Skip to main content
  • Tags: self esteem
Alec's primer
Pitts-Walter, Mildred
Alec was a slave who wanted to be free. Ms. Josephine, one of his masters and three years older than him, told Alic if he wanted to be free he needed to learn to read. Ms. Josephine taught him to read and when Alec was old enough he couragously fights in the Civil War and obtained his freedom.

Mr. COOL
Wilson, Jacqueline
Mr. Cool gives a fresh perspective on friendship and accepting people for who they are. There is a focus on emotional and social health which is brought to light in a positive manner. Kids will gain a better view of acceptance of their peers and helping with self esteem. Mr. Cool's band develops health skills, friendship, and confidence as they perform.

My parents are divorced, my elbows have nicknames, and other facts about me
Cochran, Bill
Ted's parents are divorced but that doesn't make him weird. His elbows have nicknames and he sleeps with a sock on one foot, and he admits that may make him weird. Ted lists off many other facts about himself that may seem weird to others, but that's him and he is happy the way he is! He is sad though when his parents can't hug him at the same time.

Zen shorts
Muth, Jon
One day, three young children meet a panda after his umbrella lands in their yard. The children become friends with the panda, whose name is Stillwater. He passes on folktales to them to help them solve problems they are having.

Leo: the little st. bernard
L'Hommediev, Dorthy K.
Leo wants to be a working dog for the monks at the Hospice. When they do not choose him, he decides to runaway to the Hospice. On his way up the mountain he encounters Angelena, a cashmere goat. Together they set out on a snowy and dangerous adventure.

Grey mouse
de Vries, Anke
Grey Mouse is feeling lonely, so she decides to change her color in order to feel better about herself. However, all of the other animals laugh at her each time she does this. She finally realizes that she is happiest with her natural grey color when she finds other mice friends that look like her.

Hannah is my name
Yang, Belle
Hannah and her family come to America from Taiwan to gain freedom. For them to become Americans and have their freedom, they must obtain their greencards. Hannah and her family's journey of over 2 years, encompasses many trials. Hannah and her family feel relief, excitement and prode as they finally receive their greencards and are now able to call American their home.

The table where rich people sit
Baylor, Byrd
A young girl feels that her family is so poor that rich people wouldn't even sit at her family's table. She holds a meeting with her family to discuss the money her family has. During the meeting she discovers how rich her family really is. She also learns the important things in life such as, family is more valuable than money itself.

Animals should definitely not wear clothing
Barrett, Judi
Wouldn't it be silly if animals wore clothing? It would probably make the lives of animals much more difficult. Enjoy exactly why clothes for animals are completely unnecessary. Would you want your new dress ruined by your porcupine quills?

A pebble for your pocket
Hanh, Thich Nhat
Enjoy the stories of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Buddhist. Learn how to transform negative feelings into positive feelings so you can live more at peace with yourself and in harmony with your environment.

Earth day - hooray!
Murphy, Stuart J.
Ryan, Carly, and Luke set out to clean up Gilroy Park for an Earth Day celebration. They decide to plant flowers to beautify the park while collecting cans to raise money through recycling. The children use math and find school resources to help them with their project.

Island-style alphabet
Yee, Tammy
Learn the alphabet from a diverse perspective through the Hawaiian, Japanese and Chinese cultures. Learn more about these different cultures through the ethnic words and colorful illustrations.

If you find a rock
Christian, Peggy
Real life photos capture children doing activities with rocks of different shapes, colors, and sizes. Can you remember the feel of a special rock in your hand?

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.

Keep climbing, girls
Richards, Beah E.
Climb the highest tree possible with an ambitious young girl and learn never stop reaching for your hopes and dreams. Children are reminded that goal setting and perserverence are keys to success.

Making room for uncle joe
Litchfield, Ada B.
Uncle Joe has Down Syndrome and must leave his home at the hospital because it's closing. He goes to live with his sister and her family. His family learns to live with him and to love him.

Beyond old MacDonald
Hoce, Charley
Visit all the animals on old MacDonald's Farm and and learn how they really acted while learning language skills. Through rhyming poems, see all the silly moments and experiences the animals had living down on the farm!

Arthur's pen pal
Hoban, Lillian
Arthur longs to be his pen pal's big brother, so they can wrestle and do karate. He does not like having to jump rope with his little sister. But one day, he learns something very surprising about his pen pal.

