away to freedom. Then she hears two slaves talking about how they could find the Underground Railroad if only they had a map. In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land-a freedom quilt-that no master will ever suspect. Drawn from true incidents in African-American history, this is a compelling and emotionally charged picture book.

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation--and even of running away to freedom. Then she overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad. In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land--a freedom quilt--that no master will ever suspect.

STORMS ARE BREWING
When Charlie and Papa arrive in Lawrence for supplies, they find the bustling Kansas town threatened by border ruffians from proslave Missouri. Papa decides to remain behind with other free-soil settlers to defend the town, so Charlie must drive the wagon back to the family's isolated claim by himself.
At home a different sort of storm is brewing -- gray skies, bitter cold, and vicious winds warn that a prairie blizzard is coming. Charlie is always getting into trouble for daydreaming and forgetting his chores. Now he has to show he's grown-up enough to help...

Apples, ho
When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can't bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too. But the trail is cruel -- first there's a river to cross that's wider than Texas...and then there are hailstones as big as plums...and there's even a drought, sure to crisp the cherries. Those poor pippins Luckily Delicious (the nonedible apple of Daddy's eye) is strong -- as young 'uns raised on apples are -- and won't let anything stop her father's...

When Alta Weiss throws a corncob at a tomcat chasing her favorite hen, folks know one thing for sure: she may be a girl, but she's got some arm. At the age of six Alta can nail any target, and by seventeen she's outpitched every boy in town. Then one day her father takes Alta to Vermilion, Ohio -- home of the semipro baseball team called the Independents. "Where do I sign up?" she asks. But one look at Alta tells the coach all he needs to know: She's a girl, and girls can't play baseball. But faster than you can say "strike out," Alta proves him wrong: Girls can play baseball

Apples, ho
When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can't bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too. But the trail is cruel -- first there's a river to cross that's wider than Texas...and then there are hailstones as big as plums...and there's even a drought, sure to crisp the cherries. Those poor pippins Luckily Delicious (the nonedible apple of Daddy's eye) is strong -- as young 'uns raised on apples are -- and won't let anything stop her father's...

The unbeatable team of Deborah Hopkinson and James E. Ransome present a riveting brick-by-brick account of how one of the most amazing accomplishments in American architecture came to be. Join a young boy as he watches the Empire State Building being constructed from scratch, then travels to the top to look down on all of New York City in 1931. Hopkinson, a master of historical fiction, and Ransome, an award-winning illustrator, dazzle us with this ALA Notable and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book.

In this award-winning book, critically acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson weaves together the voices and stories of real TITANIC survivors and witnesses to the disaster -- from the stewardess Violet Jessop to Captain Arthur Rostron of the CARPATHIA, who came to the rescue of the sinking ship. Packed with heartstopping action, devastating drama, fascinating historical details, loads of archival photographs on almost every page, quotes from primary sources, and painstaking back matter, this gripping story, which follows the TITANIC and its passengers from the ship's celebrated launch at Belfast...

Dive World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific tells the incredible story of America's little known "war within a war" -- US submarine warfare during World War II.



Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US entered World War II in December 1941 with only 44 Naval submarines -- many of them dating from the 1920s. With the Pacific battleship fleet decimated after Pearl Harbor, it was up to the feisty and heroic sailors aboard the US submarines to stop the Japanese invasion across the Pacific.



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