Belonging

The Ugly Duckling

An ugly duckling spends an unhappy year ostracized by the other animals before he grows into a beautiful swan.

Louis the Tiger Who Came From the Sea

What do you do with a tiger named Louis who came from the sea?One morning, Ali and Ollie are awoken by a beastly snore. They look out the window and what do they see? Is it a giant carrot? A pumpkin? No, it’s a tiger, soaking wet and fast asleep. They decide his name must be Louis and he must have come from the sea. Ali and Ollie agree that he’s hungry, so they venture outside with milk and cereal. When Mother and Father join them, Louis wakes up with a mighty roar. Everyone scampers inside — followed by Louis, who pads in through the open door. While the family huddles upstairs, Louis sleeps by the fire and luxuriates in the bathtub. Before long, Ali and Ollie come up with an ingenious plan to help Louis return to the sea.Readers will be captivated by Sholto Walker’s humorous illustrations, which heighten the charm and originality of Michal Kozlowski’s spirited tale.

I Know Here

The little girl in this story lives in a trailer near a forest where her father is building a dam. Everything in her world is familiar and precious to her. But the family is moving to the city, which the little girl knows only as a place marked by a big red star on the map at school. The teacher suggests that she draw something that she wants to remember to take away with her when she leaves, and the little girl decides to draw what she knows — her road and everything her world contains — so that she can keep it with her always.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 2

The Ugly Duckling

Set in the wilds of Africa, Caldecott Honor winner Rachel Isadora’s stunning interpretation of the beloved Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale portrays African animals and landscapes with beautiful detail. As the ugly duckling searches for a place where he can fit in, Isadora’s vibrant collages capture the beauty in everything from glistening feathers to shimmering sunsets.

The Cuckoo’s Child

Eleven-year-old Mia refuses to believe that her parents are not coming back after they are reported lost at sea. In 1962, Mia’s parents suddenly disappear while sailing off the coast of Greece. Mia and her two sisters are returned to the United States to the custody of her aunt they barely know. Mia wishes for a regular American life and spends a summer in her aunt’s Tennessee home, waiting for news of her parents. By summer’s end, Mia gradually understands why her mother left her and how she disrupted her aunt’s life.

Faraway Home

As her father prepares for a trip back to his childhood home in Ethiopia, Desta begins to worry. Where does her father truly belong–in the village of his youth or here in America with her? What was growing up in Ethiopia like? And will her father’s love for his family be enough to bridge these two worlds and bring him back to her?

The Blue Stone: A Journey through Life

A large, beautiful blue stone is discovered in a forest. It is cut in half, and one half stays in the forest while the other starts on a long and mystical journey through many places, many owners, and many transformations. It begins as a statue of an elephant, admired by museum goers, and then becomes a carved bird residing in an elderly woman’s garden. It becomes a moon, a cat, a necklace, and more. Throughout it all, the stone longs to return home, and finally it crumbles to dust and flies with the wind back to rest with its other half in the forest.