Join the call for a better world with this New York Times bestselling picture book about a school where diversity and inclusion are celebrated. The perfect back-to-school read for every kid, family and classroom! In our classroom safe and sound. Fears are lost and hope is found. Discover a school where all young children have a place, have a space, and are loved and appreciated. Readers will follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where students from all backgrounds learn from and celebrate each other's traditions. A school that shows the world as we will make it to be. “An important book that celebrates diversity and inclusion in a beautiful, age-appropriate way.” – Trudy Ludwig, author of The Invisible Boy

With gorgeous multimedia paintings-and-collages by acclaimed artist Mary GrandPre, James Preller's All Welcome Here promises to be an evergreen gift picture book for children about to take the big leap into their first days of school. The bus door swishes Open, an invitation. Someone is not sure . . . The first day of school and all its excitement, challenges, and yes, anxieties, are celebrated here in connected haiku poems. A diverse cast of characters all start—and finish—their first days of school, and have experiences that all children will relate to.

Maple is in fifth grade—again. Now everyone will find out she struggles with reading—or will they? An engaging read for anyone who has ever felt different. Maple Mehta-Cohen has been keeping a secret: she can’t read all that well. She has an impressive vocabulary and loves dictating stories into her recorder—especially the adventures of a daring sleuth who’s half Indian and half Jewish like Maple herself—but words on the page just don’t seem to make sense to her. Despite all Maple’s clever tricks to hide her troubles with reading, her teacher is on to her, and now Maple has to repeat fifth grade. Maple is devastated—what will her friends think? Will they forget about her? She uses her storytelling skills to convince her classmates that she's staying back as a special teacher’s assistant (because of budget cuts, you know). But as Maple navigates the loss of old friendships, the possibility of new ones, and facing her reading challenges head-on, her deception becomes harder to keep up. Can Maple begin to recognize her own strengths, and to love herself—and her brain—just the way she is? Readers who have faced their own trials with school and friendships will enjoy this heartwarming story and its bright, creative heroine.

The newest picture book from the creators of All Are Welcome to help children navigate BIG FEELINGS! In their bestselling picture book All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman celebrate kindness, inclusivity, and diversity. Now with Big Feelings, they help children navigate the emotional challenges they face in their daily lives. What should we do when things don't go to plan? We may feel mad, frustrated, or overwhelmed, but by talking it through, compromising, and seeing another point of view, we can start fresh, begin anew.

Sophie does not want to do her homework, a research report on polar bears. Bor-ing. They’re big. They eat things. They’re mean. What else is there to say about them anyway? As it turns out, plenty. And when a polar bear named Olafur swoops her away to the Arctic, she soon learns all about the playful bear’s habits and habitat—from glacier mice to the northern lights—and, despite her first reservations, she finds herself not just interested but excited about the Arctic. When the two are swept out to sea on an iceberg, Sophie’s new knowledge and knack for creative thinking pay off in a big way: she calls a whale to their aid! Inspired by her journey, she’s ready to return home and take another swing at her assignment, this time with gusto. The Bear Report showcases the power of curiosity and imagination to fill any blank canvas, whether it’s an incomplete homework assignment or the Arctic ice.

A back-to-school celebration featuring the beloved characters from the New York Times-bestselling All Are Welcome! This Step 2 early reader is perfect for emerging readers who are excited to learn more at school. The sun is up. The day has begun. It’s back to school For everyone! The kids from All Are Welcome are heading back to school and eager to see old friends, make new friends, and learn to be readers, writers, listeners, and leaders. Three things they keep in mind: Always try. Have fun. Be kind. Step 2 Readers use basic vocabulary and short sentences to tell simple stories. They are ideal for children who recognize familiar words and can sound out new words with help. Perfect for children who are ready to read on their own!

Celebrate the act of giving with the beloved characters from the beloved bestseller All Are Welcome! This Step 2 early reader is perfect for emerging readers who are learning to give back to their communities. Get together, lend a hand. Can we do it? Yes, we can! The kids from All Are Welcome are working together to give back to their community. How do they do it? By gathering a team to follow a dream and lending a hand when someone is in need. Step 2 readers use basic vocabulary and short sentences to tell simple stories. They are ideal for children who recognize familiar words and can sound out new words with help. Perfect for children who are ready to read on their own!

A compilation of essays focusing on the significance of material culture to Cather’s work and Cather scholarship. Willa Cather and Material Culture is a collection of 11 new essays that tap into a recent and resurgent interest among Cather scholars in addressing her work and her career through the lens of cultural studies. One of the volume's primary purposes is to demonstrate the extent to which Cather did participate in her culture and to correct the commonplace view of her as a literary connoisseur set apart from her times. The contributors explore both the objects among which Cather lived and the objects that appear in her writings, as well as the commercial constraints of the publishing industry in which her art was made and marketed. Essays address her relationship to quilts both personally and as symbols in her work; her contributions to domestic magazines such as Home Monthly and Woman's Home Companion; the problematic nature of Hollywood productions of her work; and her efforts and successes as a businesswoman. By establishing the centrality of material matters to her writing, these essays contribute to the reclaiming of Cather as a modernist and highlight the significance of material culture, in general, to the study of American literature.

Keep life simple, safe. Avoid risks. Annie Marsh learned that the hard way when she was just a kid. So what possessed her to forget those rules for one night with Reservist Drew Vincent? Could've been the fact he was shipping out the next day. Regardless, next thing Annie knows, she's a new mommy…and her son's daddy is missing and presumed dead. That is, until two-plus years later when she answers her front door. Turns out Drew is not only very much alive, he's about to discover he's a dad. And that initial spark between Annie and Drew? It's on the verge of becoming all-consuming. But how can she trust her heart and her son to a man who risks his life every day?

Nothing felt overly exciting for twenty-four-year-old Blake. His career as a courier driver was hardly something to brag about and although he raced cars on the weekend, life seemed to have slowed to a crawl. For his housemate and best friend James, however, life was peachy; he was about to ask out the girl of his dreams and was entering his final year at university. Social media sensation Emma Riley was living her best life: her following was booming, her sponsors were calling, and people just could not get enough of her. If only her father, Thomas, could get off her back once in a while. Will was ready for the next big step. The restaurant was booked, the evening was planned, and the diamond ring was perfect. All he hoped now was that Lila, his girlfriend of four years, would say yes. But after a mysterious fire-breathing creature leaves the Australian city of the Gold Coast in ruins, this group of strangers are forced to leave their old lives behind and band together in a fight for survival. With no way to communicate with the outside world and no help in sight, a greater mystery begins to unfold around them. What is the monster that attacked the city? Where did it come from? Is our reign, our way of life, really over? Is the dragon’s reign about to begin?