Books with author Linda Parker

Julia Song and her friend Patrick would love to win a blue ribbon, maybe even two, at the state fair. They’ve always done projects together, and they work well as a team. This time, though, they’re having trouble coming up with just the right plan. Then Julia’s mother offers a suggestion: They can raise silkworms, as she did when she was a girl in Korea.Patrick thinks it’s a great idea. Of course there are obstacles—for example, where will they get mulberry leaves, the only thing silkworms eat?—but nothing they can’t handle.Julia isn’t so sure. The club where kids do their projects is all about traditional American stuff, and raising silkworms just doesn’t fit in. Moreover, the author, Ms. Park, seems determined to make Julia’s life as complicated as possible, no matter how hard Julia tries to talk her out of it.In her first novel with a contemporary setting, Linda Sue Park delivers a funny, lively story that illuminates both the process of writing a novel and the meaning of growing up American.

Sun-hee and her older brother, Tae-yul, live in Korea with their parents. Because Korea is under Japanese occupation, the children study Japanese and speak it at school. Their own language, their flag, the folktales Uncle tells them—even their names—are all part of the Korean culture that is now forbidden. When World War II comes to Korea, Sun-hee is surprised that the Japanese expect their Korean subjects to fight on their side. But the greatest shock of all comes when Tae-yul enlists in the Japanese army in an attempt to protect Uncle, who is suspected of aiding the Korean resistance. Sun-hee stays behind, entrusted with the life-and-death secrets of a family at war.

[Children's Fiction (Ages 8-12-)]In this third and final installment in the enchanting Wing &Claw trilogy, Newbery Medal-winning author Linda Sue Park sends her young apothecary to the front lines of a fearsome battle, where he must rely on his talents and his friends to defend what he knows is right.Raffa Santana is a healer, not a fighter. As a gifted apothecary, he has amazing instincts for unleashing the potential of magical-seeming plants. But his skills have failed to free the animals that the heartless Chancellor captured and turned against the people of Obsidia -- directly threatening Raffa's friends and family.Now Raffa and his ragtag group of allies are preparing to confront the Chancellor's armies in battle. Great beasts, small animals, and humans alike will be joining the fight, and Raffa's heart yearns to prevent injuries -- and worse -- on both sides of the battle. After all, the Chancellor's creatures will be fighting against their will. Can Raffa's instincts for apothecary arts bring a tolerable resolution to an impossibly unfair fight?

In a riveting narrative set in fifteenth-century Korea, two brothers discover a shared passion for kites. Kee-sup can craft a kite unequaled in strength and beauty, but his younger brother, Young-sup, can fly a kite as if he controlled the wind itself. Their combined skills attract the notice of Korea's young king, who chooses Young-sup to fly the royal kite in the New Year kite-flying competition--an honor that is also an awesome responsibility. Although tradition decrees, and the boys' father insists, that the older brother represent the family, both brothers know that this time the family's honor is best left in Young-sup's hands. This touching and suspenseful story, filled with the authentic detail and flavor of traditional Korean kite fighting, brings a remarkable setting vividly to life. AUTHOR'S NOTE.