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  • Tags: verbal communication
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The desert alphabet book
Pallotta, Jerry
A reptile, insect, or animal is found in its environment or habitat as you learn your ABC's.

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.

Can you find it, too?
Cressy, Judith
Come enjoy history through a collection of famous paintings. Each has its own personality and story. Search through each painting for objects and colors. Get imaginative and create your own stories or interpretations about the paintings.

Amy unbounded: Belondweg blossoming
Hartman, Rachel
Through comic book style illustrations, Amy of Eddybrook Lodge encounters many exciting adventures with her best friend. During the summer between her ninth and tenth birthday, Amy and her friend learn many lessons about life. The most important ones are that love does not solve everything and even heroines sometimes need help.

Bugs! bugs! bugs!
Barner, Bob
A child uses rhyme to describe the insects she sees. The actual sizes of the bugs are included, as well as a bug-o-meter, which tells where the bug lives, how many legs the bug has, if it can fly, and if it stings.

Cock-a-doodle-moo!
Most, Bernard
When a rooster can only whisper cock-a-doodle-doo, he must get help from the cow to wake everyone up on the farm. Unfortunately, the cow has trouble making the right sound. Eventually, the cow learns how to make a sound that will wake up the farm and she and the rooster work together.

The alphabet tree
Lionni, Leo
The alphabet tree is full of letters. After the storm, all the letters grouped together because they were afraid. A bug and a caterpillar teach teamwork so the letters can say something important.

Pie for piglets: Counting by twos
Dahl, Michael
Two pigs decide to make a pie. They put in many different ingredients two-by-two.

I took the moon for a walk
Curtis, Carolyn
A little boy takes the moon on an adventurous walk. At first the moon is timid but then opens up to the little boy. They do things together such as swing, hold hands, and dance until the boy goes home to go to the sleep.

Moo who?
Palatini, Margie
Hilda Mae Heifer, the cow, was singing, running, and having a good old time. Suddenly from out of nowhere a hard flying cow pie whacks her in the head. It causes her to lose her moo. She forgets what sound she makes. She meets a goose, chickens, a pig, and a cat and copies their sounds until she becomes familiar with her own sound again.

Toni's topsy-turvy telephone day
Ljungkvist, Laura
Toni wants to have a potluck dinner. She calls all of her guests and tells each of them what to bring. It's the day of the party and her guests have arrived. Something has happened! Her friends misunderstood what Toni told them to bring. Now Toni has no food to feed her guests. What will Toni do?

Ant and honey bee: What a pair!
McDonald, Megan
Ant and Honey Bee use their friendship to create a two-things-that-go-together pair of costumes for Cricket's party. As it starts to rain on the walk to Cricket's house, what will happen to Ant and Honey Bees costumes?

Get to work trucks!
Carter, Don
In the morning trucks, such as dump trucks, bulldozers, cement mixers, tow trucks, cranes, and rollers, go to work. Learn about types of machines, sizes, colors, and numbers. At night, the trucks are finished working for the day.

First snow
McCully, Emily Arnold
Little mice children enjoy the first snow with Grandma and Grandpa. They skate, make a snowman, and sled down the hill.

Cherry free
Bond, Ruskin
A girl from India gathers cherries and plants a cherry seed. She takes care of the cherry tree even when experiencing many problems. The girl watches the tree grow up as her grandfather watches her grow up.

Dona flor
Mora, Pat
A vicious animal is causing panic among the villagers. Done Flor, a giant woman with a heart of gold, helps find the reason behind the mysterious beast.

A boy and his bunny
Bryan, Sean
One morning a boy wakes up to discover that he has found himself a new friend. Fred the bunny is on his head. The boy's mother is unsure about his new friend, but he assures her that he can accomplish many things with Fred on his head.

Wet dog!
Broach, Elise
An old dog, hot from the noon day sun, wanders down the road in search of a way to cool off. He discovers different sources of cool water, but is always chased away until he meets a too-hot baby. When the baby's family sees her and the wet dog enjoying the cool water, they join in the splashing having a wonderful time.