Wally the wordworm
Fadiman, Clifton
Wally the worm is intrigued by different words. He looks up new, complex words in the dictionary instead of the words he already knows.

Chipper's choices
Boegehold, Betty
Chipper makes up five stories, riddles, and songs for his friends so they can have something to do when the winter season comes.

Emma's magic winter
Little, Jean
When a new neighbor named Sally moves in, Emma learns to overcome her shyness and her fear of reading out loud to her schoolmates. Early readers can explore their friendships and activities during winter then spring.

Snow day
Fain, Moira
Maggie is very embarrassed when her teacher, Sister Agatha Ann, punishes her for drawing on her desk. She must write a poem and recite it for the class the following day. All night she worries about her unfinished homework, but the next day she wakes up to a snow day!Through her fun in the snow and the help from her teacher, Maggie discovers her own special way of writing poetry.

Come on, rain!
Hesse, Karen
A heat wave hits Tess's town and she's sizzling like a hot potato. Mamma's plants are all dying and all Tess wishes for is a little bit of rain. As she feels the rain coming, she runs to get her friends and they all change into bathing suits. The rain comes down in big drops and the girls dance, laugh, and play in the cool raindrops.

Lights for gita
Gilmore, Rachna
Gita is very excited about celebrating her favorite Hindu holiday, Divali, a festival of lights. But this year things are different and she must celebrate this special holiday in her new home. This transition is hard for Gita and made even more difficult by the seasonal rain. With the help from her parents, Gita must learn how to carry her beliefs and memories into her new home and make this year's Divali, a holiday to remember.

Millicent and the wind
Munsch, Robert
Millicent lives on a mountain top and has no friend except the wind. They play tag and talk to each other. One day she asks the wind to bring her a friend, and it did.

My rotten redheaded older brother
Polacco, Patricia
Patricia Polacco tells the story about her sibling rivalry with her brother. She wanted to be able to do something better than he could. Eventually, her wish comes true, but not exactly the way she had imagined.

The hallo-wiener
Pilkey, Dav
Oscar is teased by the other dogs because of his oblong shape. He soon proves that a dog his shape can do things that other dogs cannot.

Elvira
Shannon, Margaret
Instead of eating princesses, Elvira the dragon would rather dress like them. She is independent and wants to live life in her own unqiue way.

How georgia drove the car carefully from boston to new york
Bate, Lucy
While on her mother's lap, a young girl begins to imagine driving her family to see her grandparents.

Treasure nap
Havill, Juanita
On an afternoon when it is too hot to sleep, a young girl asks to hear a story. The story is about her great-grandmother who comes to the U.S. from Mexico, bringing a special treasure.

Snipp, snapp, snurr and the reindeer
Lindman, Maj
Snipp, Snap and Snurr vacation with their parents in Sweden. They meet a family from Lapland who come to their rescue accompanied by their pet reindeer.

Possum magic
Fox, Mem
A grandmother possum puts a magic spell on her granddaughter which makes her invisible. When the granddaughter decides she wants an identity, they must travel all over Australia for the cure.

Allie's basketball dream
Barber, Barbara
Allie loves basketball, but she is often the only girl on the court. Buddy and other boys tease Allie about playing basketball. Allie believes in her ability and keeps practicing so that one day she can be better at basketball than the boys!

Arthur's eyes
Brown, Marc
Arthur's friends tease him when he gets glasses. Soon other children get glasses, and Arthur learns to wear his glasses with pride.

Oh, brother!
Grimes, Nikki
Xavier feels sad, angry, and jealous towards his new step brother, Chris. Xavier soon realizes that Chris is coping with loneliness and resentment too. The pain over losing a parent to divorce forms a special band between Xavier and Chris so they promise each other, that no one will ever leave. Through short vignettes, the story ends with Our family is a song we sing, and we can add new notes anytime we like.

My kindergarten
Wells, Rosemary
Kindergarten is no longer a mystery, thanks to Emily who illustrates the lessons and activities in Miss Cribbageメs classroom. Many concepts are explored in this kindergarten classroom. Poems, songs, and activities keep the lessons light-hearted and enjoyable.

Amelia bedelia and the surprise shower
Parish, Peggy
Amelia Bedelia always seems to take everything literally. This only leads to chaos as well as laughter as Amelia Bedelia helps prepare for a surprise bridal shower. From pruning the hedges by placing prunes on the hedges, to icing the fish by covering them in chocolate icing, well-intentioned Amelia causes quite a commotion. After hosing down the guest of honor as part of the shower, Amelia turns the entire party into a disaster, but at least all of the guests leave in laughter.

