Coming Soon

Far more advanced than any European country at the time, the Egyptians achieved incredible feats of building, created a new way of writing, and revolutionised farming. Find out what life as an ancient Egyptian was actually like, both for pharaohs and ordinary people, in this fascinating new exploration by award-winning author David Long.

Zombies—the undead—have long been a subject of fascination. But can the dead really be brought back to life? When explorer William Seabrook first recorded details of his travels in Haiti in 1929, he explained witnessing undead people working in the sugarcane fields there. He also wrote about Haitian stories that explained zombies as undead people who had been forced into labor. Since then, zombie lore has expanded and changed based on location and culture, and zombies have become a hot topic in Hollywood and popular media

When scientist and explorer Maria Reiche visited Peru’s Nazca Lines in 1941, she was immediately captivated by the larger-than-life animal carvings. But what were they, and why were they there? This STEAM nonfiction picture book for young listeners reveals the story behind one of the greatest indigenous artworks in the Americas, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lucy Stone grew up in a world where men’s voices rang out, but women swallowed their words. When her church’s minister railed against women speaking in public, Lucy made up her mind that when she grew up, “if she had anything to say, she would say it!”

The Revolutionary War was over, but Washington’s officers had not received their wages from the Continental Congress in years. Afraid they would never get their money, the officers planned to storm Congress and demand it right away. Luckily, George Washington found out about the plot just in time. He delivered a passionate speech to his men, but they were unaffected. It was only when he struggled to read aloud a letter from Congress and had to put on his glasses, that they realized how much he had sacrificed for their country along with them.

First-grader Tomie dePaola experiences uncertainty in the weeks following the attack on pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. What are the grown-ups talking quietly about at home and even at school? Why does his class have to go to the spooky furnace room for an air raid drill? Why does the family hang thick black curtains over the windows? Tomie's mother is there to comfort and explain the confusion, and Tomie feels better. but he's still scared.

The extraordinary and consequential biography of Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, a Muslim West African prince turned enslaved plantation worker, and his lifelong fight to be free and return home.

There have long been legends of a curse bestowed upon anyone who disturbs the final resting ground of an Egyptian pharaoh. Lore surrounding these curses claim that they may bring bad luck, illness, or even death. The legend of the curse of King Tutankhamun's tomb spread after odd circumstances and mysterious deaths seemed to follow Howard Carter's research team shortly after discovering and unsealing King Tut's tomb in 1922. It was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all things Egyptian—including a desire for the very wealthy to own actual mummies.

Long before the Everglades became one of the largest wetlands in the world and a national park, it was covered by a warm, shallow sea. Across millions of years, sea levels dropped, the land below surfaced, and the area transformed into a thriving environment for unique plants and animals like mangrove forests and the Florida panther. By the mid-1800s, most of the indigenous people living in the Everglades had been killed or forced off the land. By 1900, Florida had become the nation's twenty-seventh state and had begun draining the Everglades to create land for farms and cities.

The celebrated author of Ezra Jack Keats Award winner Nell Plants a Tree and a Caldecott Honor artist come together for a poetic picture book introduction to Juneteenth and its origin.

Do YOU like PIZZA? Because right now, somewhere in the world, someone is eating it. Did you know that in the United States we eat 350 slices of pizza every second? Or that in Sweden they serve pizza with bananas and peanuts? All over the world, people love pizza—but where did it come from? And who made the first pizza? Join award-winning author and illustrator Greg Pizzoli as he travels through time and around the globe to discover the mouth-watering history of pizza.

Lorena Hickok came from nothing. She was on her own from the age of 14, cooking and scrubbing for one family after another as she struggled to finish school. But the girl who secretly longed for affection discovered she had a talent with words. That talent allowed Hick to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated newsrooms of the Midwest where she earned bylines on everything from football to opera to politics. By age 35 she’d become one of the Associated Press’s top reporters.

What makes a hero? Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos answer that question, one great role model at a time.

Listeners of all ages will witness the rise and fall of a scientific and historical icon in this masterful new edition. Exploring his childhood, his secret work on the bomb, his central role in the Cold War, and his tragic downfall, this quintessential biography is history at its finest, riveting and deeply informative, and now available to a younger audience.

From an early age, Cecilia Chiang could be found delighting in the sounds and smells from her favorite room in her home—the kitchen. Little did Cecilia know that she would one day have to escape war and travel to a faraway country, destined to change Chinese cuisine in the United States forever. Experience the dishes Cecilia Chiang enjoyed throughout her life as the seventh daughter in a large family to the owner of the famous Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco.

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere… So begins the classic poem of devoted patriot Paul Revere's midnight ride on April 18, 1775. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem in 1860 as a tribute to the revolutionary hero who rode his horse through Medford, Lexington, and Concord to warn the American patriots that the British were coming to attack.

On June 19th, 1865, the last enslaved African Americans were finally freed in Galveston, Texas. Every year, our community comes together to honor this special day. We play hopscotch, eat spice cake, and listen to music, but what about the first Juneteenth? As family and friends recount their memories and stories of Juneteenths past, a young girl learns about the holiday's longstanding history and traditions.

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to found the very first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The initial settlement—called the Lane colony—failed due to extremely low supplies and a hostile relationship with the Native American people who were already living on the land. Despite this miserable first attempt, Raleigh decided to establish another settlement. Over one hundred people agreed to join this new colony on Roanoke Island, just off the coast of what is now North Carolina.

This true story took place at the emergency farm-labor camp immortalized in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Ostracized as "dumb Okies," the children of Dust Bowl migrant laborers went without school—until Superintendent Leo Hart and 50 Okie kids built their own school in a nearby field.

In April 1970, twenty million people grabbed their rakes, gloves, and recycling bins to celebrate the first Earth Day. Since that environmental kickoff, nature has never been in better shape. RIGHT? WRONG! The real deal is a bit muddier than that. It’s true that the first Earth Day encouraged people around the globe to clean up their act when it came to the environment. But activists have been working for centuries to save the planet! Join the History Smashers team to bust history's biggest misconceptions and figure out what really went down before (and after!) the first Earth Day.