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Being Friends by Karen Beaumont is a great book about friends. Two girls talk about being friends. There are things that they both disagree on, yet there are many things that they do like. For example, one likes jeans and the other likes gowns. However, they are still friends. Moral is that friends are different individually, and that they can still be friends. The book is great for children having a hard time making friends. This book can be found in Penn State libraries.

This book is about a really scary fish named Al who couldn't make any friends because of how he looked. All the other fish were scared of him. He tried everything to get them to be his friend. One day, the other fish got caught in a net and Al got to be the hero and save them. This book highlights the topics of  making friends, getting along with classmates, and understanding one's feelings. This book would be beneficial to read if there is a conflict in your class between students because of differences.

This book is about a hippo named Hilda who loves to dance. However, Hilda's dancing is very destructive. All of her friends wish she would take up a less destructive hobby. They recommend knitting and singing, but Hilda didn't like either one, so she sticks to dancing. Finally, the water buffalo recommend swimming to Hilda. It is then that she discovers her passion for water ballet dancing. Hilda was good at water ballet and she didn't destroy anything in the process. Best of all, her friends loved it and told her to keep dancing. This book will communicate a passion for the arts, specifically dancing, to the students who read it. The illustrations are bright and colorful. The one weakness of this book is that it shows Hilda's friends not supporting her dancing on land. As a teacher, this book would be good to recommend to students who like dance, or just enjoy the arts in general.

"The Girl Who Wanted a Song" is a beautiful story about a young girl who has just lost her parents and is trying to find a way back to her normal life. After moving in with her aunt, she becomes friends with a goose who cannot fly. Through the interaction between the girl and the goose, both finally, in the end, get their wings back and are able to fly. This is a great story to deal with emotion. It shows that even when things get bad and you feel there is nothing left, there is always a way to get back to normal and live again. The book also has amazing illustrations than capture your eyes attention immediately. The illustrations also fully support the text, which is good for younger readers who are just starting to understand books. "The Girl Who Wanted a Song" is an amazing book that portrays emotions in a deep and meaningful way. It shows that in even the saddest of times, things eventually will look up, especially with a little help from a friend.

This books is about Bird who wakes up one day feeling grumpy. He is too grumpy to eat or play, and even too grumpy to fly. Because he is too grumpy to fly, he walks that day. While he is walking, a few of his friends (Sheep, Rabbit, Raccoon, Beaver, and Fox) decide to walk with him. Before too long, with some exercise and friends, Bird realizes he is no longer grumpy. This book does a good job of showing kids that when you are grumpy you don't need to be violent. I also like the fact that when Bird decides to walk, the author makes sure Bird doesn't walk alone. This would be a good book to put in a collection so that if a student is grumpy, he or she can read this book and possibly shake his or her bad mood too!

The narrator, a boy, lies awake listening for the sound of the bells on Santa's sleigh, a sound a friend who doesn't believe in Santa Claus says that he won't hear. Indeed, he does not, but what he does hear is even more wonderful and remarkable. He hears the hiss of steam and the squeak of metal, and when he looks out the window, he sees a train outside his house. It is the Polar Express, destination: North Pole. Once aboard, he finds that it is full of children, all in their nightclothes. They sing Christmas carols, drink rich cocoa and eat candies as the train races northward. Finally, they arrive at the North Pole, and the narrator is selected to receive the first gift of Christmas. He asks for, and receives from Santa Claus himself, a silver bell from the sleigh. Although the boy loses the bell on the way home, kindly Mr. C. returns it to him, and the boy discovers that the bell has a remarkable quality -- only those who still believe in the wonder that is Santa and the spirit of Christmas can hear the bell. His friends and his sister eventually cannot hear the bell, but even when he grows up "the bell still rings for [him] as it does for all who truly believe." This books illustrations grab you from the get go. They are so detailed and perfectly illustrated that you feel like you are right in the story yourself. From a teacher's perspective, this would be an great choice to read around the holidays and do a little Christmas lesson with it. I own this book, too. So if you want to take a look at it, let me know. Enjoy (;

This story is about two best friends, Marilyn and Traci, and their fifth grade teacher, Miss Wichelman. The girls loved spending time with their teacher, in and out of school. The teacher always encouraged them to never give up. Her famous line is "If life hands you a lemons, make lemonade". Marilyn, Traci, and Miss Wichelman create a club called "The Lemonade Club", they become very close. In the story, one of the best friends becomes very ill. Patricia Polacco shows the reader the ups and downs of the process of healing and dealing with this illness. The Lemonade Club works through this hard time together. This book will teach the reader how to deal with life-threatening illness.

A great portrayal of a mouse child learning to grow up and leave his childhood friend, his blankey. His mother helps him grow up and make his blankey into a big boy hankey! This book portrays a great picture of how and what it takes for children to grown up. This is one of the books strengths. From a teachers viewpoint I think this would be great to read with little children because they can relate to having to deal with something like growing apart from your childhood friend such as a blankey. I do have this book, it is my own, so if you would like to check it out, you can get it from me, Enjoy (;

Danitra and her friend Zuri are persevering characters. When life gets hard for one of these friends, the other one helps her keep going.

The Recess Queen is a book about a bully on the playground at recess. Her name is Mean Jean and she has total control of the playground. Nobody can do anything before she does; if they do, she gets mad and lets everyone know it. Then, one day a new girl comes to school and changes everything. Katie Sue, the new girl, lets every kid at school know that she does not care what Mean Jean does. She will play whenever she wants and with whatever she wants. The Recess Queen is a great book that lets kids know how to make friends; it seems to say that you should not let people intimidate you. Also, the illustrations in this book are very colorful. A lot of kids are bullied and pushed around by the "Mean Jean's" of the world; after reading The Recess Queen, hopefully many kids can become "Katie Sue's."

