New Releases by Carolyn Marsden

After a storm engulfs his village, a Vietnamese boy has glimmers of a new calling in this spare middle-grade novel written with authenticity and grace. (Ages 8-12) Every day, Tinh heads out to sea with his father to catch fish for their family and the market. While he may miss his simple life, flying kites with other children on the beach, Tinh is proud to work alongside Ba. Then a fierce storm strikes, and Ba entrusts Tinh to secure the family vessel, but the boy panics and runs away. It will take courage and faith to salvage the bamboo boat, win back Ba’s confidence, and return to sea. This graceful tale lyrically narrates a young Vietnamese boy’s literal and spiritual coming-of-age.

"A quiet, lyrical story that sensitively explores issues of friendship and being true to oneself." — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL When Mina, a self-professed "girlie-girl," discovers that she excels at track, her friends are as surprised as she is, especially competitive Ruth. Even more surprising is the way running seems to lift Mina up and make her happy. When Coach chooses her to run the fifty-meter against Ruth, Mina is torn. Should she slow down and let Ruth hold on to the spotlight? Or let herself soar? With subtlety and insight, Carolyn Marsden explores the delicate subject of competition between friends.

In Thailand she was named Oy, but here in America the teachers call her Olivia. Her classmate Frankie makes fun of her and calls her Chinese. And the popular girl Liliandra barely speaks to her, until she learns that Oy has something very special: a Thai dancing dress from her grandmother, shimmering with pink silk and golden threads. Will Oy risk shaming her family to win Liliandra''s approval - and be part of the club she has envied from afar?

Ginny is sure the new girl in her second-grade class will be her best friend. After all, Stephanie is Chinese, just like Ginny. But Ginny soon discovers some puzzling things about Stephanie: she doesn''t like Chinese food, she hates her straight black hair, and even more surprisingly, her parents are not Chinese. Drawing on Virginia Loh''s real life story, the authors poignantly capture Ginny''s dilemma as she navigates between her culture and her friendship.

Nouri and his cousin Talib can only vaguely remember a time before tanks rumbled over the streets of their Baghdad neighborhood—when books, not bombs, ruled Mutanabbi Street. War has been the backdrop of their young lives. And now Iraq isn''t just at war with Americans. It''s at war with itself. Sunnis fight Shiites, and the strife is at the boys'' doorsteps. Nouri is Shiite and Talib is half Sunni. To the boys, it seems like only a miracle can mend the rift that is tearing a country and a family apart. In early 2008, Iraq experienced a miracle. Snow fell in Baghdad for the first time in living memory. As snow covered the dusty streets, the guns in the city grew silent and there was an unofficial ceasefire. During these magical minutes, Sunni and Shiite differences were forgotten. There was no green zone, no red zone. There was only the white zone. Against this real-life backdrop, Nouri and Talib begin to imagine a world after the war.

As American bombs fall on Baghdad during the Iraq War, ten-year-old cousins Nouri and Talib witness the growing violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Quietly rebelling against the communist regime in 1960s Czechoslovakia, 14-year-old Patrick listens to contraband Beatles records and spray-paints slogans until party interference forces his family to make a dangerous decision.

Dr. Jerry''s Optimal Health and Vitality Recipe will show you how to feel good as you age, improve your energy levels, and recover from an illness or injury. Dr. Jerry''s Functional Triad of Health highlights the mental, physical, and chemical stresses of life and shows you how to use food, blood, and hormone testing to balance these stresses so you can live a happy, healthy life. The full color book contains graphs, charts, and resources to help you achieve your goals of health and wellness.

Gloria''s Christmas begins with frustration when she is forced to go to work with Mama, but by the end of the day, she appreciates her family and enjoys the holiday.

While big changes are coming to her Mexican village, 9-year-old Rosalba hears that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012 and dreams of an ancient Mayan boy, eyes bound in a shamanistic ritual, who hints at what Rosalba can do to make a difference.

Raised in an Italian orphanage in the years following World War II, a biracial girl named Susanna and her best friend Pina want to be adopted but fear being separated.

When her grandmother reveals that the daughter that she had given up for adoption is coming from America to visit her Vietnamese family, nine-year-old Binh is convinced that her newly-discovered aunt is wealthy and will take care of all the family''s needs. Reprint.

The strong friendship between two boys, one black and one white, who live on a mission in Rhodesia, begins to unravel as protests against white colonial rule intensify in 1964.

Like The Gold-Threaded Dress, Marsdens acclaimed first novel, this sensitive and finely crafted sequel explores what it takes to be a true friend and still be true to oneself.

Now in fifth grade, Oy wants to do a Thai dance at the school talent show until Liliandra threatens to kick her out of their club if they do not perform an American-style skit together.

With spare, sure strokes evoking the customs and languages of Thailand, the acclaimed author of "The Gold-Threaded Dress" tells the graceful tale of a young artists coming of age.

Eleven-year-old Gregory and his family had to leave the Navajo reservation at Bird Springs—the only home they''ve ever known—and move to a motel in Tucson, Arizona. Gregory misses his absent father, but he likes school, particularly art class with the kind teacher. He also makes a new friend, Matt, who promptly informs him art class is really art therapy and that Gregory is staying in a shelter, not a motel. Even though Matt can be outspoken, he''s just what Gregory needs now. He''s honest and generous with his allowance so they can ride the Ferris wheel at the carnival. Award-winning author Carolyn Marsden paints a poignant story of a little boy who, as he confronts the more painful aspects of his past, is filled with a sense of hope.

Eleven-year-old Noi worries that she will have to stop painting the silk umbrellas her family sells at the market near their Thai village and be forced to join her older sister in difficult work at a local factory instead. By the author of The Gold-Threaded Dress. Jr Lib Guild.