John Bemelmans Marciano – författare

The Benevento cousins return for more adventures in the ancient town that''s famous for its witches!The Benevento children are excitedly preparing for the annual Boar Hunt, where the prize of the Golden Tusk is given to the ten-year old who catches the boar. No girl has ever competed, but Rosa is determined to take part -- and win! She refuses to stay home and help take care of the new baby and cook and clean. She will just have to run away.Life was very different in Benevento of the 1800s, and John Marciano''s clever story and Sophie Blackall''s charming illustrations bring the town, its people, and its past to vivid life.

The exciting adventures of the Benevento cousins continue, as Primo discovers the identity of the secret Janara.Primo has been given a tantalizing clue about the secret Janara: the Janara lives with him! How can he discover who it is? Only that success will console him for his humiliating defeat at the Boar Hunt, where Rosa was the winner. Rosa!! Girls are not even supposed to compete. One night Primo finds a clue. Behind the head of the goddess Diana, the ancient statue in his kitchen, he discovers a bottle of the oil that a Janara needs to transform him or herself before flying off for a night of mischiefs. If he can stay awake one night, surely the Janara will be revealed. But what will he do with the knowledge? The Benevento children continue to encounter and outwit witches in the sixth and most suspenseful adventure yet of the Witches of Benevento series.

The second book in an exciting new chapter book series by John Bemelmans Marciano and Caldecott medalist Sophie Blackall. Welcome to Benevento, an ancient town famous for its witches! The children of Benevento have to be careful and clever to evade the clutches of such witches as the Manalonga, the Janara, and the Clopper, who hide in wells and under bridges, fly at midnight, and play tricks during Mischief Season. Five cousins – Primo, Emilio, Rosa, Maria Beppina, and Sergio – share adventures and narrow escapes, and discover astonishing secrets as they outwit the witches in each exciting story.   Book #2The All-Powerful Ring: a Primo StoryWanting to stop the springtime mischiefs—and overcome his own fear of Manalonga—Primo seeks an advantage. He finds one when he discovers a mysterious ring in the belly of a fish. Is the ring just a pretty trinket or is it magic?From the Hardcover edition.

The first book in an exciting new chapter book series by John Bemelmans Marciano and Caldecott medalist Sophie Blackall. Welcome to Benevento, an ancient town famous for its witches!The children of Benevento have to be careful and clever to evade the clutches of such witches as the Manalonga, the Janara, and the Clopper, who hide in wells and under bridges, fly at midnight, and play tricks during Mischief Season.Five cousins – Primo, Emilio, Rosa, Maria Beppina, and Sergio – share adventures and narrow escapes, and discover astonishing secrets as they outwit the witches in each exciting story.   Book #1    Mischief Season: a Twins StoryThe Janara are wrecking the farm with their nightly mischiefs. Father blames Rosa for everything that goes wrong, and it’s up to the Twins and their friends to find a way to stop the Janara. Will some mysterious advice from an unexpected source be the solution to their problems?From the Hardcover edition.

The third book in an exciting new chapter book series by John Bemelmans Marciano and Caldecott medalist Sophie Blackall. Welcome to Benevento, an ancient town famous for its witches!The children of Benevento have to be careful and clever to evade the clutches of such witches as the Manalonga, the Janara, and the Clopper, who hide in wells and under bridges, fly at midnight, and play tricks during Mischief Season.Five cousins – Primo, Emilio, Rosa, Maria Beppina, and Sergio – share adventures and narrow escapes, and discover astonishing secrets as they outwit the witches in each exciting story. Book #3Beware the Clopper!: a Maria Beppina StoryMaria Beppina, the timid tag-along cousin, is always afraid that the Clopper, the old witch who chases the children, will catch her. And then one day she decides to stop—just stop—and see what the Clopper will do.From the Hardcover edition.

The fourth book in an exciting new chapter book series by John Bemelmans Marciano and Caldecott medalist Sophie Blackall. Welcome to Benevento, an ancient town famous for its witches!The children of Benevento have to be careful and clever to evade the clutches of such witches as the Manalonga, the Janara, and the Clopper, who hide in wells and under bridges, fly at midnight, and play tricks during Mischief Season.Five cousins – Primo, Emilio, Rosa, Maria Beppina, and Sergio – share adventures and narrow escapes, and discover astonishing secrets as they outwit the witches in each exciting story. Book #4Respect Your Ghosts: a Sergio Story It’s Sergio’s job to take care of Bis Bis, the ancestor spirit who lives upstairs. Unfortunately, it’s hard to satisfy all the ghost’s demands and still keep Sergio’s mother happy.

