Browse Items · Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Tags: ambition

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Boycott blues: How Rosa Parks inspired a nation

Pinkney, Andrea Davis

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus because of her race, sparking a social movement to end segregation enforced by the Jim Crow laws.Following the arrest of Rosa Park, her supporters refused to ride the community bus system during the Montgomery bus boycott. Despite the struggles of this protest, the Jim Crow laws were eventually overturned due to the spark that Rosa Parks ignited to motivate a generation to stay resolute in their pursuit of justice.

Tags

aggression, ambition, america, author's note, beliefs, boycott, bravery, challenges, change, conflict, courage, determination, discrimination, history, music, onomatopoeia, prejudice, protest, walking

Ain't nobody a stranger to me

Grifalconi, Ann

As a girl and her grandfather walk to the family’s apple orchard, grandfather shares his experiences as a slave to explain how the apple orchard came to be. Her grandfather traveled north in pursuit of freedom and encountered members of the Underground Railroad who helped their family by providing food, shelter, and transportation. This allowed her grandfather, grandmother, and mother to cross the Ohio River and gain freedom, working until they had enough money to buy land and start their own apple orchard.

Tags

ambition, bodies of water, challenges, courage, family, freedom, future, grandparents, growth, happiness, hard work, helping, kindness, memories, neighbors, plants, progress, protection, river, shelter, slavery, tree, underground railroad

When I grow up, I will win the Nobel Peace Prize

Pin, Isabel

A young boy dreams and wishes to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He outlines the many things that he "will do" when he is older in order to win the prize and make the world a better place. He then realizes that he " better get started". Many recipients and dates of the Nobel Peace Prize and are listed in the Author's Note.

Tags

ambition, animals, author's note, bravery, daydreaming, dreams, environment, future, greed, hard work, history, humanity, love, neighbors, peace, protection

Loudmouth George and the sixth-grade bully

Carlson, Nancy

George's first day of school is ruined by Big Mike, who bullies George and steals his lunch. All week, George does everything he can to keep Big Mike happy. However, George can't live in fear forever! George and his friend Harriet spend the weekend devising a plan to stop Big Mike and his evil ways.

Crickwing

Cannon, Janell

Crickwing is different from all the other cockroaches. He likes to create sculptures and has a twisted wing. Crickwing is tired of being bullied by the bigger animals in the forest and mistakenly takes his anger out on the leaf-cutter ants, learning a valuable lesson in return.

What planet are you from, Clarice Bean?

Child, Lauren

Clarice Bean is having a hard time coming up with an idea for her project on the environment. To make matters worse, she is paired up with her tag-along neighbor, Robert Granger. Her situation looks hopeless until her brother becomes an ecowarrior in an effort to free the tree from being cut down in their neighborhood. Robert and Clarice become ecowarriors themselves, saving the tree and their project.

Ruby's wish

Bridges, Shirin Yim

Ruby is known for wearing red and being an exceptionally bright student. Even during a time in China when ...most girls were never taught to read and write. However, Ruby's grandfather hires a teacher to come to the house, making it possible for any grandchild living in the house to learn. This initiates a desire in Ruby to attend university, a place that women in China were not encouraged to go.\r\n*Based on a true story of the author's grandmother.

Tags

acceptance, accomplishment, ambition, appreciation, art, asian, assertiveness, beliefs, change, china, chinese, conflict, conflict resolution, courage, culture, customs, decision making, dedication, depression, determination, disappointment, emotions, encouragement, equality, excitement, family, frustration, generations, giving, goal setting, grandparents, happiness, independence, individuality, intelligence, kindness, language, learning, listening, new year, nonverbal communication, obedience, parade, patience, persistence, poetry, prevention, progress, reading, recognition, refusal skills, relationship, relief, resentment, resolution, role model, school, self confidence, self esteem, skills, stress management, support, symbols, sympathy, teaching, traditions, understanding, verbal communication, wealth, wish, writing

Angelo

Macauley, David

A man is repairing when he comes upon an injured pigeon. He nurses the pigeon back to health and a friendship fast emerges. The pigeon helps the man fulfill his lifelong dream and is surprised to find an addition to the building.

