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Uncle vova's tree
Polacco, Patricia
A Russian family gathers together to celebrate Christmas in the Russian tradition.

What I like about me!
Zobel-Nolan, Allia
Features are what make each of us different. The children of this story like their unique appearance.

Roses sing on new snow
Yee, Paul
Maylin cooks in a restaurant in Chinatown in the New World. One day the governor of South China comes to visit and invites all of the restaurants in Chinatown to bring their best dish to a special banquet.

Mr. fong's toy shop
Politi, Leo
Mr. Fong entertains the children with stories and toys. In preparation for the Moon Festival, he creates a shadow puppet play for the children.

Grandfather's journey
Say, Allen
A young man describes the journey of his grandfather between Japan and America. When the young man visits America, he falls in love with it. He begins to feel like his grandfather, and gains a better understanding of him through his journey and emotions.

Dikou and the baby star
Elzbieta
Dikou finds a baby star in the forest. He takes the star home, but does not know what to feed it. It keeps getting dimmer until his parents help him launch it back into the sky.

Sayonara, mrs. kackleman
Kalman, Maira
Alexander tells his older sister that he wants to go to Japan, so she takes him. When they get there, Hiroko guides them through Japan to learn all about their way of life.

The always prayer shawl
Oberman, Sheldon
A person's life is followed from birth to almost death. Jewish traditions, culture, and families are highlighted.

Island boy
Cooney, Barbara
Matthais learns many skills with age. He always returns to his island home and eventually watches new generations of families grow and learn the island ways

Gracias, Rosa
Markel, Michelle
When Kate gets a new babysitter, she is not too excited because Rosa speaks Spanish. Soon Kate and Rosa learn to communicate and share each other's traditions.

Now let me fly
Johnson, Dolores
A family moves from Africa to America. They suffer hardships in anticipation of a different future.

Barn
Atwell, Debby
After the American Revolution, a barn is built and endures the many stages of history. The barn describes its transitions through farming days, world wars, peace rallies, and other historical events.

Cleversticks
Ashley, Bernard
Ling Sung feels that he's not able to do anything at his school. One day by accident, his use of pretend chopsticks amazes his classmates and teachers.

The birthday swap
Lopez, Loretta
Lori wants to find her older sister the perfect gift for her birthday. At the market, Lori learns that it's not easy to find the right gift. Little does Lori know that the best gifts can come to us when we least expect them. Why is this the year of the best birthday party ever?

The moon was at a fiesta
Gollub, Matthew
The moon over Oaxaca, Mexico is jealous of the sun. She plans for a fiesta one night so she can have fun like the sun. Afterwards though, she realizes that this causes imbalance in nature, so she never does it again.

Day of the dead
Johnston, Tony
A Mexican family spends many days preparing for the celebration of the Day of the Dead, one of Mexico's most important holidays. They eat food, sing, dance and use flowers to celebrate and honor the family members who have passed on.

Merry christmas, strega nona
dePaola, Tomie
Strega Nona has a huge Christmas feast to prepare. How will she finish with untrustworthy Big Anthony as her only helper?Big Anthony will suprise us in the end!

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.

We had a picnic this sunday past
Woodson, Jacqueline
Teeka and her grandmather wait fo the arrival of all their relatives at the family picnic. They both fear that Aunt Martha will show up with her dried-out apple pie. When everyone arrives, they have a wonderful feast.

The chanukkah tree
Kimmel, Eric A.
The citizens of Chelm are tricked by a salesman selling Christmas trees. All the citzens of Chelm are Jewish and celebrate Hanukkah. The salesman tells them that Hanukkah trees are the latest trend in America. They believe him, buy the tree, and find out they were tricked. The citizens make the best of it by continuing the Hanukkah tree for the birds to enjoy.

Preep: The little pigeon of trafalgar square
Shulman, Milton
An odd little pigeon is taken from Trafalgar Square. All the rest of the pigeons go on strike until he is returned. Life returns to normal when the little pigeon is returned.

La boda: A mexican wedding celebration
Van Laan, Nancy
Little Maria learns all about La Boda, a mexican wedding, from her grandmother, in a bilingual manner. She becomes part of the celebration and is happy to learn about and be part of her first wedding.

Hooray, a pinata!
Kleven, Elisa
It's Clara's birthday, and she wants a pinata for her party. Clara, her mom, and her friend Samson go to the pinata store and Clara chooses a cute dog. Clara grows to love the dog and will not break him open. Samson saves the day by bringing another pinata to the party!

The carp in the bathtub
Cohen, Barbara
Leah and Henry want to save the carp that their mom will want to cook for dinner. They try to hide the carp in the tub and also in a bucket. Their dad explains that fish are for eating so he gives them a cat as a pet.

