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The lotus seed
Garland, Sherry
A girl tells the story of her grandmother's life. Her grandmother was forced to flee Vietnam during the war and move to America.

The lost and found house
Cadnum, Michael
A moving truck and moving men load items from a boy's house until the house is empty. The boy and his parents feel differently as they leave and travel to their new house. The boy meets two children and hopes someday they will be his friends!

The language of doves
Wells, Rosemary
On her sixth birthday Julietta is given a dove by her grandfather, and he shares a story about his doves being used for communication during World War I. Julietta is comforted by the dove after her grandfather's death.

The land of no
Anderson, Jill
Tiffany always hates to be told no, so she dreams up a place called the Land of No. Here, everyone always answers with the word no. Tiffany learns how to word her requests in order to het her way. When she awakes from her dream, her mother answers yes.

The king's procession
McCrea, James//McCrea, Ruth
As the king's procession rides through the village, Pipin, the tall boy, is made fun of becauses he rides a donkey. The king makes a proclamation to give Pipin a new grand pony, but Pipin chooses to keep his donkey.

The jester has lost his jingle
Saltzman, David
A court jester is banished from his kingdom for not being funny. He decides it's not him but the world that has lost laughter. The jester and his helpmate travel all over looking for laughter and eventually they find it.

The house that jack built
Galdone, Paul
Jack's house is a lot more than just his house. Many animals and people have a connection to this seemingly simple house.

The house gobbaleen
Alexander, Lloyd
After a stroke of bad luck, Tooley calls up on the Friendly Folk to help him improve his luck. When Hooks comes to the door, Tooley invites him in the house despite warnings from his cat. Hooks takes advantage of Tooley and makes his luck even worse than before-until the house gobbaleen scares Hooks away.

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!

The great blueness and other predicaments
Lobel, Arnold
The world is all grey so the wizzard creates colors. He first makes blue and people paint the whole world this color. Everyone, becomes sad. So then he creates yellow and then red. People aren't happy until they realize that they can use many colors to paint the world.

The goodbye painting
Berman, Linda
Nick's babysitter, Sara, is the best ever. She paints with him, bakes cookies with him, and even teaches him to paint. But one day, Sara has bad news for Nick -- soon she will be moving to California. Nick must learn to let go of not only a babysitter, but a good friend.

The good-bye book
Viorst, Judith
A little boy is angry when he finds out that his parents are going to a French restaurant without him. He tries to convince his parents to either stay home or take him along. The little boy finally says good bye to his parents when his favorite babysitter arrives.

The good tiger
Bowen, Elizabeth
Sara and Bob want to invite their tiger friend over for tea. When Sara fails to tell her mother that she invited a tiger, chaos occurs. The tiger leaves, but Sara and Bob find him in the forest where they have the best party ever.

The good luck cat
Harjo, Joy
Woogie, the cat, is thought to have good luck. But when she goes missing, will her good luck run out or will it bring her back home before her nine lives run out?

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.

The girl who loved the wind
Yolen, Jane
Danina's father does not want her to experience life's harshnesses or sorrows. She is surrounded only by beauty. Then, the wind comes and tells her of another world. She accepts it's challenge by setting out to discover the real world and broadening her sheltered life.

The gardener
Stewart, Sarah
Lydia takes a train to go live with her Uncle Jim who doesn't smile. Lydia uses flowers and plants to bring joy to everyone. She writes home to her mother, father, and grandmother to describe to new experiences.

The garden of happiness
Tamar, Erika
A multicultural community works together to clear out an empty lot and turn it into a garden. Marisol plants a sunflower seed in the garden, and watches how it grows and changes through the seasons, contributing to The Garden of Happiness.

The frog who wanted to see the sea
Billout, Gary
One day, a little frog named Alice asks a passing seagull about life beyond her pond. The seagull tells Alice about everything there is to see between her pond and the great sea. Feeling courageous, Alice take up her lilly pad and embarks on a wondrous adventure to the sea and back.

The fortune tellers
Alexander, Lloyd
A carpenter who is unhappy with his life, goes to a fortune teller. The fortune teller tells him that he will be rich and famous. The carpenter does become rich and famous by becoming a fortune teller himself.

