Best friends Kari and Lucas are thrilled to go on safari in Africa. They're fascinated by the lions, giraffes, and zebras. Even more intriguing to Kari is the cave where her uncle and other archaeologists have discovered artwork from thousands of years ago. But when some of the ancient artifacts are stolen, Kari and Lucas are thrust into an art mystery as compelling as any they've faced before-only, surrounded by wild animals, far more dangerous. Fast-paced writing, suspenseful action, spunky protagonists, and a fascinating African setting combine for another winning Kari and Lucas mystery.
When fourteen-year-old best friends Kari and Lucas travel to an archaeological dig in Kenya with Kari's uncle Geoff, they help expose a smuggling ring.
What hope is there for Africa? Since the heady and hopeful days of decolonisation the story seems to be one of unrelenting disaster - revolution; brutal military dictatorship; ethnic conflict - even genocide; civil war; state-threatening corruption; economic failure; and, in places, the complete breakdown of state and society. And all has been compounded by natural disasters - drought, famine and the scourge of AIDS. But there is another, less reported, story of Africa: throwing off the colonial past, embracing modernity, learning fast, gaining in pride and self-confidence and embracing the crucial management function; all this in the context of fruitful collaboration with Europe and American business and, increasingly, with the rising Asian economic superpowers. Jonathan Lawley's Beyond the Malachite Hills paints a vivid and convincing picture of solid political, social and economic progress. He is in a unique position to tell this story. After a 'colonial' childhood in India under the Raj and in white-dominated Southern Rhodesia, followed by school and university in apartheid South Africa, he rejected racialism and white minority rule. He joined the British Colonial Service and served as a District Officer in Northern Rhodesia in the years running up to decolonisation, and stayed on in Zambia after independence. Jonathan Lawley's business career reflected and contributed to African economic advancement, firmly rooted in a rejection of racialism even in its heartland of big, European-dominated, business. He applied his business ideals in pursuing indigenous technical and business training in copper mining in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), followed by assignments in Morocco and Mauritius. A brief interlude and a return to African politics came when he helped to supervise the elections following the Lancaster House Agreement which brought Robert Mugabe to power in Zimbabwe. But his most lasting contribution to Africa came with the mining giant Rio Tinto, and his ground-breaking scheme for training indigenous technical managers. These rose to the highest positions and broke the mould of European managerial and technical dominance. His promotion of African business continued in his role as Africa Director of the British Executive Service Overseas (BESO) and as Director of the Royal African Society and consultant to the West African Business Association (WABA) and the Southern African Business Forum (SABF). Beyond the Malachite Hills is a remarkable testament to his long-lasting and profound involvement with this often misunderstood continent.
If it hadn't been for Lucas's photographic memory, they might not have remembered the man. It had been almost a year since she and Kari noticed him copying a famous Rembrandt painting in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. But now in the National Gallery in London, they spot the same guy, copying another Rembrandt. Then, when a never-before-seen Rembrandt painting is discovered in Amsterdam, the girls begin to suspect the truth. Convinced that no one will believe them without hard and fast evidence, the teenage sleuths embark on a madcap adventure to find the forger and bring him to justice.
Make sure you have your ears ready to listen and your body ready to move. Max, Maia, and Silly Simba are going to need your help on this adventure! The Silly Simba Adventures series is an interactive children's book with the intent to facilitate interactions between the child and the reader while having fun! The activities in the book were specifically chosen using an occupational therapy approach to promote various areas of development (i.e. sensory, coordination, fine motor, gross motor, and executive functioning). Let your imagination run wild as you go on this adventure, and don't forget to have fun!
