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I was born to be a brother
Michels-Gualtieri, Zaydek G.
A big brother describes the duties he has when teaching his little sister. He has many responsibilities to uphold and for the most part gets along well with his baby sister. There are times, however, when siblings get in the way, but in the end a little sister is the best thing in the world. (With music CD)

Girl wonder: A baseball story in nine innings
Hopkinson, Deborah
Alta's dream of becomming a professional baseball player comes true. She proves that it doesn't matter if you're a girl, you can still be just as talented. After pitching for an Ohio semipro baseball team in 1907, Alta goes on to become a doctor like her dad.

May'naise sandwiches & sunshine tea
Belton, Sandra
Big Mama shares family memories of her childhood with her grandchild about a special friendship she had with Bettie Jean. Little Miss and Big Mama share the pages of a scrapbook which tells the favorite story of May'naise sandwiches and sunshine tea.

Degas and the little dancer: A story about Edgar Degas
Anholt, Laurence
Marie dreams of being a famous dancer until one day her chance of being in the Christmas show diminishes when her father becomes ill. Marie begins to model for a painter to earn money for her family's lost income. One day, Maria's sculpture shows up in the art museum and becomes the famed sculpture of Edgar Degas.

Coming on home soon
Woodson, Jacqueline
A girl says goodbye to her mother who is heading to find work in the city. The girl waits everyday for her mother's letter that says she will be coming home. All the while, the girl remembers her mother loves her more than snow or rain.

Hurricanes
Murray, Peter
This informational text describes the Hurricane Hunter planes that are designed to fly in the roughest weather. In 1958, scientists tried to slow down a hurricane by dropping silver iodide crystals into the clouds, but the experiment did not work. The best thing to do with a hurricane is to get out of its way! Explains the destruction of Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana. Contrasts the death rate of a 1900 hurricane in Texas with the 1992 Andrew due to better warning systems in place.

Disasters in nature: Hurricanes
Chambers, Catherine
This informational text takes you inside a hurricane with questions of what? where? why? and when? to explain hurricane zones around the earth. Explains rain, wind, and air pressure of hurricanes. Global warming, storm tracking, and prediction problems are discussed for hurricanes and tornadoes. Learn how technology and the natural world alert us about upcoming storms.

Natural disasters: Hurricanes and tornadoes
Jennings, Terry
This informational text discusses hurricanes and tornadoes by photographs and diagrams. Weather researchers use satellites to circle the earth and take photographs of cloud patterns and the ground. Tornadoes are born in thunderclouds. Learn how tornadoes and hurricanes are tracked and studied, including the damage these natural disasters cause.

Hurricane watch
Branley, Franklyn M.
This informational text describes the relationship of air over land and oceans. When wind speed reaches 74 miles an hour, a tropical storm becomes a hurricane. Explains the sequence of weather events and how weather planes fly into the eye of a storm to take measurements of temperature, pressure, and precipitation. People prepare safely for the storm by securing homes, gathering supplies, and moving inland.

Hurricanes
Erlbach, Arlene
This informational text describes how tropical disturbances become a tropical storm, then a hurricane. Compares and contrasts hurricanes and tornadoes, including watches and warnings. Learn how storms are predicted and monitored. Photographs show the storm with an eye. Hurricanes have different names across the world.

Five trucks
Floca, Brian
A little boy observes how five different trucks assist in the preparation and take-off of his airplane. Description of the trucks and their duties are very clear. It takes many people working together to complete the goal of take-off!

Sky boys: How they built the empire state building
Hopkinson, Deborah
A boy watches in amazement as the Empire State Building is built. When the building is completed he goes to the top with his father to see all of the New York City.

Amelia to zora
Chin-Lee, Cynthia
Explore in an alphabet formula, biographies that examine different successes and triumphs of famous women in history from Amelia Earhart to Zora Neale.

Messenger, messenger
Burleigh, Robert
Being a bicycle messenger in a big city is a rigorous job, but someone has to do it. The messenger wakes early and works late to deliver the proper messages to their appropriate places. Nothing can stop him, not rain, snow, or distractions of others.

