Blossom & Root Year 4 Language Arts

by Christina Soontornvat

A 2021 Newbery Honor Book

A boy on the run.  A girl determined to find him.  A compelling fantasy looks at issues of privilege, protest, and justice.

All light in Chattana is created by one man — the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city.  For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them.  But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars.  The wealthy dine and dance under bright orb light, while the poor toil away in darkness.  Worst of all, Pong’s prison tattoo marks him as a fugitive who can never be truly free.

Nok, the prison warden’s perfect daughter, is bent on tracking Pong down and restoring her family’s good name.  But as Nok hunts Pong through the alleys and canals of Chattana, she uncovers secrets that make her question the truths she has always held dear.  Set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world, Christina Soontornvat’s twist on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a dazzling, fast-paced adventure that explores the difference between law and justice — and asks whether one child can shine a light in the dark.

Recommended for readers ages 8-12 years.

Softcover, 384 pages.

Candlewick Press.

Praise

It’s a novel—a stand- alone, no less—that seems to have it all: a sympathetic hero, a colorful setting, humor, heart, philosophy, and an epic conflict that relates the complexity and humanity of social justice without heavy-handed storytelling. Soontornvat deftly blends it all together, salting the tale with a dash of magic that enhances the underlying emotions in this masterfully paced adventure. An important book that not only shines a light but also shows young readers how to shine their own. Luminous.
—Booklist (starred review)

Set in a fantasy analogue of Thailand, all characters are presumed Thai, and Thai life and culture permeate the story in everything from the mangoes Pong eats in prison to the monks he meets beyond the prison's walls. It's also a retelling of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, and Soontornvat has maintained the themes of the original while making the plot and the characters utterly her own. Pong's and Nok's narratives are drawn together by common threads of family, loyalty, and a quest to define right and wrong, twining to create a single, satisfying tale. A complex, hopeful, fresh retelling.
—Kirkus Reviews

Soontornvat artfully builds up to a triumphant confrontation, weaving in important themes about oppression and civil disobedience along the way.
—Publishers Weekly

Nuanced questions of morality, oppression, and being defined by one’s circumstances are compounded with exciting action in this novel inspired by Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. The characters are resonant, and the action is enhanced by the fantastical Thailand-like setting. The original storyline and well-developed characters make this a standout novel. ­Highly recommended.
—School Library Journal

Combining themes of coming-of-age, protest, and the power of freedom, this book will inspire young readers to stand up for their own beliefs as well as those of all people. This is a thought-provoking adventure that will cause readers to ask themselves whether being safe or having freedom is the better option, and if that needs to be a choice at all.
—School Library Connection

The rich, atmospheric Thai-inspired settings ground Pong and Nok’s journeys toward self-understanding, from bleak Namwon to the peaceful temple Wat Singh to Chattana’s bustling, colorful Light Market...The novel offers satisfying meditations on moral choices as well as age-friendly openings into conversations about prison pipelines, autocracy, and socio-political action.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Alternating between Pong's and Nok's stories, Soontornvat tells a satisfyingly intricate tale of escape and chase while raising questions about institutionalized injustices of privilege and want. Her Thai-inspired world is fully engaging, but perhaps most winning is the innocence, hope, and humor she conveys in the context of the struggle for social justice and with respect to the children's growth.
—The Horn Book

A thrilling fantasy, set in a fresh, original world, with a vital message at its heart. A Wish in the Dark is incandescent.
—Adam Gidwitz, Newbery Honor–winning author of The Inquisitor’s Tale

At once timeless and timely, Christina Soontornvat’s A Wish in the Dark is a richly imagined portrait of the power of hope, courage, and compassion to shine a light in dark times and the ability of small people to effect great change. Ingenious, captivating, and utterly gorgeous.
—Anne Ursu, National Book Award–nominated author of The Real Boy

Do you hear the people sing? Christina Soontornvat’s Les Misérables-inspired A Wish in the Dark will have readers cheering for Pong, the young boy who escapes a life of unfair imprisonment, discovers the powers of friendship and forgiveness, and raises his voice against oppression. I was swept away by the Thai setting, the Buddhist teachings of Father Cham, and the sheer grit and determination of these young characters. At the heart of this novel, like Victor Hugo’s, are the struggle for justice and the power of marginalized communities to change our world for the better. Young readers will be rooting for Pong and his band of revolutionary friends and inspired to spread more light in their own communities.
—Sayantani DasGupta, New York Times best-selling author of the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond books

by Lauren Wolk

Echo Mountain is an acclaimed best book of 2020! 

