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  • Tags: unselfish
A rainbow of friends
Halliman, P.K.
A vision of harmony celebrates differences among people. These vibrant pictures and rhymes help portray the notion that uniqueness in individuals is what makes each of us so special.

Benjie
Lexau, Joan M.
Benjie's granny loses her earring on the way home from church, so bashful Benjie sets out to look for it while his granny is takng a nap. He finds the earring, but in the process he loses his bashfulness.

Big jabe
Nolan, Jerdine
Momma Mary goes back in time and tells stories of a unique young man named Jabe, who is responsible for creating magic among the slaves of the Plenty Plantation. He is described as a hero with the strength of fifty men, a big heart, and a wondrous gift at leading slaves away to freedom.

Chicken man
Edwards, Michelle
The summer that Rody worked in the kibbutz chicken coop, the hens laid more eggs than ever before. When Rody gets moved from job to job, the chickens become very unhappy. So they do something to get Rody back.

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.

Emmet otter's jug-band christmas
Hoban, Russell
Emmet and his mother are poor and each want to get the other something special for Christmas. They each enter a contest to win money but lose. However, both tried hard and are touched by the effort.

Fox and heggie
Guzzo, Sandra E.
Fox tries to earn enough money to buy a Greek fishing hat by helping out all his friends and neighbors. But, his generosity keeps him from earning the money, so his friends pull through for him in the end.

I like your buttons!
Lamstein, Sarah
Random acts of kindness are demonstrated by Cassandra as she tells her teacher that she likes her buttons. Cassandra's positive attitude spreads throughout her school and around the neighborhood bringing joy and surprise to all.

Irene and the big, fine nickel
Smalls, Hector
An independent girl named Irene lives in Harlem, New York in 1957 She and her friends experience a wonderful day in a community full of life and love.

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.


Leah's pony
Friedrich, Elizabeth
One summer, Leah's father gives her a pony which she grows to love dearly. When told the devastating news that her family is running out of money, Leah has to decide what she will sacrifice to help.

Madeline's christmas
Bemelmans, Ludwig
A little girl, Madeline, goes out of her way to take care of other sick children. Madeline makes a very special Christmas for all of her friends.

Me and my aunts
Newton, Laura P
A little girl has a unique and special relationship with each of her aunts. She cooks, reads, sews, receives gifts, and talks with them. Her favorite aunt always remembers what to do and say.

Monster and the toy sale
Blance, Ellen // Cook, Ann
Monster and the little boy see an ad in the newspaper that reads モTOY SALE TODAY!ヤ Together, they bicycle to the store. On their journey, they are very helpful to others. Monster and the little boy serve as policemen to direct traffic, and as mangers at the toy store. They are so busy that they run out of time to shop for their own toys. Everyone is grateful for their unselfish behavior.

Mr. Tanen's tie trouble
Cocca-Leffler, Maryann
The principal of Lynnhurst School, Mr. Tanen, is known for his unbelievable collection of 975 ties. He has a tie for every occasion! When the plan for the new playground falls through, everyone is shocked to see Mr. Tannen part with his beloved ties as he auctions them off so that the children at Lynnhurst School can enjoy their new playground.

My friend gorilla
Morozumi, Atsuko
Daddy brings home a nice and helpful gorilla from the zoo. The gorilla stayed until someone said he used to live in Africa. The gorilla was brought back to Africa, and even though he is missed, he is happy there.

One of each
Hoberman, Mary Ann
Oliver Tolliver lives alone in his one little house that has just one of everything. He thinks he is happy until he discovers that having more to share with friends is even better!

Pumpkins: A story for a field
Ray, Mary Lyn
A man is sad to see a beautiful field become a residential development, so he raises money to buy the field by growing pumpkins and selling them all over the world.

Rachel, a Hutterite girl
Maendel, Rachel
A young Hutterite girl named Rachel explores her farm home. On her journey, she learns facts about the natural world as well as the social traditions and cultural customs of her Hutterite family and community.

Raising sweetness
Stanley, Diane
The town sheriff adopts eight orphans to save them from the mean Ms. Stump, but there are a few problems. Pa is not too good at cooking and his cleaning is quite shabby. The orphans one wish is for him to get married. One of the orphans, Sweetness, believes a letter that arrived in the mail is the answer.

Ruth and naomi
Marzollo, Jean
After their husbands sadly pass away, Ruth moves to Bethlehem with her widowed mother-in-law Naomi. With no money and no sense of hope, the two women are unsure as to what will happen. A kind farmer known as Boaz, however shows his kindness and restores their happiness so that they can begin anew.

Somebody's new pajamas
Jackson, Isaac
Jerome becomes good friends with Robert, a new boy at school. On the night that Jerome sleeps over at Robert's house, Robert shares a pair of his pajamas. Jerome learns that it's okay if people do things a little differently.

Tap-tap
Williams, Karen Lynn
After spending a long day selling oranges at the market, a Haitian mother and daughter earn enough money to ride the tap-tap home. The tap-tap is a vehicle that takes passengers where they need to go. It stops when a passenger taps on the side twice.

The low-down laundry line blues
Millen, C.M.
A young girl finds herself down in the dumps, lonely, depressed, and hanging around just like the laundry line outside her window. She doesn't want to do anything and looks so pitiful sitting beside her window all alone: she's got the low-down laundry line blues. Her sister decides that something must be done to cheer her up!She uses jivey rhymes to lift her sister's mood, but to no avail, they just don't seem to work. As a last resort, she drags her lonely blues-stricken sister outside and turns the low-down laundry line into a lively jump rope to play with!Suddenly the low-down laundry line and the girl with the low-down laundry line blues become lively and upbeat.

The lunch box surprise
Maccarone, Grace
Sam's mother forgets to pack his lunch for school. So Sam's first grade friends come to the rescue.

The parrot tico tango
Witte, Anna
Set in a Rainforest of Costa Rica, greediness consumes a parrot named Tico Tango. However, what comes around goes around, and as Tico Tango finds out in this morally centered text, sometimes getting everything you want is not what you need.

The shaking bag
Battle-Lavert, Gwendolyn
Though Miss Annie Mae doesn't always have much food for herself or her dog Effie Lucille, she faithfully feeds the birds in the lawn. One day a stranger comes to visit. He shakes many special surprises for her out of the old seed bag to reward her for all her generosity.

The three little javelinas
Lowell, Susan
Cousins of pigs (known as javelinas) attempt a daring rescue from the hungry coyote. The angry coyote huffs and puffs to blow the house down of the first and second javelinas--but not the third!The hungry coyote has a sizzling surprise in the adobe house where the three little javelinas live happily ever after.

The tomten and the fox
Lindgren, Astrid
Reynard is a hungry fox who goes to a farm to steal food. There he meets a tomten who shares his food with Reynard.

The wild horses of sweetbriar
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie
A young girl tells her story of an encounter with wild horses. While living with her parents on the small island off the coast of New England, she discovers wild horses. During the harsh winter that they live there, she helps the horses survive.

The wishing hat
Fuchshuber, Annegert
A person's main intention in life should not be for money. Magic makes it fun though.

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.