Books in Golden Kite Honors series

In her most charming book yet, three-time New York Times Best Illustrator Barbara McClintock has created the Cinderella that every little girl will want to savor -- over and over again.Poor Cinderella, who is relegated to a dingy garret room by her duplicitous stepmother and beleaguered by her nasty stepsisters, never gives in to hostility or revenge. Instead, this sweet heroine remains steadfast in her kind, gentle ways, and her generosity flows like a mountain stream. This tale of virtue rewarded is as charming and rich as any prince. McClintock's warm, humorous, and lucious artwork that reflects the story's French roots, coupled with her disarming text will insure that this book will be loved and cherished -- happily ever after.

Leave time for wonder. Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" is an enduring celebration of the imagination. Here, Whitman's wise words are beautifully recast by New York Times #1 best-selling illustrator Loren Long to tell the story of a boy's fascination with the heavens. Toy rocket in hand, the boy finds himself in a crowded, stuffy lecture hall. At first he is amazed by the charts and the figures. But when he finds himself overwhelmed by the pontifications of an academic, he retreats to the great outdoors and does something as universal as the stars themselves... he dreams.

In the deep blue waters of Lake Superior lies a small island of hummingbirds, rabbits, and hardy Norwegian fishing folk. On that island lives a boy named Carl who wants nothing more than to be out on the water in a boat of his own making. So this is a story of sawing, nailing, and sanding. But because Sand Island neighbors are closer than cousins, this is also a story of picking strawberries, moving rocks, and mending fishing nets fine as lace.

Six-year-old Sarah Marie, her mother, and her little sister travel down south to visit Grandmama in the summer of 1956. Grandmama makes every effort to shield her granddaughters from the prejudice that still plagues her town. But as Sarah Marie learns to read, she notices Grandmama’s town is filled with signs and rules that she’s never understood before. As Sarah Marie tries to make sense of the world around her, she’s left wondering if life in the South will ever change.

Ten-year-old Comfort Snowberger has attended 247 funerals. But that's not surprising, considering that her family runs the town funeral home. And even though Great-uncle Edisto keeled over with a heart attack and Great-great-aunt Florentine dropped dead--just like that--six months later, Comfort knows how to deal with loss, or so she thinks. She's more concerned with avoiding her crazy cousin Peach and trying to figure out why her best friend, Declaration, suddenly won't talk to her. Life is full of surprises. And the biggest one of all is learning what it takes to handle them. Deborah Wiles has created a unique, funny, and utterly real cast of characters in this heartfelt, and quintessentially Southern coming-of-age novel. Comfort will charm young readers with her wit, her warmth, and her struggles as she learns about life, loss, and ultimately, triumph.

In the imagination of a young inner-city boy, police sirens sound like howling wolves, streetlights look like stars, and shots fired by neighborhood gangs sound like those stars cracking the darkness. But when his older brother joins a gang, he can no longer pretend. With the help of his mother, he comes up with a plan to save his brother and unite his neighbors in a stand for peace. The realistic yet uplifting words of best-selling author Barbara M. Joosse combine with powerful illustrations by award-winning artist R. Gregory Christie in this hope-filled story. One young boy's courage can make a difference.

The first time Bird Speaks saw Path Down the Moun-tain, he was taken. In her he saw an intensity and passion for her work for which he could only hope. She is a Hand, a weaver of brilliantly colored cloth, and it is Path’s talent with the cloth that has brought her to the Banks, the small town where Bird and his family live. She has come to study under the vigilant eye of her teacher, Heron, one of the best weavers in the land. It is the busiest time of the year for the weavers, who must weave and dye many hundreds of yards of cloth for the Midsummer Day festival, only weeks away. On Midsummer Day the year turns. It is the day you take everything you have and throw it in a huge fire so that you will be empty, ready to be filled by the new year. But Path does not want to empty herself. She hoards a gift that she will not give. It is a secret, a story from her past. As Bird pursues a friendship with Path, she begins to realize that giving the gift of her name and her story might ultimately bring her more than she ever thought possible.