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365 Penguins (France/Antarctica)
Author: Jean-Luc Fromental and Joëlle Jolivet
When a box containing a penguin arrives anonymously on New Year's Day, a family of four is puzzled, but as they continue to receive one penguin each day their problems--and food budget, and storage issues--are multiplied. Ages 6 – 12.
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Akimbo and the Crocodile Man (Zimbabwe)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
In his third novel, Akimbo, an African boy, goes to the rescue of a zoologist who is injured on his father's game preserve. Ages 7 - 10
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Anna Hibiscus (Nigeria/ Canada)
Author: Atinuke
Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Africa with her whole family, loves to splash in the sea and have parties for her aunties, but Anna would love to see snow. Don’t miss the other books in this delightful series for young readers. Ages 5-9
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Ballywhinney Girl (Ireland)
Author: Eve Bunting
Young Maeve feels a strong connection to the mysterious, mummified body of a young girl that her grandfather uncovers while cutting turf in an Irish bog. Includes facts about bogs and the mummies that have been found in them. Ages 6 - 10
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Because Amelia Smiled (Multinational)
Author: David Ezra Stein
A little girl's smile as she skips down the street in New York inspires a neighbor to send cookies to her grandson in Mexico, and the goodwill soon spreads around the world . Ages 4 – 8.
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Boys Without Names (India)
Author: Kashmira Sheth
Eleven-year-old Gopal and his family leave their rural Indian village for life with his uncle in Mumbai, but when they arrive his father goes missing and Gopal ends up locked in a sweatshop from which there is no escape. Ages 9-12
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Buddha's Diamonds (Vietnam)
Author: Carolyn Marsden
As a storm sweeps in, Tinh’s father tells him to tie up their fishing boat. The storm scares him and he runs away instead. When the damage to the boat is discovered, Tinh realizes what we must do. Ages 8 -12.
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Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet (Hawaii)
Author: Graham Salisbury
Nine-year-old Calvin catches the attention of the school bully on the day before he starts fourth grade, while at home, the unfriendly, fifteen-year-old daughter of his mother's best friend has taken over his room. Don’t miss the other great Calvin Coconut books in this series for young readers. Ages 7-10
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Chike and the River (Nigeria)
Author: Chinua Achebe
When an eleven-year-old Nigerian boy leaves his small village to live with his uncle in the city, he is exposed to a range of new experiences and becomes fascinated with crossing the Niger River on a ferry boat. First published in South Africa as a children's book nearly 50 years ago, it is now debuting in the United States. All Ages.
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Cows for America (Kenya)
Author: Carmen Agra Deedy
Maasai tribal members, after hearing the story of the September 11th attacks from a young Massai, who was in New York on that day, decide to present the American people with fourteen sacred cows as a healing gift.
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Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder (Norway)
Author: Jo Nesbø
New friends Nilly and Lisa help eccentric professor Doctor Proctor develop his latest invention, a powder that makes one fart, making them very popular at school, but someone is planning to steal the industrial-strength formula for evil purposes. Ages 8-12
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Four Feet, Two Sandals (Pakistan)
Author: Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed
Two young Afghani girls living in a refugee camp in Pakistan share a precious pair of sandals brought by relief workers. Ages 7 – 10.
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Herd Boy (South Africa)
Author: Niki Daly
While doing a good job of caring for his grandfather's sheep and goat on the grasslands of South Africa, young Malusi dreams of everything from owning his own dog to becoming president one day . Ages 6 – 10.
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Homeless Bird (India)
Author: Gloria Whelan
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. Ages 8-12
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Kamishibai Man (Japan)
Author: Allen Say
After many years of retirement, an old Kamishibai man--a Japanese street performer who tells stories and sells candies--decides to make his rounds once more even though such entertainment declined after the advent of television. Ages 6-10
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Long Walk to Water (Sudan)
Author: Linda Sue Park
When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan. Ages 10+
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Madlenka Soccer Star (Multinational)
Author: Peter Sís
Madlenka plays soccer in her city neighborhood--with the mailbox, a dog, a parking meter, and some cats. Includes facts about the game, and translations for the word "soccer" in various languages . Ages 4 – 8.
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Moomin V. 1: the Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip (Finland)
Author: Tove Jansson
Tove Jansson is revered around the world as one of the foremost children's authors of the twentieth century for her illustrated chapter books regarding the magical worlds of her creation, the Moomins. Ages 9 – 12.
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Out of the Way! Out of the Way! (India)
Author: Uma Krishnaswami
When a boy spots a young tree in the middle of the path that runs through the village, he puts rocks around the base of the tree to protect the tree from being trampled. Ages 4 – 7.
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Rain School (Chad)
Author: James Rumford
The children arrive on the first day of school and build a mud structure to be their classroom for the next nine months until the rainy season comes and washes it all away. Ages 4 – 7.
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Rickshaw Girl (Bangledesh)
Author: Mitali Perkins
In her Bangladesh village, ten-year-old Naimi excels at painting designs called alpanas, but to help her impoverished family financially she would have to be a boy--or disguise herself as one. Ages 7-12
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Saffy’s Angel (United Kingdom)
Author: Hilary McKay
After learning that she was adopted, thirteen-year-old Saffron's relationship with her eccentric, artistic family changes, until they help her go back to Italy where she was born to find a special momento of her past. The Casson family is wonderfully eccentric, realistically portrayed. Readers will want to read each of the books in this series. Ages 9+
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Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties (Netherlands)
Author: Toon Tellegen
Squirrel and ant discover a mysterious feast with an invisible host in the depths of a forest in this collection of nine charming short stories about friendship, dancing, memories, and lots of cake. Ages 5-8
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Starfields (Mexico/ Mayan)
Author: Carolyn Marsden
While big changes are coming to her Mexican village, nine-year- old Rosalba hears that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012 and she dreams of an ancient Mayan boy, eyes bound in a shamanistic ritual, who hints at what Rosalba can do. Ages 9-12
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The Breadwinner (Afghanistan)
Author: Deborah Ellis
In Afghanistan, a country controlled by the Taliban, a radical religious faction that allows only men to work and forbids women to go to school, work, or even outside their homes without a male escort, a courageous young woman pretends to be a boy in war-torn Kabul in order to support her family. Ages 10 +
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The Dreamer (Chile)
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but who became one of the most widely-read poets in the world. Ages 9-12
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The Song of the Whales (Israel)
Author: Uri Orlev
At age eight, Mikha'el knows he is different from other boys, but over the course of three years as he helps his parents care for his elderly grandfather in Jerusalem, Grandpa teaches Mikha'el to use the gift they share of making other people's dreams sweeter. Ages 9-12
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The Unforgotten Coat (United Kingdom)
Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce
When two Mongolian brothers appear one morning in Julie's sixth grade class, no one, least of all Julie, knows what to make of them. But then Chingis, the older of the two, proclaims that Julie is to be their 'Good Guide.' Now Julie must somehow navigate them through soccer, school uniforms, and British slang. One day the brothers disappear. It’s up to Julie to find them and bring them home. But where is “home” for these refugee boys? Ages 8-12
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Unfinished Angel (Switzerland)
Author: Sharon Creech
In a tiny village in the Swiss Alps, an angel meets an American girl named Zola who has come with her father to open a school, and together Zola and the angel rescue a group of homeless orphans, who gradually change everything. Magical. Ages 8-12
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