Tags

aging, ambition, birds, careers, church, death, food, friendship, health, italian, kindness, monuments, multicultural, music, pigeon, teamwork, work

Stage struck

DePaola, Tomie

Tommy knows the story of Peter Rabbit by heart. When his class decides to put on the production he wants to be cast in the roll of Peter. Tommy is so excited he does not pay attention to his teacher and as a result gets cast as Mopsy. However, Tommy has a plan to keep him in the spotlight.

Tags

acting, ambition, animals, attention, confidence, conflict, cooperation, creativity, dancing, disappointment, forgiveness, friendship, garden, humor, independence, listening, mouse, obedience, parents, performance, rabbit, school, self confidence

Ella's big chance: A jazz-age Cinderella

Hughes, Shirley

This version of the Cinderella story takes place in a dressmakers shop. Mr. Cinders and his daughter Ella run the shop. Ellaﾒs father remarries a wicked woman, and she and her daughters take over the household. A ball is announced and Ella desperately wants to go. Her fairy godmother sends her in a beautiful gown and the duke falls in love with her. Ella, however, denies the Duke and admits her love for Buttons, who has helped her and her father in the shop.

Girl wonder: A baseball story in nine innings

Hopkinson, Deborah

Alta's dream of becomming a professional baseball player comes true. She proves that it doesn't matter if you're a girl, you can still be just as talented. After pitching for an Ohio semipro baseball team in 1907, Alta goes on to become a doctor like her dad.

Tags

accomplishment, ambition, author's note, baseball, careers, confidence, determination, discrimination, doctor, gender, history, memories, practice, skills, sports, travel

Dangerous crossing

Krensky, Stephen

Showing no signs of fear, young Johnny Adams boards a ship with his father, the future second President of the United States, for a voyage from Massachusetts to Paris to gain support for the colonies. Their journey is depicted with vivid pictures and an exciting storyline portraying the battles, harsh weather and seasickness endured along the way by two key Presidents in U.S. history.

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.

Sky boys: How they built the empire state building

Hopkinson, Deborah

A boy watches in amazement as the Empire State Building is built. When the building is completed he goes to the top with his father to see all of the New York City.

Tags

accomplishment, ambition, architecture, beliefs, buildings, careers, ceremony, construction, day, determination, excitement, family, feelings, goal setting, hope, money, night, parents, sequence, sky, tools, transportation, truck, verbal communication, wish

A song for ba

Yee, Paul

A young, ambitious boy spends a lot of time with his grandfather learning how to sing and follow in the footsteps of his father who travels with a Chinese opera troupe. Wei, the little boy, loves to go to the opera and watch his father perform hoping one day, he too, will be a star. Through difficult times and financial loss, a young boy comes to the rescue of both his father and his cultural background.

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.

The unbeatable bread

Hoopes, Lyn Littlefield

Uncle Jon is determined to melt away the winter with his unbeatable bread. The wonderful aroma from his bread lures children and wild animals out of the cold winter morning into his kitchen.

Tags

ambition, animals, cooking, determination, five senses, food, health, moon, music, nutrition, rhyme, seasons, sleep, smell, song, sun, verbal communication, winter

The bat boy and his violin

Curtis, Gavin

Reginald loves playing the violin. Every free moment Reginald practices his violin, but his dad wants him to play baseball instead. Reginald does not give up. Soon his dad realizes the value and talent that Reginald has for the violin.

Tags

acceptance, african american, ambition, baseball, bus, camping, car, celebration, crowd, dedication, discrimination, embarrassment, encouragement, family, feelings, games, happiness, hard work, helping, history, instruments, love, mistake, multicultural, music, performance, practice, relationship, running, sports, transportation

On Meadowview Street

Coles, Henry

Caroline and her family move into a new house on Meadowview street. Much to Caroline's dismay, there is no meadow on Meadowview Street. After Caroline's hard work to create a wild life preserve in her own backyard, there is now a meadow on Meadowview Street, a new home to many.

