What started as 8-year-old Sammie Vance's mission to get a buddy bench for her school to fight loneliness grew to be so much more. Now Sammie is making a difference beyond her hometown. In her first-ever book, Sammie shares how she's inspiring others through recycling, community, giving, determination, bravery, helping, being herself, and celebrating. She wants to inspire the world one kid at a time.

Brian McGrory thought he had it all figured out: a great job, a condo in Back Bay, and his beloved golden retriever Harry by his side. But after Harry’s death, McGrory's life as a bachelor takes quite the turn. He falls in love with Harry’s veterinarian Pam, and leaves the city for life in the suburbs with Pam’s family and their two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and Buddy—the self-assured family rooster who hates Brian’s guts. These things never go as easily as they should. The commute is long, the kids were wary, and Buddy was constantly poised to attack. But rather than accept defeat, Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and the girls that he wants for himself. Funnily enough, it’s the rooster’s tenacious devotion to the family that encourages a change in Brian’s perspective, and before long, the archenemy becomes his inspiration, helping Brian evolve into a true family man With luminous writing and expert comic timing, McGrory brings to life a classic story of love, acceptance, and change as one man’s nemesis becomes his madcap mentor. Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content

Having seen what being left out is like, children become agents of change, convincing their teacher to let them build a buddy bench. A school playground can be a solitary place for a kid without playmates; in one survey, 80 percent of 8- to 10-year-old respondents described being lonely at some point during a school day. Patty Brozo’s cast of kids brings a playground to raucous life, and Mike Deas’s illustrations invest their games with imaginary planes to fly, dragons to tame, and elephants to ride. And these kids match their imaginations with empathy, identifying and swooping up the lonely among them. Buddy benches are appearing in schoolyards around the country. Introduced from Germany in 2014, the concept is simple: When a child sits on the bench, it’s a signal to other kids to ask him or her to play.

Buddy Boutonniere, a big-hearted Standard Poodle, subsists in the bare backyard of a tract home in the desert city of Yucca Dunes. MacKenzie, a Border Collie, and Javier, a Chihuahua, provide Buddy with companionship and bring him food scraps when his neglectful owners forget to provide for him.When Buddy's owners decide to move, Buddy meets a wonderful lady who visits his house with prospective buyers. The poodle's humans try to sell their dog and Buddy goes through a series of unsuitable living situations. The final family returns Buddy to the tract home not realizing the owners are out of town. His only lifeline, MacKenzie, is killed by an evil Hummer driver while bringing him food. Tiny Javier tries to support Buddy with the aid of Dumb Derek, a Rottweiler whose brain is damaged from years of guarding a chemical dump. The two are unable to help the poodle.Buddy dies, but is brought back to life by Sonny, the Good Shepherd. Sonny grants Buddy's wish to go live with the wonderful lady, in return for his promise to go with Sonny when he comes back for him. Buddy has a happy life with the lady and her dog, Skootch. Together they rescue abandoned Leroy and abused Roxanne. Years later, during Skootch's fifteenth birthday party, Sonny comes for Buddy. True to his word, he goes without complaint.Sonny takes Buddy to Haven, the canine paradise, where he is reunited with MacKenzie. Sonny explains the rules in Haven; dogs acquire free will and give up their role of caring for humans. Their only responsibility is to help guide other dogs to Haven. Buddy excels at guiding, but on a mission to bring back a bomb dog from Afghanistan, Buddy breaks the rule and helps a human, the dog's Marine partner. The residents of Haven are furious with the poodle and he is exiled to the perimeter of paradise. There he meets a young girl who has died of cancer and befriends her, another infraction of the rules. He is dragged before the communal tribunal, where MacKenzie defends him. With the help of the marine and the girl, MacKenzie convinces the judges that Buddy is not an offender, but a hero.Buddy's story teaches young readers about the bonds of love and friendship, the role of free will in building character, the importance of responsibility in our lives, especially as it relates to animal welfare, and the acceptance of death as part of life's journey for ourselves and our pets.Parents, teachers and kids can find additional mateiral at http://www.buddystail.comDog characters by Ron Ruelle http://www.ronruelle.com

For young John Degraffenreidt, a sleepless night is no reason to fret when tossing and turning in bed brings a bright red crocodile named Crosley out from under his bed. Night Buddies like Crosley promise an evening of adventure to any not-tired-yet kid-and tonight is no different! Out of bed, and into the city, John embarks on a one-of-a-kind program with his crocodile pal. It seems like Cros is a one-of-a-kind individual-that is, until red crocs start popping up all over the city, creating confusion, committing crimes, and causing Crosley to go bananas at the sight of them.

