Learning Library

Since his childhood in the DeepWoods, young Twig has always longed to soar above the forest canopy and explore the sky. Now a crew member on his father's sky pirate ship, the Stormchaser, his dream seems fulfilled. But a much higher destiny awaits Twig. The lofty city of Sanctaphrax, built on a giant rock, floating high in the sky, is at the point of disaster.

Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters’ village. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage by setting off on a difficult and dangerous journey that will change his life forever.

Explore the life and career of award-winning author Nikki Grimes.

Did you know Barbara Park wanted to be a teacher instead of a writer when she was growing up? Discover how a late-blooming writer used her talent for humor to become a best-selling children's author.

Filled with practical tips and helpful advice, Dear Ally is a treasure for aspiring writers at any stage of their careers. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how books get made, from idea to publication, and gives you insight into the writing processes of some of the biggest and most talented YA authors writing today.

Explore the life and career of Newbery-award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson.

Two tiger cub brothers are torn from the jungle and taken to Rome. The stronger cub is trained as a killer at the Coliseum. Emperor Caesar makes a gift of the smaller cub to his beautiful daughter, Aurelia. She adores her cub, Boots. Julius, a young animal keeper, teaches Aurelia how to earn Boots’s trust. Boots is pampered while his brother, known as Brute, lives in the cold and darkness, let out only to kill.

Britain's most esteemed scholar of 16th and 17th century literature, Frank Kermode is also a noted author and professor. In this Modern Library Chronicle, he uses the context of the Elizabethan Era to link each of Shakespeare's plays to their probable years of creation. By portraying the bard's England in terms of its society, economy, and arts, Kermode provides an invaluable guide to understanding Shakespeare?s works.

Captured by cats! It's every rodent's worst nightmare. It all started when my cousin Trap convinced me to join him on a quest for a legendary island covered in silver. But before you could say "hot cheese on toast", we were attacked by a ship of pirate cats!

Did you ever think about where your jeans come from? How about the people who made your T-shirt, or what happens to the clothes you grow out of when you're done wearing them? The fabrics clothes are made of, the way they are designed and sewn and shipped around the world, and the way we consume them and get rid of them - every step in this process has a big impact on our environment, on the people who work in clothing factories, and on our cultures.

One of the world’s foremost writing teachers invites listeners on a joyful journey into the reading and origins of haiku.

Igraine, who turns 12 tomorrow, dreams of becoming a famous knight. But today, like most days, life at the family castle remains...rather boring.

The only thing Jean Honeychurch hates more than her boring name (not Jean Marie, or Jeanette, just...Jean) is her all-too-appropriate nickname: Jinx. Misfortune seems to follow her everywhere she goes, which is why she's thrilled to be moving in with her aunt and uncle in New York City. Maybe when she's halfway across the country, Jinx can finally outrun her bad luck. Or at least escape the havoc she's caused back in her small hometown.

A practical and inspiring guide to transformational personal storytelling, The Story You Need to Tell is the product of Sandra Marinella’s pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, her years of teaching writing, and her research into its profound healing properties. Riveting true stories illustrate Marinella’s methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal. She also shares her own experience of using journaling and expressive writing to navigate challenges including breast cancer and postpartum depression.

One Friday morning, Annabel's wish comes true when she wakes up and realizes she's turned into her mother! But after a major washing-machine mishap, losing Ape Face, and a terrible teacher conference, Annabel starts to suspect that being an adult is not as much fun as it seems. One thing's for certain: this is one freaky Friday she'll never forget!

Despite Jessica's shocking appearance and the fear she evokes in him and most of the seventh-grade class, Tom slowly develops a tentative friendship with Jessica that changes his life. Firegirl is a powerful story that will show listeners that even the smallest of gestures can have a profound impact on someone's life.

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else.

Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time runs out.

With no word for “gay” in Arabic, Luma may not have known what to call the feelings she had growing up in Jordan during the 1980’s, but she knew well enough to keep them secret. It was clear that not only would her family have trouble accepting who she was, but trapped in a religious society, she could also be killed if anyone discovered she was gay. Luma spent her teenage years increasingly desperate to find a way out. After two suicide attempts, she finally realizes that to survive, she must leave the Middle East for good.

For Kirsten McKenna, the world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has come under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. Only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side. Meanwhile, for Walker Jones, the goal is to survive at the new white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he's going to screw up like his cousin.