"As Marciano is descended from Ludwig Bemelmans, so might Alexander Baddenfield be descended from Madeline''s nemesis-turned-friend Pepito ''The Bad Hat.''"*Alexander Baddenfield is a horrible boy—a really horrible boy—who is the last in a long line of lying, thieving scoundrels.  One day, Alexander has an astonishing idea.  Why not transplant the nine lives from his cat into himself?  Suddenly, Alexander has lives to spare, and goes about using them up, attempting the most outrageous feats he can imagine.  Only when his lives start running out, and he is left with only one just like everyone else, does he realize how reckless he has been.With its wickedly funny story and equally clever illustrations, this is dark humor at its most delicious.*Review from School LIbrary Journal

Bestselling and beloved Madeline visits the Oval Office!Readers will see Washington, D.C., as never before, when Madeline takes a midnight sightseeing tour on a magic carpet of cherry blossoms. Invited to the White House by Candle, the president's lonely only daughter, for the annual Easter Egg hunt and roll, Madeline and the other little girls have a rollicking good time, and introduce Candle to the joys of occasionally breaking the rules. With a bouncy read-aloud text and gorgeous watercolor pictures, Madeline at the White House is in the best tradition of the beloved Madeline books.

They''re mad, they''re bad, and they''re about to ruin Christmas!No kids get coal in their stocking these days. Do you know why? It''s thanks to The No-Good Nine! Pittsburgh, 1931. When Peter awakens on Christmas morning to find his stocking full of coal, he is outraged. After he finds the Naughty List, which contains the names of some other children who received no gifts, he decides they should band together and journey to Santa''s workshop to plead their case, as well as play with the toys intended for the Nice children. The ragtag band of misfits sets out on a series of wild misadventures as they travel by train, truck, dog sled, and boat, encountering thieves and bootleggers,, in order to reach the renowned Toy Factory-only to accidentally burn it down. More slapstick capers follow before the No-Good Nine extricate themselves and set out to find their next great adventure.

toponymity , n. The condition of being named after a geographic location.

It''s no secret that America''s cookouts owe a lot to the German towns of Frankfurt and Hamburg. Likewise, we know when we put on the wool of a goat from India''s Kashmir valley. But did you know that the town of Spa, Belgium, bequeathed to us a new form of healthy relaxation? Or that Tuxedo Park, New York, brought Americans a staple of formal wear? These towns, it turns out, are just the tip of the iceberg.

In this ingenious follow-up to Anonyponymous, John Bemelmans Marciano takes us on a lively tour of American, European, and world history, showing us our linguistic heritage in all its richness and, to use another toponym, serendipity. Dotted with Marciano''s signature witty drawings and topical essays, this book is a joy to browse and sure to impress your friends. It makes a perfect book for language lovers, whether they come from Cologne, Germany, or Bikini Island.

The intriguing tale of why the United States has never adopted the metric system, and what that says about us.The American standard system of measurement is a unique and odd thing to behold with its esoteric, inconsistent standards: twelve inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, sixteen ounces in a pound, one hundred pennies to the dollar. For something as elemental as counting and estimating the world around us, it seems like a confusing tool to use. So how did we end up with it?Most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and for a time in the 1970s America appeared ready to make the switch. Yet it never happened, and the reasons for that get to the root of who we think we are, just as the measurements are woven into the ways we think. John Marciano chronicles the origins of measurement systems, the kaleidoscopic array of standards throughout Europe and the thirteen American colonies, the combination of intellect and circumstance that resulted in the metric system''s creation in France in the wake of the French Revolution, and America''s stubborn adherence to the hybrid United States Customary System ever since. As much as it is a tale of quarters and tenths, it is a human drama, replete with great inventors, visionary presidents, obsessive activists, and science-loving technocrats.Anyone who reads this inquisitive, engaging story will never read Robert Frost''s line “miles to go before I sleep” or eat a foot-long sub again without wondering, Whatever happened to the metric system?