Growing Kids

Teach your children the power of Kindness, one of the most important skills a child can learn. Are you one of 90 percent of parents, saying that their top priorities for their kids is to be caring? This makes sense: Kindness and concern for others are held as moral virtues in nearly every society and every major religion. The best social-emotional learning (SEL) book for raising kind children. This charming story with peaceful rhymes will explain to your child that it is okay to make a mistake and say I’m sorry.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was only 25 when he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott and was soon organizing black people across the country in support of the right to vote, desegregation, and other basic civil rights. Maintaining nonviolent and peaceful tactics even when his life was threatened, King was also an advocate for the poor and spoke out against racial and economic injustice until his death - from an assassin's bullet - in 1968.

At fourteen years old, Carlotta Walls was the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine. The journey to integration in a place deeply against it would not be not easy. Yet Carlotta, her family, and the other eight students and their families answered the call to be part of the desegregation order issued by the US Supreme Court in its 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.

One version of Murphy’s Law says: If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. If you’ve stepped on bubble gum, or if you’ve ever dropped an ice cream cone, you learned Murphy’s Law. Crying over dropped ice cream does not help you. Laughing at your mistakes helps you feel better. Try to learn from your mistakes and be more careful. But being careful does not always work. Understanding Murphy’s Law can be helpful to you and others.

It is 1939 in Berlin, Germany, and 12-year-old Lillian and her Papa are on the run from Nazi soldiers. Because they are Jewish, they are in danger of being arrested and put in prison. Lillian’s father is blind, and it seems no one is willing to help them - until they meet Otto Weidt. Mr. Weidt runs a factory that makes brushes for the Nazi army, and his secret is that he employs blind Jewish workers. Lillian learns that Otto Weidt is determined to keep her, Papa, and all the Jewish workers safe. But will he be able to?

Lucas is prepared for the highly anticipated bike race, fueled by his determination to win. However, he soon faces the moral dilemma of achieving victory through cheating. Guide your kids in making the right choices.

Anna Dewdney's beloved Llama Llama is growing up and learning to read! Throughout the school day, the teacher helps Llama Llama and the other children practice their letters, shows word cards, reads stories, and brings them to the library where they can all choose a favorite book. By the end of the day, Llama Llama is recognizing words and can't wait to show Mama Llama that he's becoming a reader!

Jack Gantos' rocket-paced follow-up to the Newbery Medal–winning novel Dead End in Norvelt opens in the 1960s, deep in the shadow of the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis. But instead of Russian warheads, other kinds of trouble are raining down on young Jack Gantos and his utopian town of Norvelt in western Pennsylvania. After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the town's founder, twelve-year-old Jack will soon find himself launched on a mission that takes him hundreds of miles away.

In honor of Presidents’ Day, A.J. and Andrea from Ella Mentry will compete against their Dirk School rivals in the ultimate Presidents’ Day Challenge! The winning school will get bragging rights, a free trip to an amusement park, and a top-secret prize. The only problem is that A.J. doesn’t know anything about US presidents, unless it involves their use of toilets! Will A.J. and Andrea be able to work together as a team and bring home the win?

When Lou McNally was last in Stoneybrook, she was the Worst Kid Ever. Now she's back...and Abby is going to be her baby-sitter. She's prepared for the worst, but Lou is a perfect angel. Is the new Lou too good to be true?

The first children’s book from multi-genre artist Brontez Purnell, a 2018 winner of the Whiting Award, sweetly portrays a common but rarely narrated childhood experience - having a single parent and taking care of a younger sibling. The Nightlife of Jacuzzi Gaskett recounts 11-year-old Jacuzzi’s evening activities while he cares for his baby brother and waits for mama’s arrival home. He ponders his dad, school, and his future - and when his brother wakes up, Jacuzzi knows just how to get him back to sleep.

Pizza and Taco are serving up more awesomeness with a cool new club! They can't wait to talk about all their favorite interests...including making comic books. Lots of people signed up, so they know it's going to be popular! Then why does everyone go to Cheeseburger's video game club instead?! Pizza and Taco have no choice but to check it out. They just might learn that kids want to make comics just as much as they want to play video games!

When it comes to stirring up a little excitement in class, Otis Spofford knows just what to do. He can turn a folk dance fiesta into a three-ring circus, or an arithmetic lesson into a spitball marathon. Even his friends George and Stewy can't keep up when it comes to Otis's mischief.

This chapter-book edition of the number-one New York Times best seller by luminaries Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America.

To Lexi, a new school year means back to baking with her BFFs in the cupcake club. But the club president, Kylie, is mixing things up by inviting new members. And Lexi is in for a not-so-sweet surprise when she is cast in the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. If only she could be as confident onstage as she is in the kitchen. The icing on the cake: her secret crush is playing Romeo. Sounds like a recipe for trouble!

Down at the bottom of the tall buildings of New York City, Magnolia Wu sits inside her parents’ laundromat. She has pinned every lost sock from the laundromat onto a bulletin board, in hopes that customers will return to retrieve them. But no one seems to have noticed. In fact, barely anyone has noticed Magnolia at all. What she doesn’t know is that this is about to be her most exciting summer yet. When Iris, a new friend from California arrives, they set off across the city to solve the mystery of each missing sock.

Every parent wants his or her child to be happy and grow into a productive, fulfilled adult...and according to parenting expert Maureen Healy, the secret to that success is in providing a foundation of inner confidence. Parents and teachers know that confidence and inner strength are important attributes, but in an era where self-worth is often measured by possessions and attractiveness, most have no idea how to model true inner confidence for their kids or how to help them cultivate it.

From award-winning Irish author Meg Grehan comes an accessible and beautifully crafted middle-grade novel-in-verse about Stevie, a young girl reckoning with anxiety about the many things she has yet to understand - including her feelings about her friend Chloe.

Brave Irene is Irene Bobbin, the dressmaker's daughter. Her mother, Mrs. Bobbin, isn't feeling so well and can't possibly deliver the beautiful ball gown she's made for the duchess to wear that very evening. So plucky Irene volunteers to get the gown to the palace on time, in spite of the fierce snowstorm that's brewing—quite an errand for a little girl. But where there's a will, there's a way, as Irene proves in the danger-fraught adventure that follows. She must defy the wiles of the wicked wind, her most formidable opponent, and overcome many obstacles before she completes her mission.

Amelia Bedelia and her friends learn about the solar system and their place in the universe in the sixth book in the Amelia Bedelia & Friends chapter-book series. But with Amelia Bedelia involved, there are sure to be more than a few funny mix-ups along the way.