Books published by publisher History House Publishers

A Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice of 2013Reading Is Fundamental STEAM CollectionKunu wants to make a pack basket, just like the other men on Indian Island.But making the basket is difficult, and Kunu gets frustrated. He is ready to give up when his grandfather intervenes. This is not only a story about a family tradition, but also a story about learning to be patient and gentle with yourself. A story about contemporary Native American life This new paperback edition includes a new Author’s Note about the traditions and importance of basketmaking in Penobscot Nation culture.Fountas & Pinnell Level N

Selected for the 2018 Bank Street College of Education Best STEM Children’s Books of the YearWhat do the goblin shark, horseshoe crab, the “indestructible” water bear, and a handful of other bizarre animals have in common? They are all “extreme survivors,” animals that still look much like their prehistoric ancestors from millions of years ago. Meet ten amazing animals that appear to have changed little in more than 100 million years. They are the rare exceptions to the rule.More than 99 percent of all life forms have gone extinct during the 3.6-billion-year history of life on Earth. Other organisms have changed dramatically, but not our extreme survivors. Evolution may have altered their physiology and behavior, but their body plans have stood the test of time. How have these living links with Earth’s prehistoric past survived? The search for answers is leading scientists to new discoveries about the past―and future―of life on Earth. The survival secrets of some of these ancient creatures could lead to new medicines and treatments for disease. Written in a lively, entertaining voice, Extreme Survivors provides detailed life histories and strange “survival secrets” of ten ancient animals and explains evolution and natural selection. Extensive back matter includes glossary, additional facts and geographic range for each organism and a geologic timeline of Earth. F&P Level V Color Photography throughout

Exploring The Frozen North is the second omnibus in the Pierre Berton's History for Young Canadians series produced by Fifth House. Originally printed as separate volumes in the Adventures in Canadian History series, the titles in this omnibus include: Parry of the Arctic, Jane Franklin's Obsession, Dr. Kane of the Arctic Seas, and Trapped in the Arctic. In Exploring the Frozen North, Pierre Berton documents the amazing lives of the men and women who mapped the Arctic at great personal cost. Berton tells the stories of the explorers, but he does not ignore the stories of those people living in the Arctic-the Inuit. Berton often remarks that if only the English and Americans had learned more about living in the far north from the Inuit people, they may have had better luck in their explorations. Retold in accurate detail, these are stories of the triumphs and the hardships of early expeditions to the Canadian Arctic. In Exploring the Frozen North, incredible Arctic adventurers abide: William Edward Parry was the first white man to attempt exploration of the Arctic islands. Ultimately imprisoned by the Arctic ice, he made it farther north than any other expedition would for another thirty years. Jane Franklin, in her relentless search for her lost explorer husband, rallied seamen from England to the United States to comb the Arctic islands. Berton argues that because of her much of that part of the world was mapped. Elisha Kent Kane was a sickly American doctor, who, on the pretext of searching for the lost Franklin expedition, instead sought the legendary "Open Polar Sea," a purportedly ice-free passage to the North Pole. Robert John McClure's ambitious and aggressive race for the North West Passage almost ended when he was trapped in the ice for two long years.

* Moonbeam Award *Even though Davey is blind, he is quite capable―until he tries to play kickball.After several missed kicks and a trampled base keeper, no one wants Davey on the team. But maybe, just maybe, there’s a solution that will work for everybody.F&P Text Level NGenevieve Petrillo has been teaching elementary students in New Jersey for 34 years. David DeNotaris was in her classroom many years ago, and this is a true story. Color throughout

There is a deserted bay on a small island off Antigua where hawksbill turtles crawl ashore at night during the mating season to lay their eggs. Two months later the hatchlings―each weighing less than an ounce―emerge from the sand and scramble to the sea in the moonlight. Only a lucky few survive. Mary Beth Owens was inspired by her admiration and concern for these critically endangered animals to write and illustrate this beautiful book. The narrator―a craggy, ancient jumby tree that stands sentinel over the bay―observes a hawksbill’s arrival by night, her arduous trek to excavate a nest and bury her eggs, her solitary return to the sea, and the later diaspora of her hatchlings. Spare prose complements pages saturated with Caribbean color or brooding in ghostly moonlight. Color throughout

