Donna Jo Napoli: 52 books

Kepi is a young girl in ancient Egypt, content to stay home with her family, helping her father, who was wounded in the construction of a pyramid for the cruel pharaoh Khufu. But that was before she and her pet baboon, Babu, were kidnapped and held captive on a boat bound for the capital city, Ineb...

There are some strange new pets in Sly's neighborhood: a cat on a diet that keeps getting fatter, a fish that seems angry at its owner, and a peculiar pet named Wilson that suddenly disappears! Only Sly the Sleuth can solve these mysteries. Grade-schooler by day, private detective by afternoon, Sly...

Told from the point of view of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the baby on Sacagawea’s back, this breathtaking picture book reveals the adventure and natural wonders that Lewis and Clark encountered on their Western expedition in the early 1800s. Donna Jo Napoli’s lyrical text and Jim Madsen’s majestic...

Talullah, Louisiana. 1899. Calogero, his uncles, and cousins are six Sicilian men living in the small town of Tallulah, Louisiana. They work hard, growing vegetables and selling them at their stand and in their grocery store. To 14-year-old Calogero, newly arrived from Sicily, Tallulah...

Hers is the most famous portrait in the world. Here, in prose as rich as the high Renaissance, is Mona Lisa's tale. A story of passion, loss, and, above all, love. Elisabetta longs for romance, though she thinks she's too plain. Then, on a visit to Florence, she catches the eye of the great...

In 1592, Donata is a noble girl living in a palazzo on the Grand Canal. Girls of her class receive no education and rarely leave the palazzo. In a noble family, only one daughter and one son will be allowed to marry; Donata, like all younger daughters, will be sent to a convent. Donata longs to be...

It?s been two years since fifteen-year-old Roberto was kidnapped and forced to work in a German labor camp. After finally escaping, he?s made his way back to Italy. Roberto is desperate to return to the safety of his family, but how can he turn his back on the war while so many people are suffering?...

Salz is a boy afflicted with cystic fibrosis -- though in the Middle Ages in Saxony no one can identify it as such. Instead he is an outcast, living with his unfeeling father and superstitious brothers in a hovel outside Hameln. His grandmother has kept Salz alive by having him avoid the mead and...

The story of a teenage Mary Magdalene -- here called Miriam -- is finally told.... When the world goes dark and her mind explodes within her, Miriam's future is shattered. In ancient Israel such seizures make her unclean. If anyone finds out about them, she will be an outcast. Only Abraham -- the...

When Roberto sneaks off to see a movie in his Italian village, he has no idea that life as he knows it is over. German soldiers raid the theater, round up the boys in the audience, and pack them onto a train. After a terrifying journey, Roberto and his best friend Samuele find themselves in a brutal...

In 1892, nine-year-old Dom’s mother puts him on a ship leaving Italy, bound for America. He is a stowaway, traveling alone and with nothing of value except for a new pair of shoes from his mother. In the turbulent world of homeless children in Manhattan’s Five Points, Dom learns street smarts,...

How many feathers will it take? The Little Angel of Freedom can't wait till her wings are full of feathers. Then she'll hear a bell ring, and be able to fly. But to prove she's ready, she has to help out Simone, a little girl with a big problem. Simone likes to capture animals -- especially bugs....

Sly (a.k.a. Sylvia) has newly set up shop as a neighborhood detective, and the advice from Kirkus Reviews is plain and simple: "Clear some shelf space" for this funny, engaging series.With each zany mystery brought to her by friends and parents—this time involving soccer, ballet, swimming, and basketball—Sly...

Finding happiness is sometimes hard -- even for angels. Raquel doesn't like the winter holidays. Everyone seems to get better presents than she does. And everyone seems happier than she is. Then one day she receives a mysterious note, telling her that in order to be happy, she must trade something...