Michael J. DeValve Books

Introduces young readers to a garden year with flowers narrating the passing seasons in the first person, each one briefly proclaiming its unique and vital role in the natural world.

It is December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt leads a nation in crisis. He must make a speech to a joint session of Congress that will build support for America’s entry to World War II, but to do that he needs an armored vehicle in which to make the short trip from the White House to the Capitol Building. According to legend, the car Roosevelt rode in that day, borrowed from the FBI’s impound lot, was an armored Cadillac V-8 built for gangster Al Capone in the late 1920s to shield himself from enemies. Is the legend true, or is it an American tall tale in the tradition of Paul Bunyan or John Henry? Either way, it’s an ideal vehicle to compare and contrast the lives of two American men who grew up within miles of one one a great president, the other an infamous villain. F&P Level YColor throughout

Personal Ethics and Ordinary Heroes: The Social Context of Morality examines what it means to be an authentic hero and provides real-life narratives that underscore the ethical principles guiding decision-making in the justice system and beyond.

*Notable Social Studies Trade Books Selection for Young People 2018* "I was six years old the day we left the farm in Mississippi," remembers Cassie in this richly textured picture book. "Between the boll weevils, the floods, and the landlord, there was no way a family could scratch out a living there anymore."