An NPR Best Book of the Year • A Horn Book Fanfare Selection • A Kirkus Best Book of the Year • A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year • A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year • A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year

After losing almost everything in the Great Depression, Ellie’s family is forced to leave their home in town and start over in the untamed wilderness of nearby Echo Mountain.  Ellie has found a welcome freedom, and a love of the natural world, in her new life on the mountain.  But there is little joy after a terrible accident leaves her father in a coma.  An accident unfairly blamed on Ellie.

Ellie is a girl who takes matters into her own hands, and determined to help her father she will make her way to the top of the mountain in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as “the hag.”  But the hag, and the mountain, still have many untold stories left to reveal.
 
Historical fiction at its finest, Echo Mountain is celebration of finding your own path and becoming your truest self. Lauren Wolk, the Newbery Honor– and Scott O'Dell Award–winning author of Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea, weaves a stunning tale of resilience, persistence, and friendship across three generations of families.

Recommended for readers ages 10 years and older.

Softcover, 368 pages.

Dutton Books for Young Readers.

Praise

“Historical fiction at its finest.” –The Horn Book

“There has never been a better time to read about healing, of both the body and the heart.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Soothing and exquisitely written.” –People

“This is a book that will soothe readers like a healing balm.” –The Wall Street Journal

“Brilliant.” –Lynda Mullaly Hunt, bestselling author of Fish in a Tree

The Wrinkle in Time and Polly O'Keefe Quartets

by Madeline L’Engle; edited by Leonard S. Marcus

A Wrinkle in Time was only the beginning: rediscover an American classic with all seven of its sequels in this deluxe, two-volume collector's edition boxed set.

Here, for the first time, in a newly-prepared authoritative text, Madeleine L'Engle's iconic classic A Wrinkle in Time, one of the most beloved and influential novels for young readers ever written, is presented with all seven of its sequels--what L'Engle called the Kairos (or "cosmic time") novels--in a deluxe two-volume boxed set, complete with never-before-seen deleted passages from A Wrinkle in Time. L'Engle's unforgettable heroine, Meg Murry, must confront her fears and self-doubt to rescue her scientist father, who has been experimenting with mysterious tesseracts capable of bending the very fabric of space and time. Helping her are her little brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin O'Keefe, and a trio of strange supernatural visitors called Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which. But A Wrinkle in Time was only the beginning of the adventure. 

In A Wind in the Door, Meg and Calvin descend into the microverse to save Charles Wallace from beings called Echthroi, who are trying to erase existence. In A Swiftly Tilting Planet, when a madman threatens nuclear war, Charles Wallace must save the future by traveling into the past. And in Many Waters, Meg's twin brothers are accidentally transported back to the time of Noah's ark. The final four books center on Calvin and Meg's daughter Polly. In The Arm of the Starfish, Polly disappears, and Calvin's research assistant is implicated in her kidnapping. In Dragons in the Waters, Polly and her brother Charles are on a ship sailing to Venezuela when they help solve a murder connected to a stolen portrait of Simon Bolivar. Polly receives an education in different kinds of love in A House Like a Lotus. And in An Acceptable Time, Polly is lured through a tesseract by a friend who may be hoping to sacrifice Polly in order to save himself.

Ideal for readers 9-12 years old.

2 book set.  Hardcover books in a cardboard boxed set.

Published by Library of America.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

by Kwame Mbalia

Winner of a Coretta Scott King Author Honor

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together.  All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in.  Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy.

But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie's notebook.  Tristan chases after it --is that a doll?-- and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree.  In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature's hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.

Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted.  In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky.  But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price.

Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

Recommended for young readers ages 9-12 years.

Softcover.

Reviews

About the Author

by Lesa Cline-Ransome

When eleven-year-old Langston's father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicago's Bronzeville district, it feels like he's giving up everything he loves.

It's 1946.  Langston's mother has just died, and now they're leaving the rest of his family and friends.  He misses everything— Grandma's Sunday suppers, the red dirt roads, and the magnolia trees his mother loved.

In the city, they live in a small apartment surrounded by noise and chaos.  It doesn't feel like a new start, or a better life.  At home he's lonely, his father always busy at work; at school he's bullied for being a country boy.

But Langston's new home has one fantastic thing.  Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the Chicago Public Library welcomes everyone.  There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston — a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.

Lesa Cline-Ransome, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor picture book Before She Was Harriet, has crafted a lyrical debut novel about one boy's experiences during the Great Migration.  Includes an author's note about the historical context and her research.

Recommended by the publisher for ages 8 - 12 years old; recommended by Nest for reader ages 9 years and up.

Also in the Series

Praise

• Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
• Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
• Junior Library Guild selection
• CLA Notable Children's Book in Language Arts
• Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, with 5 Starred Reviews
• School Library Journal Best Book of 2018

One side of this chalkboard is made of a very high quality sprayed lacquer coating of true black schoolboard lacquer.  This ensures that it retains its lacquer and guarantees a longevity of the blackboard.  This chalkboard can be erased endlessly, brushed or be cleaned with water, without the risk that chalk, colour or even drawings will remain visible.  Just like our “regular” wooden painting boards, our chalkboards are waterproof with lacquered plywood and have rounded corners. 

The sizes are the same as our most sold painting boards (which also fits in our painting board drying rack), 30 x 40 cm and 40 x 55 cm.

Waterproof glued and lacquered plywood.  Coated on 1 side with black schoolboard lacquer.  Rounded corners.

Seasoning before 1st Use:  Please note that before using a chalkboard for the first time, one should take a piece of chalk on its side and brush the chalk across the board from top to bottom, bottom to top back again, covering the entire surface.  Next, repeat this, but going from side to side.  Then erase the chalk, using a dry chalkboard eraser or dry soft cleaning cloth.  Your chalkboard is now ready for use. 

