Christmas on the Prairie

The Curtis family has recently moved to Prairietown from a thriving village in New York State. The four Curtis children, especially Thomas, are determined that Christmas will be just as wonderful as it was back east. But how can it be? So many ingredients of the family’s traditional Christmas customs are missing on the frontier.

August 4, 2018

Being a Twin, Having a Twin

What is it like to share a birthday with a bother or sister? What do you do when another member of the family looks just like you, has the same talents, and sometimes seems to think the same? How does it feel to be always considered part of a duo, and to be mixed up even by your own parents?

August 3, 2018

Being Adopted

Seven-year-old Rebecca, ten-year-old Andrei, and eight-year-old Karin behave like most children their age. They are active, curious, fun-seeking, and affectionate. They are also adopted. Rebecca, Andrei, and Karin often think about their caring families and themselves. Sometimes they find their adoption hard to forget, for in keeping with recent trends, Rebecca, Andrei, and Karin have racial and cultural roots different from their adoptive families’. Even at home, it seems, they stand out.

August 2, 2018

The First Thanksgiving Feast

The Pilgrims’ first harvest festival in 1621 was a time for playing games, singing, and dancing as well as feasting. Here is a fascinating re-creation, accurate in every detail, of that famous event.

August 1, 2018

My Friend Leslie: The Story of a Handicapped Child

In Karin’s kindergarten class Leslie stands apart at first. She’s smaller than her classmates, wears a hearing aid, and reads with her nose close to the book. Leslie is handicapped. The book is a sensitive portrait of a young friendship and of a captivating child for whom the word “handicapped” has no meaning. 

July 31, 2018

Balance It!

How does a scale work? Why do tightrope walkers carry a pole in their hands? What is a center of gravity? In this lively and informative book, young readers can learn the principles of balance at the same time as they make a letter scale, balancing dolls, a floating sculpture, and a mobile. 

July 31, 2018

Finding Your First Job

You want to earn some money. What you need is a job with a paycheck. It will be your first real job. How do you find it? This book will answer many of the questions you may have.

July 29, 2018

Over on the River

Today there is a deep blue lake where Papa and Mama and Lucy and Malinda lived. Their home was a little gray house that sat in a valley, with hills all around. Not many people know that deep down under the waters of the lake is the place where Lucy and Malinda’s baby brother was born, where Mama killed a rattlesnake as big around as a man’s wrist, and where Papa chopped weeds out of his cotton patch.

July 28, 2018

My Feet Do

Feet walk. They run. They jump. Feet wear socks. They wear boots. They wear sneakers. And feet can be tickled to make you laugh.

July 27, 2018

Grandpa had a Windmill, Grandma had a Churn

On a magic carpet of memory, Louise Jackson carries the young reader back in time to that simpler world she knew as a child growing up in rural Texas during the 1940’s. Her vivid reminiscences provide a please akin to discovering an old patchwork quilt, or coming upon great grandfather’s long-lost packet watch and chain. 

July 26, 2018

Handtalk

An ABC of finger Spelling & Sign Language. The book shows two ways you can talk besides using your voice: Fingerspelling, forming words letter by letter with the fingers of one hand, Making a picture or sign with your hands for each word or idea. You can also talk with your eyes, your face, your hands, your body. 

July 25, 2018

A Snake-Lovers Diary

It all started one April morning with the chance finding of a Gartner Snake. “It was as if I’d never really seen a snake before. I decided then and there to take it home. On the way, a plan began to take shape. I’d start a scientific study of snakes and keep a diary of my findings.” With Gartner Snake as Specimen A, a young boy spends a spring and summer catching and studying reptiles. His collection grows to include, among other species, a Water Snake, a King snake, a Milk Snake, and even a Boa Constrictor. 

July 24, 2018