Thomas Hoobler

Describes how the teachings of Confucius evolved from a social order to a religion, infusing all phases of Chinese life for 2000 years.

While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.

"In this addition to the What Was? series, kids will experience what it was like to be in San Francisco in 1906 when the ground buckled in a major, catastrophic earthquake. One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake--one that registered 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Not only was there major damage from the quake itself but broken gas lines sparked a fire that ravaged the city for days. More than...

Describes the shifting ideal of beauty in the United States, from colonial times to the present, and how it influenced and was influenced by societal and economic changes.

In his latest adventure in eighteenth-century Japan, fourteen-year-old samurai apprentice Seikei, with the help of a servant girl and an imperious old man, sets out to rescue the young Emperor Yasuhito from his kidnappers.

Returning home to investigate the possible connection of his family's tea shop with smugglers, Seikei, now a samauri in eighteenth-century Japan, becomes involved in murder at a local puppet theater and saving the life of his sister's accused boyfriend.

Presents biographical sketches of Nezahualcoyotl, Moctezume II, Malinche, Juan Diego, Diego de la Cruz, Juana Ines de la Cruz, Father Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juarez, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahol, and Amalia Hernandez.