Tags

ambition, amphibians, animals, bat, bee, beetle, birds, bodies of water, butterfly, dragonfly, family, flowers, home, hummingbird, insects, mouse, moving, nature, neighbors, parents, plants, pond, reptiles, rescue, spider, swallow, teamwork, tree, turtle, wildlife, wren

Madoulina: A girl who wanted to go to school: A story from south africa

Bognomo, Joel Eboueme

Madoulina has dreams of becoming a doctor. She doesn't, however, go to school because her mother needs her to sell fritters in the marketplace to earn money. Madoulina meets her brother's new teacher, who convinces her mom to find a way to let her go to school.

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?

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?

Roy makes a car: Based on a story collected by Zora Neale Hurston

Lyons, Mary

Roy Tyle is known around town as the best mechanic in Florida. Roy makes it his mission to create a car that will be accident proof. No one in the town believes him, but Roy proves them wrong time and time again. Roy's creativity and perseverance leads to the making of the best cars in the area.

Bantam of the opera

Auch, Mary Jane

Luigi, a bantam rooster, has big dreams of becoming a star singer one day. All the other roosters ridicule him, saying he is a show-off. Then one day he hides in a farmer's truck and takes a trip to the opera. Soon he is the star of the show.

Tags

accomplishment, acting, ambition, animals, careers, chicken, courage, excitement, farm, goal setting, independence, music, opera, performance

Casey jones's fireman: The story of sim webb

Farmer, Nancy

Sim Webb is finally getting his chance to work on a train for the famous Casey Jones. Casey is putting a brand new whistle on his train, but Casey knows it's a bad idea. He knows that something bad is about to happen.

Roberto the insect architect

Laden, Nina

Being an architect is tough when you are a termite. But with hard work and dedication, Roberto is determined to become one.

Tags

acceptance, accomplishment, ambition, ant, architecture, assertiveness, bee, beetle, bias, buildings, butterfly, careers, caring, creativity, critical thinking, dedication, determination, disappointment, discrimination, dreams, flea, fly, friendship, goal setting, habitat, hard work, insects, ladybug, museum, newspaper, patience, photograph, self confidence, self esteem, spider, technology, termite, tick, time, tools

I have heard of a land

Thomas, Joyce Carol

Moving across country must have been very hard. Pioneers often picked up their belongings and moved on toward a common goal: starting a new life!

A hanukkah treasury

Kimmel, Eric

Hanukkah is to me the time for lighting the menorah, spinning the dreidel, and remembering heros from the past. Poetry, music, and recipes help keep the Hanukkah tradition alive!

Tags

acceptance, accomplishment, adventures, ambition, american, animals, anticipation, appreciation, assertiveness, beliefs, bias, bravery, celebration, ceremony, challenges, change, charity, closeness, communication, conflict, conflict resolution, cooking, courage, critical thinking, culture, customs, decision making, destruction, determination, discrimination, elephant, family, feelings, folktale, food, freedom, games, goal setting, god, grandparents, grief, hanukkah, happiness, hebrew, heroism, history, holidays, hope, immigrants, independence, individuality, israelian, Jewish, kindness, language, love, loyalty, memories, miracle, moose, moving, multicultural, music, parents, peace, pilgrims, poetry, polish, politics, poverty, prayer, prejudice, presents, racism, religion, russian, sadness, secrets, siblings, snow, song, spiritual, storytelling, toys, traditions, war, weather

Rocks in his head

Hurst, Carol Otis

Carol Hurst's father loves collecting rocks in his spare time. After the Depression forces him to close his gas station, the father gets a job working with rocks at a science museum, realizing his dream.