Audrey and barbara
Lawson, Janet
Audrey has big ideas for herself and her cat, Barbara. She wants to cross the ocean in her bathtub sailboat to visit the Taj-Mahal and ride on an elephant. But will her imagination take her all the way to India?

Bird, fly high.
Horacek, Petr
As the bird flies, flaps, hops, pecks, and tugs; she fetches food. For the bird and her little ones, it is breakfast time.

The cow that went oink
Most, Bernard
All of the animals on the farm laugh at the cow that says oink and the pig that says moo. This makes the animals feel badly about themselves. The cow and the pig decide to work together and teach each other what they know. In the end, they become the envy of all of the other animals on the farm.

Magic beach
Johnson, Crockett
Two children draw different words in the sand. As the tide washes over the word, the object written in the sand appears. They explore the land they created by writing in the sand.

Beverly billingsly takes a bow
Stadler, Alexander
A young girl receives a trunk full of costumes for her birthday. Her new found love for acting has her trying out for the school play. On the day of auditions she gets stagefright. While, at first she is disappointed with the outcome, she makes the best of it in the end.

Madlenka's dog
Sis, Peter
A little girl desires a dog more than anything in the world. Her parents won't allow it, so she walks her imagniary dog around the city block. The community embraces her dog with memories of their own magical pets! Look under flaps on certain pages to see people and pets.

Food fight
Shields, Carol Diggory
Food takes on a whole new perspective with a play on words. A steady rhythm is evident and the food springs to life. Makes you wonder what really happens when that refrigerator door closes.

I kissed the baby
Murphy, Mary
A new baby duck arrives on the farm and everyone is making a fuss. They all tickle, kiss, sing, and feed the baby duck.

Big bad wolf
Marurel, Claire
Things aren't always what they seem. The villagers keep talking about a big, bad wolf and describe him. Their details are accurate, but skewed a little. The wolf has a family just like them and kisses his children good night after a run in the forest.

Just like new
Manson, Ainslie
It is a time of war and children in England won't have Christmas presents. A little girl's class decides to give gifts they love that are like new. The little girl unselfishly gives up her most cherished doll and inserts a note, and a girl from England becomes her pen pal after receiving the gift.

Do like Kyla
Johnson, Angela
A little girl looks up to her older sister Kyla. Anything Kyla does, her little sister mimics. Her adoration for her sister is evident from waking up to bedtime.

Good night sam
Gay, Marie-Louise
Sam and Stella lay down to go to sleep, but Sam can't fall asleep without his dog Fred. Stella gets up to help him find his dog. They look everywhere before giving up and going back to bed. They find Fred asleep in Sam's bed!

Gerald Mcboing boing
Dr. Suess
A little boy makes unique noises instead of talking. He doesn't seem to fit in anywhere and is lonely. He is found by a man who has a radio station. He appreciates the boy's abilities.

The jungle grapevine
Beard, Alex
In Africa, the bird and the turtle are taking a walk and the turtle says that the humor at the watering hole is drying up. The bird misunderstands him and flies off to tell the elephant that the watering hole is drying up. The snake hears and goes to the watering hole but finds that it's full. Snake tells the crocodile that the watering hole might actually flood. This scares the crocodile, and one misunderstanding leads to another spreading chaos throughout the jungle.

The marshmallow incident
Barrett, Judi
The town of Right and the town of Left do not have anything to do with one another. Someone had even painted a yellow line that nobody ever dared cross. The Order of the Ambidextrous Knights of the Dotted Yellow Line, watch over the line as well as guarding their marshmallows. In June, the town of Right has their picnic, and someone accidentally trips over the yellow line. The knights immediately grab the closest ammunition: their marshmallows, and minutes later both towns are covered with marshmallows, until they realize how silly it was. The towns hold town meetings and no one could think of reasons why they should keep the yellow line. The two towns join together to wash the yellow line and socialize for the first time.