A murder, a rescue and the ultimate act of love: Full Circle chronicals the Taylor family's triumph over violence and chaos. Rural Virginia, 1958: "For a Saturday night it was quiet, even for Slocum, a place Buddy thought no one in their right mind would choose to be." Educated by years of domestic chaos, the Taylor children must adapt after their mother is shot by their father. Clarence, the new head of the family at twenty-two, steals a moving van and smuggles them from their rural Virginia home to a life in Baltimore, a monumental challenge for a Black family in the 1950s. Though society conspires against them, the Taylor children are not without allies: Leo and Anna Antanucci are the owners of the moving company where Clarence Taylor works. Leo and Anna, alone and banished from their own families, have struggled to start their business and family, when a moving van filled with five children is unexpectedly unloaded on their doorstep. Buddy, Cherise, Billy, Roy and Otis learn how to survive - and thrive - in a turbulent 1960s and 70s Baltimore, while Leo and Anna find the family they had been denied. The extended Taylor/Antanucci family makes their way through the many triumphs and tragedies thrown their way. Cherise, the Taylor family prodigy, finds professional success in adulthood, but ultimately realizes that her life is not complete. She takes a page from Leo and Anna and works to sponsor and bring a semi-orphaned family from Iraq to Baltimore, smuggling them over the border not in a moving truck but a mini-van. Full Circle explores issues of race and national identity, gender equality, and the ultimate triumph of love and gratitude in a hard world. You will come to love the characters and miss them terribly when you finish the last page.

An adult picture book story exploring the end of life's questions.

Despite the blustery winter chill, love is in the air in Heavenly Daze. Buddy Franklin is searching for someone to change his lonely life, Dana and Mike Klackenbush are trying to reestablish the friendship that led them to marriage three years before, Barbara and Russell Higgs are contemplating babies, and Cleta Lansdown is determined to keep Barbara, her married daughter, close to home. The angels who inhabit the island are surprised and overwhelmed when Buddy gets a pet, Dana toys with harmless flirtation, Barbara discovers she can't have a baby, and Cleta gives her son-in-law a pink, ruffled bedroom ensemble for his birthday! As always, the folks of Heavenly Daze triumph, learn, laugh, and love - and readers will do much of the same!

Few of us will ever know the satisfaction of becoming number one in our professions; in music, the odds are astronomical. Musicologists tell us that in the ideal--or abstract--situation, an individual is genetically predisposed with a special gift, works at it from infancy, isolated from distractions, and denied any choice in the matter, until the discipline develops into an almost monomaniacal drive for perfection. Buddy Rich achieved that perfection. The cost was very high. This book was written in the form of a diary, researched by the author as he traveled with Buddy Rich to various cities in the US, Canada, England, and Scotland. It was not intended to be an authorative analysis of an eminent contemporary musician or a detailed biographical treatment. It is a selective account of representative events in the life of a musical genius, an attempt to reflect aspects of his complex personality and the role played by his family, friends, and enemies--real and imagined.

Buddy is a thirteen-year-old boy who loves baseball. Arriving at the field for the first practice of the new season, he is excited about his prospects and those of his team, the Blue Sox. But then he sees a new boy, Ben, wearing a catcher's mitt. Catcher has always been Buddy's position, and Buddy is a little worried about his place on the team. And with good reason, because Ben, a superb athlete whose family just moved to town, earns the starting position at catcher, and Buddy is relegated to the bench. So what should he do? Should he quit the team and get a job to save money for college as his father has suggested to him? Or should he stick with Coach Ted, whom he idolizes, and his teammates and learn to play a new position, which is what his grandfather thinks would be best for him? After struggling with this dilemma during a long night while trying to fall asleep, Buddy decides to quit the team and get a job to occupy the long summer days without baseball. But Buddy has a problem facing the truth about his decision. He tells his teammate Joe he quit so he could get a job. Joe tells Buddy that the real reason he quit is he has too much pride. Later, Buddy admits to his little brother Mark that his pride was in fact what caused him to quit the team and that he was doing just what Mark did when he lost a 'Sorry' game to Buddy--he was "hiding in the closet." What should he do now? Can he swallow his pride and rejoin his old team where he once enjoyed the fellowship of teammates like Ben, Joe, and Freddie and where he learned so much not just about baseball but also life from his hero, Coach Ted?