Cartoonist Stephan Pastis thinks there's one thing that makes him well-prepared for his new career as an author of illustrated kids' books."I've never been a good artist," confesses Pastis, whose style of drawing uses clean, bold lines. Drawing for books lets him rely more on the words.Pastis, ...

The year 1863 was an important one for the rights of African Americans in the United States. The country was in the middle of the Civil War, with Southern states (also called the Confederacy) having seceded — or separated — from the North (the Union). A large reason for the war was slavery, ...

The year 1863 was an important one for the rights of African Americans in the United States. The country was in the middle of the Civil War, with Southern states (also called the Confederacy) having seceded — or separated — from the North (the Union). A large reason for the war was slavery, ...

Monica Casters took a trip to the future a few weeks ago: Suddenly, the eighth-grader was 30 years old, married, with a child and working at a job that paid her $93,000 a year. This was no dream, but it wasn't real, either. She was visiting Junior Achievement Finance Park, an educational center ...

It seems that since she was a very young child, Katherine Applegate was meant to write a book about talking animals."My favorite books as a child were 'Dr. Dolittle,' which my dad read to me, and then later 'Charlotte's Web,' " Applegate says.And she's written dozens of talking-animal books. ...

It's easy to think of history as being about big events — wars, elections, laws — that took place a long time ago. Sometimes history doesn't seem to be very personal.But that's not right. History is about people. Humans create history. They start wars — or end them. People also change ...