Wild Song

An illustrated biography of the famous explorer with "plenty of engaging action scenes and historical facts" (School Library Journal).Before he led the first expedition to circumnavigate the earth, Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was a Portuguese noble who loved the sea. A skilled sailor, he led a number of voyages and is known for his incredible navigation skills. Over the course of his sailing career, he faced terrible storms and mutinies but always managed to get his crew home safely. He set off with his crew to circle the globe-a trip that no other ship had ever completed.Though Magellan died in combat in the Philippines before he could complete the voyage, his ship went on to complete the first circumnavigation of the world, and he is still known as one of the greatest explorers. However, as historians today note, many of the places that Magellan "discovered" already had people living there, and his fame is one rooted in colonialism. Ferdinand Magellan tackles the legacy-both good and bad-of this famous explorer.First Names is a highly illustrated nonfiction series that puts young readers on a first-name basis with some of the most incredible people in history and of today!

Monsters are in the eye of the beholder.<BR><BR>Rosa suffers from a rare condition that renders her mute. She lives on the strange island of Mirasol where the rain never seems to stop.<BR><BR>In the gloom of the island, its superstitious population are haunted by all sorts of fears . . . they shun people who suffer from Rosa's condition, believing them to be monsters. So Rosa must live hidden away in an isolated house with its back to the rest of the world, with only the internet for a social life.<BR><BR>But Rosa has no desire to leave Mirasol. This is where her mother died and every night she lights a candle on the windowsill. The islanders believe this is the way to summon ghosts, and Rosa wants her mother back.<BR><BR>One day she is befriended by a boy online who calls himself Ansel95 - and she quickly realizes that this is one friendship that can take place in the real world. Can she really trust him? What does he want from her?<BR><BR>And then Mother turns up at the front door.<BR><BR>From the author of the critically-acclaimed Tall Story comes a haunting, intense and moving novel which weaves myths and ghosts into a modern setting. As Rosa's social life blossoms, how will she seize the freedom to be who she really is?