Search results for ""groundwood books""

Simon has always longed to catch a salmon. But when his luck suddenly changes and an eagle accidentally drops one into a tidal pool, Simon is torn between sympathy for the fish and the desire to catch something of his own.All summer long, Simon, a young First Nations boy, has been desperate to catch a salmon. He goes fishing every day, but has no luck. Then one day a high-flying eagle drops a salmon into a clam hole right before his eyes, and Simon must decide whether to take it home or let it go.This simple story, with its evocative watercolor paintings of the Northwest Coast, was an environmental fable before its time when it was first published in 1978. But its true power rests in the magical combination of text and pictures, which have made it a best-selling classic.

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Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary each tell their story, culminating in their thrilling ascent of Mount Everest. Tenzing Norgay grew up in Nepal, herding yaks in the shadow of Chomolungma, the mountain also known as Everest. He has always dreamed of climbing to the top. He becomes a guide, leading treks through the Himalayas, and finally attempts the highest mountain himself, but doesn’t make it. Across the ocean, in New Zealand, Edmund Hillary grew up tending his father’s bees. He climbed his first mountain at sixteen and has climbed all over the world ever since. He tries Everest, with no success. In 1953, the two men set out on the same expedition to climb Everest. Their party numbers four hundred, counting all the guides and porters. But the climb is grueling, and eventually Norgay and Hillary are the only two determined to continue. They tramp over windswept glaciers, crawl across rope bridges, hack footholds in the ice … until finally they reach the top of the world! This remarkable true adventure story, told in a dual narrative, includes illustrated backmatter rich in geography, history and science. Key Text Features author’s note bibliography facts further reading historical context illustrations Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

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This beautiful book of narrative non-fiction looks at the urban forest and dives into the question of how we can live in harmony with city trees. “Imagine a city draped in a blanket of green … Is this the city you know?” A Forest in the City looks at the urban forest, starting with a bird’s-eye view of the tree canopy, then swooping down to street level, digging deep into the ground, then moving up through a tree’s trunk, back into the leaves and branches. Trees make our cities more beautiful and provide shade but they also fight climate change and pollution, benefit our health and connections to one another, provide food and shelter for wildlife, and much more. Yet city trees face an abundance of problems, such as the abundance of concrete, poor soil and challenging light conditions. So how can we create a healthy environment for city trees? Urban foresters are trying to create better growing conditions, plant diverse species, and maintain trees as they age. These strategies, and more, reveal that the urban forest is a complex system—A Forest in the City shows readers we are a part of it. Includes a list of activities to help the urban forest and a glossary. The ThinkCities series is inspired by the urgency for new approaches to city life as a result of climate change, population growth and increased density. It highlights the challenges and risks cities face, but also offers hope for building resilience, sustainability and quality of life as young people act as advocates for themselves and their communities. Key Text Features diagrams author's note glossary sources definitions Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

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Nine poignant and empowering short stories from the author of The Breadwinner.The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-altering choice.Jafar is a child laborer in a chair factory and longs to go to school. Sue sits on a swing as she and her brother wait to have a supervised visit with their father at the children’s aid society. Gretchen considers the lives of concentration camp victims during a school tour of Auschwitz. Mike survives seventy-two days of solitary as a young offender. Barry squirms on a food court chair as his parents tell him that they are separating. Macie sits on a too-small time-out chair while her mother receives visitors for tea. Noosala crouches in a fetid, crowded apartment in Uzbekistan, waiting for an unscrupulous refugee smuggler to decide her fate.These children find the courage to face their situations in ways large and small, in this eloquent collection from a master storyteller.Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.9Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.

