Owl and Lizard are as different as night and day. Can they work out their differences and band together? Concept: Cooperating. Book features: Big Words and Big Questions; original illustrations.
Energy is all around us. Food and sleep are the fuels our bodies use to create the energy we need to move, talk, and think. But scientists tell us some of the fuels that keep our homes and businesses running, power our transportation, and keep us safe are hurting Earth. Learn why energy companies are working to come up with cleaner ways to supply oil and gas, how fuels in the future will be safer for Earth, and what you can do now to use energy wisely. Book features: Table of Contents; Glossary; For More Information including books and web sites; Index; photos and captions; charts and graphs; source notes.
You know the 3Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. But what does it really mean and why is it important to cut back on waste? Each year, businesses and homes in the United States throw away enough garbage to equal 251 million elephants. Where would we keep that many elephants? More to the point, where does all that garbage go? Discover why waste is creating problems for Earth and how you can reduce, reuse, and recycle now. Book features: Table of Contents; Glossary; For More Information including books and web sites; Index; photos and captions; charts and graphs; source notes.
Have you thought about where your food comes from? Do you know the difference between organic and nonorganic foods, and is organic always a more healthful choice? Some farmers have opened their farms to the local community to help grow and pick crops. In this book, you'll read why community-supported agriculture is growing fast and how the choices you make at the grocery store can make a big difference in Earth's health as well as your own. Book features: Table of Contents; Glossary; For More Information including books and web sites; Index; photos and captions; charts and graphs; source notes.
How many places do people go in a day? People are always on the go between school, work, shopping, and activities. But how we go can be just as important as where we go. Learn about different ways people move from one place to another, how transportation affects our air, land, and water -- and how you can get there green now to make a difference for Earth. Book features: Table of Contents; Glossary; For More Information including books and web sites; Index; photos and captions; charts and graphs; source notes.
The quiet nature of trees hides the fact that trees are always working for us and for Earth. Trees give us goods to meet our basic needs. Trees are home to animals, insects, and birds. But their biggest and most important job is playing a role in making Earth and our environment healthy. Learn some of the ways trees help, why they are in danger, and what you can do to help protect them now. Book features: Table of Contents; Glossary; For More Information including books and web sites; Index; photos and captions; charts and graphs; source notes.
When the dollmaker creates Zigzag from clothing scraps, she promises him, some child will love you. Her promise gives the strange-looking doll hope. But the other dolls and stuffed animals in the shop don't want such an ugly toy hanging around so they force Zigzag to leave. Clinging to the promise that a child will someday love him, little Zigzag sets out on a journey in search of happiness and a new home. Young readers will be intrigued by this heart-warming story of perseverance and compassion. Children love to explore the simple bold illustrations that make the story look like it was quilted from scrapes.
Sandpiper finds her daily stroll on the beach interrupted by Whale, who boasts that he is ruler of the sea. Sandpiper responds with equal bravado, asserting her rights to the sand and seawater. Soon the rivals are calling in their cousins, and the beach and sea are filled with shorebirds and sea mammals of every stripe. The standoff grows ominous as Whale leads his cousins in an assault on the beach, eating the sand from under the birds. Sandpiper retaliates by ordering her cousins to drink up the ocean. Soon the landscape is filled with fish, crabs, and sea creatures gasping for survival. How will this end? The outcome of this timely yet timeless nature tale suggests that we are all connected in the ecological chain.
A wise rabbi uses a pillow full of feathers to teach a gossipy villager a lesson on what happens when a person's reputation and trust are harmed by someone's negative, mean-sprited remarks.
Maybe it's the king who spills honey, and then says it is not his problem - until it causes a war. Or maybe it's some sandpipers and whales who get into a foolish fight that almost destroys their homes. Perhaps it's the man who thinks that a gun makes him strong or the monkeys who follow their leader into water that's too deep. Peace Tales contains more than three dozen folktales and proverbs that illustrate these choices. Always fun to read these stories also prompt us to think about the seemingly minor events that lead to war and the little events that can also lead to peace. Stories from across the globe are accompanied by generous story notes, source information, and suggestions for further reading on the topic of peace.
