Your Name Is a Song


Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow - 2020
    In response, the girl's mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, Black-American, Latinx, and Middle Eastern names on their lyrical walk home through the city. Empowered by this newfound understanding, the young girl is ready to return the next day to share her knowledge with her class. Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names.

The Day You Begin


Jacqueline Woodson - 2018
    There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael Lopez's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

A Story Like the Wind


Gill Lewis - 2017
    They have nothing - except their memories, their stories, and their music. An unforgettable tale of displacement, hope, and the search for freedom.

Big Al


Andrew Clements - 1988
    And in the whole wide blue sea you can't find a nicer fish. But because Big Al is large and scary-looking, the little fish are afraid to get to know him. What can he do? He tries everything he can think of -- from disguising himself with seaweed to burrowing under the ocean floor so he'll look smaller. But something always goes wrong, and lonely Big Al wonders if he'll ever have a single friend. Then one frightening day, when a fishing net captures the other fish, Big Al gets the chance to prove what a wonderful friend he can be!

Pinduli


Janell Cannon - 2004
    But Dog, Lion, and Zebra don't think so. Why else would they make her feel so rotten about her big ears, her fuzzy mane, and her wiggly stripes? Poor Pinduli just wants to disappear--and she tries everything she can think of to make that happen. Yet "nothing goes her way. Nothing, that is, until a case of mistaken identity lets her show the creatures of the African savanna how a few tiny words--bad or good--can create something enormous. Janell Cannon, the creator of the bestselling "Stellaluna, introduces yet another endearing character in this triumphant story about self-image, self-acceptance, and treating others with respect.""Includes notes about hyenas and other animals of the African savanna.

My Sister Jodie


Jacqueline Wilson - 2008
    Pearl is the younger one, small, shy and anxious. Jodie is nearly three years older, bold and brash and bad and Pearl adores her. When their parents get new jobs at Melchester College, a Victorian Gothic mansion, the girls spend a bizarre summer holiday in the boarding school with just a few leftover children for company. Things start to change now they are in their new home. Jodie has always been the leader but now it's Pearl who's making new friends. When term begins, their strange summer is over. But things keep on changing. Jodie really doesn't fit in with the posh teenagers in her class. Pearl is blossoming. Maybe she doesn't need Jodie as much as she used to. But Jodie needs her. And when the school celebration of Firework Night comes around and a tragic event occurs, Pearl realises quite how much she does need her big sister.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories


Lewis Carroll - 1865
    includes such stories as - "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", "Through the Looking-Glass", "Sylvie and Bruno", "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded", "The Hunting of the Snark" and the poetry, essays and phantasmagoria along with a collection of the author's miscellaneous writings.

Tilly and the Bookwanderers


Anna James - 2018
    A curl-up-on-the-sofa debut from a uniquely talented author.Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents' bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.One day Tilly realises that classic children's characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of `book wandering' - crossing over from the page into real life.With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.

Quidditch Through the Ages


J.K. Rowling - 2001
    This invaluable volume is consulted by young Quidditch fans on an almost daily basis.Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Comic Relief, who will use your money to continue improving and changing lives -- work that is even more important and astonishing than the three-and-a-half-second capture of the Golden Snitch by Roderick Plumpton in 1921.

Blackberry Blue: And Other Fairy Tales


Jamila Gavin - 2013
    . .Here are six magical stories to thrill and enchant you. Watch Blackberry Blue rise from the bramble patch; follow Emeka the pathfinder on his mission to save a lost king; join Princess Desire as she gallops across the Milky Way on her jet-black horse.These beautifully written and original stories will delight readers of all ages, and the stunning illustrations by Richard Collingridge will take your breath away.

Love Monster


Rachel Bright - 2012
    Featuring the only Monster in Cutesville, LOVE MONSTER is a wonderfully warm and witty look at how sometimes, when you least expect it, love finds you… From a phenomenal picture book talent.It can be tough being the only funny-looking Monster in Cutesville, but this Monster is not one to hang around and feel sorry for himself, so he’s off – out into the big wide world to look for someone to love him.He looks high, he looks low and he looks everywhere in-between, but it’s only when he’s just about to give up that he finally finds what he is looking for…Featuring an instantly charming main character who will appeal to children and adults alike, LOVE MONSTER is a warm and witty tale about the power of taking action from a terrific talent new to the HarperCollins list.

The Wolf Wilder


Katherine Rundell - 2015
    Ten minutes away, in a ruined chapel, lives a pack of wolves. Feodora's mother is a wolf wilder, and Feo is a wolf wilder in training. A wolf wilder is the opposite of an animal tamer: it is a person who teaches tamed animals to fend for themselves, and to fight and to run, and to be wary of humans.When the murderous hostility of the Russian Army threatens her very existence, Feo is left with no option but to go on the run. What follows is a story of revolution and adventure, about standing up for the things you love and fighting back. And, of course, wolves.

The Robe of Skulls


Vivian French - 2007
    The sorceress Lady Lamorna has her heart set on a new robe. A very expensive new robe. To get the cash she will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, blackmail and more than a little black magic.

The Secret Language of Girls


Frances O'Roark Dowell - 2004
    Now, it appeared, love was turning her into a rotten human being. Eleven-year-old Kate Faber wishes she could talk to her best friend, Marylin, about this. But Marylin is no longer her best friend. Or is she? Kate and Marylin were always the kind of best friends who lived on the same block for their entire lives, and who agreed on what kinds of boys were worth kissing and who should be invited to their sleepover. The kind of best friends who didn't need words to talk, but who always just knew. But lately Marylin has started to think that Kate can be a bit babyish. And Kate thinks Marylin is acting like a big snob. Somehow nothing is the same, but secretly Kate and Marylin both wish it could be...

Come with Me


Holly M. McGhee - 2017
    "Come with me," he says. Hand-in-hand, they walk to the subway, tipping their hats to those they meet. The next day, the girl asks her mama what she can do--her mama says, "Come with me," and together they set out for the grocery, because one person doesn't represent an entire race or the people of a land. After dinner that night, the little girl asks if she can do something of her own--walk the dog . . . and her parents let her go. "Come with me," the girl tells the boy across the hall. Walking together, one step at a time, the girl and the boy begin to see that as small and insignificant as their part may seem, it matters to the world.