The enemy: A book about peace
Bloch, Serge//Cali, Davide
There are two soldiers, each in a hole, with an order to kill the other. They both are tired and want the war to end. Finally one gives up and goes off to kill the other, only to find he has done the same. He sees that the other soldier is more like himself than he thought. In a desperate measure to end the war he doesn't understand, he launches a message in a bottle to the other hold.

The egg
Robertson, M.P.
George finds what he thinks to be a giant chicken egg. However, when it hatches, a dragon comes out. He cares for it and teaches it necessary skills but the dragon longs to be with his family. Before going to his home with the other dragons, the dragon takes George for an adventure and thanks him for his kindness and caring.

The earth and i
Asch, Frank
The child in the story describes the reciprocity between himself,herself and the earth using activities such as playing, listening and growing and emotions and relationships, such as sadness and friendship.

The dream quilt
Ryan, Celeste
Michael has bad dreams with many animals flooding his thoughts. A special quilt from the cedar chest is pulled out to play a game with his mother each night. A square from the quilt is chosen for sending a letter into dreamland. Michael's mother kisses him good night, and Michael has a wonderful dream. After Granny Rose comes to visit, Michael starts to dream in rainbows.

The crocodile in the tree
Duvoisin, Roger
A crocodile lives on a farm. The animals are scared of the crocodile at first. The crocodile makes friends with the farmer's wife.

The cow who fell in the canal
Krasilovsky, Phyllis
Hendrika is a cow on a farm in Holland. Bored with her everyday routine, Hendrika longs to see the city. One day, she gets that chance and stirs up a lot of commotion in the city.

The colors that i am
Sheehan, Cilla
Using colors to express feelings, children learn to understand emotions. The reader is also asked how to express each emotion.

The chief's blanket
Chanin, Michael
After the rain, Flower longs for a day when she will see the great chief. When she has to make a blanket for him, she doubts her weaving skills. With her grandmother's love and encouragement, Flower makes the blanket. Will the chief ever receive such a gift?

The chicken sisters
Numeroff, Laura
The three chicken sisters find happiness as they cook, sing, and knit, although they don't do any of these things very well. This bothers their neighbors until a wolf moves in next door. The neighbors are all frightened by the wolf, but the sisters' cooking, singing, and knitting make him move out of town.

The cello of mr. o
Cutler, Jane
Join Mr. O and the rest of his worn-torn city as he plays music to improve the city's spirits. Just when things were bad enough, a rocket destroys the truck that helps to save the town. See what the community does to keep healthy during this crisis time of war.

The cat who walked across France
Banks, Kate
After the death of his owner, a cat is moved to another city. He has fond memories of the old woman and wishes to find his home again. The cat begins a journey across the country to find his way back to the stone house. When he arrives, he finds the door open, walks in, and finds a spot to fall asleep. He is awoken by two children who reminds him of the old woman with whom he finds home again.

The cat who loved to sing
Hogrogian, Nonny
A cat goes through a series of trades with many people. Each trade makes the person happy and in the end, the cat gets what it wanted.

The butterfly
Polacco, Patricia
When a little girls meets a ghost which turns out to be a girl that is hiding in the cellar with the rest of her family from the Nazi's. They form a friendship that is strong. But the friendship is broken up by the sudden movement of her and her family. But butterflies show that everything is fine even though they are apart.

The boy who hated valentine's day
Wittman, Sally
Ben hates Valentine's Day because he didn't get any Valentines at the party last year. He decides to forge Valentines from the students in his class to give some to himself, but he ends up giving them all to the new boy who didn't get any Valentines either.

The blushful hippopotamus
Raschka, Chris
Roosevelt's sister teases him when he makes mistakes and blushes, calling him a blushful hippopotamus. This makes him angry and sad, but his best friend helps him realize how special he really is.