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The second book in the ThinkCities series explores water as a precious, finite resource, tracing its journey from source, through the city, and back again. Living in cities where water flows effortlessly from our taps and fountains, it’s easy to take it for granted. City of Water, the second book in the ThinkCities series, shines a light on the water system that is vital for our health and well-being. The narrative traces the journey of water from the forests, mountains, lakes, rivers and wetlands that form the watershed, through pipes and treatment facilities, into our taps, fire hydrants and toilets, then out through storm and sewer systems toward wastewater treatment plants and back into the watershed. Along the way we discover that some of the earliest cities with water systems date back to the Indus Valley in 2500 BC; that in 1920 only 1 percent of the US population had indoor plumbing; that if groundwater is used up too quickly, the land can actually sink; and more. The text is sprinkled with fun and surprising facts — some water fountains in Paris offer sparkling water, and scientists are working to extract microscopic particles of precious metals found in sewage. Readers are encouraged to think about water as a finite resource, and to take action to prevent our cities and watersheds from becoming more polluted. More than 2 billion people in the world are without access to safe, fresh water at home. As the world’s population grows, along with pollution and climate change, access to clean water is becoming an urgent issue. Includes practical steps that kids can take to help conserve water. The ThinkCities series is inspired by the urgency for new approaches to city life as a result of climate change, population growth and increased density. It highlights the challenges and risks cities face, but also offers hope for building resilience, sustainability and quality of life as young people advocate for themselves and their communities. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

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In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the US border. They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey. As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the US border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

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A New York Times Book Review choice as one of the 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2008. Skim is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth stuck in a private girls' school in Toronto. When a classmate's boyfriend kills himself because he was rumoured to be gay, the school goes into mourning overdrive, each clique trying to find something to hold on to and something to believe in. It's a weird time to fall in love, but that's high school, and that's what happens to Skim when she starts to meet in secret with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. But when Ms. Archer abruptly leaves, Skim struggles to cope with her confusion and isolation, armed with her trusty journal and a desire to shed old friendships while cautiously approaching new ones. Depression, love, sexual identity, crushes, manipulative peers --teen life in all its dramatic complexities is explored in this touching, pitch-perfect, literary graphic masterpiece. Cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki collaborate brilliantly in this poignant glimpse into the heartache of being sixteen. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

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Winner of the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction From the mid-1800s to the late 1990s, the education of Indigenous children was taken on by various churches in government-sponsored residential schools. More than 150,000 children were forcibly taken from their families in order to erase their traditional languages and cultures. As Long as the Rivers Flow is the story of Larry Loyie’s last traditional summer before entering residential school. It is a time of adventure and learning from his Elders. He cares for an abandoned baby owl, watches his kokom (grandmother) make winter moccasins, and helps his family prepare for summer camp, where he will pick berries, fish and swim. While searching for medicine plants in the bush with Kokom, he encounters a giant grizzly bear. Gently but truthfully written, the book captivates its readers and reveals a hidden history. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting) CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5 Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

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Winner of the Governor General's Award A beautiful and visionary book, Ancient Thunder celebrates wild horses and the natural world of the prairies. Using an extraordinary technique, Leo Yerxa, an artist of Ojibway ancestry, makes paper look like leather, so that his illustrations seem to be painted on leather shirts. The art is accompanied by a rich song of praise for the wild horses that came to play such an important role in the lives of the First Peoples. Years in the making, the book is truly a work of art — one that reflects Yerxa's sense of nature and the place of the First Peoples within it.

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A boy, his father and their dog have a perfect day in a snowy city, illustrated by Governor General’s Literary Award winner Gary Clement. A young boy wakes up in the early light of a winter morning, pulls on his boots and mittens, and steps out into the snowy city with his dad. They trudge through the snow, their dog bounding along beside them, then a slushy, steamy bus ride takes them to the tobogganing hill for some winter fun. The boy describes all the sights and sounds of the day, from the frost in Dad’s beard and the snow “pillows” in the park, to the noisy clunking snow plows and the singing buskers they pass on their way home. That night, the boy lies awake under cozy covers, reflecting on the day, as snow blankets the world outside his window. This is winter in the city. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

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A remarkable and thought-provoking new novel set on Israel’s West Bank, by the author of The Breadwinner.On Israel’s West Bank, a cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards.Should she help him?After all, she’s just a cat.Or is she?It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems — staying under the teachers’ radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids at school, outsmarting her clueless parents.But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival.When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don’t know what to do with him. Where are the child’s parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching.Not my business, thinks the cat. And then she sees a photograph, and suddenly she understands what happened to the boy’s parents, and why they have not returned. And as the soldiers begin to panic, and disaster seems certain, she knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation.But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).

