Pat Zietlow Miller

On her very first day of school, Sophie is reluctant to make friends with the other children, preferring to play with two squash she grew in her garden -- but when a particularly persistent boy named Steven gives her a packet of seeds as an apology for accidentally ripping her picture, she realizes that it just takes time to grow a friend.

When Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate contemplates how to make her feel better and what it means to be kind. From asking the new girl to play to standing up for someone being bullied, this moving and thoughtful story explores what a child can do to be kind, and how each act, big or small, can make a difference or at least help a friend.

Rhyming text encourages young readers to discover what they are good at and use it to make a difference in big ways or in small ones.

No strong enough to ascend the climbing wall at school, a discouraged child returns home and learns that there are other ways to be strong, from not giving up when working for a good cause or learning a new skill to making sure that no one sits alone in the lunchroom.

Relates how to find your courage and use it when life seems frightening or you start something new.

Students create a vegetable garden on their school's rooftop.

Despite all his efforts, Elliott is wide awake and cannot seem to get to sleep so that he and his mother can make it through the winter.

Loretta tries hard to come up with the perfect gift for her beloved baby cousin, Gabe, but on his first birthday she learns she has already given him something special.

Stuck in Group A with the kids who can't read, upbeat first grader Lupe Lopez is made fun of by a rival but refuses to let that stop her from becoming a reading rock star.

"Celebrating all the different ways girls can make things, this brilliant, inclusive ode to self-expression and girl power will inspire readers to jump up and start to build--because they can do anything!"--