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 does it take to fuel a rocket to space? Rocket scientists use hydrogen and liquid oxygen, but could anti-matter engines and black-hole drives fuel our spacecraft of the future?

Not everyone can afford a power plant to produce their electricity. Here are some simple solutions to light up your life with less!

Merri loves her sheep. She takes care of them every day. When Merri’s mother says that she will start kindergarten soon, Merri worries about who will care for her sheep while she is gone. Will Merri be brave on her first day of school?

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.

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?

Magazine articles don't just magically appear on the page. Good writers grab your attention. Then they keep you reading.

How can the moon or sun seem to disappear right before our eyes? When the moon, the Earth, and the sun align just right in their orbits, they can cause a solar or lunar eclipse! Find out how light and shadow work together to trigger these cool events.

Rapunzel thinks today is a bad hair day to end all bad hair days, but it just may be the best day yet.

A clever giant's wife helps him scare away a bully of a giant in this old Irish tale. When the meanest, toughest giant of them all comes to bully her husband, his wife needs to get creative and fast. Will they work together to trick the other giant into leaving them alone for good?

Tamitha is watching a horror movie marathon when there is a strange knock on her door. After finding a vampire outside, Tamitha is forced to turn him away. Now she must spend the rest of the night battling the vampire's silly attempts to come into her house. After many disguises and ruses to get inside, Tamitha finally agrees to allow him inside. Will she regret her actions? Will she be able to finish her horror movie marathon? By the end of the night, Tamitha finds a new friend and the vampire finds a new lease on life.

Mary’s class is putting on a production of a play called Her Ladyship Was Irish. Mary is excited to be the stage manager, but she's nervous about how the other students' behavior will affect the show. As they put the show together, Mary learns about judging others and working as a team.

How do you know that spring is finally coming? The geese, of course! All you have to do is look for the V-shape in the sky and listen for all that honking as they migrate back from Canada!

While men fought in the army during the American Revolution, women supported the fight for independence in other ways. They wrote about politics in newspapers, boycotted British goods, and made their own wares like fabric and tea. The Daughters of Liberty said no to British-made goods!

Where do all the metals on earth come from? They were all made by stars! In this science story, you'll discover how the fusion of atoms in dying stars in space creates enough heat and energy to make metals.

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.

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.

Organized and Engaged: Simple and Effective Strategies to Support Executive Function explains what executive function is, why it matters, and how it differs from self-regulation. Discover strategies, activities, and play-based ideas to support children’s classroom success.

Hop in your rocket ship for a trip to the stars! In this fantasy rhyming poem about flying through space, listeners will visit Mars, the purple kitties of the planet Fuzz, and an asteroid inhabited by dinosaurs—all in plenty of time to return home for lunch!

Hope is trying to take care of her younger siblings, but a vengeful ghost is making their lives difficult! He puts holes in their fishing nets, scares off their customers, and even throws their furniture! How can she get rid of him for good?