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When a teacher asks her class to think about what makes their families special, the answers are all different, but the same in one important way ... When a teacher asks the children in her class to think about what makes their families special, the answers are all different in many ways — but the same in the one way that matters most of all. One child is worried that her family is just too different to explain, but listens as her classmates talk about what makes their families special. One is raised by a grandmother, and another has two dads. One has many stepsiblings, and another has a new baby in the family. As her classmates describe who they live with and who loves them — family of every shape, size and every kind of relation — the child realizes that as long as her family is full of caring people, it is special. A warm and whimsical look at many types of families, written by award-winning author Sara O’Leary, with quirky and sweet illustrations by Qin Leng. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6 Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

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A wallet, a set of keys, a pair of glasses — these are some of the household objects that disappear and are fantastically reconstituted in Cybèle Young’s inventive new picture book. Minimal text conveys the magic of a world where even inanimate objects are constantly undergoing a process of growth, transformation and change.An introduction describing the frustration we feel when we lose something is followed by a catalogue of misplaced objects. Each item is shown first in its original form and then, through a gatefold spread, is shown in the process of transforming into a marvelous and mysterious sea creature. At the very end of the book, we see these transformed objects in their new, watery habitat, a conclusion which will leave readers astonished by the distance they — like the lost objects themselves — have travelled.Some Things I’ve Lost invites readers to consider the inevitability of change and the power of the imagination. On finishing the book, children and adults alike will look more closely at everything they have previously taken for granted.

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New York City in the 1960s is the humming backdrop for this poignant, gritty story about a girl who sees her parents as flawed human beings for the first time, and finds the courage to make a fresh start. Missy’s mother has gone back to school to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. Missy’s father works in advertising and takes Missy on secret midnight excursions to Harlem and the Village so she can share his love of jazz. The two write poems for each other — poems that gradually become an exchange of apologies as Missy’s father’s alcohol and drug addiction begins to take over their lives. When Missy’s mother finally decides that she and her daughter must make a fresh start, Missy has to leave her old apartment, her school, her best friend and her cats and become a latchkey kid while her mother gets a job. But she won’t give up on trying to save her family, even though this will involve a hard journey from innocence to action, and finally acceptance. Based on the events and people of her own childhood, Amanda Lewis’s gorgeous novel is driven by Missy’s irresistible, optimistic voice, buoyed by the undercurrents of poetry and music. Key Text Features poems dialogue literary references epigraph vignettes

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It’s the day of the first salmon ceremony, and P'ésk'a is excited to celebrate. His community, the Sts'ailes people, give thanks to the river and the salmon it brings by commemorating the first salmon of the season. Framed as an exploration of what life was like one thousand years ago, P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony describes the customs of the Sts'ailes people, an Indigenous group who have lived on what is now the Harrison River in British Columbia for the last 10,000 years. Includes an introductory letter from Chief William Charlie, an illustrated afterword and a glossary.

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Thanks to her wild head of hair, Malie gets all tangled up with an unexpected cast of characters in this funny, stylish twist of a tall tale. Malie is a little girl with huge, uncontrollable hair. And this morning, it seems wilder than ever. She tries to comb it. She tries to hide it, but nothing works! And things go from bad to worse when her mother sends her out to run some errands. At the bakery, Malie’s hair sweeps a tray of cupcakes off the counter. A flock of birds makes her irresistible nest a home. A child on a tricycle slips and flips — but enjoys the softest landing in Malie’s hair. Her wild mane becomes more and more of a burden, both physically and emotionally. But after a quick nap, Malie can appreciate the world anew. She smells delicious cupcakes, hears a chorus of birds singing, and meets a new friend who happens to have curly hair, too. In her eagerly anticipated authorial debut, Nathalie Dion draws on personal experience, hilarious hyperbole and delightful idioms to spin a tall tale that will tickle all readers — curly-haired or not. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

