Part of the Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses, "Qutlugh Cerkan Khatun of Kirman" by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Albert Nguyen focuses on a Persian woman. The book gives an account of Qutlugh's war-torn exile, her being sold into slavery, her beauty, her marriages, her rulings, and concludes with an act of compassion on her death bed. Some culture is given, though this is most succinct for being in a short children's book. Food, clothing, and infrastructure are discussed.
Stein weaves a carefully crafted web of plot. The protagonist Miriam has visions where she encounters angels. She also supposedly has missions to fulfill for God. She makes it her primary objective to accomplish these tasks and even flees her hometown to try and escape her visions. Interestingly enough, her mother is a former nun, and her father is a rabbi. As for her twin brother Mo (short for Moses), he claims to have visions from the devil. The dichotomy of good versus evil and chance versus destiny are blinding.
"Monster Fliers" by Elizabeth MacLeod is an incredibly informative book. Nineteen amazing creatures from pre-historic times are highlighted. Each has a page or so and a small chunk of text. Name pronunciation, metabolic facts, descriptions, and overall miscellaneous facts are given. There are even questions every so often that are answered. Also included is a picture of each creature in its habitat performing some sort of action.
"Your Life, but Better" by Crystal Velasquez is a clever little book. It follows a twelve-year-old girl around one day at the mall with her friends. They are looking for a popular girl from school who is giving away tickets to the best birthday party of the year. The trick is that, once the youngsters find the girl, they have to compete for the coveted tickets, which are compared to the golden tickets of Charlie in the Chocolate Factory (which just so happens to be the theme of the party).
"Manolito Four-Eyes: The 2nd Volume of the Great Encyclopedia of My Life" by Elvira Lindo is a facetious children's book. The setting is in Spain, and the main character Manolito is a normal kid. The book tells many random anecdotes of his life. From chopping off his baby brother's hair to becoming the treasurer of a gang to having his neighbor's dog follow him to school, everything that happens to Manolito is comically unfortunate.
