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The ghost of skinny jack
Lindgren, Astrid
Grandma tells two children the story of skinny Jack, a farmhand that becomes a ghost. The children then journey home but it gets dark and the little girl thinks she is grabbed by skinny Jack. When her father comes and rescues her from the ghost, a hazlenut branch strikes her in her back.

Another helping of chips
Hughes, Shirley
Four short stories tell about the adventures of chips and Jessie. Together they encounter adventures concerning spring cleaning, a visiting uncle, a stray kitten, and Christmas.

How the grinch stole christmas
Seuss, Dr.
The Grinch wants to stop Chrismas in Who-ville, so he dresses up as Santa and takes all the materialistic parts of Christmas. When the Grinch realizes the Who's are not upset and that there still is a Christmas, he realizes that Christmas is more than presents and decorations. He returns their belongings and discovers the true meaning of Christmas.

When vera was sick
Rosenberry, Vera
Vera is sick. She has to sleep in the spare bedroom until she feels better, but it's lonely and scary in there. Her mother tries to make her more comfortable, but she just can't sleep and she's too sick to do anything else. After a few days of rest, Vera is feeling better. She plays games, sings songs, painted pictures, and then finally goes outside to play.

Jeremy's first haircut
Girard, Linda Walvoord
Jeremy is three years old and has very long hair. He is scared to get a haircut because he thinks it will hurt. Finally, he agrees to let his parents cut his hair and decides it was fun.

Fire diary
Rosenblatt, Lily
A young girl loses everything she has in a fire. In her diary, she works through her feelings of loss and pain. She also plans strategies to escape fires in the future.

Space witch
Freeman, Don
A witch is building a spaceship to go and scare others on a different planet. When she is in space, instead of scaring others, she gets scared herself. She comes back to the earth and decides to stick with a broom.

Harry and tuck
Keller, Holly
Harrison and Tucker are twin brothers who are very close and act alike as they are growing up. When they go to kindergarten, they end up in different classrooms. Although they are upset intially, they learn to develop differences and like it.

Through moon and stars and night skies
Turner, Ann//Hale, James
A little boy from another country is adopted by a couple in another country. On his flight to his new home he deals with the fears of moving and he wonders if his new mom and dad will love him.

Maybe tomorrow i'll have a good time
Soderstorm, Mary
Marsha Lou's mom decides to go back to work. This means the Marsha Lou will have to go to child care. She is very unhappy, but she soon adjusts.

Nick joins in
Lasker, Joe
Nick, confined to a wheelchair, is going to school for the first time. He is anxious and scared. Nick overcomes his feelings and makes friends at school.

My mother is the most beautiful woman in the world
Reyher, Becky
Varya helps her parents Marfa and Ivan prepare the wheat for the harvest, but she loses her way. In her search for her mother, she discovers the value of an old Russian proverb about beauty and love.

When mindy saved hanukkah
Kimmel, Eric A.
Mindy, a mouse-sized girl, bravely faces a cat in the synagogue to retrieve a candle for her tiny family's Hanukkah menorah. Her mission allows her family to celebrate their special holiday together.

Babushka baba yaga
Polacco, Patricia
Because the villagers are afraid of her, the legendary Baba Yaga disguises herself so she can become a loving grandmother.

Morgan and the artist
Carrick, Donald
An artist finds his own style through the help of his studio spirit, Morgan. With success and fame, the artist becomes afraid to change and quickly loses his success. Morgan helps him regain his inspiration and sense of art.

When eric's mom fought cancer
Vigna, Judith
A young boy copes with his mother's cancer. Going through a range of emotions, he finally comes to more of an understanding about her illness.

Lights out!
Himmelman, John
The Badger Scouts are ready for bed, but when their counselor turns out the light strange things begin to happen. The boys think that they hear and see all sorts of monsters. After getting flashlights, glasses of water, and a last trip to the bathroom, the boys are really ready for bed.

Darkness and the butterfly
Grifalconi, Ann
Osa is afraid of the dark, but learns that the dark is nothing to fear after visiting the wise woman in the woods.

Soo ling finds a way
Behrens, June
A little girl is worried because a new laundromat business is moving across the street from her grandfather's old laundry business. She sets out to help her grandfather stay in business.

Nobody knew what to do: A story about bullying
McCain, Becky Ray
Members of a class are always picking on Ray. Finally, a student decides that he can't continue to ignore this, so he tells a teacher about the situation. When the bullies come around this time, so do the teacher and principal.

Secret of the peaceful warrior
Millman, Dan
An old man named Socrates teaches Danny that the best way to deal with a bully is to be a peaceful warrior. He also teaches Danny to have courage to face his fears, strength to build confidence, and wisdom to deal with situations peacefully.

There's a monster under my bed
Howe, James
Alex is convinced that there are monsters under his bed that want to get him. He eventually decides to confront the monster, and discovers that his frightened brother is under his bed. The boys sleep together, comforted by each other's company.

The bravest babysitter
Greenberg, Barbara
Heather babysits Lisa on a rainy, stormy night. Terrified of lightning and thunder, Heather seeks comfort from Lisa. Lisa ends up babysitting Heather until the storm is over.

World famous muriel and the scary dragon
Alexander, Sue
A king asks Muriel to help people from his kingdom who are afraid of a dragon. With her peanut butter cookies, Muriel finds the dragon. She then gives the dragon a bath which makes him feel better. In return, he becomes a nicer dragon so the king continues to give him a bath once a week.

Arthur's camp-out
Hoban, Lillian
Arthur is bored one spring day so he decides to go on a field trip to collect specimens. He finds himself in some difficult situations and quickly discovers how quickly his bravery can wear off. Even though things don't go as planned, he still manages to have some fun, thanks to his friends.

