Ten to Fourteen

Elements of steampunk, horror, and folklore reveal the connection between a strange traveling medicine show that arrives in tiny Arcane, Missouri, in 1913 and events that took place at the crossroads on the outskirts of town 100 years earlier.

Because agriculture depends on bees to pollinate crops, a sudden drop in the bee population alarmed scientists and bee keepers. They began studying "colony collapse disorder," a phenomenon where bees mysteriously disappear from their hives.  Excellent color photographs enhance this clear demonstration of the scientific process.

This fictional account of Manjiro, the 14-year-old Japanese boy whom whalers rescued in 1841, is filled with hardship and adventure as well as an outsider's perspective on nineteen-century American culture. Gritty details and authentic illustrations evoke the period.

Inspired by a Lewis Hine photograph, this portrait of twelve-year-old Grace, a cotton-mill worker, exposes the dangerous working conditions and horrors of child labor.

Glowing sea-coal, lavender mixed with the scent of turpentine, soft fingers, and bright green remind sixteen-year-old Meg of Edward as she struggles to expand her role as a woman and a writer in the restricted society of 17th century London.