Named to the Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year for 202020th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards “Must Reads”: A Must-Read Picture BookCYBILS Award short listWhen Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, fifteen-year-old Dan French had no way to know that one day his tribute to the great president would transform a plot of Washington, DC marshland into America’s gathering place. He did not even know that a sculptor was something to be. He only knew that he liked making things with his hands.This is the story of how a farmboy became America’s foremost sculptor. After failing at academics, Dan was working the family farm when he idly carved a turnip into a frog and discovered what he was meant to do. Sweeney’s swift prose and Fields’s evocative illustrations capture the single-minded determination with which Dan taught himself to sculpt and launched his career with the famous Minuteman Statue in his hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. This is also the story of the Lincoln Memorial, French’s culminating masterpiece. Thanks to this lovingly created tribute to the towering leader of Dan’s youth, Abraham Lincoln lives on as the man of marble, his craggy face and careworn gaze reminding millions of seekers what America can be. Dan’s statue is no lifeless figure, but a powerful, vital touchstone of a nation’s ideals. Now Dan French has his tribute too, in this exquisite biography that brings history to life for young readers. B&W and color

* Winner, ASPCA Henry Bergh Award ** Teacher’s Choices, International Reading Association *Two children and their mother, new to the neighborhood, befriend Noelie Houle, an elderly lady who raises goats.Her other neighbors bemoan the "Goat Lady's" rundown house and barnyard animals, but the children see how she cares for her goats, they hear her stories, and they come to love her. For many years Noelie has provided goat's milk for people who need it and has sent her extra goat kids to poor people in poor countries through the Heifer Project. The children's mother paints a series of portraits of the "Goat Lady," and her art show at the local town hall helps the rest of the community see Noelie's kindness and courage.F&P Text Level Q Color throughout

Maryland Blue Crab Honor Book 2018A big, brightly colored, playful introduction to various important painters and art movements.If someone asked you to paint a snowman, you would probably start with three white circles stacked one upon another. Then you would add black dots for eyes, an orange triangle for a nose, and a black dotted smile. But if Picasso painted a snowman…From that simple premise flows this delightful, whimsical, educational picture book that shows how the artist’s imagination can summon magic from a prosaic subject. Greg Newbold’s chameleon-like artistry shows us Roy Lichtenstein’s snow hero saving the day, Georgia O’Keefe’s snowman blooming in the desert, Claude Monet’s snowmen among haystacks, Grant Wood’s American Gothic snowman, Jackson Pollock’s snowman in ten thousand splats, Salvador Dali’s snowmen dripping like melty cheese, and snowmen as they might have been rendered by J. M. W. Turner, Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Georges Seurat, Pablita Velarde, Piet Mondrian, Sonia Delaunay, Jacob Lawrence, and Vincent van Gogh. Our guide for this tour is a lively hamster who―also chameleon-like―sports a Dali mustache on one spread, a Van Gogh ear bandage on the next. “What would your snowman look like?” the book asks, and then offers a page with a picture frame for a child to fill in. Backmatter thumbnail biographies of the artists complete this highly original tour of the creative imagination that will delight adults as well as children. Fountas & Pinnell Level O Full Color

John Burroughs Association Riverby AwardLupine AwardSkipping Stones Honor AwardYou might walk right by a vernal pool and not notice it. Often mistaken for mere puddles in the woods, vernal pools are the source of life for many interesting creatures. If you look carefully, you can find them and be amazed! These secret pools form every year when low places on the forest floor fill up with rain and melted snow. They soon become home to hatching wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp. Even in late summer and fall, when many vernal pools have shrunk to mud holes, creatures such as turtles and snakes rely on them for shelter and food. The Secret Pool introduces young readers to the wonders right underfoot as the voice of a vernal pool shares its secrets through the seasons, and sidebars provide fun facts on its inhabitants and the crucial role these small, often overlooked wetlands play in maintaining a healthy environment. Color Throughout

Booklist Starred ReviewThe Spanish architects Rafael Guastavino Sr. and his son, Rafael Guastavino Jr., designed more than one thousand iconic spaces across New York City and the United States, such as the New York City Hall Subway Station (still a tourist destination though no longer active), the Manhattan Federal Reserve Bank, the Nebraska State Capitol, the Great Hall of Ellis Island, the Oyster bar at Grand Central Terminal in New York, the Elephant House at the Bronx Zoo, the soaring tiled vaults under the Queensboro Bridge, the central dome of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, and the Boston Public Library. Written in the voice of the son, who was eight years old in 1881 when he immigrated to America with his father, this is their story.Rafael Guastavino Sr. was 39 when he left a successful career as an architect in Barcelona. American cities―densely packed and built largely of wood―were experiencing horrific fires, and Guastavino had the solution: The soaring interior spaces created by his tiled vaults and domes made buildings sturdier, fireproof, and beautiful. What he didn’t have was fluent English. Unable to win design commissions, he transferred control of the company to his American-educated son, whose subsequent half-century of inspired design work resulted in major contributions to the built environment of America. Immigrant Architect is an introduction to architectural concepts and a timely reminder of immigrant contributions to America. The book includes four route maps for visiting Guastavino-designed spaces in New York City: uptown, midtown, downtown, and Prospect Park. full color