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  • Tags: verbal communication
No dinner! The story of the old woman and the pumpkin
Souhami, Jessica
An old woman is on her way to her granddaughter's house for dinner, but meets many animals on her way. In order to escape the animals, she promises to come back all fat and fed. The animals are outwitted when the old woman is disguised as a pumpkin.

When the tide is low
Cole, Sheila
A child wants to go to the beach, but her mom will not let her because the tide is too high. When the tide is low again, they are able to go to the beach.

Friday night at hodges's cafe
Egan, Tim
When three tigers walk into an elephant's cafe and start causing trouble, a duck fights back. As the tigers ask to eat each animal in the cafe, a food fight begins. When a pie hits the head tiger and he gets a taste of it, the good food is appreciated.

The great watermelon birthday
Williams, Vera B.
Birthday parties are always fun for children. A group of children all born on the same day have a great celebration with watermelons.

The mountain that loved a bird
McLerran, Alice//Carle, Eric
A bird named Joy lands on a lonely mountain. They become friends, but the bird cannot stay because there is no food or water. The bird promises to visit every spring, but the mountain begins to cry and so the bird plants a seed. In time, the mountain has food and water for any animal who would like to live on it.

Ten flashing fireflies
Sturges, Phileman
In this repetitive story, two children catch ten fireflies and keep them in a jar. Eventually they release them one by one.

Train leaves the station
Merriam, Eve
This rhyming book uses the numbers one through ten in the fashion of one, two buckle my shoe.

Cajun night before christmas
Trosclair
This story is written in Cajun Dialect and is based on the typical night before Christmas story- except in this story, Santa drinks alcohol, drives alligators, and talks in a Cajun dialect.

I am five
Fitzhugh, Louise
A little girl tells the reader all about herself. She tells her feelings about her likes and dislikes. At the end, she asks the reader to do the same.

If you give a mouse a cookie
Numeroff, Laura
This book is about a little boy who meets a mouse and gives him a cookie but that's not enough fo rthe mouse. He wants more and more from the little boy and they become friends.

Springtime in a noisy village
Lindgren, Astrid
Some children live in a little, simple village. They all play together and resolve any little conflicts. They watch out for one another.

The quiet mother and the the noisy boy
Zolotow, C.
Sandy is a boy who talks loud all of the time. One day, he meets a boy Roger who talks even louder. This bothers Sandy so he has a talk with his mom about when noise is okay.

Johnny crow's new garden
Brooke, L. Leslie
Johnny Crow has a new garden of the local animals. They sang, dance, and have a party thanking Johnny Crow.

The paper dragon
Davol, Margueritte W.
Sui-Jen, the dragon, is awakened and begins to destroy everything. Mi Fei is the only person brave and wise enough to put the dragon back to sleep. Mi Fei needs courage, heroism, and wisdom to save his village from the dragon.

The christmas ghost
Buck, Pearl S.
A small boy shares the spirit of Christmas with his family and neighborhood. One of the older neighbors tells him about a ghost who walks each Christmas Eve. In turn, the boy learns about friendship, believing, and remembering.

My perfect neighborhood
Komaiko, Leah
A young girl goes out into her neighborhood and finds many extraordinary things. What do you think about grown ups lining up for recess and poodles getting married?

The boy who did not believe in spring
Clifton, Lucille
A young boy, King Shabazz, and his friend Tony Polito go looking for spring because they do not believe that it exists. They live in the city and search all over for signs of spring. They finally find springtime flowers and bird eggs.

Possum's harvest moon
Hunter, Anne
Possum awakes one evening and decides to throw a party in celebration of the beautiful harvest moon. He convinces his meadow friends to take time from preparing for the winter to celebrate with him.

The practical princess
Williams, Joy
A young princess is given three gifts. One of her gifts is common sense. In the beginning, Princess Bedelia saw this as insignificant, because all she needed was charm. After realizing that charm won't fight off a dragon and save her life, Bedelia values her common sense.

The witch's garden
Postma, Lidia
Curious children try to scare a witch out of her house. The witch just laughs, and they realize that she is a harmless lady who makes wonderful pancakes. But who are the mysterious elves who live in her garden?

The journey home
Lester, Allison
After falling through a pit and landing at the North Pole, Wild and Wooley have a long journey back home. While finding their way back, they run into Santa Claus, the Good Fairy, Prince Charming and the Little Mermaid.

Music, music for everyone
Williams, Vera B.
While her grandmother is sick, Rosa helps her mother with expenses by playing her accordion with her friends in a band.

Whale song
Johnston, Tony
A little boy thinks that whales count when they sing. He believes that whales don't just make noise.

Where are you, ernest and celestine?
Vincent, Gabrielle
When Ernest and Celestine go to a museum, they lose each other. They finally find each other, and Celestine admits her fear of being lost and alone. They admit they like each other better than the pictures in the museum.

Shaker boy
Ray, Mary Lyn
At age six, Celeb comes to live with the Shakers and he spends the rest of his life in their unique culture. He learns their ways, their songs, and is inspired by angels.

Aekyung's dream
Paek, Min
A little girl named Aekyung has trouble adjusting to America, because it is so different from Korea. She doesn't like to go to school because her classmates make fun of her. Eventually she begins to feel more comfortable and accepted.

Starring mirette and bellini
McCully, Emily Arnold
Young Mirette and the Great Bellini are high wire partners in Paris. While performing on a tour of Europe, they visit Russia where the people are not free. Bellini speaks to them about freedom during their act and is arrested. Then it is up to Mirette to be brave and rescue him from prison.

