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  • Tags: onomatopoeia
Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a deaf girl, changed percussion
Stocker, Shannon
Evelyn Glennie grew up in Scotland where her Dad played the accordion and her Mom played the organ. Evelyn played the piano and clarinet until she began to lose her hearing. But that did not stop her love of music. In secondary school, Evelyn played percussion instruments. Through the genius of Mr. Forbes, her music teacher, he had Glennie take out her hearing aids and make sounds that vibrated and resonated through her whole body. In fact, her whole body responded like one large hearing organ. She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and received the prestigious Queen's Commendation for both music and academics. Later, tthe Queen of England knighted her and the world listened as she toured to perform in forty countries and win two Grammy Awards.

"L" is for library
Terry, Sonya
Children with a friendly tabby cat, a dog, and ducklings move through the library stacks from A-Z as they discover many things to do and see in a library. You can learn about the Caldecott award, the Dewey Decimal System, and URL Web address.

The talk
Williams, Alicia D.
Jay has many favorite things he likes to do with his friends and family. His mom measures him as he grows inch-by-inch which means he can do more and more as he gets older and older. Although his feet don't reach the gas pedal of his Daddy's car, he can skateboard up and down the street and and do flips with many friends. Jay's grandpa tells his grandchildren not to crowd in groups of four or more - which is only one of many unfortunate realities of African American families and parents when they have to say, "Jay, its time we had a talk" about racism.

The old woman & the wave
Jackson, Shelley
Once upon a time, a dog and a woman lived under a wave that never fell. The old woman finally comes to understand and appreciate the huge wave that has hung in the air, sheltering her house all her life.

Mel fell
Tabor, Corey R.
Mel leaves the nest with a sense of adventure and finds that the animals and birds and insects on the way down on his flight are all there when flying back up the tree. The descending flight takes him into the water for a kingfish which he carries back to the nest to feed his siblings.

The rock from the sky
Klassen, Jon
Turtle really likes standing in his favorite spot. He asks his friend to come over to experience it too, but his friend feels uneasy there. Through a series of questions, the friendship continues to live in the moment and imagine into the future. The addition of another companion wants to join the sunset but misses the moment.

My parents won't stop talking
Hunsinger, Emma & Walden, Tillie
Waiting is hard, and every kid knows it's not fun. Molly wants to go the park but her parents have started talking with the neighbors for a very long time.

My father's shop
Ichikawa, Satomi
Mustafa's father sells beautiful carpets from all over the world in his shop. One day, a small hole was discovered in one of the carpets so Mustafa asks his father for that rug to play with. In order to get it, Mustafa has to learn different languages from his father so he can make successful sales with the customers. As different foreign customers walk by the colorful carpet over Mustafa's body outside the shop, he crows like a rooster in different languages. He is excited to run back to the shop to tell his father that he can speak rooster in five languages. And all the tourists follow right behind Mustafa into his father's shop!

Good night, knight
Lewin, Betsy
After a tantalizing dream about golden cookies, Knight and his horse embark on a quest for baked goods.

Fridge-opolis
Coffey, Melissa
Lots of recycling and composting ideas fill the pages of the microwave, dishwasher, and refrigerator storage. The mayo, meats, and cheeses spoil and the tofu was swimming in goo. So many foods are rancid and decaying. And just when things couldn't get any worse....a food fight erupts in Fridge-opolis! Enjoy the Food for Thought at the end of it all.

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.

The phone booth in Mr. Hirota's garden
Smith, Heather
Makio and his neighbor, Mr. Hirota, loved looking out at the ocean every morning while watching Makio’s father and Mr. Hirota’s daughter working. One day, a tsunami came and killed their family members, prompting Mr. Hirota to build a telephone booth as a way to cope with his grief. Soon after,  Makio and Mr. Hirota began speaking into a disconnected telephone while communicating with the loved ones they lost.

A home in the barn
Brown, Margaret Wise
In the winter, it is too cold for the animals to be outside but the barn is warm. All the horses, cattle, mice, birds, and cats stay there together to keep away from the cold. Even though there are a lot of animals in the barn, they all get along and help to keep each other warm.

Quiet in the garden
Aliki
A little boy enjoys going out into his garden. His garden has flowers, produce, and wildlife. The wildlife shows the little boy the importance of the food chain. The little boy enjoys a picnic with the wildlife, because he loves nature.

