Showing results by narrator "Maria Pendolino" in All Categories

When Ashley Shew became a self-described "hard-of-hearing chemobrained amputee with Crohn's disease and tinnitus," there was no returning to "normal." Suddenly well-meaning people called her an "inspiration" while grocery shopping or viewed her as a needy recipient of technological wizardry. Most disabled people don't want what the abled assume they want—nor are they generally asked. In vibrant prose, Shew shows how we can create better narratives and more accessible futures by drawing from the insights of the cross-disability community.

What comes to mind with you think of fungi? Is it mushrooms, or perhaps mildew? Mold and yeast are fungi, too! Learn all about how fungi reproduce with spores, and how their bodies are made up of mycelium!

Mi Pa is a frog. All she could ever want is to meet and marry the prince. But what happens when her wish comes true? When her new husband must fight for the crown, she must find a way to help him. Will she be able to help her prince become the king’s heir?

Samantha Smith hopes to shed her troubled past and reinvent herself as a freshman at San Diego University. When she crosses paths with a handsome tattoo-clad bad boy, her life is turned upside down, and Samantha finds herself with more adventure than she ever dreamed possible.

A brave young girl named Irene talks about a disease she has—type 1 diabetes—and how she and her dad work together to keep her healthy. Irene and her father teach all of her friends about her disease and how it can affect someone's body. She teaches them about blood sugar tests, insulin, and why and how people have diabetes. By teaching all of her friends about diabetes, she is able to teach everyone at the park that while she might have a disease, it does not mean she is not a normal little girl.

If you want to be an on-camera TV host, this book will help you to take that desire and mix it with goals, an action plan, training, and discipline to become good at hosting on camera and ultimately paid to do it or to drive your business.

When your fairy godmother is the most proper person in the entire kingdom you had better be on your best behavior, especially if you want dessert! What’s a girl with an itchy nose to do? Until she learns proper sneezing manners, she can’t have any cake. Of course, this isn’t just any cake—it’s the best chocolate cake in the entire kingdom. Perhaps there’s a spell book around that can help.

Learn more about haiku, which are short poems, written in a style created in Japan more than 400 years ago.

Have you ever wanted to know more about cruise ships and how they stay afloat on the water? Learn more about the different parts of a cruise ship, how it functions, where the crew operate the ship, and activities that passengers can do while aboard.

Bees pollinate the flowers of the plants we eat. Without pollination, plants can't grow fruits and seeds. Which foods would you miss if we didn't have honeybees? So next time you're eating a meal, stop and thank the bees for their hard work!

Kanikiya loves to dance! Every day she goes to the river to dance with the brolgas, a type of crane native to Australia. She loves to dance with them so much, she wishes she could be a brolga herself! Her mother doesn’t like that she dances so much, though, and warns her with legends of what happens to girls who don’t work. What would happen if she had to stop?

The lamiak are part-humans believed to possess gold. In this folktale, a midwife helps deliver a lamia's baby. In return, the lamia offers her gifts that will bring her good fortune. But the midwife's human flaws get the best of her.

Have you ever seen a gray whale? They are very special animals. Some can grow up to 50 feet long—that’s longer than a school bus! Every year, they migrate 10,000 miles from Alaska to Mexico to have their babies, and then travel all the way back again. Learn all about the special qualities of the gray whale and why they are such magnificent creatures!

A family of pixies is looking for a place for their children to sleep, but nowhere on the farm is good enough. Will they find somewhere in time to return the farmers horse and cart for planting season? Listen along with this Cornish folktale and see just where a pixie littling can get some sleep.

Ju-Lin is a young Chinese girl living in poverty with her family. When her family must sell her to make ends meet, a traditional Chinese matchmaker buys her to serve as her apprentice. In a time when customs like foot-binding and keeping girls uneducated are prevalent, what will Ju-Lin’s future hold?

Do you know how to tell if a creepy-crawly is an insect? Is a spider an insect? What about a millipede? Listen to learn how and put your skills to the test!

In this story from the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, you’ll learn how the trickster raven brings light back to the world from a greedy chief.

Alexa has one last chance to see a green sea turtle while snorkeling. She dreams of swimming with one as does her autistic brother, Jonah. Jonah loves to follow his sister around and share in her interests, but Alexa is beginning to get embarrassed by him.

Are you carrying a forest on your back? Of course not! But if you dig through your backpack, you will probably find many things that come from the forest.

Trina wants to play sports like the rest of her family, but she doesn’t know which one to try! Should she be a runner, a gymnast, or a baseball player like her siblings? Or should she find something else? With the help of her family, Trina learns that she doesn't have to pick just one!