Simon Vance
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6 - AR Pts: 6
Lexile measure
880L
Language
English
Description
"Florence, Italy, 1944: The city is under heavy Nazi occupation, but for thirteen-year-old Paolo, war is a long and boring wait. Too young to fight for the resistance, yet desperate for action and adventure, he sneaks out each night to ride his bicycle along the darkened city streets. For Paolo, the risk is thrilling. But when he is accosted by Partisans--covert members of the anti-Nazi movement--thrilling quickly becomes dangerous as Paolo and his...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The patron saint of animals, birds, and the environment, Francis of Assisi led the rediscovery of nature in the Christian West. This magnificent spiritual biography by the phenomenally popular G. K. Chesterton-a convert to Catholicism-chronicles the beloved saint's calling, his extraordinary life, and his influence in the Church. Its charm and wit will appeal to even the most secular-minded readers. How fitting that Francesco Bernardone was born just...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.7 - AR Pts: 5
Lexile measure
560L
Language
English
Description
The story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by a series of ghostly visitors. On Christmas Eve Scrooge sits in his counting-house with not a kind word for a soul, just wanting to be left alone until the 'humbug' of Christmas is over. Four ghostly visitors (his partner Marley, followed by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come) show him the error of his ways. By the time Christmas...
Author
Lexile measure
1140L
Language
English
Formats
Description
The Golden Age (1895) is a collection of stories by Kenneth Grahame. Although less popular than The Wind in the Willows (1908), which would go on to become not only a defining work of Edwardian English literature, but one of the most popular works of children's fiction in the world, The Golden Age is a moving portrait of youth, an understated autobiographical meditation made for children and adults alike.
Recalling his youth among elders who exemplified...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 12.3 - AR Pts: 27
Lexile measure
1190L
Language
English
Description
Contemporary fiction. 'I walk'd about on the shore, lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapt up in the contemplation of my deliverance . . . reflecting upon all my comrades that were drown'd, and that there should not be one soul sav'd but my self . . . ' Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The brilliance of the Renaissance laid the foundation of the modern world. Textbooks tell us that it came about as a result of a rediscovery of the ideas and ideals of classical Greece and Rome. But now bestselling historian Gavin Menzies makes the startling argument that in the year 1434, China--then the world's most technologically advanced civilization--provided the spark that set the European Renaissance ablaze. From that date onward, Europeans...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
From Tolstoy to Lenin, from Diaghilev to Stalin, The Empire Must Die is a tragedy of operatic proportions with a cast of characters that ranges from the exotic to utterly villainous, the glamorous to the depraved.
In 1912, Russia experienced a flowering of liberalism and tolerance that placed it at the forefront of the modern world: women were fighting for the right to vote in the elections for the newly empowered parliament, Russian art and culture...