The blues of flats brown
Myers, Walter Dean
Flats the dog loved to play the blues on his guitar, but his master, A.J. Grubbs had another idea. He wanted Flats, and his friend Caleb, to become fighting dogs. Finally tired of Grubbs' abuse, Flats and Caleb run away. They decide to pursue Flats' musical career, but everywhere they go Grubbs finds them. In the end, their owner has a change of heart about Flats playing the blues.

The black dog who went into the woods
Hurd, Edith Thacher
When Black Dog doesn't come home, his family searches the nearby woods and calls their neighbors looking for him. That night, each of the family members dreams about Black Dog. The next morning they realize it was Black Dogs way of saying good-bye to them as he died.

The biggest soap
Shaefer, Carole
Kessy loved to listen to stories told by his Mama and his cousins on laundry days. One laundry day, Kessy is asked to go to the store and bring back the biggest piece of laundry soap. Kessy returns and tells his story about the biggest soap.

The best-ever good-bye party
Hest, Amy
Jessica's best friend Jason is moving away and she is sad. She gives him a party, but they have a fight about him moving, finding new friends, and having better parties. The two make up and admit that they will miss each other.

The best place
Meddaugh, Susan
After talking with a bird on his lovely screen porch, an old wolf realizes that he may be missing out on some wonderful places because he's spent so much time admiring his porch with the beautiful view. Determined to see the world, the old wolf sells his house to a young rabbit family and sets out on his travels. However, after a trip down a river, an afternoon in the hot desert, and a tour of London drowned in rain, the wolf realizes that his front porch really is the best place in the world. However, the rabbits have settled and will not give the wolf his house back. Saddened he runs far into the forest and retreats to the top of a tall tree for the night. When he awakens, he realizes that this could be his new best place so he and his old neighbors work together to build his new home.

The best nest
Mueller, Doris
Long ago, magpie nests were the envy of all other birds. To help the other birds, Maggie Magpie patiently explains how to build a nest. But some birds are impatient and fly off without listening to all the directions, which is why, to this day, bird nests come in all different shapes and sizes. This clever retelling of an old English folktale teaches the importance of careful listening.

The best cat in the world
Newman, Leslea
Victor's favorite cat Charlie dies. Victor is very sad that his cat died. He ends up getting a new kitten named Shelly. Victor doesn't understand why Shelly doesn't do the same things that Charlie did. Victor soon discovers that even though Shelly is a different cat and is not like Charlie, she is unique and his new favorite pet.

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.

The balloon sailors
Swanson, Diana
When bickering princes take the throne, the kingdom is split in two by a wall so that each brother rules half. The kingdom is divided and it is illegal for people to cross the wall. Since Tamala and Abalon are forbidden to see their grandmother and cousin on the other side of the wall, they decide to float over it in a hot air balloon. They work with their parents to collect materials, build the balloon, and wait for the perfect weather conditions. The family departs during the night, escapes military fire from soldiers, and surprises their relatives in the morning. This adventure is loosely based on the true story of two East German families sailing over the Berlin Wall in their own hot air balloon in 1979.

The baby who would not come down
Knight, Joan
The new baby in the family is smothered with kisses and love. Tired of the excessive attention the baby floats into the air after his uncle tosses him up. The baby does not come down until the family realizes that he has too much of some things and not enough of others.

The babe and I
Adler, David A.
A young boy and his family are living through the Great Depression of 1932. When he learns that his father does not have a job, he gets a job with his friend selling newspapers to help make money for his family. He sells all of his papers outside of Yankee Stadium due to the popularity of Babe Ruth and his stories in the paper. He even gets to meet the Babe!

The aunt in our house
Johnson, Angela
One day, aunt moves into the home of her nephew, niece, and their mom and dad. The children love their aunt and are so glad that she has moved in with them.

The auction
Andrews, Jan
A boy named Tom visits his grandfather's farm the day before it's suppose to be auctioned off. He is very sad and relives old memories with his grandfather. This helps them both deal with the pain.


Thank you, mr. falker
Polacco, Patricia
Trisha loves being read to and loves being at school because she can draw there. When it is Trisha's time to read, she is teased and feels dumb. Thanks to Mr. Falker, one of her teachers, she gains confidence and learns how to read.