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A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place.

Bestselling and award-winning authors explore the timeless themes of East and South Asian lore in sixteen original stories that will appeal to every reader. From fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge, these stories will beguile readers from start to finish. 

Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal. The cook’s daughter, Sakina, still hasn’t told her parents that she’ll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score—but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family’s kitchen? Although the girls seem totally incompatible at first, as the summer goes on, Sakina and Mimi realize that they have plenty in common—and that they each need the other to get what they want most.

After the loss of his mother, Rob and his dad moved to a small Florida town where his father manages a motel. Behind the motel is a caged tiger that fascinates Rob — and a new city girl he befriends. Ultimately, Rob realizes that he, too, has been caged just like the tiger.

Lately Bryan’s been feeling it in all kinds of ways. He knows what’s tight for him in a good way — reading comics, drawing superheroes, and hanging out with no drama. But drama’s hard to escape where he’s from, and that gets him wound up tight. And now Bryan’s new friend Mike is challenging him to have fun in ways that are crazy risky. So which way will he go when he understands that drama is not his style? Fortunately his favorite comic heroes shed light on his dilemma, reminding him that he has power — the power to choose his friends and to stand up for what he believes is right. Torrey Maldonado delivers a fast-paced, insightful, dynamic story. Readers will connect with Bryan’s journey as he navigates a tough world with a heartfelt desire for a different life. Christopher Award for Young People.

In India, Veda, who excels at Bharatanatyam dance, refuses to give up after losing her leg in an accident. With help from Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit, she begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.

A graphic-novel-style history of the Cold War competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to succeed in manned space flight, filled with detail on the success and failure of individual mission attempts.

Aided by an army of beachcombers, oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer tracks trash in the name of science. From sneakers to hockey gloves, Curt monitors the watery fate of human-made cargo that has spilled into the ocean. The information he collects is much more than casual news; it is important scientific data that is used to understand and protect our ocean.

Kirsten’s parents are fighting and her best friend has suddenly joined the popular crowd. Walker is the only black student at his new private school and his single mom watches over him like a hawk. What happens when Kirsten’s and Walker’s worlds collide?

Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, shares his remarkable story of growing up in South Africa with a black South African mother and a white European father at a time when it was against the law for a mixed-race child to exist. But he did exist — and from the beginning, the often-misbehaved Trevor used his keen smarts and humor to navigate a harsh life under a racist government. In a country where racism barred blacks from social, educational, and economic opportunity, Trevor surmounted staggering obstacles and created a promising future for himself thanks to his mom’s unwavering love and indomitable will. 

Tristan, in mourning for his best friend Eddie, attempts to recover Eddie’s story journal and finds himself on a mission to save a world populated with people he knows from stories—African American folk heroes and West African gods.