New Releases by Susan Zannos

Marco Polo, the first European to travel to China and return to write about his adventures, was born in Venice in 1254. Marco s father had left on a journey to Asia before the boy was born. Marco did not see his father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, until fifteen years later. In 1271 the three Polos left Venice and headed for the court of Kublai Khan in eastern China. The journey took them more than three years—they arrived in 1275. Marco Polo became a favorite of the Great Khan, and was sent on important missions all over the Mongol Empire. Marco and his father and uncle served Kublai Khan for 17 years. When they returned to Venice in 1295, Marco became the captain of a merchant ship and was captured and imprisoned in Genoa. While in prison he and another prisoner who was a writer of romances wrote the story of Marco Polo s adventures.

Unlike most 19th Century composers who had to struggle to make a living, Felix Mendelssohn came from a very wealthy family. He never had to work, but he worked harder to fulfill his family s expectations than many who suffered poverty. He was an extremely gifted musical genius who wrote some of his best works while he was still a teenager. Mendelssohn gained fame as a conductor, and as the organizer of many music festivals in Germany and in England where he was always enthusiastically welcomed. Unlike some composers who only performed their own work, Mendelssohn had a passion for presenting the best music of all periods. He was also very generous in helping younger composers by playing their work. His weakness was being unable to say no to the many requests he received for performances. He was a perfectionist who devoted his energy to presenting the highest possible level of musical perfection. As his fame spread, he had little time left for his own compositions. Mendelssohn died at the age of 38, essentially from exhaustion brought on by overworking.

A biography of the nineteenth-century American composer.

The most famous of the bandmaster-composers was John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), who in 1880 became leader of the U.S. Marine band. In 1892, he organized his own band that toured throughout the world. Known as The March King, Sousa was a highly skilled composer of marches. He wrote more than one hundred of them, including the famous Stars and Stripes Forever that became the official United States march in 1987. A strong-willed child, Sousa s first memories of his childhood include the time he was not permitted to eat as many donuts as he wanted, so he ran away in the rain and laid outside for a half an hour. He got so sick he almost died. But the best story Sousa tells is the one where he almost ran away to join the circus band!

Franz Joseph Haydn s importance in the history of music is so great that it would be difficult to summarize his achievements in a few paragraphs. He inherited the sonata from Bach and made it into a great form of musical expression. He established the symphony, preparing the way for Mozart and Beethoven. He is often called the father of the string quartet. In fact, Mozart commented that it was from Haydn that he learned how to compose for four-stringed instruments. Haydn possessed a sunny disposition and a lovable nature. He was extremely generous and had a warm heart. He is quoted as saying, Anybody can see by the look of me that I am a good-natured sort of fellow. Much of his good nature can be heard in his music, which lives on nearly 200 years after is death in 1809.

Socrates, the great Athenian philosopher, was born during the Golden Age of Greece, one of the most glorious periods in human history. He grew up during the exciting days of Pericles in Athens, in the midst of the flowering of drama and poetry, the creation of magnificent architecture and sculpture, the writing of literature that has inspired mankind for 2,500 years. The glory of Athens, inspired by the Athenians’ victory over the Persians against great odds, lasted less than 50 years. Socrates lived to see his city conquered by the Spartans from without and by a terrible plague from within. He tried to convince his fellow citizens to examine their own beliefs and behavior. The Athenians, looking for someone to blame for their troubles, arrested Socrates. They accused him of corrupting the young men who were his students. He refused to run away to save his life and was tried and executed.

Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians and inventors of the ancient world. His native city was Syracuse on the island of Sicily. When he was a young man, Archimedes was sent to study in Alexandria, which was the great intellectual center of the Mediterranean area during the Third Century B.C. There he met other brilliant mathematicians who became his friends. Even after they parted, when Archimedes returned to Syracuse, they wrote to each other sending the problems and theorems they were working on. Thanks to these letters we have many of Archimedes'' theoretical writings. Back in Syracuse, King Hiero II, a friend and kinsman, asked Archimedes to use his mathematical genius to create practical solutions and inventions. The wonderful tools and weapons that Archimedes invented made him famous throughout the ancient world, and some such as levers and pulleys are still used today. Book jacket.

Profiles the life and career of physicist Albert Einstein and his theories of relativity.

