- Books
- Connect Your Summer
- May We Suggest
- Picture Books
- Travel/Cultures
- Picture Book
- Travel
- World Culture
January 29, 2016 | strande
The books below are set in many different places. Use them to take a trip, somewhere new and exotic, or somewhere familiar.
When a man brings to a remote village two burros, Alfa and Beto, loaded with books the children can borrow, Ana's excitement leads her to write a book of her own as she waits for the BibliBurro to return. Includes a note on the true story of Columbia's BiblioBurro and mobile libraries in other countries.
A little Afghan girl dreams of peace spreading throughout her country.
A necklace is lovingly passed from one person to another, traveling much farther than the Argentine gaucho who made it will ever go.
In the bustling city of Paris, a small yet brave dog, Diva, and an adventurous cat named Flea become two unlikely friends.
Brazilian boy Felipe doesn't have a soccer ball. When it's his turn to bring one to school, he uses a little bit of creativity and a few socks borrowed from his neighbors.
After Jiro encounters a life-like garden statue of a tall bird, he falls asleep and dreams of the story his mother once told him about a grateful crane.
Angus, a very messy monster who lives with his parents in Loch Ness, learns an important lesson about picking up after himself.
The white peaches grown in Puchon are the best in all South Korea, and a rare treat for a little girl who lives in the town. She dreams of a peach orchard where she can play and eat as much of the delicious fruit as she wishes. Then one day, after weeks of heavy downpours, the sky begins to rain peaches. Yangsook finds herself in peach heaven - until she remembers the farmers who have lost their harvest, and decides she must help them.
A mother in Chicago tells her daughter how Grandma used to make a special surprise on the freezing cold winter mornings in Belarus--so special that it seemed to bring spring with it.
Fleeing famine in her native Ethiopia, five-year-old Yuvi is sure she will have a candy tree when she arrives in Jerusalem.
Junior tells of the games he played in his mind during the eight days he was trapped in his house after the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Includes author's note about Haitian children before the earthquake and her own children's reactions to the disaster.
The women of one village in Iceland decide to plant trees to stop the powerful winds that make it difficult even to go for a walk, but first they must find a ways to prevent sheep from eating all of their saplings, while encouraging chickens to fertilize them..
From rooster crow to bedtime, a Kenyan boy plays and visits neighbors all through his village, even though he is supposed to be watching his grandfather's cows.
Even though he is confined to a wheelchair, a Pakistani boy tries to capture the most kites during Basant, the annual spring kite festival, and become "king" for the day. Includes an afterword about the Basant festival.
A father and daughter play hide-and-seek in the midst of the animals near their house in Thailand.
A sudden gust of wind takes the Queen's favorite hat and blows it all over London, as the Queen's men give chase.
In a story of the Ila people, the colorful birds of Africa ask Blackbird, whom they think is the most beautiful of birds, to decorate them with some of his "blackening brew.
When her dog becomes lovesick for the moon, a young Cuban girl and her uncle call the moon down to give the dog a kiss, with surprising results.
Like his ancestors before him, ten-year-old Eduardo enjoys going into Ecuador's rain forest to collect Brazil nuts with his father, but when the wild tamarins that always accompany them disappear Eduardo is determined to find them.
After hearing a loud sound while out in the woods, Musa is struck with fear, but must find a way out and back to his village.
Sameer's neighbors left when war came to Lebanon, but now they have returned and instead of finding a friend to play with, Sameer meets an unfriendly girl, Muna, who confronts him about taking olives that fall from her family's tree to his side of the wall.
While Nora waits for the couscous her father is cooking to be finished, he tells her a story about his youth in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
Ruby Small's embarrassingly eccentric parents take her on a vacation to Norway where she acquires an unwanted pet, a glacier named Cecil, who finds a way to melt Ruby's heart.
Anna and Matthew, two poor siblings who have known only hunger, cold, and hard labor since their mother died, follow a bright red bird to a land of happiness..
