Dorothy Hoobler: 15 books

Samurai Lord Inaba has been murdered in his sleep, even though his castle was heavily guarded. The only clue is a bloodstained butterfly left on the floor. Once again, the shogun must turn to the famous sleuth, Judge Ooka, and his teenage adopted son, Seikei. The tail leads to rebellious peasants...

When fourteen-year-old samurai apprentice Seikei is sent on a mission by the shogun, he believes it is a simple one: convince the fourteen-year-old emperor to resume his ceremonial duties. But when the emperor is kidnapped in an elaborate plot to overthrow the shogun, Seikei's task becomes much more...

One murky night in 1816, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, famed English poet, challenged his friends to a contest--to write a ghost story. The assembled group included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; his lover (and future wife) Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont;...

The Great Pyramids of Egypt--all kids over the age of five recognize them instantly. These massive tombs were built thousands of years ago, and still no one knows exactly how the ancient Egyptians did it! In this informative account, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler tell the story of the powerful pharaohs...

All his life, Seikei has wished to be a samurai. But in 18th-century Japan, everyone was destined to remain at the level of one's birth--and Seikei's father was a merchant, the lowest class. While traveling on the Tokaido Road, Seikei and his father stop at an inn. There, Seikei meets a...

Seikei, the adopted son of Japan's greatest crime-solver, returns to his home town for a visit to his birth family. He finds that his younger brother is now running the family tea business, but that mysterious midnight deliveries make Seikei suspicious. Most disturbing is the city's famous puppet...

Fourteen-year-old Seikei accompanies his foster father, Judge Ooka, to help put out a fire in the city of Edo, military capital of 18th-century Japan. They find evidence that someone has set the fire deliberately, and their quest to find out who that person is leads them to Yoshihara--the shadowy...

In this addition to the What Was? series, kids will experience what it was like to be in San Francisco in 1906 when the ground buckled in a major, catastrophic earthquake. One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake—one that registered...

"America was the place Smith had dreamed of his whole life.There, his character, determination, and ambition had propelled him to the top of society. He spent the rest of his life trying to return. Though he failed, he pointed the way for others, who were drawn by the dream that opportunity was...

Turn-of-the-century Paris was the beating heart of a rapidly changing world. Painters, scientists, revolutionaries, poets--all were there. But so, too, were the shadows: Paris was a violent, criminal place, its sinister alleyways the haunts of Apache gangsters and its cafes the gathering places of...

Learn about the love story behind the creation of one of the most beautiful and famous buildings in the world. The Taj Mahal may look like a palace, but it's actually a tomb and a lasting testament to one of the world's great love stories. In 1612, Mogul emperor Shah Jahan married Mumtaz Mahal....

Sie sind furchtlos, stolz und Meister der Schwertkunst - nichts wünscht sich der junge Japaner Seikei so sehr, wie zu den Samurai zu gehören. Als der Rubin des Fürsten gestohlen wird, ist seine Chance gekommen. Steckt tatsächlich ein Geisterwesen hinter dem Raub? Entschlossen folgt Seikei der Spur des Diebes … und gerät in Lebensgefahr.

Im Schlaf ermordet! Keiner weiß, wer Lord Inaba so hinterhältig getötet hat. Bis der Samurai-Schüler Seikei einen blutbefleckten Origami-Schmetterling am Tatort entdeckt. Das Indiz führt ihn in die Berge. Doch dort gerät er in die Fänge des Mörders.

Gewaltige Brände zerstören Edo, die Hauptstadt Japans. In der ausbrechenden Panik behält nur der Samurai-Lehrling Seikei einen kühlen Kopf. Er glaubt den Gerüchten um einen Feuerdämon nicht, sondern vermutet einen skrupellosen Brandstifter hinter den Anschlägen. Bei dem Versuch, ihm auf die Schliche zu kommen, riskiert er sein Leben …