A Newbery Honor Book

From the depths of a cave in the Vermilion Sea, Ramon Salazar has wrested a black pearl so lustrous and captivating that his father, an expert pearl dealer, is certain Ramon has found the legendary Pearl of Heaven.

Such a treasure is sure to bring great joy to the villagers of their tiny coastal town, and even greater renown to the Salazar name. No diver, not even the swaggering Gaspar Ruiz, has

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Newbery Honor Book: A “stunning” historical novel of a teenager’s journey from Spain to the New World in search of gold (Kirkus Reviews).
Mapmaker Esteban de Sandoval is only seventeen years old, but he has experienced much adventure, traveling to the New World to hunt for gold with the Conquistadors. Whatever treasure they find, they were expected to give one-fifth of it to the king. But Esteban is accused...

This powerful account of the tragic defeat of the Nez Perce Indians in 1877 by the United States Army is narrated by Chief Joseph's strong and brave daughter.

Rich in the atmosphere of thirteenth-century Italy, The Road to Damietta offers through Ricca di Montanaros eyes a new perspective on the man who became the famous Saint Francis of Assisi, the guileless, joyous man who praised the oneness of nature and sought to bring the world into harmony. Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace, he said. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there...

A young girl relates her feelings and experiences as a participant in the battle of San Pasqual during the last days of the war between Californians and Americans.

Compiled from papers delivered at the third annual Kent State University Symposium on Democracy held in spring 2002, Democracy and Religion: Free Exercise and Diverse Visions explores the interrelations of politics and religion. The work is divided into four main sections: the constitutional debate regarding the establishment and free exercise of religion clause, the themes of violence and nonviolence as they relate to religion, the free exercise...