Books with author Nancy Smiler Levinson

Ruthie’s older sister is getting married, and every last detail has been planned – the food, the flowers, the music. The only things that has been overlooked is Ruthie.At school, Ruthie’s elaborate plans for her Spanish group’s presentation of Don Quixote are thwarted by pretentious pom-pom queen Dede Sidney. Dede’s determined to land a starring role – with Ruthie’s dream guy, Mark Luckinbill, as her leading man.Then Ruthie meets Louise Wooster, a high-powered Hollywood producer. But will her chance meeting with Louise provide Ruthie with the start of a glamorous career of merely give life another chance to pass her by? Author Nancy Smiler Levinson offers a humorous, engaging account of how an ingenious young girl learns to star in a supporting role.

Danny wishes his dad would come home from Nevada for Christmas and writes him a letter to tell him so. When snow cuts off the mail until spring, only postman John Thompson can get through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to deliver his letter. "Based on a true story, this is lively historical fiction with a nice sense of character and adventure, [and] the illustrations are packed with feeling and action." —BL. Notable 1992 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)

Determined to find a new and better route to Asia and the distant and profitable Spice Islands, Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519 on what would become the history-making first circumnavigation of the world. Magellan himself did not complete the journey—he was killed by a poison arrow while on the Pacific island of Mactan—but the expedition he mounted forever changed the course of human exploration. Details of the journey, including Magellan’s tools of navigation, the political battles for control over the valuable islands of the Pacific, and Magellan’s final moments in battle, are all vividly portrayed