The Peddlers Road

While in Germany with their father, who is researching the Pied Piper legend, Max, nearly thirteen, and her brother Carter, ten, are spirited away to the magical land where the stolen children of Hamelin have been hidden since the thirteenth century.

Between the late 1700s and the 1920s, nearly one-third of the world’s Jews emigrated to new lands. Crossing borders and often oceans, they followed paths paved by intrepid peddlers who preceded them. This book is the first to tell the remarkable story of the Jewish men who put packs on their backs and traveled forth, house to house, farm to farm, mining camp to mining camp, to sell their goods to peoples across the world. Persistent and resourceful, these peddlers propelled a mass migration of Jewish families out of central and eastern Europe, north Africa, and the Ottoman Empire to destinations as far-flung as the United States, Great Britain, South Africa, and Latin America. Hasia Diner tells the story of millions of discontented young Jewish men who sought opportunity abroad, leaving parents, wives, and sweethearts behind. Wherever they went, they learned unfamiliar languages and customs, endured loneliness, battled the elements, and proffered goods from the metropolis to people of the hinterlands. In the Irish Midlands, the Adirondacks of New York, the mining camps of New South Wales, and so many other places, these traveling men brought change—to themselves and the families who later followed, to the women whose homes and communities they entered, and ultimately to the geography of Jewish history.

“Explodes into a wild fantasy adventure. . . . Cody has begun what promises to be an epic trilogy.” —Adam Gidwitz, New York Times bestselling author of A Tale Dark and Grimm It is said that in the thirteenth century, in a town called Hamelin, a piper lured all of the children away with his magical flute, and none of them were ever seen again. Today, tough, pink-haired Max and her little brother, Carter, are stuck in modern-day Hamelin with their father . . . until they are also led away by the Piper to a place called the Summer Isle. There they meet the original stolen children, who haven’t aged a day and who have formed their own town, vigilantly guarded from the many nightmarish beings that roam the land. No one knows why the Piper stole them, but Max and Carter may be the key to returning the lost children of Hamelin. Together they set out on the Peddler’s Road to find their way back to the real world. This swashbuckling journey is perfect for fans of Rump and A Tale Dark and Grimm. Don’t miss the second adventure in the series, The Magician’s Key!

Three women--Bethanne Hamlin, her daughter Annie, and her former mother-in-law Ruth--go on a road trip across the country, in an adventure that changes all of their lives as they each contemplate taking different paths in their romantic lives.

Florida has long been a beacon for retirees, but for many, the American dream of owning a home there was a fantasy. That changed in the 1950s, when the so-called "installment land sales industry" hawked billions of dollars of Florida residential property, sight unseen, to retiring northerners. For only $10 down and $10 a month, working-class pensioners could buy a piece of the Florida dream: a graded home site that would be waiting for them in a planned community when they were ready to build. The result was Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Deltona, Port Charlotte, Palm Coast, and Spring Hill, among many others—sprawling communities with no downtowns, little industry, and millions of residential lots. In The Swamp Peddlers, Jason Vuic tells the raucous tale of the sale of residential lots in postwar Florida. Initially selling cheap homes to retirees with disposable income, by the mid-1950s developers realized that they could make more money selling parcels of land on installment to their customers. These "swamp peddlers" completely transformed the landscape and demographics of Florida, devastating the state environmentally by felling forests, draining wetlands, digging canals, and chopping up at least one million acres into grid-like subdivisions crisscrossed by thousands of miles of roads. Generations of northerners moved to Florida cheaply, but at a huge price: high-pressure sales tactics begat fraud; poor urban planning begat sprawl; poorly-regulated development begat environmental destruction, culminating in the perfect storm of the 21st-century subprime mortgage crisis.