When it's six o'clock in San Francisco: A trip through time zones
Omololu, Cynthia Jaynes
Starting at 6 a.m. in San Francisco, travel across each time zone to learn what is going on in that location. Each time zone holds a descriptive excerpt about a life of a kid living there, accompanied by details of a meal that is eaten there too!

Sweet tooth
Palatini, Margie
Stewart has a sweet tooth that repeatedly gets him into trouble. Stewart tells his sweet tooth that it is time for him to be healthy. Stewart eats healthy and practices oral hygiene. Stewart then pulls out the "sweet tooth" and the tooth fairy visits.

What will you be, Sara Mee?
Avraham, Kate Aver
Cho, a young boy, wonders what his little sister Sara Mee will be? They celebrate Sara Mee's first birthday with a feast and music from Korea. Cho continues to try to figure out what his sister will be when she grows up.

You and me and home sweet home
Lyon, George Ella
A young girl helps her family build a new home. The family celebrates the new milestone by sharing a meal together. The family then adjusts to the new house together.

Pastry school in Paris: An adventure in capacity
Neuschwander, Cindy
A family and their children travel to Paris and visit a pastry academy. The kids work with others to practice baking. When a situation arises, the kids are called to save the day by making brownies for the competition.

Jake goes peanuts
Wright, Michael
Jake refuses to eat anything his parents makes, except for things with peanut butter in it. He ate so much peanut butter in it. He ate so much peanut butter that he finally gets sick of it.

The listening walk
Showers, Paul
A young girl and her dad love to take silent walks with each other and their old dog. The girl enjoys the silence and is constantly listening to all of the sounds she hears.

Henry's first-moon birthday
Look, Lenore
Jenny is in charge of helping her grandmother prepare for the one-month birthday party of her baby brother, Henry. Henry's party is a Chinese celebration! Food and decorations are made to bring good luck, health, and happiness to Jenny's mother and brother. Each member of the family attends in celebration of Henry's first month of life.

Frankie Stein
Schaefer, Lola
Frankie is born to Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Stein and grows up with monster changes to his hair and skin with his parents' help. Frankie learns how to walk like a Frankenstein and learns about his family tree so he can become more scary.

The greatest potatoes
Stowell, Penelope
Cornelius Vanderbilt sets out on a mission to find the best potato dish ever. He travels around and finds none that are good enough. Vanderbilt goes to Cary Moon's Restaurant, where George Crum is the head chef. Crum makes many dishes that Vanderbilt does not like. Crum decides to make the potatoes so crispy and salty, so he will not like them. Vanderbilt loves them and that is how the potato chip is invented.

Grandpa's soup
Kadono, Eiko
Grandpa is lonely after Grandma dies. He wants to make meatball soup just like his wife use to make. Each day after Grandpa makes the soup, friends come and eat it with him. Grandpa finds that eating the soup with friends helps to ease his loneliness.

Trouble gum
Cordell, Matthew
Ruben is a troublesome piglet. his grandma gives him a piece of gum to keep him quiet. His mom gives him three rules, but each time she leaves, Ruben breaks a rule and gets into trouble. He finally stops, but then they find Julius, his younger brother, making an even bigger mess!

Thunder-boomer!
Crum, Shutta
A family is sitting outside on the farm trying to cool off in the summer heat, when storm clouds roll in. They quickly prepare for the storm. They pick up laundry, roundup chickens and run inside only to realize one chicken is left outside. The father runs out and rescues the chicken, who is especially grumpy. After the storm, the children return to the barn and they find that the chicken is protecting a lost kitten.

That's good! That's bad! On Santa's Journey
Cuyler, Margery
Santa runs into a few problems on his Christmas Eve journey. At the beginning of the trip, he gets delayed by a snow storm. When it clears up, he continues to the first little boy's house, but his reindeer have trouble landing on the icy roof. Santa continues to encounter problems, but manages to deliver all the presents.

You were born on your very first birthday
Girard, Linda Walvoord
The development of a growing baby is shown sleeping and moving. Body parts and special sounds develop from the inside environment of the mother's tummy until a new day when the baby is born. A nurse and doctors are there with the baby's parents in the hospital when the baby is born.

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.