Books with author Richard Jensen

Ben, aged 10, is a lonely, sickly boy, mocked and bullied, reviled in the village for being a coward. The burden of a spiteful aunt, he lives and plays alone.Chased by the monsters that haunt his world, he discovers a sanctuary, a place of hope and calm. But in the cold, damp air of winter, his illness returns to pull his life away. He wakes a ghost as all cowards must, trapped in another world.He is not alone, or safe. He, as every ghost is, is prey to be hunted. A presence with the power to move through space and time has entered their world and now seeks to delete every ghost from life, from history, from existence.Ben must learn to fight. Alone, he goes on an adventure through time and space to find the means and strength to lead and inspire the five terrified ghosts he finds and befriends.He learns of a mysterious book and a magical shield, which was once a power that gave him protection. If he can find these objects, he believes they will enable him to release forces of good that will stand ready to fight the enemy they, the cowards, dare not even name. To be successful, he must unleash a power hidden in his past and discover in himself a will to lead and fight. He must journey into space and time, into a world of fantasy and legend to learn how he, a ghost, should once again live his life.

For many Americans, the era of the "Roaring Twenties" represented good times, a respite from war, and a booming economy. Consumer goods flew from the shelves of America's stores and shops, and the country invested in the stock market as never before. But by the end of the decade, millions witnessed the end of those heady days of jobs, money to spend, and financial security. Fear gripped the nation. By the end of the 1930s, the United States had experienced at least 10 years of hard times, unemployment, and radical change that redefined the role of the federal government. The country had relied on its new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to boost the economy with his ambitious New Deal programs, but many questioned the success of his policies. Readers can explore for themselves the effectiveness of Roosevelt's policies and the legacies they left in this timely volume.

Siavash has spent the last few years transforming his house into the world's first intergalactic space taxi. All he needs now is an intergalactic spaceship engine. As no such engine exists on Earth, he plots to acquire one from an advanced alien civilization. His children, Fairuza and Giovanni, think their dad is properly nuts. But little do they know that the second-hand washing machine Siavash mysteriously acquired does more than clean their dirty tops and smelly socks.After an accident involving his Intergalactic Space Taxi uniform, a super-sized doughnut packed with the stickiest jam his Nan has ever made, and an improvised ballroom dancing routine Giovanni takes the washing machine to maximum power, and his family to somewhere lost in space and time.Stranded and in danger, the family finds themselves at the mercy of a crazed alien robot whose dastardly plan looks set to destroy them all.

From the final decades of the 1500s through the mid-1700s, the North American continent witnessed a whirlwind of competition and colonization as European powers vied to establish their place in the northern reaches of the New World. Each powerOCowhether England, France, Holland, Spain, or othersOCorelied on strong-willed individuals who were driven by motives as different as night and dayOCofrom religious freedom to gold and glory. These adventurous people served as conquerors and colonists, explorers and evangelists, promoters and profiteers, farmers and freemen, Puritans and planters, sovereigns and servants. Before the era of European colonization in North America was complete, each had made his or her contribution, creating possibilities for themselves and their descendents in America that many had never thought possible. Learn how these colonists flourished in the midst of overwhelming obstacles in Colonial America: 1543-1763.

When George Washington took the reins of the presidency in 1789, the United States was little more than a youthful republic largely populated by farmers who could not imagine their country extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But within three generations, the nation stretched across the continent, reliant on steam power and machines to connect its people. The idea of democracy had been redefined, and cities had sprung up across the landscape, planted in the wake of tens of thousands of Americans moving west. The United States experienced two large-scale wars and a scattering of Indian conflicts; the country had witnessed the births and deaths of several political parties, but had emerged stronger and more nationalistic than ever. Reformers had retooled the nation's spiritual energies, and those who followed the lure of rich land in Oregon or golden riches in California had carried the American flag all the way to the western ocean. Early National America: 1790-1850 explains how the first formative years of the country's existence shaped the nation we know today.

From the final decades of the 1500s through the mid-1700s, the North American continent witnessed a whirlwind of competition and colonization as European powers vied to establish their place in the northern reaches of the New World. Each powerOCowhether England, France, Holland, Spain, or othersOCorelied on strong-willed individuals who were driven by motives as different as night and dayOCofrom religious freedom to gold and glory. These adventurous people served as conquerors and colonists, explorers and evangelists, promoters and profiteers, farmers and freemen, Puritans and planters, sovereigns and servants. Before the era of European colonization in North America was complete, each had made his or her contribution, creating possibilities for themselves and their descendents in America that many had never thought possible. Learn how these colonists flourished in the midst of overwhelming obstacles in Colonial America: 1543-1763.

For many Americans, the era of the "Roaring Twenties" represented good times, a respite from war, and a booming economy. Consumer goods flew from the shelves of America's stores and shops, and the country invested in the stock market as never before. But by the end of the decade, millions witnessed the end of those heady days of jobs, money to spend, and financial security. Fear gripped the nation. By the end of the 1930s, the United States had experienced at least 10 years of hard times, unemployment, and radical change that redefined the role of the federal government. The country had relied on its new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to boost the economy with his ambitious New Deal programs, but many questioned the success of his policies. Readers can explore for themselves the effectiveness of Roosevelt's policies and the legacies they left in this timely volume.

For more than 150 years, English men and women had planted themselves along the Atlantic Coast of the New World as colonists, intent on creating new lives of possibility and opportunity. But by the 1760s, countless thousands of people who had been loyal to king and country began to question that same loyalty. As British authorities began to hamper the lives the colonists had created, many in America followed a new course of action. As policies brought protest and taxes represented tyranny, those colonists ceased to consider themselves English subjects and came to view themselves as Americans seeking independence. But before that new identity and that dream of freedom could become a true reality, they would have to engage in a prolonged conflictOCothe American Revolutionary War. In Revolutionary America: 1764-1789, readers will learn about colonial life and the mechanisms that encouraged America's residents to fight for freedom from the British crown.