Outside, there is water all around. Inside, the daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as the keeper boils water for tea, lights the lamp's wick, and writes every detail in his logbook.

    The golem's task was to vanquish those who persecuted the Jews of Prague, and he performed it almost too well. Retold from traditional sources and accompanied by masterly cutpaper illustrations, Golem is a dramatic tale of supernatural forces invoked to save an oppressed people. It offers a thought-provoking look at the consequences of unleashing power beyond human control.Winner of the 1997 Caldecott Medal.

    He likes to decorate cookies, enjoys building sand castles instead of forts, and would rather put on puppet shows than play sports. Being different is fine for sweet Elmer—he's as happy as a duck in water doing everything he loves. So what's the problem? Papa Duck and the other guys just don't understand. Papa tries to teach Elmer to play baseball, but the results are simply disastrous for the unathletic duckling. That night, Elmer overhears Papa saying that the flock is calling his son a sissy, and he turns to Mama for some quality reassurance. After school the next day, Elmer suffers some tormenting from an enormous bully and flees instead of fighting, only to hear more scathing words from his embarrassed father. A dejected Elmer decides that his only option is to run away from home. Later in the forest, he's horrified to see that his father has been shot while the flock is heading south, but Elmer doesn't leave Papa to die—he hoists him on his back, carries him home, and cares for him the whole winter! Not only does Papa get better; he learns during his recovery that Elmer is a brave little duck whose courage is something to be admired.Noted playwright and actor Harvey Fierstein delivers a heartwarming story about diversity, based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale of the Ugly Duckling. Lovable Elmer's story will make readers cheer, and his difference will help children recognize and appreciate the qualities that make them—along with other people in their communities—special. Henry Cole's tender yet hilarious illustrations are just the right touch for Elmer, who even sports a pink flowered backpack and heart-shaped sunglasses. Elmer is one extraordinary duck whose "sissyhood" is something to celebrate! (Matt Warner)

    It is both the seventh day of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve, 1938. As Oskar walks the length of Manhattan, from the Battery to his new home in the north of the city, he passes experiences the city's many holiday sights, and encounters it various residents. Each offers Oskar a small act of kindness, welcoming him to the city and helping him on his way to a new life in the new world.

    Louis and his grandmother are inseparable. They know each other so well that Louis feels he can even see his grandmother, though he has been blind since birth. That love carries him through the very worst moments when Gran is gone, and when Louis seems to be forgotten.

    The neighborhood children join the Robinson kids for swimming and boating. But oddly, Jackie never goes near the water. In a dramatic episode that first winter, the children beg to go ice skating on the lake. Jackie says they can go--but only after he tests the ice to make sure it's safe. The children prod and push to get Jackie outside, until hesitantly, he finally goes. Like a blind man with a stick, (contd.)

    Molly Lou Melon is different, but this doesn't slow her down.

    Mama and Daddy leaving home, coming to the city, with their hopes and their courage, their dreams and their children, to make a better life. In this beautiful collection of poems and collage artwork, award winners Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist gracefully depict the experiences of families like their own, who found the courage to leave their homes behind during the Great Migration and make new lives for themselves elsewhere. When Eloise Greenfield was four months old, her family moved from their home in Parmele, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C. Before Jan Spivey Gilchrist was born, her mother moved from Arkansas and her father moved from Mississippi. Both settled in Chicago, Illinois. Though none of them knew it at the time, they had all become part of the Great Migration.The Great Migration concludes with a bibliography.

    According to the U.N., every human–just by virtue of being human–is entitled to freedom, a fair government, a decent standard of living, work, play, and education, freedom to come and go as we please and to associate with anyone we please, and the right to express ourselves freely. Every Human Has Rights offers kids an accessibly written list of these rights, commentary–much of it deeply emotional–by other kids, and richly evocative photography illustrating each right. At the end of this deceptively simple book, kids will know–and feel–that regardless of individual differences and circumstances, each person is valuable and worthy of respect.

    He would rather be El Skippito, the great sword fighter, who can do anything. Like saving a roving band of Mexican Chihuahuas from a humongous bumblebeeto that is tormenting them.Join Skippyjon Jones on his first great adventure. He's fearless, he's fun, he gets the job done - yes, indeed-o.

    “The writing is direct, devastating, with no rhetoric or exploitation. The truth is in what’s said and in what is left out.”—ALA Booklist (starred review)Marion Blumenthal Lazan’s unforgettable and acclaimed memoir recalls the devastating years that shaped her childhood. Following Hitler’s rise to power, the Blumenthal family—father, mother, Marion, and her brother, Albert—were trapped in Nazi Germany. They managed eventually to get to Holland, but soon thereafter it was occupied by the Nazis. For the next six and a half years the Blumenthals were forced to live in refugee, transit, and prison camps, including Westerbork in Holland and Bergen-Belsen in Germany, before finally making it to the United States. Their story is one of horror and hardship, but it is also a story of courage, hope, and the will to survive.Four Perfect Pebbles features forty archival photographs, including several new to this edition, an epilogue, a bibliography, a map, a reading group guide, an index, and a new afterword by the author. First published in 1996, the book was an ALA Notable Book, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and IRA Young Adults’ Choice, and a Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and the recipient of many other honors. “A harrowing and often moving account.”—School Library Journal