Cocoa ice
Appelbaum, Diana
A young girl from Maine and a young girl from Santa Domingo learn about each other's home through Jacob the Sailor. The girl from Santa Domingo describes how to make chocolate, and the girl from Maine tells about making ice.

Marven of the great north woods
Lasky, Kathryn
A boy named Marvin leaves his family during the flu epidemic. He goes to a lumberjack camp in northern Minnesota and works and learns French while making some interesting friends. Marvin learns to ski, dance, and do the bookkeeping as a lumberjack.

Old home day
Hall, Donald
From the time when only plants and animals lived there, to the modern bicentennial celebration, the people who called the fictional village of Blackwater home remember its history.

Down huckleberry hill
Weisgard, Leonard
While a dogcatcher is in the barber shop, his wagon full of dogs outside the window starts rolling down Huckleberry Hill. As the wind blows harder and harder, the wagon rolls faster and faster. The door eventually flies open and the dogs are free.

A day's work
Bunting, Eve
Fransico takes his grandfather out to look for work. His grandfather does not speak English, so Fransico must translate. Fransico accepts a gardening job for his grandfather by telling the man he is a great gardener. When the man comes at the end of the day, he finds the job done incorrectly. Fransico's lie teaches him an invaluable lesson.

Trashy town
Zimmerman, Andrea//Clemesha, David
Mr. Gilly gets up every morning to go to work. He drives the trash truck which cleans up the garbage all around town. When he is finished he has to clean up one more thing...himself!

Horseshoe harry and the whale
De Leeuw, Adele
Horseshoe Harry is a cowboy who lives on the range in Wyoming. He gets tired of the range and wants to see the sea. So he sets off for the coast and ends up on a ship that captures whales. He finds out that he does not like the sea as much as he thought he would.

Frank and ernest on the road
Day, Alexandra
Frank and Ernest drive a truck. They learn truck language along the way. They use funny words that have a real meaning to truck drivers.

Have you seen wilhelmina krumph?
Chasek, Judith
Everyday, Wilhelmina Krumph disappears when she should be washing her windows like all the other housewives. They follow her one day and discover that she rides a motorcycle along a dirt road everyday. They see what fun it is and join her.

Junk pile!
Borton, Lady
When Jamie Kay helps her dad in their magical junk yard, Robert Haines and other kids make fun of her. Jamie Kay has to find a way to show the kids that her junkyard is magical. But most of all, Jamie has to find a way to make a friend.

A smooth move
Rabe, Berniece
Gus and his family move from Portland to Washington D.C. when his dad starts a new job. He keeps a journal to help the move go smoothly. While he misses his friends, Gus knows he will like his new home.

The little fireman
Brown, Margaret Wise
A small fireman and a large fireman attempt to fight fires of comparable dimensions to their size.

My car
Barton, Byron
Sam describes his car, its parts, and how he cares for it. He also discusses where he goes in his car and his job working as a bus driver.

The wreck of the zephyr
Van Allsburg, Chris
A young boy's dream of being the greatest sailor brings him to ruin when he misuses his ability to sail his boat above land.

Freedom school, yes!
Littlesugar, Amy
Jolie shows courage in her community by protecting the school that will educate her and others. Jolie is afraid others will burn down the school. Jolie never gives up hope, and learns about famous African Americans who were brave and made a difference in their community, just like Jolie.

Racing against the odds: The story of Wendell Scott, stock car racing's African-American champion
Weatherford, Carole Boston
Wendell O. Scott made history as the only black driver to win a race in a NASCAR Grand National division. Using secondhand Fords that he fixed up in his garage, he competed in five hundred races in NASCAR'S top division. This is the story of a man who worked full time while racing on the side. A man who didn't just dust the competition, he blazed the trail.

Octavia and her purple ink cloud
Rathmell, Donna//Rathmell, Doreen
Octavia Octopus and her sea-animal friends love playing camouflage games to practice how they would hide from a モbig, hungry creature.ヤ Octavia, however, just cannot seem to get her colors right when she tries to shoot her purple ink cloud. What happens when the big, hungry shark shows up looking for his dinner? Learn your basic colors along with the camouflage techniques of various sea animals, and you'll be on your way to being a marine biologist!

