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  • Tags: happiness
Albert's play
Tryon, Leslie
Through determination, a cast of animals put on a play. The animals are successful and everything goes right.

Ain't nobody a stranger to me
Grifalconi, Ann
As a girl and her grandfather walk to the family’s apple orchard, grandfather shares his experiences as a slave to explain how the apple orchard came to be. Her grandfather traveled north in pursuit of freedom and encountered members of the Underground Railroad who helped their family by providing food, shelter, and transportation. This allowed her grandfather, grandmother, and mother to cross the Ohio River and gain freedom, working until they had enough money to buy land and start their own apple orchard.

African dancing
Thomas, Mark
Children explore African dance with music and movement.

Across the wide dark sea: The mayflower journey
Van Leeuwen, Jean
A young boy and his family leave England with many other people to search for a new life in a new land. They dream of finding a place where they can worship God in their own way. During their journey, everyone endures many hardships, but they find what they are looking for.

Abel's moon
Hughes, Shirley
Abel Grable returns from his work greeted by his family. When he tells them all about his adventures, his children only want to hear more. Before he sets out on his next outing for work, he writes his stories down. As he is away, his children take his writing table and create a certain machine that lets them be with their dad all the time while he's gone.

A-hunting we will go!
Kellogg, Steven
As it gets close to bedtime, a brother and sister gather up their animal friends and go on an adventure because they do not want to go to sleep. They go hunting for more friends and fun and travel through woods and across an ocean. As the children and animals get sleepy, they return home to take a bath, brush their teeth, and put on their pajamas. The words of the story are set to the classic children's tune A-Hunting we will go.

A worm's tale
Lindgren, Barbro
Arthur is a lonely man who accidently steps on a worm one day. Arthur adopts the worm and they become good friends.

A winter walk
Barash, Lynne
A mother explains to her daughter that winter is more than just cold and gray. In fact, winter has the colors of blue, orange, green, and red. You can be happy in the wintertime too.

A very special friend
Levi, Dorothy Hoffman
Frannie is lonely without friends her age in her neighborhood. When Laura moves in down the street, Frannie is excited but then sad because Laura is hearing impaired and cannot talk. The girls soon learn to communicate through sign language and become close friends.

A very important day
Herold, Maggie Rugg
A snowstorm adds to the wonder and excitement of this very important day during which 219 people become U.S. citizens.

A to z do you ever feel like me?
Hausman, Bonnie
How are you feeling today?Join the children in this book to find out if they are feeling the same way. Learn the letters of the alphabet while you solve the puzzles of emotions. Have fun!

A summertime song
Haas, Irene
One summer evening a frog jumps into Lucy's room and invites her to a magical birthday party. Lucy goes outside and joins her animal friends in celebrating owl's birthday. While outside in the garden, Lucy discovers an old doll she recognizes as her grandmother's and returns it to the delighted woman.

A starlit somersault downhill
Willard, Nancy
Friendship is very important to this little rabbit who wants to nap with his bear friend. Unfortunately for the rabbit, he learns he cannot rest as long and as peacefully as the bear can. He learns that he is meant to be free doing somersaults downhill in the snow.

A special trade
Wittman, Sally
When Nelly was a baby, Bartholomew would push her in her stroller and tell her stories. Now that he is in a wheelchair and she is older, she pushes him around.

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.

A real nice clambake
Hammerstein, Oscar
A bunch of friends gather to have a big clambake at the beach. Everyone eats a lot and enjoys the beautiful day.

A lion named Shirley Williamson
Waber, Bernard
When the new lion, Shirley Williamson, arrives at the zoo, all the other lions are jealous of the attention she receives from the public. After the zoo director changes Shirley's name to Bongo and fires her keeper, Shirley runs away. Luckily, she goes to her trainer's house and he returns Shirley to the zoo.

A house for hermit crab
Carle, Eric
Hermit crab outgrew his shell in January so he must find a new home. Month by month he collects friends to make his home better. As he outgrows his shell, Herman is sad because he will have to leave his friends. A smaller homeless crab comes along and promises to take care of Herman's friends and home.


A fine, fine school
Creech, Sharon
Mr. Keeene knows he has a fine school with great teachers and students. Since everyone is learning so much, he decides to have school on Saturdays, then Sundays, and then eventually all summer. Eventually, one student named Tillie tells Mr. Keene that they are not learning anything outside of school. Everyone is relieved when Mr. Keene announces the return of a normal school year.

A day with daddy
Girimes, Nikki
A young African American boy living with his mother spends the day with his father. They spend time together doing a variety of activities that leave the boy satisfied with his life.

A Christmas like Helen's
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie
Christmas in the early years of America's life describes the life of a younh girl names Helen. Living on a farm before the time of telephones or cars, Helen spends her days working on the farm, walking to school in the cold of winter and spending time with her family, hearing stories of her ancestors. Helen's Christmas begins in the summer when her family plants the food that will be eaten on Christmas morning and their Christmas spirit stays alive throughout the year by helping ill and injured neighbors with tasks around their farms. Christmas is a time for Helen's family to come together from all over and build their relationships over feasts, church, midnight skating and fun.

A child's good morning book
Brown, Margaret Wise
As they awake in the morning, animals and plants go through a series of interesting activities.

A chair for my mother
Williams, Vera B.
There is a jar that a mother saves all her change in from work. When the jar is finally full, she buys a chair that is very comfortable. This is important because all of her furniture was destroyed in a fire.

A candle for christmas
Speare, Jean
Thomas's parents need to help his uncle, so they leave Thomas with a friend one week before Christmas. Thomas is afraid that his parents won't make it home. They show up late Christmas Eve and Thomas is happy.

A band of angels: A story inspired by the jubilee singers
Hopkinson, Deborah
A young girl listens to a story told by her aunt. Her story is about the young girl's great great grandmother and how she used her voice and dedication to fight for her education after the slaves were freed. The story was also tells how a group of singers toured and sang slave songs. They were trying to save their school, but ended up creating a university.

A balloon for grandad
Gray, Nigel
Sam lost his balloon out the back door. At first he was sad, but his father reminded him of his grandfather Abdulla who lived very far away. Sam thought about how his balloon might travel to his grandfather and make him very happy.

17 kings and 42 elephants
Mahy, Margaret
This book is done in Batik paintings and is a rhyming poem about kings and their animals marching through a jungle. They sing and dance enjoying each others company while moving along their merry way.