Bridge to TerabithiaKatherine Paterson  
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The 40th anniversary edition of the classic Newbery Medal-winning title by beloved author Katherine Paterson, with brand-new bonus materials including an author's note by Katherine herself and a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Kate DiCamillo.

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie’s house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.

Bridge to Terabithia was also named an ALA Notable Children’s Book and has become a touchstone of children’s literature, as have many of Katherine Paterson’s other novels, including The Great Gilly Hopkins and Jacob Have I Loved.

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California BlueDavid Klass  
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Discovering a beautiful blue butterfly, John is forced to choose between an important cause and his own townspeople when he learns that the butterfly is unique in all the world and that the local mill must be closed in order to save it. Reprint. PW. K. SLJ. AB.

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The Call of the Wild and Related ReadingsJack London, Marie de France, Elizabeth Marshall, A. G. Rochelle, Julius Lester, Sally Carrighar, Robert Murphy  
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From Wikipedia: John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney,[1] January 12, 1876 - November 22, 1916)[2][3][4][5] was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone.[6] He is best remembered as the author of Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life".[citation needed] He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf. ~~~ The Call of the Wild is a novella by American author Jack London published in 1903. The story takes place in the extreme conditions of the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush where strong sled dogs were in high demand. After Buck, a domesticated dog, is snatched from a pastoral ranch in California, he is sold into a brutal life as a sled dog. The novella details Buck's struggle to adjust and survive the cruel treatment he receives from humans, other dogs, and nature. He eventually sheds the veneer of civilization altogether and instead relies on primordial instincts and the lessons he has learned to become a respected and feared leader in the wild. ~~~ The Call of the Wild is London's most popular work and is considered the masterpiece of his so-called "early period."[1] The novella is often classified as children's literature because of its animal protagonist, but the maturity of its subject matter makes it valuable for older audiences as well. Major themes include survival of the fittest, civilization versus nature, and fate versus free will.[2] ~~~ The Yeehat, a group of Alaska Natives portrayed in Call of the Wild, were a figment of London's imagination.[3]

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CanyonsGary Paulsen  
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Two boys, separated by the canyons of time and two vastly different cultures, face the challenges by which they will become men.
Coyote Runs, an Apache boy, takes part in his first raid. But he is to be a man for only a short time.
More than a hundred years later, while camping near Dog Canyon, 15-year-old Brennan Cole becomes obsessed with a skull that he finds, pierced by a bullet. He learns that it is the skull of an Apache boy executed by soldiers in 1864. A mystical link joins Brennan and Coyote Runs, and Brennan knows that neither boy will find peace until Coyote Runs' skull is carried back to an ancient sacred place.
In a grueling journey through the canyon to return the skull, Brennan confronts the challenge of his life.

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The CarGary Paulsen  
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Fourteen-year-old Terry Anders has been abandoned by his parents. He has no choice but to go on, and he begins by assembling pieces of a kit car from his father's garage. When he finishes the car known as "the Cat," Terry sets out from Cleveland to Portland to search for an uncle he hardly knows. Along the way Terry picks up a wandering Vietnam vet who ultimately guides him on a journey of discovery and survival.

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The Cat Ate My GymsuitPaula Danziger  
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Now you can find Paula Danziger's funny and compassionate testaments to the ups and downs of growing up, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit and There's A Bat In Bunk Five, available in a brand new format sure to elicit lots of laughs (and maybe even a few tears) from teens everywhere. Danziger skillfully balances her insight into the daily trauma of the young adult years with liberal doses of humor. — School Library Journal Marcy Lewis is bored by school, resents her tyrannical father, despairs of ever being thin, and is certain that she'll never have a date. Then along comes Ms. Finney, a remarkable teacher with unconventional ways, and things begin to change. The issues of teacher independence and student protest are topical, and Marcy, an intelligent and enjoyable adolescent, is an appealing heroine. — School Library Journal Told with zest and humor, this is a good read. — Children's Book Review Service

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Catherine Called BirdyKaren Cushman  
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Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman of good family, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year—the year 1290. A Newbery Honor Book.

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The CayTheodore Taylor  
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For fans of Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins comes Theodore Taylor’s classic bestseller and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award winner, The Cay.
   Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.
   When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: “They are different, and they live differently.”
    But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip’s head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.