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A funny story about a seemingly impossible child and his desperate parents, who enlist the help of a specialist with unexpected results … Toribio is two years old and his parents love him very much, but some days, taking care of him feels like an impossible task. He won’t sleep, makes a fuss when eating, splashes his bath water everywhere, and refuses to use his potty. At the end of the day, Toribio’s parents are exhausted. So when they see an ad for a specialist who can solve any type of problem, his desperate parents make an appointment right away. Mrs. Meridien’s methods deliver overnight results, but her solution isn’t quite what they had in mind … Impossible is a funny story with a surprise ending that will delight young children and exhausted parents alike. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

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Alone on his lot, a sturdy little house has stood for as long as anyone can remember, stoically weathering the storms. But one day, the wind brings change. One house, then another, is built off in the distance. Then a road is paved through his field, and more and more houses appear all around. The house closes his shutters to wait out this alarming development. But in the dark, the house notices he is no longer pushed by the snowdrifts or battered by spring storms. And when he peeks open a shutter, he sees the house next door glowing with a golden light. Just like his. Throwing open his shutters, he finds himself surrounded by a diverse neighborhood of homes. Together, they look forward to seeing what the wind will blow in next. With great wit and an eye-popping use of cardboard, paint and fabric, multimedia artist Claudine Crangle explores our fear of difference through the viewpoint of a small country house beset by urbanization. But not everything that’s new is bad, as the little farmhouse learns in this timely and hopeful picture book about embracing the changes in life we can’t control. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

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Geraldo Valério looks at the nature of true friendship and love in a stunning new wordless picture book. On a dull gray day, a boy puts his dog on a leash and they walk to a shimmering pond where snowy white swans swim freely. One of the swans invites the boy and dog for a ride. They climb on its back and sail into a stunningly beautiful landscape, dotted with wildflowers, spoonbills and ibises. Foxes, rabbits and deer appear in this paradise, then butterflies and even bigger, more beautiful flowers. The boy unleashes his dog on shore, and the dog bounds off to play. Now the boy wraps his arms around the swan’s neck — he has a new friend. But when he puts the leash on the swan, the sky turns stormy gray, the water becomes turbulent, and the other swans fly away. Both the boy and swan are miserable, until the boy realizes he must free his friend. When he drops the leash into the pond, warm color fills their world and they return to where the boy’s dog happily awaits him. Geraldo Valério, a master of wordless picture books, explores the nature of true friendship and love in his newest creation. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

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Jewel is on the run from an abusive home situation and furtively living at school. After Maya discovers her classmate’s secret, should she tell? Or can she help Jewel on her own?Thirteen-year-old Jewel has been holding her life together ever since her older sister, Charmaine, suddenly left home with no forwarding address. She tried to find Charmaine once, but that only brought her family to the attention of the police. Now Jewel keeps her head down at school, looks after her special-needs brother as well as she can, and tries to steer clear of her parents and their shady friends.When her father’s friend comes into her bedroom one night, Jewel finally understands why Charmaine had to leave home. Soon she is on the run herself. When her food runs out, Jewel chances upon a new place to live — the cupboard of the art room at school. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to live under the radar when you have perfected the art of being almost invisible.That is, until Jewel’s classmates, Maya and Lily, discover her washing her hair in the girls’ washroom at school and making breakfast in the lunchroom. They take her on as their project, finding her places to sleep, fixing her hair and wardrobe — even as they can’t quite understand her terror, or why she is so afraid of seeking adult help. But the girls help keep Jewel and her secret safe — until they no longer can.Told in the alternating voices of Maya and Jewel, this is a thought-provoking and moving story about loyalty, privilege, keeping secrets, and what it means to be a good friend.Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