Andrew Jackson Fielder wants to pitch in the major leagues. It should seem a distant dream to a kid in Smackover, Arkansas, in 1939. But for Jackson, it comes true, partly due to the afternoons he and his brother spend practicing pitches in a pipe yard down in the south Arkansas oilpatch.
Mary Clayborne, the teenage daughter of a country doctor and a piano teacher, dreams of going to a conservatory and becoming a concert pianist. When her mother falls ill, she temporarily puts aside her ambition in order to care for her younger brothers and sisters. A timeless coming of age story.
This unique collection of American stories from the frozen tundra of Alaska to the lush green hills of Virginia; from the sweltering bayous of Louisiana to the windswept prairies of South Dakota is told in DeSpain's signature gentle style. Every reader will find something of interest - the stories range from practical tales of wisdom such as Pulling the Rope to silly and scary ones such as The Haint that Roared and The Big, Smelly, Hairy Toe. The stories represent not only the geographic diversity of the United States but also offer a portrait of our nation's character, values, beliefs, and customs that differ from region to region yet retain a fundamental sense of shared community.
Maybe it's because his mother was a teacher. Or maybe it's because he has spent most of his life in classrooms - as a wide-eyed first grader, a naive college student, a seminarian, and now as a visiting writer in residencies across the country. There's something about school that infuses the work of Donald Davis and he has collected his all-time favorite school stories in the book. Whether we're traveling around the world with Miss Daisy, the fourth grade teacher who was integrating arithmetic, geography and English before the term whole language ever surfaced; or watching in awe as a classmate conjugates malaprops in Miss Vergilius Darwin's Latin class; or driving a school bus and learning about segregation - we experience flashes of recognition in moments that transcend Donald Davis's childhood stories.
The fourteen personal stories in this delightful coming of age book apply universal elements with characters and situations that everyone will recognize so that only the names, places and times change from our own childhood stories.
Jim May writes the stories of his youth, growing up in the rural Midwest between the Truman and the JFK eras, where trading stories was as common as trading horses, and frequently required the same skills. Neighboring, as his mother called it, was part of the social fabric. These 18 poignant and humorous stories of life's joys and trials told with the freshness of youth, yet tempered with the wisdom of age evoke a simpler time in our nation's history without romanticizing the inherent hardships.
This collection of African-American folktales highlights the unbroken chain of a rich oral tradition. The stories share the richness and variety of a cultural heritage that has crossed the Atlantic, survived slavery, and triumphed over the ignorance of racism and bigotry.
High John the Conqueror sometimes called simply High John or John was a slave trickster who always outwits Old Master. Much like Greek slave Aesop's animal characters, High John was the subject of a series of subversive narratives, whose mission was to outsmart his oppressors. Tall tales of High John's exploits flourished during slavery, but after emancipation they fell out of circulation and his antics were all but forgotten.
Ricky is the only family Donyell Mason has left. When Ricky becomes a prime suspect in a terrible crime, Donyell sets about to clear his big brother.
Cecilia has always been secure in her world. A high school cheerleader, she is pretty and popular. And she dates Ryan, one of the cutest boys in her school. She leads a charmed and pampered life. Clearly everyone forgot the warnings buried deep in the quatrains of Nostradamus-- the end of days. When the world they know is destroyed, will their struggle to survive destroy their love? This new normal-- this new life-- is cruel and unpredictable and tests both of them in ways that they've never imagined. But it's not the end, only the beginning, but the beginning of what? From what we've calculated, it's been seven days since The End. We don't really have a more suitable name for it. There was absolutely no warning. It was three days after Christmas. We were alone and scared. Nobody expected the theories and stories to actually come true. After 2012 passed with no strange activity, the whole idea of the apocalypse seemed like rubbish. But we were proven terribly wrong. Nostradamus got it right after all.