When Mai feeds the caged birds at a Buddhist temple in Vietnam, her simple act of kindness starts a chain of thoughtful acts that ultimately comes back to her. Includes author's note explaining the Buddhist concepts of karma and samsara, or the wheel of life.
Among the ruins of Angkor Wat, Tiger, Gibbon, Water Buffalo, and Gecko accept Elephant's challenge to race to a certain temple to settle their argument over who would have made the greatest king, and at the end Elephant explains how the competition showed each one's strengths and weaknesses. Includes search-and-find illustrations and a brief history of the "City of Temples."
A little boy wishes to join his father's Chinese opera but learns that you must work hard in order to reach your goals. With an author's note at the end.
Recalls the true story of Zeraffa, a giraffe that was sent as a gift to the King of France in 1827, and her young caretaker as they make their epic journey from Egypt to France.
Elena lives with her mother and siblings in a small village in Guatemala and tries to make time to improve her reading as she helps her mother with daily chores.
When Abby moves with her family to Israel, where it does not rain all summer, she misses her grandmother and remembers the fun they used to have splashing in puddles together.
While visiting her father's family in Mali, a young girl loses a tooth, places it under a calabash, and receives a hen and a rooster from the African Tooth Fairy.
Chinaza watches her little brother, Ife, get his first haircut, and helps her family prepare the celebration for this rite of passage.
Amba, a Siberian tiger cub, is separated from his mother by a forest fire in the Siberian wilderness.
While buying gifts for his family to wear to the mosque on Eid a shoemaker is persuaded to get new pants for himself, but the only pair available is too long and no one seems to have time to shorten them.
In Uganda, a young boy struggles to carry cans full of water back to his small village, and when he sees an aid truck filled with something that would make his journey easier, he devises a way to obtain some of the truck's treasure.
An Arab girl of the Sahara who wants to wear a malafa, the veiled dress worn by her mother and older sister, learns that the garment represents beauty, mystery, tradition, belonging, and faith.
Nine year-old Sophie Scott embarks on a month-long mission to Antarctica with her father aboard an icebreaker and documents her adventure in the iceberg-strewn seas in a diary she fills with notes about the area's natural wonders.
A history of the Galapagos Island, describing how the island formed and animals came to inhabit it.
In order to surprise Nonna Mima on her birthday, Lidia helps her grandchildren prepare a feast and regales them with stories of her youth on a farm in Italy.
A story about a young Persian girl who unexpectedly finds reason to smile, inspired by the writings of Jallal al-Din Rumi in a collection of Sufi poetry and short stories known as Mathnawi.
When Luzolo goes to market with her parents, she learns that it takes a great deal of bartering to finally get what she wants.
A clever woman named Fiona must pass the leprechaun king's tests when she tries to get back all the luck he has locked away from humans..
Tormented by bullies at their Jewish school in Mexico, Sammy Nurko asks his friend Ilan to help build and control, a small, Aztec version of the legendary Golem, then finds his own strength through the poetry of Nezahualcoyotl.
Chandra and her sister Deena see a demonstration of a "magic light," a solar-powered lantern, at a market near their home in Nepal and are determined to buy one, knowing it will help their little brother's cough to stop using kerosene lamps. Includes facts about Nepal.
In a dangerous alley in a township in South Africa, the strength and unity which a group of young friends feel while playing soccer keep them safe when a gang of bullies arrives to cause trouble.
While drawing pictures of the animals she sees on her trip to Australia, a young girl named Ally meets Pauline, an aborigine woman and fellow artist, from whom Ally learns that art is not always created with just paper and paints, and that mistakes are actually happy accidents.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, as two girls work hard all day to help support their family by chipping bricks into small pieces, older sister Yasmin seeks a way to attend school and learn to read so that she can have a better life one day. Includes author's note about conditions in Bangladesh, child labor, and how to help.