Thunder cake
Polacco, Patricia
A little girl visits her grandma in Michigan and experiences a storm while she is there. The grandma has her help make a cake while the thunder is sounding which helps her to overcome her fear of thunder.

The busy world of Richard Scarry: A big operation
Scarry, Richard
After contracting his third sore throat of the year, Huckle is told that his tonsils need to be taken out. Afraid of the hospital and the word operation, Huckle tries to sneak out. His friend, Lowly, takes Huckle around the hopital to show how others are brave. Huckle decides that he too is brave and will go through with the operation.

Once when I was scared
Pittman, Helena Clare
A young boy recalls an imaginative tale once told to him by his grandfather. The story is about how his grandfather had to cross two hills and go through the dark woods to get hot coals for their fire. He would get so scared and run so fast that he thought he was an eagle. Grandfather gives his grandson two eagle feathers to use when he gets scared.

Selina, the mouse and the giant cat
Bohdal, Susi
A little girl named Selina has a fantastic dream about a mouse that becomes her friend and a cat that comes to eat him. Selina runs away from the cat in fear, but eventually must face the cat and protect the mouse.

Angel mae
Hughes, Shirley
The event of a birth in her family and preparations for a Christmas play cause Mae to be anxious. Mae's courage helps her to make decisions to solve her problems.

There's a little bit of me in jamey
Amadeo, Diana M.
Jamey has leukemia and becomes very sick. His brother feels like his family cares more about Jamey than they do him. His mother assures him that he is loved just as much as Jamey. When Jamey needs a bone marrow transplant he agrees to be the donor.

Frank was a monster who wanted to dance
Graves, Keith
Frank wants to dance. He puts on his best clothes and some ants in his pants and heads to the theatre. Once on stage, Frank dazzles the audience with his dancing. Everyone is impressed, until Frank starts to fall apart--literally!It doesn't matter to him, he can dance!

Madeline's rescue (Le sauvage de madeline)
Bemelmans, Ludwig
In an orphanage, a little girl named Madeline falls in a pond and is saved by a dog. The children want to keep the dog, but the school does not allow pets. After the inspection, they keep the dog anyway.

My daddy was a soldier: A world war II story
Ray, Deborah Kogan
While Jeannie's daddy is away fighting in the Pacific, Jeannie plants a Victory garden, collects scraps to help the war effort, and sends her daddy letters. She awaits his safe return.

My life with the wave
Cowan, Catherine
When a little boy brings an ocean wave home with him, he finds himself in trouble. He soon realizes that he has to take the wave back to the ocean where it belongs.

I can do it by myself
Little, Lessie Jones//Greenfield, Eloise
A young boy wants to go by himself to buy his mom a birthday gift. He becomes scared, but in the end he manages to do it by himself. He is proud of himself.

Woodpecker forest
Tejima, Keizaburo
A young woodpecker hatches out of his egg and matures until he is ready for his first flight. He is frightened to fly, but the image of his father comforts him.

The chick and the duckling
Ginsburg, Mirra
The chick does everything the duck does. The chick finds out the hard way that he is not a good swimmer and it saved by the duck. The chick never tries to swim again.

The terrible troll-bird
D'Aulaire, Ingri//D'Aulaire, Edgar
Four brothers and sisters are sent to the woods to get firewood and encounter a troll-bird. This causes a lot of trouble and they have to kill it which brings even more trouble!

The story about ping
Flack, Marjorie//Wiese, Kurt
To avoid getting a spanking for being the last duck to cross the bridge, Ping stayed overnight on the river bank. He loses his family and is captured by a little boy. He is held hostage on the little boy's boat. Finally the little boy sets Ping free and he is reunited with his family.

Owl at home
Lobel, Arnold
This book contains five stories about Owl and his daily adventures - from inviting winter in to sit by the fire to thinking sad thoughts to make tear-water tea.

Arnold of the ducks
Gerstein, Mordicai
A boy is taken from his home and dropped into a duck nest. He grows up thinking he is a duck. He eventually must struggle to regain his true identity.

The tiny patient
Pederson, Judy
A little girl and her grandma find an injured bird, so they nurse it back to health. When the bird recovers, they let it go into the wild.

The goose that almost got cooked
Simont, Marc
Emily the goose gets separated from her flock during their migration to Lake Artok. She drops in on a farm with other geese. As more and more geese begin to disappear, Emily realizes that her life is in danger.

Off to school, baby duck!
Hest, Amy
It's baby ducks first day of school and she's a little bit nervous. Mr. and Mrs. Duck tell her to be brave because she's going to have so much fun. They hurry off to school and meet Grandpa duck on the way who gives baby duck the confidence she needs for the first day. Baby duck happily goes off to school with her new friend Dary Duck.

Storm in the night
Stolz, Mary
On the night of a big storm, Thomas is a little afraid, so his grandfather tells him a story about how he overcame his fear when he was a young boy. Thomas is no longer afraid, so he can go to sleep.

Moonlight
Ormerod, Jan
A little girl has bad dreams and wants to be near her mom and dad to feel secure. When they try to put her to sleep, the parents get more and more sleepy.

There's a nightmare in my closet (Una pesadilla en mi armario)
Mayer, Mercer
A little boy is afraid that the nightmare in his closet will get him. One night, he decides to shoot the nightmare, but soon befriends the monster.

Ant plays bear
Byars, Betsy
Ant is a young boy with a wild imagination. An imagination that allows him to be a bear and a dog. He also imagines a giant outside his window and experiences the careers of his dreams.

The boy on the beach
Daly, Niki
Joe loves the beach. He likes splashing his mom and playing in the sand. He doesn't like the big waves though. He would rather pretend to be in the water. When Joe's pretending game tosses him overboard, he becomes scared. A friendly lifeguard helps him find his parents and everyone is happy again.