Be boy buzz
hooks, bell
bell hooks poetically describes the pleasures of being a boy. Boys are beautiful. Sometimes, they are all boy. Sometimes, they like to laugh and talk, and sometimes they like the quietness of being alone. Boys have many moods, actions, and emotions.

Dancing in the wings
Allen, Debbie
Sassy uses her unique characteristics and height to become a great ballet dancer. Sassy does not allow bullying from the other students to prevent her from trying out for a summer dance festival. Sassy learns the benefits of perseverence and self-esteem.

The village in the valley of darkness
Mashiri, Pascal
I want to see my people in the village. It is no fun to search alone. At last, I can see the light.ヤ During my travel, a dog at my side with brother and I. People in the village are thankful and at peace!

The useful moose:  A truthful, moose-full tale
Robinson, Fiona
Molly loves moose so much that her family vacationed in Alaska, so that she could see them up close; except when they got there the moose had left for a vacation in the city. Once in the city, she saw moose everywhere and befriended three young moose who were tired and needed rest. She invited the moose to stay with them when they cooked, cleaned, and became part of the family. The moose became homesick for their own family, so they went back to Alaska. Molly was sad when she invited the moose to her birthday party and they didnメt respond, but they surprised her by jumping out of an airplane at her party and promised to come back often.

Monster at school
Blance, Ellen // Cook, Ann
Monster goes to school with a little boy one day. Once he arrives, he is a great help and loves to play with all of the children. One child, however, feels sad because Monster is not playing with him. What will Monster do to cheer up his sad friend?

The night eater
Juan, Ana
A night eater eats up the darkness in the sky, then continues to eat stars and clouds until they are gone. This makes it possible for the sun to be seen. The moon offends the night eater, which causes him to stop eating the night. It continues to stay dark until the children cry for him. The night eater eats up the dark sky to make way for the daylight again.

Silly chicken
Khan, Rukhsana
Rani is jealous of Amiメs affection for Bibi, a chicken. Rani finally learns how to lay an egg - much to the motherメs delight. However, when left alone one day, the chicken dies and Ami is sad. An egg from Bibi is found, which hatches a new baby chick.

Not norman:  A goldfish story
Bennett, Kelly
When a boy gets Norman, a goldfish, for his birthday he is disappointed. He wants an energetic pet with which to run and play. He makes a plan to take Norman back to the pet store and get another pet. After show and tell at school, he decides to keep him. Norman likes his music and makes him laugh; besides any other pet just wouldnメt be the same, they would not be Norman.

Once upon an ordinary school day
McNaughton, Colin
An ordinary boy has no idea what is in store for him one fateful, ordinary day. Everything appears to be normal until his new school teacher; Mr. Gee walks through the door. The once ordinary day turns into a whirlwind of adventures

If I had my way
Klein, Norma
Ellie wishes that - for just one day - she could have her way. She is tired of being told what to do! Why canメt she have a say? In her dreams, the tables turn and Ellie finds herself in charge. Giving her parents orders and trading in her baby brothers are Ellieメs first orders of business. Her old life doesnメt seem quite so bad.

The bully blockers club
Bateman, Teresa
Lotty is very excited to begin a new school year. When she arrives at school, Grant Grizzly changes her attitude. He picks on her everyday, causing her to feel ill. Lotty tries to get Grant to stop by ignoring him, being his friend, and telling the teacher. It seems as if nothing can stop the bully, until Lotty and her friends create the Bully Blockers Club.

A sweet smell of roses
Johnson, Angela
One morning, after a night of rain, Minnie and her sister sneak out of the house to join many men and women to march for freedom and equality. When they arrive at the beginning of the march, the girls walk with many others keeping their eyes straight ahead and their feet steady. Despite the criticism and yells from people standing by, the girls continue to march. As the day passes, more people join the march to where Dr. Martin Luther King gives his famous speech about peace, love, and equality for all.

Duck for president
Cronin, Doreen
Duck gets tired of doing chores on the farm, so he holds an election to change the way things are run. Duck wins the election, but gets bored and runs for Governor. He wins again and does not like the stress, so he runs for President and wins. Being President is even harder work than being on the farm so he returns to the farm to write his autobiography.