Cecilia has always been secure in her world. A high school cheerleader, she is pretty and popular. And she dates Ryan, one of the cutest boys in her school. She leads a charmed and pampered life. Clearly everyone forgot the warnings buried deep in the quatrains of Nostradamus-- the end of days. When the world they know is destroyed, will their struggle to survive destroy their love? This new normal-- this new life-- is cruel and unpredictable and tests both of them in ways that they've never imagined. But it's not the end, only the beginning, but the beginning of what? This situation was way out of my control. I was willing to give up anything to go back to the way things were before... I tried my best to comfort and reassure Cecilia that somehow everything would be okay. But I really couldn't be convincing when I could barely convince myself. We were walking into an unknown world. A world without leadership. No government. No medicine. No transportation. No food except what we could grow... or kill. It was going to be mass chaos.
Whether they joined the Yearbook Club or they were asked to participate by cranky school counselor, Mr. Crandall, the YC girls become fast friends. Kiki, Marnyke, Nishell, Sherise, and Tia are best friends forever. But all BFFs have their differences. Fights, jealousies, secret crushes-- introducing the gossipy girls of South Central High. Will shy Kiki ever move beyond the shadow of her popular twin? Can Nishell overcome an embarrassing secret? Will Sherise's relationship with Marnyke's ex cause trouble for everyone? Will Marnyke's deep loneliness lead to an unwise decision? And will Tia realize that driving ambition without friendship is hollow? All under 150-pages. Sherise thinks Carlos is fine. Everyone else, including her sister, Kiki, says he's a thug. But Carlos swears that he's out of the game.
Whether they joined the Yearbook Club or they were asked to participate by cranky school counselor, Mr. Crandall, the YC girls become fast friends. Kiki, Marnyke, Nishell, Sherise, and Tia are best friends forever. But all BFFs have their differences. Fights, jealousies, secret crushes-- introducing the gossipy girls of South Central High. Will shy Kiki ever move beyond the shadow of her popular twin? Can Nishell overcome an embarrassing secret? Will Sherise's relationship with Marnyke's ex cause trouble for everyone? Will Marnyke's deep loneliness lead to an unwise decision? And will Tia realize that driving ambition without friendship is hollow? All under 150-pages. Nishell has been crushing on Jackson since forever. But Jackson is Marnyke's man... And Nishell doesn't want any girlfriend drama.
Whether they joined the Yearbook Club or they were asked to participate by cranky school counselor, Mr. Crandall, the YC girls become fast friends. Kiki, Marnyke, Nishell, Sherise, and Tia are best friends forever. But all BFFs have their differences. Fights, jealousies, secret crushes-- introducing the gossipy girls of South Central High. Will shy Kiki ever move beyond the shadow of her popular twin? Can Nishell overcome an embarrassing secret? Will Sherise's relationship with Marnyke's ex cause trouble for everyone? Will Marnyke's deep loneliness lead to an unwise decision? And will Tia realize that driving ambition without friendship is hollow? All under 150-pages. Marnyke's sassy and bold front hides a deep loneliness. Is that why she's so desperate to hold on to Darnell?
Whether they joined the Yearbook Club or they were asked to participate by cranky school counselor, Mr. Crandall, the YC girls become fast friends. Kiki, Marnyke, Nishell, Sherise, and Tia are best friends forever. But all BFFs have their differences. Fights, jealousies, secret crushes-- introducing the gossipy girls of South Central High. Will shy Kiki ever move beyond the shadow of her popular twin? Can Nishell overcome an embarrassing secret? Will Sherise's relationship with Marnyke's ex cause trouble for everyone? Will Marnyke's deep loneliness lead to an unwise decision? And will Tia realize that driving ambition without friendship is hollow? All under 150-pages. Shy and level-headed, Kiki longs for true love. She wishes that Jackson would talk to her. But Jackson is a player and only wants one thing...