Made in the Netherlands.

~~~~~~~~

Nest tips:  The joy of working with a chalkboard is well known shared by those who employ them in their schooling.  Also for children, it can be a wonderful medium.  And if habits are well established, children can also be part of the wiping down and chalkboard clean up at the end of the lesson. 

For homeschooling, in our home, our children both like having their own small size chalkboards to do some math practice at their desks, and then we have one large size chalkboard that we use for doing math practice together at times.  To decide which size to go with, we could suggest to think about the tabletop surface where the board will be used, and then as well where it will be stored when not in use.  The chalkdust can be a tad messy, although the chalk from Mercurius is our favourite in terms of minimal dust, and dust that is easy to clean.  However, it's still nice to reduce worries and mess by keeping it away from carpeting or cloth furniture.  Once the location the board will be worked with and stored is established, then one might think about the intimacy and cozyness of working with the smaller size, vs the room to write more at a time or to collaborate on writings on the larger size.

We then have another extra board for chalkboard drawings that is propped up as a scene for daily viewing.  These chalkboard drawings are pictures, images, usually linked to a story that create an impression.  Here is a lovely relating from a Waldorf teacher on her experience with chalkboard drawings found on Chalkboarddrawing.org. In their words: "After a few years of doing these drawings with and for my students, I began to have a deeper understanding of why we do these chalkboard drawings.  The stories and accompanying artwork settle so deeply in the students that the pulse in the classroom is palpable.  The students can’t help but glance toward the front of the room upon entering to see if anything has changed on the board."  Likewise, in a homeschooling environment, it can help establish and be a part of a wonderful energy and rhythm.

We then *also* have yet 2 more small size boards (yes, I know, I hear myself, I know how I sound, but there is just something about these boards that is functional, keeps us on track, and is very nice to work with and on the eyes), and I use these myself before our children are awake in the morning to draw a simple image with letter for my younger child, and phrase for my older child, to copy into their notebooks during their literacy worktime later in the morning.

For our chalk, we find keeping them in the 'bowled' stainless steel plates we sell at Nest works well to contain the mess, and washes up well.  We also have found to our surprise that we do like to use a cotton chalkboard cleaning cloth sometimes as opposed to a block style eraser, although sometimes the block eraser is nice in the hand to swipe the whole board clean too.  Every now and then we'll wipe down the board with a cloth with warm water, but normally just a dry cloth cleaning suffices.  

‘Proudly made from nature itself!’

Natural quality
Our exclusive, high quality, Art Makes Sense Blackboard Pastel Chalk is made using purely natural colour pigments only. The carefully selected natural pigments give our Blackboard Pastel Chalk rich and expressive colours. No additional synthetic colour pigments are added to the Art Makes Sense Blackboard Pastel Chalk to give it their unique colour. Our colours are proudly from nature itself!

Consistent quality
Art Makes Sense Blackboard Pastel Chalk was crafted especially for creative drawing as well as writing.
While developing our Blackboard Pastel Chalk, we paid close attention to the properties we believe high-quality blackboard pastel chalk should have. The result is a well-balanced and consistent texture, break resistance, colour release and adhesion throughout the whole Blackboard Pastel Chalk range. 

Strong enough for writing without scratching, perfectly soft for drawing without being brittle!

Expressive quality
At Mercurius the art form of chalkboard drawing is close to our hearts. We feel that drawing and creating in front of children is an essential part of education, and hope that the classic blackboard in schools will remain. We believe that the expressive quality of our Blackboard Pastel Chalk will inspire teachers to continue taking pleasure in their expressive artwork and development!

Mercurius Blackboard Chalk is a soft, highly-pigmented pastel chalk used to create beautiful blackboard drawings.  The colours have great coverage and are still easily blended on the board.  The square-shaped chalk has a removable paper wrapper to help keep fingers clean.

This chalk contains no unsafe pigments or fillers.

Individual sticks are approx. 9 cm long.

The colours follow the Stockmar colour range.

12 pack colours: 01 carmine red ¦ 02 vermilion ¦ 03 orange ¦ 04 golden yellow ¦ 05 lemon yellow ¦ 06 pale green ¦ 07 dark green ¦ 10 dark blue ¦ 12 red violet ¦ 13 red brown ¦ 19 cobalt blue ¦ 24 pale flesh.   Comes in a cardboard box, 12 sticks, 88 x 12 x 12 mm.

16 assorted colors. color: 01 carmine red | 02 vermilion | 03 orange | 04 golden yellow | 05 lemon yellow | 06 pale green | 07 dark green | 10 dark blue | 11 blue violet | 12 red violet | 13 red brown | 14 pale brown | 15 black | 16 white | 19 cobalt blue | 24 pale flesh.  16 assorted colors, 3.46 x 0.47 x 0.47 inches (88 x 12 x 12 mm).

Looking for a unique craft idea?  Wow your friends with hollow wooden Easter eggs that you've decorated yourself!  There is enough room to hide a surprise inside of each wooden egg.  Draw, paint or woodburn these do-it-yourself eggs - all is up to you!  Top quality linden wood unpainted blanks hand carved in Polkhovski Maidan, the biggest center of nesting doll production in Russia.   The eggs have a flattened bottom so they are self standing.

2.75 inches tall.

Lindenwood.

American CPSIA compliant as child-friendly.

Made in Russia.

Looking for a unique craft idea?  Wow your friends with hollow wooden Easter eggs that you've decorated yourself!  There is enough room to hide a surprise inside of each wooden egg.  Draw, paint or woodburn these do-it-yourself eggs - all is up to you!  Top quality linden wood unpainted blanks hand carved in Polkhovski Maidan, the biggest center of nesting doll production in Russia.   The eggs have a flattened bottom so they are self standing.

3.5 inches tall. ~2.25" diameter.

Lindenwood.

American CPSIA compliant as child-friendly.

Made in Russia.