In 1942 Elizabeth Bynam Sanders was a young woman who left home under false pretenses and travelled to Our Lady of Victory, a home for unwed mothers in upstate New York. Shortly after surrendering her daughter for adoption, she returned to her life in Johnston County, North Carolina. She never married and never had another child of her own. This powerful and moving memoir speaks of the profound need for connection. It is a story about identity, the hunger we feel for a sense of belonging and the ineffable significance of blood.

    She shares her secret with her classmate Callum, and the two become friends as they work to save the Osprey they’ve named Isis. They’re able to get the bird tagged by a preservationist, but after Isis flies to Africa for the winter, her signal becomes stagnant, then lost. Spurred by a promise to Iona, who has fallen ill, Callum is determined to track and save Isis, and a leap of faith and the magic of e-mail connects him with a girl in Gambia who can help him make good—in more ways than one. Set against the dramatic landscapes of Scotland and West Africa, this is a timeless tale of hope and friendship—a heartwarming novel infused with the beauty of nature.

    He goes to try and find one -- but none of them seem quite right. Join Douglas on his search for the perfect bear hug!

    All the while, he uses his special behaviors to help other animals. But will Tudley's new friends help him when he needs help? The -For Creative Minds- education section includes fun facts about painted turtles, rubythroated hummingbirds, fireflies, leopard frogs, and true katydids. It also contains a -Make a Hopping Tudley- craft, a recipe for hummingbird sugar water, a -Creative Sparks- section, and a -Food for Thought- section.

    At last she does, and they all bounce up and down with joy, welcoming her home.

    One day Sunny goes to visit his mongoose cousins. But from the watery world of the Marsh Mongoose to the nocturnal lifestyle of the Malagasy Mongoose, Sunny just doesn't fit in. And what's that shadowy figure that seems to be following him around?

    Birch is a loving father, but that doesn't stop Pigeon from wondering about the human parents who abandoned him. Birch has dreams, too—of being a well-known artist, and of finding the acrobat he fell in love with while they performed together in a circus years ago.And so, on Pigeon's tenth birthday, their search for fame and lost loves begins. Pigeon and Birch paint their way across the world, dodging an evil circus ringleader, freeing zoo animals, and befriending singing hoboes along the way. But when they reach the end of their journey, Birch must master the most difficult art of all: letting go and allowing his beloved Pigeon to stand on his own two feet.

    Snead & Erin Stead’s Bear Has a Story to Tell.   When Bear wakes up one spring, he goes in search of a new home. And he thinks he’s found the perfect place. Unfortunately, things are a bit . . . snug. Can five little ducks find room for one big bear in their home—and in their hearts? Ciara Gavin’s luminous picture-book debut explores the unconditional love of families in all their colors, shapes, and sizes.

    They call us Sounds. They are our Echoes. And they think that they must die when we do. Is this why children are disappearing from the Sound realm? Because someone wants their Echo to die? Twelve-year-old Will Cleary tries to escape the frightening answer. But dangers sweep him into that magical, see-through land. And there, in a fortress filled with castaway children, a two-hundred-year-old riddle lies buried. The most important boy in Echoland will help Will solve it, with a handful of other teens. For the fate of Echoland, and of the Sound realm, depends on the answer. An answer hidden in an ancient book… Deep in a frozen lake of gems… Beyond a buried door… At the foot of the greatest Crystillery of all. But many men and monsters, crystal balls and spying eyes, will try to stop the brave teens. ~ 2018 Pacific Book Awards Winner ~ ~ 2018 Purple Dragonfly 2nd Place Winner ~ ~ 2018 Los Angeles Book Festival Runner-up ~ ~ 2018 Readers' Favorite 4th place (Honorable Mention) ~~ 2018 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention ~ ~ 2018 San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention ~ THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN disappear from our world. No one sees the kidnapping; or if they do, they forget. But one toddler returns after a week, riding a wolf, with a falcon circling over him.That boy is Will Cleary.Will tries to live a normal life. But his twin sister is still missing, and their parents never stop searching for her. Then just before his thirteenth birthday, Will's pets reveal a secret to him. (Though how it happens will remain a secret, until you read the book.) A hidden world lies beneath our feet, a land filled with see-through trees and lucent people. They call us Sounds, and they are our Echoes; for each one of them is a reflection of one of us. It is a sparkling, beautiful place, a winter wonderland. But there is evil there, a terrible law, the Law of Death.When a Sound dies in our world, his Echo is executed in Echoland. And there are those who reverse the order of things, to achieve their wicked ends. They hunt the Sound of the Echo they want to kill. Then the first death leads to the second as surely as lightning leads to thunder.Is that what happened to the missing children in Will's realm? Did someone want to murder their Echoes? Or are these Sounds still alive, trapped somewhere in Echoland? Will tries to escape the frightening answer. But dangers sweep him into that magical, see-through land. And there, in a fortress filled with castaway children, a two-hundred-year-old riddle lies buried. The most important boy in Echoland will help Will solve it, with a handful of other kids. For the fate of Echoland, and of the Sound realm, depends on the answer.An answer hidden in an ancient book…Deep in a frozen lake of gems…Beyond a buried door…At the foot of the greatest Crystillery of all.But many men and monsters, crystal balls and spying eyes, will try to stop the brave teens. For how see-through your skin is is all-important in Echoland. And when this ancient hate will end, the realm of the Echoes will change forever.

    But a wistful walk along the beach to gather cool, polished stones becomes a brilliant turning point in the girl’s grief. There, at the edge of a vast ocean beneath an infinite sky, she uncovers, alongside the reader, a profound and joyous truth. In his first picture book following the conclusion of his best-selling Journey trilogy, Aaron Becker achieves a tremendous feat, connecting the private, personal loss of one child to a cycle spanning millennia — and delivering a stunningly layered tale that demands to be pored over again and again.

    A playful celebration of family, our wonderful differences, and the transformative power of love.

    But where is her mother? Lucky for Little Miss Spider, kind and caring Betty Beetle is there to fill the role. In this new mini-book format, genious storyteller and artist David Kirk has brilliantly created a lively and sweet adoption story in which Miss Spider searches high and low before happily discovering that a mother's love can come from many sources.

    This colorful, emotional book is filled with natural imagery, centering on a small pond in the garden, and will teach children not only about death and loss, but the importance of the natural world.

    There are plenty of reasons for the butterflies in her stomach to flap their wings. There's a new girl in her class who might be a new best friend. The whole grade is performing Free to Be . . . You and Me--and Izzy really wants a starring role. And new changes at home are making Izzy feel like her family is falling apart. First-day jitters, new friends, an audition . . . How many butterfly problems can one kid take?

    The talented multiple-medalist Jane Yolen takes on this difficult subject with her usual grace and poetic sensitivity, focusing not on the "death" as much as the "life" in the last day of an older cat named Tiger Rose. Tiger Rose's kitten days are long gone and she's grown too tired to stay, so she says her goodbyes to all the creatures and the joys of her natural world--from the scolding blue jay, to the dog and children she shares her home with, to a chipmunk, startled by her gentleness, to her favorite shady patch under a piney bush. In a final vision, Tiger Rose takes one last leap into the blue sky and becomes one with all--the earth, the air, the sun. . . . This is perhaps the most reassuring book on death available for children.