After the sun insults her, the moon gets very upset and disappears, but with the help of her friends, the moon gains more self-confidence each day until she is back to her full size. Includes facts about the moon's phases and related activities.

A simple explanation of the moon and why it changes shape throughout the month.

Mole lives underground, but she wishes she could catch the sky and bring the sun’s warmth and light and the cool breeze into her home. Her friends, Squirrel, Bird, and Frog, try to help by grabbing a handful of sky–as a special gift for Mole. Down, down, down they go into the darkness.

Ajay's friends encourage him as he practices throwing a ball. Includes questions about the text and notes to parents on visual learning.

Billy is a typical boy who loves to ride his bike and play video games. But when Billy tells his family and friends he wants to be a cheerleader, everyone is surprised and tells him boys don't do that. But Billy practices and practices and when he shows his skills at the big game, everyone knows Billy is really good and are proud of him. All because Billy kept after his goal despite the teasing.

A little creature with a flat, furry body, webbed feet, and a duck bill does not know the answer when other animals ask what kind of creature he is, but he is willing to try climbing a tree, flying, and swimming to help them figure it out. Includes facts about platypus.

Eddy Thomas can read a college physics book, but he can't read the emotions on the faces of his classmates at Drayton Middle School. He can spend hours tinkering with an invention, but he can't stand more than a few minutes in a noisy crowd, like the crowd at the science fair, which Eddy fails to win. When the local school crossing guard is laid off, Eddy is haunted by thoughts of the potentially disastrous consequences and invents a traffic-calming device, using parts he has scavenged from discarded machines. Eddy also discovers new friends, who appreciate his abilities and respect his unique view of the world. They help Eddy realize that his "friend" Mitch is the person behind the progressively more distressing things that happed to Eddy. By trusting his real friends and accepting their help, Eddy uses his talents to help others and rethinks his purely mechanical definition of success in this Tofte/Wright Children's Literature Award winner.

Left-handed Anya draws with great passion . . . but only when she's alone. In Russia, right-handedness is demanded--it is the right way. This cultural expectation stifles young Anya's creativity and artistic spirit as she draws the world around her in secret. Hiding away from family, teachers, and neighbors, Anya imagines a secret society of famous left-handed artists drawing alongside her. But once her family emigrates from Russia to America, her life becomes less clandestine, and she no longer feels she needs to conceal a piece of her identity.

Stagestruck Blanche would like to be a part of a theatrical bear troupe's new play, but, her shyness causes problems until she discovers a special talent of her very own.

Boys and girls, mothers and fathers, meet your new best friend! Scoop the Ice Cream Truck doesn’t quite fit in with modern times. He tries to change to make himself more popular just to fit in, only to discover, through friendship, that he is fine just the way he is! Scoop the Ice Cream Truck has seen a lot of summers selling his vanilla ice cream cones across the city. But he’s getting old, and the new trucks are getting fancier. Now they have waffle cones, jumbo sundaes, flash frozen ice cream, twenty-seven flavors and six special toppings. Feeling like he’s fallen behind, Scoop decides that it’s time for a redesign. But when his old frame can’t handle the new upgrades, can Scoop discover his own value and find the right spot to sell his vanilla cones? With beautiful full-color art, and a lesson to teach, here is a big that will be a joy for parents and children at bedtime, or any time. This paperback edition includes supplemental information about the history of ice cream trucks at the back of the book.