Illuminations Literature

The drama of natural disasters provides prime material to entice young homeschool readers in this little "Step into Reading" book. In this volume, the account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius describes Roman village life 2,000 years ago, the eruption itself and its aftermath, and the excitement when the buried town was rediscovered centuries later. A lively and factual glimpse of a devastating moment in history.

Marianne, heading west with fourteen other children on an Orphan Train, is sure her mother will show up at one of the stations along the way. When her mother left Marianne at the orphanage, hadn't she promised she'd come for her after making a new life in the West? Stop after stop goes by, and there's no sign of her mother in the crowds that come to look over the children. No one shows any interest in adopting shy, plain Marianne, either. But that's all right: She has to be free for her mother to claim her. Then the train pulls into its final stop, a town called Somewhere . . .

"In a simple, short biography of Columbus she has been extraordinarily successful in extracting the essence of the man." -- "The Horn Book." "Fritz's unconventional look at the great explorer who accidently discovered the New World reveals the navigator's obstinate as well as his visionary side." -- "School Library Journal"