“Mr. Taylor has provided an exciting story…The idea that all humanity would benefit from this special form of color blindness permeates the whole book…The result is a story with a high ethical purpose but no sermon.”—New York Times Book Review
 
“A taut tightly compressed story of endurance and revelation…At once barbed and tender, tense and fragile—as Timothy would say, ‘outrageous good.’”—Kirkus Reviews
 
* “Fully realized setting…artful, unobtrusive use of dialect…the representation of a hauntingly deep love, the poignancy of which is rarely achieved in children’s literature.”—School Library Journal, Starred
 
“Starkly dramatic, believable and compelling.”—Saturday Review
 
“A tense and moving experience in reading.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Eloquently underscores the intrinsic brotherhood of man.”—Booklist
 
"This is one of the best survival stories since Robinson Crusoe."—The Washington Star

· A New York Times Best Book of the Year
· A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
· A Horn Book Honor Book
· An American Library Association Notable Book
· A Publishers Weekly Children’s Book to Remember
· A Child Study Association’s Pick of Children’s Books of the Year
· Jane Addams Book Award
· Lewis Carroll Shelf Award
· Commonwealth Club of California: Literature Award
· Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People Award
· Woodward School Annual Book Award
· Friends of the Library Award, University of California at Irvine

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The Cherry OrchardAnton Chekhov  
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The Cherry Orchard was first produced by the Moscow Art Theatre on Chekhov's last birthday, January 17, 1904. Since that time it has become one of the most critically admired and performed plays in the Western world, a high comedy whose principal theme, the passing of the old semifeudal order, is symbolized in the sale of the cherry orchard owned by Madame Ranevsky.
The play also functions as a magnificent showcase for Chekhov's acute observations of his characters' foibles and for quizzical ruminations on the approaching dissolution of the world of the Russian aristocracy and life as it was lived on their great country estates. While the subject and the characters of the work are, in a sense, timeless, the dramatic technique of the play was a Chekhovian innovation. In this and other plays he developed the concept of "indirect action," in which the dramatic action takes place off stage and the significance of the play revolves around the reactions of the characters to those unseen events.
Reprinted from a standard edition, this inexpensive well-made volume invites any lover of theater or great literature to enter the world of Madame Ranevsky, Anya, Gayef, Lopakhin, Firs, and the other memorable characters whose hopes, fears, loves, and general humanity are so brilliantly depicted in this landmark of world drama.

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Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast FoodCharles Wilson, Eric Schlosser  
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Kids love fast food. And the fast food industry definitely loves kids. It couldn’t survive without them. Did you know that the biggest toy company in the world is McDonald’s? It’s true. In fact, one out of every three toys given to a child in the United States each year is from a fast food restaurant.

Not only has fast food reached into the toy industry, it’s moving into our schools. One out of every five public schools in the United States now serves brand name fast food. But do kids know what they’re eating? Where do fast food hamburgers come from? And what makes those fries taste so good?

When Eric Schlosser’s best-selling book, Fast Food Nation, was published for adults in 2001, many called for his groundbreaking insight to be shared with young people. Now Schlosser, along with co-writer Charles Wilson, has investigated the subject further, uncovering new facts children need to know.

In Chew On This, they share with kids the fascinating and sometimes frightening truth about what lurks between those sesame seed buns, what a chicken ‘nugget’ really is, and how the fast food industry has been feeding off children for generations.

Featuring cover art by M. Wartella.

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A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens  
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In October 1843, Charles Dickens ― heavily in debt and obligated to his publisher ― began work on a book to help supplement his family's meager income. That volume, A Christmas Carol, has long since become one of the most beloved stories in the English language. As much a part of the holiday season as holly, mistletoe, and evergreen wreaths, this perennial favorite continues to delight new readers and rekindle thoughts of charity and goodwill.
With its characters exhibiting many qualities ― as well as failures ― often ascribed to Dickens himself, the imaginative and entertaining tale relates Ebenezer Scrooge's eerie encounters with a series of spectral visitors. Journeying with them through Christmases past, present, and future, he is ultimately transformed from an arrogant, obstinate, and insensitive miser to a generous, warmhearted, and caring human being. Written by one of England's greatest and most popular novelists, A Christmas Carol has come to epitomize the true meaning of Christmas.

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A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens  
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This book - the ideal present for a loved one -is also available in large print and extra large print.

When the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by a series of spirits, they take him on a journey to his past, present and future, showing him the error of his selfish ways.

This captivating tale has been enjoyed for generations and is sure to capture the hearts of adults and children alike.

For more on our growing collection of books why not visit our website or visit Amazon and search for: firestonebooks.com

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The Classic Slave Narratives-paperbackHenry Louis Gates  
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No group of slaves anywhere, in any era, has left such prolific testimony to the horror of bondage as African-American slaves. Here are four of the most notable narratives: The Life of Olaudah Equiano; The History of Mary Prince; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; and Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl.

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Conflicts: 15 Masterpieces of Struggle and Conflict with Exercises to Make You ThinkBurton Goodman  
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Motivate students with high-interest fiction from master authorsMotivate struggling readers with high-interest stories at ten reading levelsImprove vocabulary and comprehension skillsEncourage writing in response to readingOne of our classic best-sellers, Goodman's Five-Star Stories, supplements any literature curriculum or stands on its own by providing interesting fiction at just the right reading levels. Adapted well-known short stories by traditional authors and newer multicultural authors entice even struggling readers with tales of adventure, derring-do, and surprise. Vocabulary in context, cloze passages, and critical thinking exercises help readers improve their understanding of the narrative text.

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