Books with title Houghton Mifflin Reading: The Nation's Choice: Theme Paperbacks, On-Level Grade 2.2 Theme 5 - Tonight is Carnaval by HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

The legend of the Milky Way tells of an elderly couple who lived long ago. One day they discovered that a giant spirit dog had stolen some of their cornmeal--and drove the dog from the village into the night sky. The band of stars that formed in its wake is the Milky Way. Exquisite paintings illuminate a lyrical text by two renowned Native American storytellers.

The biggest race of the school year is on! Fifth-grader Miata Ramirez is running for class president. Her best friend, Ana, is her running mate. The girls are stunned when they learn they are running against class clown Rudy Herrera and his friend Alex.At first Miata is certain she will win the election. She has big plans to make the school a better place. She'll clean up the graffiti, plant flowers and trees, and get computers.Rudy's confident he'll get votes by promising longer recess periods and selling the students ice cream every day.Miata is serious and means business. But the boys are funnier and louder. The girls think if they quickly change their image, they'll get those extra votes. But the election is just a few days away.Readers will catch election fever as the boys square off against the girls in Gary Soto's latest novel featuring Miata Ramirez from The Skirt and Rudy Herrera from The Pool Party.

Collision in the Harbor! Abigail and her brother, Tom, travel to school every day aboard their father's freight boat, the Neptune. One day, two ships collide in the Narrows, and Abigail's father goes to their aid--leaving Abigail to take the Neptune's wheel. Can she and Tom steer the freight boat through the crowded and dangerous waters of New York Harbor alone?

Shielded from St Petersburg society, the last tsar's four daughters enjoyed a simple life of almost cloudless happiness. Their evenings were spent with their parents, reading aloud and pasting snapshots into albums. Drawing on these precious personal keepsakes - long hidden in Russian archives - this work offers a glimpse into the intimate family life of the last Romanovs. Illustrated in scrapbook style with Anastasia's own letters, photographs and watercolours, this album brings the youngest of the tsar's daughters to life - a tomboy who scrambled up snowy mountains to sled down on a silver tray. Letters from Anastasia's final heartbreaking days in captivity show that even the filthy conditions and the brutal treatment of her revolutionary jailers could not shake her faith.

Cristina Ortega is the granddaughter of Juan Melquiades Ortega, a master weaver of northern New Mexico's Chimayó Valley. Chimayó's roots are in early Spanish Colonial times and has long been famous for its unique weavings. Juan M. Ortega was taught to weave by his father in the early days when weavers sheared their own sheep and spun and dyed the wool for their blankets. El Tejedor (The Weaver) continued weaving until he was one hundred years old, when his eyesight failed him. In The Eyes of the Weaver, Cristina shares her memories of visits when she was ten years old with Grandpa in the village of Chimayó, where he taught her how to weave. She also recalls how Grandma helped her husband choose color combinations for his Chimayó blankets. It was during these visits that Cristina learned how important it is for a child to listen to and learn from his or her relatives.Some of Juan M. Ortega's weavings and tools of the trade have been included in the exhibit, "American Encounters," at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.Reading level: 10 years and up