"The best book about politics ever written for children." —The Washington Post 50th Anniversary Edition, now in paperback DO YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE PUSHCART WAR? THE REAL HISTORY? It’s a story of how regular people banded together and, armed with little more than their brains and good aim, defeated a mighty foe. Not long ago the streets of New York City were smelly, smoggy, sooty, and loud. There were so many trucks making deliveries that it might take an hour for a car to travel a few blocks. People blamed the truck owners and the truck owners blamed the little wooden pushcarts that traveled the city selling everything from flowers to hot dogs. Behind closed doors the truck owners declared war on the pushcart peddlers. Carts were smashed from Chinatown to Chelsea. The peddlers didn’t have money or the mayor on their side, but that didn’t stop them from fighting back. They used pea shooters to blow tacks into the tires of trucks, they outwitted the police, and they marched right up to the grilles of those giant trucks and dared them to drive down their streets. Today, thanks to the ingenuity of the pushcart peddlers, the streets belong to the people—and to the pushcarts. The Pushcart War was first published more than fifty years ago. It has inspired generations of children and been adapted for television, radio, and the stage around the world. It was included on School Library Journal’s list of One Hundred Books That Shaped the Twentieth Century, and its assertion that a committed group of men and women can prevail against a powerful force is as relevant in the twenty-first century as it was in 1964.

The Silk Road was the most traveled trade route for over 1,000 years until it was eclipsed by maritime trade. Whitfield presents composite stories of merchants, soldiers, artists, and princesses who traveled the route, and presents its history through their personal experiences.

The epic conclusion to the trilogy bestselling author Adam Gidwitz called “a wild fantasy adventure” find siblings Max and Carter embroiled in the final battle against the evil Grannie Yaga! On the mysterious Summer Isle, siblings Max and Carter discovered the magical land where the villainous Pied Piper led the children of Hamelin centuries ago. They were trapped outside of time in a never-ending clash against a vicious rat army. After a desperate battle with a cruel soul-stealing magician, Max and Carter found themselves separated: Max with their newfound allies (human and trollson alike), Carter with . . . the Piper. Now Max is determined to reunite with her lost brother, restore her parents’ stolen souls, and escape the Summer Isle once and for all. But the wicked Grannie Yaga doesn’t intend for the siblings to leave without a fight. But what role will the Piper play when all is said and done—and can he redeem himself from his own dark choices when his secrets are finally revealed? Praise for The Peddler’s Road: “The Peddler’s Road begins as a creepy fairy tale–mystery and then explodes into a wild fantasy adventure. . . . Cody has begun what promises to be an epic trilogy.” —Adam Gidwitz, New York Times bestselling author of A Tale Dark and Grimm and The Inquisitor’s Tale “Prepare to be enchanted. Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Cody spins a wildly inventive, deeply heartfelt tale that whisks you off to a magical land where fairy tales live and breathe—and frequently try to kill you. From the first page, I was a goner.” —John Stephens, New York Times bestselling author of The Emerald Atlas

Who, really, is the peddler in the yellow bow tie? A little old man is watering his garden when a squeak squeak squeak gets his attention. In the distance on the narrow country road, he sees a peddler driving his cart. The old man's dog, Happy, barks in welcome. The old man notices a beautiful bed on the top of the cart, and the courtly peddler, whose blue tailcoat matches his bowler, is happy to bring it down - but the old man hasn't any way to pay for it. The peddler makes a bargain: if the old man can make it squeak by the end of the day, it will be his. But the bed is so sturdy it never squeaks, unlike the door of the old man's house, his water pump, a field mouse being chased by Happy, and so on. The old man invites the peddler in for a cup of tea and a bit of conversation, giving the peddler a chance to see the extent of the old man's humble circumstances. The old man is never able to make the bed squeak, but a little kind trickery from the peddler ensures his peaceful rest. Fortino's subtle story of kindness and courtesy features plenty of read-aloud - friendly repetition and onomatopoeia. Redila's palette has the color and clarity of stained glass, and his figures are slightly exaggerated, suggesting Baum's original Oz. -- amazon.com

Explore the multiverse with the Bright Family! In this first graphic novel of the smash hit Epic Originals series, join siblings Nia and Jayden on an out-of-this-world adventure to find their missing parents. Meet the brilliant, overachieving Bright Family: While Mom's off-planet literally saving the world and Dad's holed up in his laboratory, 12-year-old Nia's trying to win every robotics competition, and her younger brother, Jayden...well, actually, Jayden's just trying to avoid doing his homework so has more time to daydream about kaiju and design giant robots. But when a dimensional portal sends Mom and Dad who-knows-where, it's up to Nia and Jayden (and their robot nanny, Dusty) to bring their parents home. The question is, where in the multiverse could they possibly be? Through their travels, the Brights--kids and parents alike--learn how one person's actions can lead to consequences that affect the whole family, and sometimes even the entire multiverse!