Cleverly explains how wild seeds get spread to produce "wild gardens." The informative text is conveyed in story form, making it engaging for young readers or listeners.

Imagination, both generated and given, is the real star of the story. Humor, wordplay, and fun spill from every page!

Lawrence's beautifully illustrated, exuberant little chick leaps from the page into your living room, ready for adventure. While a rhyming, rhythmic roll accompanies familiar animal sounds to entice the very youngest listeners—even the baby who can't sit still long—humor and repetition engage older toddlers and preschoolers. It's easy for this rhyme to become part of daily life toget ...

Urban's bite-sized "chapters" paint just enough detail to reveal a perspective or quirk of each character, making this reading experience a smorgasbord of delightful tastes and textures. This is an uplifting celebration of how lemons become lemonade, for parents just as much as their kids: disappointment confronted with determination can garner reward; crippling insecurities grow weaker with skill ...

When Ann Fay's challenge to recover from polio is compounded by her father's inability to cope with psychological war wounds, Ann Fay's attempts to fix both problems fail miserably. But when she realizes burdens are for sharing and quality relationships require humility and trust, she walks a once-lonely path with help. As she becomes less dependent upon clunky, uncomfortable braces for her polio- ...

Rich descriptors establish this memoir’s compelling setting so that readers feel the African heat , the desperation of starving families seeking sustenance from dry, barren farmland, and the wind’s power to help a helpless community. Against this backdrop a small, young boy with an insatiable appetite for knowledge lets curiosity drive his desire to help his family and his village. T ...

While the story gently follows a pet duck through growth and friendship, the book's strength lies in interesting, descriptive details, both in text and in the charming photographs. Each page includes an action, moving the simple storyline quickly to its winsome conclusion.

“Unlike my parents, I had no concept of what war was actually like.” With these words, 10-year-old Leon Leyson foreshadows his shattered innocence. Deft writing presents horrific injustices of war, grievous loss, and unfathomable disdain for humanity with an authentic voice that acknowledges such evil but chooses to more significantly highlight every scrap of hope and celebrate every s ...

Karen Harrington calls upon her experience with an agoraphobic mother to movingly convey her main character's angst in learning to live well through tragedy and extreme circumstances. Already facing difficult teenage years, Mysti suddenly becomes provider and voice of reason when her mother's agoraphobia strips away her ability to cope. While the text seems to go on without resolution for a good p ...

Lighthearted humor defines the antics in this chicken caper. Tail the Squirrel, paralyzed with fear, can't clearly convey the sight he's seen, so the chickens, by fastidious notetaking and deductive reasoning (based on limited experience), try to discover the frightful source of Tail's worry. A hilarious kerfuffle results. A fun read with rich conversation, narration, and storytelling that illustr ...

Nielsen’s writing unfolds like a movie, using intrigue, suspense, drama, and emotion like brilliant-colored, textured paints that enliven a blank canvas. Readers feel the pain of impossible decisions, the darkness of misguided means for well-intended ends, and the victory of wisdom and perseverance. A masterful, breathtaking first in a trilogy. Content is best for middle-grade readers.

Gentle humor and fun characters provide a celebration of friendship, old and new.

Hall's inquisitive cats set out to spend the afternoon snacking and reading, but wind up chasing words, including homophones and homonyms, on a silly tongue twister of an adventure! Full color.

A celebration of friendship, from its hesitant start to its bittersweet end.

This story exudes beauty. It is a study in kindness and grace. It shows what knowing how to see beyond personal needs, penchants, and shortsightedness looks like. Nana's wisdom teaches readers to look with eyes that see beyond the surface to love the potential of each individual and to give. Because that is where joy begins. CJ: "How come it's always so dirty over here?" Nana (smiling and poin ...

The simple but delightful story focuses on the fun of friendship. However, the photographic illustrations elevate the book, making it an extraordinary reading experience. (Be sure to read the interview with the author at the book's conclusion!) Readers will be longing for friends of their own, possibly of the tree-climbing and nut-loving variety!

Compelling, life-sized, carefully-detailed illustrations, punctuate the depth of Frederick Douglass's devotion to justice and liberty for all. The dark pain of loss at a young age translated into grim determination to learn words because "...Frederick sensed that words had power. ...he traded food for words." In a world of fast food and e-books, Rappaport reminds us to value the influence of speak ...

Get ready to be inspired! Have you ever had an idea that leaves you puzzled, not quite knowing what to do or think? Delightful metaphors and literal interpretations dance through these pages as readers follow the birth of a young boy's idea, the challenges it presents, the opportunities it offers, and above all, the potential it embodies. "I liked being with my idea. It made me feel alive...It ...