Teacher! Sharing, helping, caring
Hubbell, Patricia
Great big school! In we go! Our teacher greets us, waves hello! A teacher and her class do lots of interesting things throughout the week. They paint, read, look at weather charts, count money, work on the computer, and greet a special guest. The students not only learn, but they have fun, too. And so does the teacher!

The piano man
Chocolate, Debbie
A young girl listens to her grandfather share his deep love for music and the piano. Grandfather shares the history of silent movies, Vaudeville, Ragtime, and Broadway. He never lets his passion for music end and continues to share it with his grandaughter.

The trial of cardigan jones
Egan, Tim
Cardigan, a moose, is new to town. While walking through the neighborhood, he happens upon Mrs. Brownメs pie in her window. The pie becomes missing and witnesses say that he took it. He then goes on trial and throughout the trial, he keeps knocking things over with his giant antlers. This gives the judge an idea, so he takes the courtroom to Mrs. Brownメs house. They notice the smashed pie in the bushes and pronounced Cardigan モnot guilty.ヤ

Waiting for Sipho
Herbert, Barbara
Two young brothers can hardly wait for the return of their beloved older brother, Sipho, from university. Everything seems in place until the goat to be prepared for dinner escapes! The boys find themselves on quite an adventure as they await Siphoメs return.

The lighthouse cat
Stainton, Sue
In an old lighthouse, the keeper strives to keep the twenty-four candles burning, by tending to them every half hour. He was lonely until the day he was nose to nose with a cat. They both tended to the lighthouse together. On a dark and stormy night, the rapid wind blew the candles out. The cat called for other cats to help light the lighthouse with their yellow bright eyes.

Memorial day surprise
Golding, Theresa Martin
Marco and his mother are off to see the Memorial Day parade! Today, mother is in a hurry because she has a special surprise for Marco. She is in such a hurry that they don't have time to see Marco's grandfather. Once they reach the parade, Marco sees his two best friends which he believes is the surprise. Yet, they are not the surprise his mother has in store for him. Neither is the marching band, fire engine, Statue of Liberty, or candy. Marco could never imagine the surprise in store for him at the end of the parade!

Monster and the toy sale
Blance, Ellen // Cook, Ann
Monster and the little boy see an ad in the newspaper that reads モTOY SALE TODAY!ヤ Together, they bicycle to the store. On their journey, they are very helpful to others. Monster and the little boy serve as policemen to direct traffic, and as mangers at the toy store. They are so busy that they run out of time to shop for their own toys. Everyone is grateful for their unselfish behavior.

The heroic symphony
Harwell-Celenza, Anna
Ludwig Van Beethoven learns he is going deaf. He is an accomplished and promising young pianist and this devastates him. Beethoven realizes his condition is actually leading to his destiny not his downfall. In creating his symphony no. 3 he searches for a hero on which to base his musical inspiration. He eventually realizes it is about him!

My teacher for president
Winters, Kay
Oliver writes a letter to the local news station to nominate his teacher for president in the next election. He thinks she meets the requirements because she signs important papers, likes white houses, goes to meetings, acts quickly in a crisis, is used to being followed around, wants peace, cares for people and the environment, goes on trips, and deals with the media. The only downfall is he doesnメt want her to leave before the end of the year.

Rickie & Henri
Goodall, Jane
A baby chimpanzee, Rickie, gets shot and taken from her mother in the forest, and taken to a market in the Congo Republic. A man takes her and cares for her, along with his dog, Henri. The man and Henri provide love and food for Rickie until they take her to a chimpanzee sanctuary to live with other chimpanzees.

The best beekeeper of lalibela: A tale from africa
Kessler, Cristina
In the Ethiopian mountain village of Lalibela, famous for its churches and honey, a young girl determines to find a way to be a beekeeper despite being told that is somethign only men can do.

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.

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 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.

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.

Georgia's bones
Bryant, Jen
A young girl, Georgia, is fascinated with shapes, colors, and objects. Her family does not share nor comprehend her love for art, so they deem her different. With her strong will and determination, Georgia moves to New York to discover a life as an artist. The illustrations help the reader detail the beauty of her work as they take us through the life of Georgia O'Keffe.