Samuel Morse, who is called "the father of the telegraph," was not a scientist. For most of his life he was a struggling artist, and a good one. Although he had difficulty selling his paintings during his lifetime, he is now considered a major American painter, and his work is exhibited in art museums. In 1832, Morse was returning from Europe where he had been studying painting. On shipboard he heard another passenger talking about how electricity could travel through a wire in an instant. Morse had the idea that electricity could be used to send messages. If he had known how many scientists and inventors had already had the same idea, he might never have worked on developing a method of sending messages. But he didn''t know, and his idea of creating a code out of dots and dashes, the Morse code, made the telegraph a practical method of sending messages through electric wires. Book jacket.

Profiles the man responsible for developing the telegraph.

Profiles the life and work of the man whose work in electromagnetism changed the way we live.

Guglielmo Marconi was a young man fascinated with the recently discovered phenomenon of electricity. Telegraph wires were already being used to send messages with electricity-there was even a cable under the Atlantic Ocean making communication between continents possible. But when Marconi learned about the electromagnetic waves scientists had discovered, he thought that they could be used to send messages without wires. In 1894, when he was 20 years old, Marconi began his experiments in sending messages: first a few feet, next a few yards, then over a mile, and at last across the Atlantic Ocean. Marconi''s wireless telegraphy made it possible, for the first time, for ships at sea to communicate with the land and with each other. Marconi''s work provided the foundation for the amazing developments in electronic technology that occurred in the 20th century-radio, television, radar, sonar, microwave ovens-and are still occurring at dizzying speed. Book jacket.

During Beethoven''s darkest times, when he stumbled about the streets of Vienna like a ragged madman, people thought his career was over. Many of his friends and patrons had died. He no longer seemed to be producing music except for a few trivial pieces. But appearances were wrong. He was creating what is generally regarded as his greatest single work. Known as the Ninth Symphony, it is much more difficult and massive than any of the preceding eight. But Beethoven was aware that the people of Vienna thought he was crazy. He was afraid his symphony would be rejected. Making things even worse, there had only been time for two rehearsals. By this time he was totally deaf and could not hear how well the musicians performed. On May 7, 1824, Beethoven conducted the Ninth Symphony for its premiere performance in Vienna. When the last notes of the magnificent final movement came to an end, Beethoven stood on the stage with his back to the audience. One of the singers gently turned him around so that he could see the audience. The applause was thunderous. Everyone was standing and cheering. Nearly 180 years later, Beethoven''s works are still enjoyed by music lovers all over the world. On January 12, 2003, the Ninth Symphony was added to the "Memory of the World" register so that the compositions of Vienna''s "mad genius" will live on forever.

Presents a biography of Octaviano Larrazolo, governor of New Mexico, and the first Hispanic to serve in the United States Senate.

Profiles the Nobel Prize-winning chemist who described the nature of chemical bonds and made other important discoveries in the fields of quantum mechanics and immunology.

A biography of the scientist who developed the periodic table.

The life and accomplishments of astronomer Edwin Hubble, whose discoveries about the nature and size of the universe solved four central problems in cosmology, one of which formed the basis of the Big Bang Theory.

A biography of the American scientist, Charles Richter, who developed a scale for measuring the intensity of earthquakes.

A biography of Joseph Pulitzer and the story of his creation of the Pulitzer Prizes.

Opie grows up to be one the finest directors in Hollywood.

Describes the life and work of the man credited with being the first to design and market a personal computer.

A biography of the German physician and researcher credited with being the father of modern drug development, who focused on the principle that substances act only when they are linked.

Written especially for young adult readers, this series helps place each significant invention, discovery, or development in historical perspective while exploring the life of the person responsible for each breakthrough. Readers will travel back in time to learn about each important scientific, medical, or technological discovery. No science fiction story even approximates the mystery and suspense contained in these true science biographies.The story of the man whose determination to simplify the process of copying documents led to the invention of xerography.

Explores career possibilities in science and medicine from a Latino perspective, focusing on the unique experiences of Hispanic Americans through interviews.

Explores career possibilities in education from a Latino perspective, focusing on the unique experiences of Hispanic Americans through interviews.

Examines careers in music from a Latino perspective, focusing on the experience of Hispanic Americans through interviews with successful Latinos in the field.

Describes the life and career of Godfrey Hounsfield, the engineer who codeveloped computerized axial tomography (CAT), and shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine.

Describes what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, whether starting from scratch or buying an existing business, focusing on the unique experiences of Hispanic Americans through profiles of Latino business owners.

Profiles the life and career of actress Sandra Bullock.

Chronicles the life of actress Drew Barrymore, from her early start in the movie ''E.T.'' to present day.