Skip to main content
Can you hear the sea?
Cumberbatch, Judy
Sarah's grandpa gives her a special shell and says if she listens carefully she can hear the sea, but all she hears are every day village noises.

This is the way we eat our lunch
Baer, Edith
Time for lunch! What will it be? Come along - let's taste and see! Journey across the world as children eat lunch. Discover many new foods and recipes you can make and eat.

Monster goes to the circus
Blance, Ellen & Cook, Ann
Monster takes a trip to the circus. While there, he sees many different circus performances. To everyone's surprise, Monster has an act to include himself into the circus ring.

One odd day
Fisher, Doris//Sneed, Dani
A young boy awakens to find everything around him is モodd.ヤ He has one shoe, his shirt has three sleeves, and his dog has five legs. Things are crazy at school when he stares at a calendar with only odd days. Will his odd day end when he goes to bed that night?

Burro's tortillas
Fields, Terri
Burro finds it hard to get any help from his friends as he diligently works to turn corn into tortillas. Expect repetition, puns, and an accurate picture of the traditional way that tortillas are made.

Pierre's dream
Armstrong, Jennifer
Is it all a dream? Pierre thinks so. He is the star of the circus, daring to do things he wouldn't do if he was awake. Pierre tames a lion, walks on a high wire, and all sorts of other scary or dangerous things. As the star of the circus, Pierre proves to the people of Apt that he is not just a lazy, foolish man.

Madoulina: A girl who wanted to go to school: A story from south africa
Bognomo, Joel Eboueme
Madoulina has dreams of becoming a doctor. She doesn't, however, go to school because her mother needs her to sell fritters in the marketplace to earn money. Madoulina meets her brother's new teacher, who convinces her mom to find a way to let her go to school.

Monkey for sale
Stanley, Sanna
Two little girls in Africa look forward to their village market day in the Congo. They must make wise choices for their spending. They make initial purchases, but later find a monkey they want to rescue. They creatively work together to find a solution.

April fool! Watch out at school!
DeGroat, Diane
It's April Fool's Day so Gilbert is excited to trick his friends. Throughout the day, his friends keep on tricking him, but he can't seem to trick anyone else. Gilbert doesn't give up though: he has one more trick in mind. The rest of the afternoon, he's extra nice to Lewis. Lewis gets so nervous about what Gilbert's trick is, the other classmates manage to trick him. At the end of the day, Lewis finds out Gilbert didn't have a trick after all. He had been tricked!

Where are you going manyoni?
Stock, Catherine
Manyoni, a little girl living near the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe, sees many different animals and wildlife on her walk to school.

Bitter bananas
Olaleye, Isaac
Yusuf is a boy who lives in a jungle in Africa. His favorite drink is palm sap, and he sells what he doesn't drink. A family of baboons begins to steal his sap, so he tries many things to keep the baboons away.

The wisdom bird: A tale of Solomon and Sheba
Oberman, Sheldon
Queen of Sheba, the wisest woman in the world, travels to Jerusalem after hearing about King Solomon, the wisest man in the world. She hopes to learn something new, but after asking for a palace made out of bird beaks, they both learn something important. This folktale is derived from Jewish, African and Biblical tales.

Earth mother
Jackson, Ellen
The day begins by Mother Earth tending to her plants and animals. As the day progresses, Mother Earth comes upon a man, a frog, and a mosquito. Each tell Mother Earth what can be changed in their life.

The hunter
Geraghty, Paul
Jamina goes looking for honey in the bush with her grandfather. She hopes to see an elephant, but her grandfather tells her that it is not likely since the hunters have come. Jamina tells her grandfather that she wants to be a hunter. When she helps a little elephant whose mother was shot by hunters, she realizes she never wants to be a hunter.

Arijole
Mashiri, Pascal
Arijole's stepsisters are envious of her beauty. They do not want Arijole to be chosen as a wife in a nearby village, so the stepsisters turn her into a dog. When only Arijole (the dog) is left, a mother takes her home for her son to hunt. Soon they realize that Arijole is not a dog but a beautiful woman. She and Obondo are then married.

Always in trouble
Demas, Corinne
Emma's dog ,Toby, always seems to be in trouble. When Emma gives him more attention, he still gets into trouble. At dog training school, he is the best dog and receives a diploma after all the classes, but he still gets into trouble. So Emma takes him back to the school, and leaves Toby with the teacher for a week. When he comes back, Toby seems like the perfect dog, but Emma soon finds out, no dog is perfect.

Thank you for me!
Bauer, Marion
Join in with this storybook rhyme about exploring the body parts and what they do! From your hands, to your feet, and from your ears to your nose, learn about body actions and senses through rhyme, alliteration and a fun steady beat!