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The provocative fictional memoir of a boy actor in Shakespearian London.In Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to appear on stage, and so female parts were played by boy actors. In I Was Cleopatra, readers meet John Rice — perhaps the most beautiful and acclaimed boy actor of them all. It is believed by many that John Rice originated the roles of Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and Cordelia, and this fictional memoir explores his life both on and off the stage. With graceful prose and an encyclopedic knowledge of the period, Dennis Abrams invites readers to experience gender fluidity and sexuality through the fictional recollections of a fascinating historical figure as he reflects on his life in this “farewell” to his theatrical past.The story follows John from the age of thirteen, when he leaves his family in Reading to join the King’s Men theater troupe in London as an apprentice boy actor. Over the course of the next few years, John eagerly hones the acting skills necessary to portray female roles. He memorizes lines, reads all the plays he can get his hands on, and works on imitating female gestures and mannerisms. He becomes a friend, and eventually a lover, of Alexander, a boy actor who is getting too old to play female roles. And he works closely with Shakespeare himself, who coaches him through the roles of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra, among others.But around the time he turns sixteen, John starts to worry about inevitably becoming too old to convincingly portray women onstage, which leads to some unsettling choices.Key Text Featuresliterary referencesauthor’s noteCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

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From Sara Cassidy, acclaimed author of A Boy Named Queen, comes a stunning wordless graphic novel about friendship, loss and hope. For as long as Saanvi can remember, she has been friends with her elderly neighbor Helen. They play cards and garden together and, especially, care for the wild birds that visit Helen’s yard. When Helen dies suddenly, a “For Sale” sign goes up, and movers arrive, emptying the house of its furniture and stripping the yard of its birdfeeders. The sparrows and hummingbirds disappear. Soon a bulldozer tears down Helen’s house. All winter, Saanvi walks numbly past the property as developers begin to build condos. Then one spring day, amid the dust and turmoil of construction, she finds a weathered playing card wedged between two rocks. She holds it to her chest, and finally sobs. After a tearful night, Saanvi wakes inspired. She slathers peanut butter on pinecones to hang from tree branches, hammers together a birdhouse from scrap wood and drags a kitchen stool outside to hold a bowl of water. Finally, she retrieves a nest that has been unraveling on Helen’s old property and places it in a tree in her own yard. Saanvi’s yard soon fills with Helen’s birds. They have a home again. This beautifully illustrated, wordless graphic novel shows Saanvi’s journey through close friendship, then hollowing loss and change, until she finally finds hope. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

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Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom’s dress-up center and its tangerine dress. Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. He dreams about having space adventures, paints beautiful pictures and sings the loudest during circle time. But most of all, Morris loves his classroom’s dress-up center — he loves wearing the tangerine dress. But the children in Morris’s class don’t understand. Dresses, they say, are for girls. And Morris certainly isn’t welcome in the spaceship some of his classmates are building. Astronauts, they say, don’t wear dresses. One day when Morris feels all alone, and sick from the taunts of his classmates, his mother lets him stay home from school. Morris reads about elephants, and puts together a puzzle, and dreams of a fantastic space adventure with his cat, Moo. Inspired by his dream, Morris paints the incredible scene he saw, and brings it with him to school. He builds his own spaceship, hangs his painting on the front of it and takes two of his classmates on an outer space adventure. With warm, dreamy illustrations Isabelle Malenfant perfectly captures Morris’s vulnerability and the vibrancy of his imagination. This is a sweetly told story about the courage and creativity it takes to be different. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

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Ten-year-old Beverly is an ordinary girl with an extraordinary best friend. Her name is Kabungo, and she lives in a cave on Main Street. No one knows where she comes from or who she really is, but life is never dull when Kabungo is around.Beverly tries to teach her friend about the ways of the modern world — the importance of teeth brushing, understanding strange holidays like Halloween, learning how to read. But Kabungo doesn’t take well to being civilized, and she can be stubborn, bossy, and plain infuriating. Sometimes Beverly gets so mad that she just wants to move to Cincinnati.Besides, Kabungo is a skittish cavegirl, and it takes a while to win her trust, even among Star City’s eccentric denizens, such as Mr. Gobshaw, who owns the local drug shop (“We have everything!”) where you’ll find the stuffed tigers right next to the breath mints. And there is Ms. VeDore, who seems to float as she walks around her decrepit mansion, and who throws the most amazing Halloween parties.Then, just when you least expect it, Kabungo will do something surprising (and when you’re best friends with a cavegirl, you’re not easily surprised). Like planning an unexpected birthday treat for Beverly (even though it isn’t actually her birthday) — at the city dump.In other words, Beverly learns that there are times for teaching, and times for tipping your head back and laughing.Hilarious and poignant, Kabungo is the most originally voiced and endearing middle-grade heroine since Pippi Longstocking. Accompanied by quirky line drawings by Milan Pavlovic, this is a gently humorous novel about friendship and community that raises for young readers deeper questions about finding beauty in unexpected places, accepting and celebrating differences, and what it really means to be civilized.