Luka's quilt
Guback, Gloria
Luka and Tutu are best friends. Tutu decides to make a quilt for Luka but she doesn't like it. For a while they aren't friends anymore, but then they are again.

Moonstick: The seasons of the sioux
Bunting, Eve
A young Sioux is taught the way of life by his father. The young boy is too young to do many things, but one day he will be able to do what he is taught. When the seasons change, he makes another notch in his moonstick.

The sign in mendel's window
Phillips, Mildred
A small Jewish community is very trusting of a stranger who rents out half of Mendel's shop. But when the man returns to town with two policemen, will Mendel be charged with stealing?This closeknit community works together

The garden of happiness
Tamar, Erika
A multicultural community works together to clear out an empty lot and turn it into a garden. Marisol plants a sunflower seed in the garden, and watches how it grows and changes through the seasons, contributing to The Garden of Happiness.

Ma dear's aprons
McKissack, Patricia C.
David Earl knows what day of the week it is by the color of Ma Dear's aprons. She wears a different apron each day to reflect the day's chores. Ma Dear is a single, hard-working mother from the South that creates a loving home for her son.

Very last first time
Andrews, Jan
Eva, a little girl who lives in an Inuit Village in Canada, makes her first trip under the ice on the Seabed looking for mussels. While under the ice, she makes many discoveries and has an adventure.

Three fools and a horse
Baker, Betty
Three Fools (a fictional tribe invented by the Apache Indians) go looking for buffalo and see horses for the first time. Three of the Indians want a horse to help them become big, important men. Instead of becoming bigger men, they make bigger fools of themselves.

Yoshi's feast
Kijikawa, Kimiko
Yoshi is a fan maker in the city of Yedo. His favorite food in the whole world is broiled eels. Every night, his neighbor Sabu goes off to catch eels, broils them on his hibachi, and waits for customers, but they never come. Yoshi thinks that Sabu should share the leftover eels with him, but he is too greedy to give Sabu any of his money. Yoshi continues to sit day after day smelling Sabu's eels, but never buying any of them. Finally, Sabu presents Yoshi with a bill for smelling his eels. Yoshi dances around the town shaking his money box and tells Sabu that he will charge his for listening to his money. After all this nonsense, the tow finally agree to share what both of them have and sit down for a friendly meal of broiled eels.

The cucumber princess
Wahl, Jan
The cucumber princess comes of age in this mysterious story with Aztec-style illustrations.

A sky full of dragons
Wright, Mildred Whatley
Lee Chow's grandfather shows him the wonderful items in the magic Chest of Dragons. What Lee Chow really wants is marbles and the Chest of Dragons cannot provide them. Fortunately, the Spring Festival creates good times, friends, and the beautiful marbles Lee Chow desires.

Pink and say
Polacco, Patricia
A wounded solider in the Civil War is nurtured back to health by an African American soldier and his mother. Together they return to the battlefield, but are destined to live different lives.

The secret of the stones
San Souci, Robert D.
John and Clara work very hard all day, but they have no children to love. One night Clara finds two little white stones and brings them home with her. When they came home the next night all of the chores had been done, and John and Clara must find out who their helpers are and how to help them!

Mississippi bridge
Taylor, Mildred D.
Jeremy Simms, a young white boy, lives in a small town in Mississippi that is segregated. One foggy, rainy day, a bus full of people (mostly whites since some black people had been thrown off to make room for the whites), heads across the bridge and, because of the weather, crashes through the railing and into the water below. Blacks and whites, together, come to the rescue.

Mel's diner
Moss, Marissa
Mabel's parents own a diner where she helps every morning before school. Mabel introduces all the patrons of the diner, then explains what she and her friend do after school.

The other side
Woodson, Jacqueline
A fence not only divides two properties -- it segregates two families because of their different cultures. Initial fears from the parents cause them to set rules that will forbid the friendship of their young daughters. Little did they know that their daughters would break the barrier as they climbed the fence together to see the world as it should be, not as it is.

Don't you remember?
Clifton, Lucille
A four-year old girl asks if she can go to work with her dad, buy a cake from the bakery, see where her mom works, and drink coffee with her brothers. One day on her birthday, she gets everything she's been asking for.

Home on the bayou: A cowboy's story
Karas, G. Brian
Ned, a cowboy, and his mom leave their home in the West to move to the swamp. Ned hates the swamp and mean Big Head Ed at school. Big Head Ed picks on Ned because he is a cowboy. One day Ned becomes a hero at school when he uses his lasso to quiet Big Head Ed.

Stars for sarah
Turner, Ann
Sarah cannot fall asleep because she is worried about what her life will be like when her family moves to their new house. Sarah's mother comes to her room to comfort and reassure her.

The mountains of quilt
Willard, Nancy
A young child believes that a magician lives above his grandmother in the mountains. Two worlds that seem so far apart are brought together into one when the grandmother and the magician help each other out.

Tonight is carnival
Dorros, Arthur
Life for many people in the high Andes Mountains includes the preparation and anticipation of a carnival - and what happens three days before.

I love you stinky face
McCourt, Lisa
A mother explains to her child how she would love her child no matter how the child smelled or what she looked like. The child's imagination creates an ugly, sick, terrible, and scary monster that the mother says she still loves.

Maggie and the monster
Winthrop, Elizabeth
Every night a monster comes into Maggie's room and messes it up. Maggie asks the monster what she wants and the monster tells Maggie that she is looking for her mother. Maggie helps the monster find her mother in the hall closet.

Pigs will be pigs
Axelrod, Amy
A family visits a Mexican restaurant where they use counting skills to save money. The family eats too much and everyone feels sick to their stomach.