Tags

ambition, business, car, careers, collection, depression, dreams, learning, money, moving, museum, parents, reading, rocks, science, transportation, work

The columbus story

Dalgliesh, Alice

As a child, Christopher Columbus dreams of becoming an adventurous sailor. When the King of Spain commissions Columbus to sail west, he discovers a strange new world, which turns out to be America.

Tags

ambition, assertiveness, biography, boat, bodies of water, confidence, determination, discovery, history, ocean, sea, transportation, travel

Mole music

McPhail, David

Mole lives by himself underground, spending his days digging tunnels. One night her hears the beautiful music from a violin, and he gets one and begins to make wonderful music. Although he thinks he is playing only for himself, his music has an impact on numerous people.

Tags

ambition, animals, conflict resolution, dedication, dreams, goal setting, hobby, instruments, listening, mole, music, nonverbal communication, peace, practice, royalty, success

Buzzy bear in the garden

Marino, Dorothy

Buzzy bear helps his father work on their garden. After making so many mistakes, Buzzy finally catches on and turns out to be a good gardener.

Tags

ambition, anger, animals, bear, birds, family, feelings, garden, helping, parents, pride, woodchuck

Hurry!

Haas, Jesse

Hurry!Hurry!If the grass gets wet, then the hay will spoil. Grandpa, Grandma, and Nora work hard to gather the hay before the gray clouds bring the rain. Cooperation and commitment help the family successfully gather the hay.

Tags

accomplishment, ambition, animals, barn, challenges, cooperation, crisis, decision making, determination, five senses, hard work, horse, problem solving, protection, rain, relief, responsibilities, smell, sounds, sun, transportation, wagon, weather, wind, worry

Love as strong as ginger

Look, Lenore

While her mother and father go to work in Chinatown, a young girl learns how to make rice dumplings and crab and shrimp soup with her grandma. They then take a bus to Grandma's work where she cracks crabs in a factory for a few pennies per day. Grandma prepares a crab meal at the end of a hard working day, made with love as strong as ginger. Katie appreciates her "Gnin Gnin" (grandmother) and all she does so Katie can follow her dress, becoming whoever she wants to be in America.

A moose is not a mouse

Berson, Harold

A mouse lives in fear of the cat. It is not until he sees a picture of a moose that he thinks that when he grows up he will be bigger than the cat. As it happens, the mouse's mother tells him that a mouse is not a moose.

Tags

ambition, animals, assertiveness, beliefs, cat, confusion, decision making, goal setting, growing up, imagination, misunderstanding, moose, mouse, peer resistance, self esteem

Snuff

Blake, Quentin

Snuff lives wiht a knight and wants to become a knight someday. He begins his training, but does not do anything right. Until one day, he comes up with a brilliant strategy to save the bootmaker's boots from the thieves. It works and Snuff is on his way to becoming a knight after all.

Tags

ambition, careers, confidence, critical thinking, royalty, self esteem, verbal communication

Hip cat

London, Jonathan

Hip Cat is cool and is idolized by others in town. Rhythm and music rock this cat's world.

Tags

ambition, animals, bodies of water, careers, cat, determination, dog, music, river

Oliver button is a sissy (Oliver button es un nena)

dePaola, Tomie

Despite Oliver's teasing classmates, he does not give up doing what he likes -- tap dancing. All of his dedication and hard work pays off in the end.

Tags

ambition, bias, bully, conflict resolution, dancing, dolls, exercise, goal setting, peer resistance, practice, reading, school, self esteem, stereotypes, verbal communication

The never-ending greenness

Waldman, Neil

A young boy plants trees to cope with the separation and loss he feels from his father who is at war. In doing this he single handedly turns a gloomy countryside destroyed by war back into the beautiful, alive place it once was. He also starts a holiday known today as Tu b'Shvat.

Tags

ambition, author's note, bravery, challenges, change, courage, dedication, dreams, escape, exploration, family, goal setting, hard work, hebrew, history, hope, israelian, Jewish, loss, mountains, multicultural, parents, plants, separation, war

Clever cat

Collington, Peter

Tibs, the cat, is tired of waiting for his family to feed him every morning, so he decides to start doing it himself!This encourages Tibs to embark on different adventures around town. Everyone thinks that Tibs is such a clever cat, but a turn of events makes Tibs wonder...is he really that clever?