Let's Talk About Living with a Single Parent by Elizabeth Weitzman is a book about children living with a single parent.  The book provides an example of a girl drawing pictures of her family. Also, it tells the definition of a single parent and what it means to be adopted. There is a special relationship between the child and the single parent. And that this relationship can grow by letting the child help with chores around the house. This way the child and parent can spend valuable time together. Also, if the child has concerns or questions about living with a single parent then they can go to a friend or someone they know to talk to. Lastly, it does not matter who is in their family. It just matters that love is in the air. Let's Talk About Living with a Single Parent is a great book to read to a group of children who are living with a single parent and need guidance on how to deal with their emotions. This book is available through Penn State libraries.

This book is a wonderful book to address a major issue in growing up, self-esteem. Curtis shows kids that feeling good means liking yourself the way you are. I'm Gonna Like Me celebrates kids differences such as, body type, missing teeth and personal style choices. This book teaches children to love themselves even if they make a mistake, don't know the right answer or get picked last in gym class. It encourages a healthy view of ones self, establishes a sense self worth and a positive outlook on life.  This book is an all around perfect book to teach self esteem, and the pictures make it even better.

Dear Jamie Lee Curtis,      Congratulations! My name is Brittney Ward, and I am pleased to inform you that your book, I'm Gonna Like Me, has been chosen as the recipient of the Kira Elizabeth Award for excellence in children's literature about growing up.      This award was created as part of an assignment in the Elementary Education block courses at Penn State University - Altoona Campus. Each student's task was to create an award for some unique aspect of children's literature and then create the criteria for the award. Our fellow students then nominated books for our award following the specific criteria. After looking closely at several nominations, we were to pick a winner and notify the author of our winning book.      The Kira Elizabeth Award was to be presented to a book that provided guidance to a child going through the trials and tribulations of growing up. In today's society, children are "growing up" much faster than in the past. Because growing up is a part of life, I wanted the book to be one a child could turn to when they wanted to learn about or take shelter in knowing the social and emotional obstacles that come along with growing up. Nominations had to include appropriate facts, reassurances, or guidance on how to deal with the social, emotional, and/or personal changes children age's 5-9 experience growing up, such as how to make friends, getting along with classmates, understanding their feelings, etc.      This award is in honor of a little girl named Kira Elizabeth Angello. She is three years old and, in my opinion, is growing up entirely too fast. I watch her from time to time and she loves books. Her mother always wants to make sure that she has high self-esteem and that she loves who she is. Therefore, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to 'shop around' for books that deal with that issue. In the wo

A beloved classic of children's literature, The Secret Garden, tells an inspirational tale of transformation and empowerment. Mary Lennox, a sickly and contrary little girl, is orphaned to dim prospects in a gloomy English manor - her only friend is a bed-ridden boy named Colin whose prospects may be dimmer than hers. But when Mary finds the key to a Secret Garden, the magical powers of transformation fall within her reach. This stories strength is that it givs great confidence to chidren with dissabilities and is a great portrayal of what a child with a special need goes through. From a teachers point of view, I think it would be a great choice of a chapter book to read because it can teach children a good deal of information. This book is available at Barnes&Noble. Enjoy (;

This adorable and very funny children's book is about a zebra and orangutan who loves underwear. They have a friend that is a buffalo, who is always in a bad mood. They challenge the buffalo to say the word underwear 10 times without laughing. Do you think he can do it? This book is perfect for little children, more so the younger, primary grades such ad K-3 grade. Its main strength is how funny it is and it gives children a break from their day to sit and listen to a very fun and silly story. From a teachers perspective, I think it would be great to read when you just need to step back from everything and take a deep breath. I own this book, so if you would like to look at it, just let me know. Enjoy (;

"Once Upon a Time" is a heartwarming story about a girl who struggles with reading and gets teased at school. Sarie's old friend Auntie Anna is the one person who understands the difficulty she has with reading. Sarie learns to read when she finds a book that she likes and Auntie Anna supports her and gets her imagination going. Once Sarie accomplishes this, she is able to read in school and no longer gets teased. I would recommend this book to those children who are struggling with reading. Sometimes they just have to find something that interests them and that they enjoy to help them in the reading process. I would read this in a classroom of my own because many children can relate to what Sarie is going through.

This is a great story of team work. When the little girl is feeling down, her animal friends help her build a great snowman. It makes her feel good about herself because she is told she is too small. It shows team work as they build the snowman. The snowman impresses everyone at the end.

This book showcases six extraordinary children with disabilities and shows that they are ordinary kids like everyone else. It helps other kids know that these kids have similar interests as them. This book is good for children with disabilities and without disabilities. It broadens kids ideas about different kids other than themselves. It's also informs the children about different types of disabilites.

Willie has decided that hugging is for sissies because that's what his friend Jo Jo always says. But his family likes to hug, and it's hard for Willie to be hug-free. This book is a wonderful children's story about families who love each other and don't mind showing it. Willie's sadness about giving up hugs becomes apparent to the reader even before Willie understand it himself. The sister who teases with love is also a very kind and sweet character for children to relate to. As a teacher, I can see this book being useful in community development; while students like Jo Jo need to be allowed to keep their personal space, students like Willie should be allowed to show their affection for their loved ones: at home and at school.