A is for africa
Onyefulu, Ifeoma
The author, a member of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, presents text and her own photographs of twenty-six things, from A-Z, representative of all African peoples.

The duchess of whimsy: An absolutely delicious fairytale
de Seve, Randall
The Duchess of Whimsy is very well known to be extravagant, through her celebrations, clothing, and conversation. The Earl of Norm is quite the opposite; in fact the Duchess thinks he is rather ordinary. However her father tells her, their two kingdoms have to be friends. The Earl of Norm loves the Duchess of Whimsy and goes to extraordinary lengths to try to impress her, but none of them impress her. One night at supper the cook becomes sick, so all the Duchess' guests try to impress her with their cooking. However the one food that impresses her is the one ordinary food. Cooked by whom?

Food and festivals: West Africa
Brownlie, Alison
Describes the West African culture of food, including the kinds of food grown and eaten, and various feast days like Ramadan, Easter, naming ceremonies, and yam festivals.

Billy Twitters and his blue whale problem
Barnett, Mac
When Billy Twitters doesn't brush his teeth or finish his peas, his mother says we are going to buy you a whale. This does not worry Billy, because he knows how large blue whales are and he couldn't possibly have one delivered. To his surprise, one morning there is a blue whale sitting outside his house, and it is his responsibility. The whale causes problems at school because Billy's classmates pick him at gym. And it just gets worse: his parents give him the owner's manual for the whale. While feeding him, Billy realizes that when he's inside the whale, nobody's laughing and nobody's telling him what to do...so he decides to make himself at home!

Galimoto
Williams, Karen Lynn
Kondi needs wire to make his galimoto, the word in Malawi Africa which means car. He thinks of clever ways to make his galimoto in the shape of a car. He falls asleep imagining what shape he might twist it into the next day.

Carolina's story: Sea turtles get sick too!
Rathmell, Donna
Follow the photo journal of Carolina, a critically ill loggerhead sea turtle, as she is cared for and nursed back to health at the Sea Turtle Hospital of the South Carolina Aquarium. \r\n\r\nJust like hospitalized children, Carolina goes through a variety of emotions and procedures during her care and recovery process. When she first arrives at the hospital, she is too sick, weak, and confused to understand what is happening. She has blood drawn, x-rays taken, gets shots, and is fed through an IV...just as ill children may be! As she gains strength, she begins to interact with her caregivers and begrudgingly, understands that they are really trying to help. Join her as she interacts with her many caregivers and her sick or injured roommate turtles.

Skippyjon Jones and the treasure hunt
Schachner, Judy
Have you ever been on a treasure hunt? Join Skippyjon Jones and friends as they make their way through Mexico in search of the treasure. They'll look for matching pairs and see new sights along the way.

Somewhere in Africa
Mennen, Ingrid//Daly, Niki
A boy named Ashraf lives in a city in South Africa. He compares the city to the countryside of Africa.

Elephant moon
Letord, Bijon
In the plains of Eastern Africa, elephants live in great open spaces, eat many different things, and share their land with lots of other animals. The elephants take care of each other and are beautiful and peaceful animals.

Gift of the sun: A tale from south africa
Stewart, Dianne
Thulani is a South African farmer who keeps trading his animals in order to please his wife until all he has is a pocket full of sunflower seeds. The sunflowers produce many more seeds, which are also used to feed the animals and eventually lead to more wealth for the family than ever before.

The talking cloth
Mitchell, Rhonda
Aunt Phoebe has a collection of many wonderful things, each having an interesting story. The little girl's favorite thing is an adinkra cloth from Ghana. It has many colors and symbols to represent feelings, faith, power, and love.

To be a drum
Coleman, Evelyn
Daddy Wes whispers to his two young children about the history of Africans forced into slavery and how the pulse of the drum has moved through them over time. Daddy Wes promises his children that as long as they can hear the heartbeat of the earth, they will be free.

Painted dreams
Williams, Karen Lynn
Ti Marie loves to paint, but her family is too poor to afford paint so she uses bricks, stones and charcoal. One day, as she is walking to the river, she sees Msie Antoine painting a snake and admires his art supplies. Later on in the night she decides to look through his trash to see if he has any left over supplies. She uses them to paint on the wall behind her family's place at the Haitian market. Find out how the people at the market react.

Somebody has done it, why can't you?
Annoh, G. Kwesi
Two sisters in Ghana pursue their dreams of becomming career women. They receive help from their parents and teachers, and work hard to study math and science. Abena becomes a mathematician and Akousa becomes a medical officer in public health.

Too far away to touch, close enough to see
Newman, Leslea
There is a special loving relationship between Zoe and her uncle. Although he is sick with HIV, her uncle makes an extra effort to take her on special outings. Zoe must come to terms with her uncle's illness throughout the story.

