from the publisher: MATILDA by roald dahl

World Reads is a blog that features children’s books set overseas. Sometimes an adult world book sneaks in but for the most part World Reads aims to help kids, their parents, teachers, and librarians find books set outside of the United States.

From the publisher:

Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she’s just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It’ll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!
“Matilda will surely go straight to children’s hearts.” —The New York Times Book Review

from the publisher: BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE by eugene yelchin

World Reads is a blog that features children’s books set overseas. Sometimes an adult world book sneaks in but for the most part World Reads aims to help kids, their parents, teachers, and librarians find books set outside of the United States.

From the publisher:

Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six:
The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.
A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.
A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings.
But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has awaited for so long, everything seems to go awry. He breaks a classmate’s glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.

Eugene Yelchin’s moving story of a ten-year-old boy’s world shattering is masterful in its simplicity, powerful in its message, and heartbreaking in its plausibility.

Breaking Stalin’s Nose is one of Horn Book’s Best Fiction Books of 2011

from the publisher: SABA UNDER THE HYENA’S FOOT by jane kurtz

World Reads is a blog that features children’s books set overseas. Sometimes an adult world book sneaks in but for the most part World Reads aims to help kids, their parents, teachers, and librarians find books set outside of the United States.

From the publisher:

Kurtz admirably offers readers the story of a young girl first and the historical details and political intrigue of Ethiopia in 1846 second. Saba is a simple country girl, living with her brother and overly protective grandmother. Suspense builds as the children disobediently venture out of their home. Kidnapped and taken to a faraway palace, Saba is confused, but by paying close attention to details, she is able to make sense of events. Her lack of understanding of the ways of the court gradually turns into an awareness of a severe, albeit camouflaged, threat to herself and her brother. Politics is at the heart of the story and complicated family relationships at the heart of the dilemma. Kurtz keeps the pages turning as she reveals Saba and her brother’s place in the emperor’s line. A descendant of the biblical Queen of Sheba, clever and resourceful Saba is determined to save not just herself, but her brother as well. It’s gratifying that a title this well written and culturally sensitive is now available since there are so few good novels about Africa, and especially Ethiopia, that provide a sense of the rich history in that part of the world.

from the publisher: CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY by karen cushman

World Reads is a blog that features children’s books set overseas. Sometimes an adult world book sneaks in but for the most part World Reads aims to help kids, their parents, teachers, and librarians find books set outside of the United States.

From the publisher:

Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman of good family, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year—the year 1290. A Newbery Honor Book.

 

from the publisher: THE PULL OF THE OCEAN by jean-claude mourlevat

World Reads is a blog that features children’s books set overseas. Sometimes an adult world book sneaks in but for the most part World Reads aims to help kids, their parents, teachers, and librarians find books set outside of the United States.

From the publisher:

On a stormy night, little Yann Doutreleau wakes up his six older brothers, all twins. He lets them know that they must flee their home–or risk being killed by their violent father. Without question, the siblings follow Yann into the wet darkness. And so begins their remarkable odyssey toward the ocean–as well as an unforgettable story of brotherhood.

The social worker investigating the Doutreleau family, the truck driver who gives the boys a lift, the police officer who believes they’ve run away, the baker who gives them bread–each of the many people the seven boys encounter gives a stirring account of what he or she witnesses. The twins themselves add their voices, as do the Doutreleau parents; but not until the end of the journey does little Yann express his reasons for his galvanizing actions.