Lili at ballet

Isadora, Rachel

At ballet class, a young girl named Lili explains to the leader all about ballet. One day she dreams of becoming a great ballerina.

Tags

ambition, appearance, clothing, dancing, exercise, feelings, goal setting, happiness, nonverbal communication, performance, practice, verbal communication

Lucy's picture

Moon, Nicola

Lucy's blind grandpa is coming to visit today, and she wants to make him a special collage. Lucy gathers many different materials to make the collage that her grandpa can see with his hands. She uses sticks and leaves to make a tree, sand to make a path, and her own hair to make a dog with fur.

Fish for breakfast: A little animal book

Gunthorp, Karen

Tom the cat wants fish for breakfast. When he is unsuccessful in catching a fish, his friends save the day and they have breakfast together.

Tags

ambition, animals, cat, fishing, food, friendship, giving, persistence, recreation

Grandpa's hammer

Kidd, Ronald

Grandpa always say that it take two things to make dreams come true: faith and a hammer. After Grandma passes away, Grandpa sets aside his hammer and nearly loses his faith. His granddaughter tries everything she can think of to bring back his faith but nothing seems to work. One day, Grandpa visits a Habitat for Humanity worksite with a neighbor and realizes that he can made dreams come true for others.

I look like a girl

Hamanaka, Sheila

A girl uses her imagination to become a tiger, dolphin, horse, jaguar, and wolf. She needs nature to become independent so she can follow her dream.

Tags

adventures, ambition, animals, appearance, beauty, beliefs, birds, dancing, dolphin, dreams, forest, horse, jaguar, jungle, nature, sea, sounds, tiger, wolf

Henry hikes to fitchburg

Johnson, D.B.

Henry decides to take a trip to Fitchburg on foot and his friend decides to go by train. Henry partakes in numerous adventures on his journey into town, while his friend works odd jobs to earn the fare. Who will arrive in Fitchburg first?The journey to Fitchburg will prove to be an exploration of time and interests.

Tulip sees america

Rylant, Cynthia

When he is finally old enough, a young man drives his dog, Tulip, from Ohio to the farms of Iowa. They also experience the skies of Nebraska, the winds of Wyoming, the mountains of Colorado, the desert of Nevada, and the ocean of Oregon. Each place shows a new and wonderful part of America.

Tags

adventures, ambition, animals, awareness, car, clouds, curiosity, desert, dog, exploration, farm, geography, mountains, nature, observation, ocean, transportation, travel, wind

The little scarecrow boy

Brown, Margaret Wise

The little scarecrow boy anxiously awaits the day when he can go into the fields and frighten crows like his father does every day. As he grows and grows, he becomes even more determined to become an actual scarecrow. The day finally comes when he has to put his courage to the test.

Tags

accomplishment, ambition, assertiveness, birds, body parts, challenges, confidence, courage, crow, determination, family, farm, goal setting, growing up, nonverbal communication, scarecrows

Home run: The story of babe ruth

Burleigh, Robert

It was clear at a young age that Babe Ruth was talented at baseball. This talent became even more amazing as he got older, when he wowed the stadium fans with his memorable home runs. These historic moments will be remembered in baseball forever.

Johnny appleseed

Lindbergh, Reeve

On his way to the western frontier, Johnny Appleseed stops to eat and chat with Hannah Goodwin and her family. His adventures bring many encounters with pioneers, Indians, and nature. When he is old, he returns to visit Hannah Goodwin who continues to tell children about Johnny Appleseed.

Tags

accomplishment, adventures, ambition, appreciation, determination, exercise, exploration, folktale, goal setting, history, kindness, multicultural, native american, pioneers, rhyme, success, survival, unselfish, walking

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