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

The village of round and square houses
Grifalconi, Ann
In a village in West Africa, women live in round houses and men live in square houses. After supper, grandmother tells a story about the origin of these houses aand how it is related to the rupturing of volcanic mountain, Naka.

I lost my tooth in africa
Diakite, Penda
Amina and her parents take a trip to Mali to visit family. On the way, Amina realizes that her tooth is loose! While visiting her father's family, Amina loses the tooth and places it under a calabash tree. She receives a hen and a rooster from the African Tooth Fairy.

Where's Jamela?
Daly, Niki
A young girl named Jamela is upset when hearing the news from her mother that they will be moving to a new house. When itメs time to leave, everyone wonders where Jamela is and begin to search for her everywhere. Suddenly, she jumps out of a box from the back of the truck and agrees to go with her mother. On reaching her new house, she starts to like it and settles down in her room.

The most important gift of all
Conway, David
Ama wants to honor her newborn baby brother with a special gift, as is the custom of the people in her village. When Grandma Sisi suggests the gift of love Ama sets off in search of this important present, but how will she know when she has found it? This story celebrates a young girl's discovery of the most important gift of all.

My painted house, my friendly chicken, and me
Angelou, Maya
Thandi, an eight-year-old Ndebele girl who lives in a village in South Africa with her mother, aunts, sisters, and mischievous younger brother, shares her secrets with her best friend, a chicken.

Christmas eve blizzard
Vlahakis, Andrea
A beautiful cardinal is trapped in the snow until a young boy rescues him. Nicholas places more importance on caring for the injured bird than in decorating the Christmas tree or opening his gifts on Christmas morning. The cardinal sweetly and unexpectedly rewards the boy, his grandfather, and their entire village with a lifetime of Christmas cheer.

Alex, the kid with AIDS
Girard, Linda Walvoord
Alex has AIDS. In school, he begins as a visitor with special privileges and ends up making friends and being a part of the class. Alex realizes that although he is sick, he cannot misbehave in school.

Loon chase
Diehl, Jean Heilprin
A boy discovers that his domesticated dog still has powerful instincts similar to animals in the wild. There is a surprise encounter between the dog and a mother loon: the bigger animal doesn't necessarily prevail. In his moment of wonder, the boy finally meets the loon himself.

Dancing feet
Agell, Charlotte
Diversity in the world is shown through rhythmical lyrics and warm pictures. Diversity also includes the names of major body parts and functions.

The giraffe who was afraid of heights
Ufer, David A.
A giraffe suffers from the fear of heights. His parents worry about his safety and send him to the village doctor for treatment. Along the way he befriends a monkey who is afraid of climbing trees and a hippo who is afraid of water. A life-threatening event causes the three friends to face and overcome each of their fears.

Turtles in my sandbox
Curtis, Jennifer Keats
Imagine finding turtle eggs in your sandbox! When a mother diamondback terrapin lays eggs in a young girlメs sandbox, the girl becomes a モturtle-sitterヤ to help the babies safely hatch. She raises the teeny hatchlings until they become big enough to fend for themselves in the wild. Then, with the help of experts, she releases them. Along the way, she learns about these unique animals and that she has made an important contribution to their survival.

Oh, crumps! Ay, caramba!
Bock, Lee
One night, a sleepy farmer has a lot of chores to do and also has a hard time keeping his chore list straight. One mishap after another keeps him from getting sleep. As a result, he mixes up his tasks so that he plans to mow the cow, climb the fence, repair the hay, and milk the silo. Hopefully no one will disturb the farmer's sleep again before morning!

My dad has HIV
Alexander, Earl//Rudin, Sheila//Sejkora, Pam
The virus (called HIV) is explained in this gentle and descriptive story about a young girl whose father is living with HIV. The facts about the virus are described in a way that children can understand. The story helps children to know that a person with HIV can lead a normal life.

All aboard, owney!
Sattler, Jennifer
Climb aboard with Owney the mail dog as he travels the Adirondack railroad! Meet his new wilderness friends and enjoy the colorful view.

Enemy pie
Munson, Derek
When confronted with his first enemy, a young boy seeks help from his father. He hopes that enemy pie will get rid of his enemy but instead he gains something he never expected.

Big al and shrimpy
Clements, Andrew
Shrimpy learns that he is special in his own way, despite being different. He gets involved in a social activity then contributes his idea to solve a problem to help a friend in need.

Ruth and naomi
Marzollo, Jean
After their husbands sadly pass away, Ruth moves to Bethlehem with her widowed mother-in-law Naomi. With no money and no sense of hope, the two women are unsure as to what will happen. A kind farmer known as Boaz, however shows his kindness and restores their happiness so that they can begin anew.