Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, from Argentina, is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere. Since being elected pope he has shown a humbler, less formal approach to his office than his predecessors: a warm style that has been referred to as 'no frills.' His common touch and accessibility, as well as his insistence that the church be more open and welcoming, has quickly endeared him not only to Roman Catholics but to millions of others around the world.

While other kids played sports, Steven Spielberg was writing scripts and figuring out camera angles. He went from entertaining his Boy Scout troop with home movies to amazing audiences around the world with epic blockbusters. He has directed four of the most successful films of all time and has won two Academy Awards for Best Director. From "Jaws" to "Lincoln," young readers and aspiring filmmakers will be fascinated by the life of this famous director.

You want girl power? Meet Annie Oakley! Born in 1860, she became one of the best-loved and most famous women of her generation. She amazed audiences all over the world with her sharpshooting, horse-riding, action-packed performances. In an age when most women stayed home, she traveled the world and forged a new image for American women.

No one knew the boy they called "Jumping Badger" would grow to become a great leader. Born on the banks of the Yellowstone River, Sitting Bull, as he was later called, was tribal chief and holy man of the Lakota Sioux tribe in a time of fierce conflict with the United States. As the government seized Native American lands, Sitting Bull relied on his military cunning and strong spirituality to drive forces out of his territory and ensure a future homeland for his people.

Annie Oakley was the original power girl in an age when most women stayed home. During the late 19th century, Annie Oakley became a famous sharpshooter and daredevil horseback rider with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Illustrations.

Sring garlic by the window and hang a cross around your neck!  The most powerful vampire of all time returns in our Stepping Stone Classic adaption of the original tale by Bran Stoker. Follow Johnathan Harker, Mina Harker, and Dr. Abraham van Helsing as they discover the true nature of evil.  Their battle to destroy Count Dracula takes them from the crags of his castle to the streets of London... and back again.

Hermes--also known as Mercury, Wayfinder, and Prince of Thieves--has many talents. Wearing his famed winged sandals, he does the bidding of his father Zeus, leads the dead down to Hades, and practices his favorite arts of trickery and theft. He also sees the future, travels invisibly, loves jokes, and abhors violence. And he's an entertaining and ideal narrator on a fast-paced journey through ancient Greek mythology--from Medusa's cave to Trojan War battlefields to the mysterious Underworld.
Stephanie Spinner brings the famous messenger--and the best-known gods and mortals of mythology--to life with high action and spare, powerful prose.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Greek gods and mortals spring to life in this riveting retelling of the myth of Atalanta, the fleet-footed girl warrior who could outrun any man in ancient Greece.
Cast off and abandoned at birth, Atalanta- saved by a she-bear and raised by hunters-proves herself to be a superior archer and the fastest runner in the land. But her skills and independence anger many, including her father, the Arcadian King, who suddenly reclaims her and demands that she produce an heir to the throne. Atalanta has pledged herself to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, who has forbidden her to marry. Unwilling to break her promise, Atalanta suggests a grim compromise: she will marry the first man to beat her in a race, but everyone she defeats must die. All the while, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Eros, and Zeus himself watch-and interfere-from on high.

"From the Hardcover edition."