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.

Angelo goes to the carnival
Goodenow, Earle
Angelo has his first experience with an Italian carnival.

My special best words
Steptoe, John
A young black girl shares special words during the day with her younger brother, her baby sitter, and her single father.

Friends from the other side
Anzaldua, Gloria
Prietita is a young girl who befriends a young immigrant from Mexico. He lives with his mother in a shed. When the police come, Prietita hides them so they won't be taken away. This story is in English and Spanish.

Meet guguze
Vangheli, Spiridon
Through a collection of eight short stories, young Guguze and his family enjoy adventures from season to season.

Everybody cooks rice
Dooley, Norah
Carrie's mom sends her out looking for her little brother at dinner time. While she is looking, she stops at many of her neighbors' houses and tries their cultural dinners made with rice

Busy people
Butterworth, Nick
People around town have different jobs and use different tools to do their jobs. For example, Tom is a grocer, what does he sell?Betty is a baker what does she bake?

The nose
Gogol, Nikolai
A barber finds a nose in his bread and goes on a journey to discover how it got there.

Danilo the fruitman
Valens, Amy
Danilo, the fruitman, sells oranges to all the people in town. One day he discovers a new fruit, but when he tries to sell it, people just laugh at him. When he discovers the secret of this fruit, he becomes very popular with all the people.

Bonjour, mr. satie
dePaola, Tomie
Mr. Satie has to decide whose paintings are better - Henri or Pablo. His decision ends up uniting the two artists and ending their feud.

The chocolate cow
Obligado, Lilian
Pierre is worried that his father might sell Melody, his cow. Melody can no longer give milk and Pierre's father has no need for her. Pierre decides to do all he can for Melody so she will produce milk. He feeds her the best food, and she turns into a very special cow.

Eyes of the dragon
Leaf, Margaret
A young boy is growing up in a rural village in China. An artist paints a dragon without eyes on the wall of a village. When the town insist he puts eyes on the dragon, amazing events occur.

The sign painter
Say, Allen
A boy with a love of painting wanders into town looking for a job when he sees a sign painter. Together, they go into the desert, painting a dozen billboards with just what was ordered, a woman's face and a single word, Arrowstar. Not understanding the meaning behind these billboards in the middle of the desert, the boy longs to paint beautiful landscapes instead. Still, the sign painter insists they stick to the order. Near the end of their journey, they learn the dream behind the billboards and the boy remembers a dream of his own.

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.

Siggy's spaghetti works
Thomson, Peggy
Siggy takes a group of students through his spaghetti factory. He shows them how to make spaghetti from start to finish. The children get to test the pasta during their tour. Siggy tells the students of the history of spaghetti and then they all dine on spaghetti.

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.

Abuela
Dorros, Arthur
A little girl uses her imagination to transport her and her grandmother out of a bus to view the many sites over New York City.

Evan's corner
Hill, Elizabeth Starr
Evan needs a place of his own so he fixes up a corner in his house with pictures, furniture, and pet turtles!When Evan is done with his corner, he decides to help his siblings fix up their corners!

Mama talks too much
Russo, Marisabina
It's Saturday morning, which means Celeste and her Mama make a trip to the market!As they walk through their urban neighborhood, Celeste and her Mama stop every few minutes. Mama always stops to talk, talk, talk with her friends. Will they ever make it to the market?

The house of wisdom
Heide, Florence Parry//Gilliland, Judith Heide
The House of Wisdom, an ancient library in Baghdad, is the center for new ideas and a quest for knowledge from all parts of the world. As scholars study and translate the ancient manuscripts, one boy, Ishaq, learns the wisdom on Aristotle through his expedition and a special book.

Where the forest meets the sea
Baker, Jeannie
A boy travels with his father to a special place where no people are. While on this trip, the boy wonders what will happen in the future to nature and the environment.

Going for oysters
Adams, Jeanie
An Australian girl tells how she fishes for oysters and fish. It is a long and dangerous job. The whole family enjoys eating the fish that she catches.

Madeline in america: An other holiday tales
Bemelmans, Ludwig
Madeline's grandfather passes away and leaves all of his inheritance to Madeline, but it is in Texas instead of Paris. Madeline takes her friends to Texas and they enjoy the inheritance. Then they find out Madeline does not get it till she is 21 So it is back to Paris.

The thanksgiving story
Dalgliesh, Alice
The pilgrims voyage across the ocean from England to the new world. Many hardships await them in America, but they are determined to get there. After a long, cold winter and a beautiful spring, summer and autumn, the pilgrims celebrate Thanksgiving with the Indians.

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.

Gregory cool
Binch, Caroline
A young African-American boy visits an unfamiliar country. He is extremely apprehensive, but grows to love it. He misses it upon his return home.