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Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall takes us on a dreamlike voyage into nature at that secret moment when fall turns into winter. We find ourselves in a kind of paradise, which humans may be part of but which they have not despoiled. A father and son lead us through forests, down rivers, over lakes and ponds. Along the way we experience the primordial beauty of the physical world. This is nature as we all feel in our hearts it must once have been. Through lyrical words and a masterful collage technique, Leo Yerxa has created an exquisite and poetic evocation of this moment.

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Winner of the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver AwardIt is late at night in the city. From his father's shoulder, a sleepless baby watches the snow drift down from the sky onto the busy street below. What are all those noises? What are all those lights? His tired but patient father explains everything, from the bustle of taxis swishing through the slush to the grinding and slamming of the early-morning garbage trucks.Teddy Jam’s lyrical prose and Eric Beddows’s detailed illustrations cast Night Cars in that magical light between sleep and waking. This classic baby book, now available in a board book format, is a perennial favorite.

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Being Muslim is written for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It presents a readable explanation of the most complex and emotion-laden issues of our troubled times. The varying branches of Islam are analyzed and their history outlined — but the focus is on the present. In speaking about and crossing political, cultural and religious divisions, this book offers a unique perspective, forged in Canada, a country where people from everywhere on earth have found a way to live in peace. Terrorism. Wars. Jihad. Hijab. Polygamy. Muhammad's many wives. Muslim prayer. Female circumcision. Honor killings. Sharia. Stoning. Status of Muslim women. All these topics and more are tackled in this fascinating and informative book for young adult readers. "[The Groundwork Guides] are excellent books, mandatory for school libraries and the increasing body of young people prepared to take ownership of the situations and problems previous generations have left them." — Globe and Mail Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

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The land, hunting, hunger, magic and extreme weather are themes that resonate for Inuit who live in the Far North. These stories, drawn from the lives of four Inuit artists, offer young readers a glimpse into this rich, remote culture, past and present. Accompanying each story are illustrations by Jirina Marton, who has spent time in the Arctic and whose deep appreciation for its subtle beauty shines through her art. In addition to the stories, there is a feature spread on each artist with a photograph, a brief biography and a reproduction of one of the artist's works.

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A deeply emotional graphic memoir of a young woman’s struggles with self-esteem and body image issues.All Marie-Noëlle wants is to be thin and beautiful. She wishes that her thighs were slimmer, that her stomach lay flatter. Maybe then her parents wouldn’t make fun of her eating habits at family dinners, the girls at school wouldn’t call her ugly, and the boy she likes would ask her out. This all-too-relatable memoir follows Marie-Noëlle from childhood to her twenties, as she navigates what it means to be born into a body that doesn’t fall within society’s beauty standards.When, as a young teen, Marie-Noëlle begins a fitness regime in an effort to change her body, her obsession with her weight and size only grows and she begins having suicidal thoughts. Fortunately for Marie-Noëlle, a friend points her in the direction of therapy, and slowly, she begins to realize that she doesn’t need the approval of others to feel whole.Marie-Noëlle Hébert’s debut graphic memoir is visually stunning and drawn entirely in graphite pencil, depicting a deeply personal and emotional journey that encourages us to all be ourselves without apology. Key Text Featuresgraphic novelcomic style

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Noted poet Jorge Lujan and South Africa''s illustrious illustrator Piet Grobler teamed up to produce this exquisite celebration of color.As day turns into night, we are given fleeting, evocative glimpses of the qualities inherent in a range of colors. An antelope and some children are pictured inhabiting this delicate world. This bilingual, bicultural book presents us with a beautiful vision of a planet in which nature, words, and the rising and setting of the sun and the moon exist in harmony.Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.5Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the sen

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