Pumpkin day!
Wallace, Nancy Elizabeth
A rabbit goes to a farm to learn about pumpkins. The parents teach their children how they grow, how to carve them, and how to cook multiple recipes with this great vegetable.

The golden rule
Cooper, Ilene
A boy and his grandfather are standing on a city sidewalk when they see a billboard starting Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The boy asks his grandpa what it says and the grandpa reads it and explains the Golden Rule. The boy is intrigued by the rule and starts asking questions. The grandpa explains that each religion has their own version of the Golden Rule. They discuss what the world would be like if everyone followed the Golden Rule. The boy starts to understand the Golden Rule and the grandpa reminds him that the Golden Rule starts with one person: You. It beings with you.

Tiny and Bigman
Gershater, Phillis
Challenging stereotypical gender roles, Tiny and Bigman illustrate the unique people skills people have to help the world go around and to make a happy family. Tiny learns to use her large size, strength, and booming voice to help people in her community. Tiny falls in love with a small man who is hard of hearing. She builds their house, and he cooks and cleans.

Start saving Henry
Carlson, Nancy
Henry gets $5 every week for his allowance, but he spends it immediately on something that catches his eye. One day he sees Super Robot Dude, but his mother won't buy it for him and tells him he has to save his allowance. Whenever Henry is close to $30, something happens to make him lose his money again. One day, his grandma has a surprise for Henry, and he learns that working hard to save money will pay off in the end!

Namaste!
Cohn, Diana
Nima Sherpa lives next to Mount Everest, and her father guides people to the top of the mountains once a year. Before he leaves, he tells Nima that he will have a story for her when he returns and asks Nima if she will have a story for him. As Nima walks around the village thinking of what her story could be, she greets everyone with Namaste, just as her mom taught her. She struggles with her story until she realizes that she spreads sweetness everytime she says Namaste.

The fox and the hen
Battut, Eric
Henrietta Hen lays her first egg, but she doesn't know what it is. Red Fox comes along and asks to trade her egg for a nice juicy work and she agrees. The other animals help Henrietta realize her mistake, so they each try to offer something valuable to trade for Red Fox's egg. When the animals solve the problem with one final idea, Henrietta goes home to find a little yellow chick. Coming out of her original egg.

Making room
Taylor, Joanne
John William Smith dedicated his life to helping others, especially people in need by inviting them into his very own home! His dedication to family is heart-warming and his marriage is strong. Readers will find a unique meaning of home in this story.

The tooth fairy meets El Raton Perez
Lainez, Rene Colato
The Tooth Fairy and El Raton Perez see their signal for a new tooth. When they get to the house, they meet each other for the first time. They start fighting over whose tooth it is which causes the tooth to fly across the room. The tooth lands in the bookshelf. El Raton Perez can't climb up and the Tooth Fairy can't fit in small places. They decide to work together and share the tooth.

Katy duck is a caterpillar
Capucilli, Alyssa
Katy Duck loves to dance. She especially loves dancing during springtime. When she arrives as Mr. Tutu's School of Dance, Mr. Tutu announces the dance recital will be a spring celebration. Katy Duck is so excited; however, when Mr. Tutu announces the parts, she is disappointed. Reluctantly, she practices her caterpillar moves. During the spring recital, her big entrance comes up so she slowly inches out. When she realizes new and exciting changes occur during springtime, she transforms into a beautiful butterfly!

Bartleby Speaks!
Cruise, Robin
Bartleby is a very quiet baby. He learns to crawl, walk and explore, but he still doesn't talk. His family and even the dog try to get him to talk by singing, dancing, playing instruments, but Bartleby still won't speak. On his birthday he speaks his first word: listen, and for the first time his family stops and listens.

Clean your room, harvey moon!
Cummings, Pat
Harvey Moon's room is a mess. His mother makes him clean it up all day on Saturday and he must miss his favorite television shows. Although he was upset he had to clean, he feels a sense of accomplishment in the end.