Difference

Vacation in the Village

A boy discovers and takes pride in the customs of his people when he visits his family’s village.

Same, Same but Different

Pen pals Elliott and Kailash discover that even though they live in different countries–America and India–they both love to climb trees, own pets, and ride school buses.

Less Than Half, More Than Whole

A child who is only part Native American is troubled by his mixed racial heritage.

Dogtag Summer

Twelve-year-old Tracy–or Tuyet–has always felt different. The villagers in Vietnam called her con-lai, or “half-breed,” because her father was an American GI. And she doesn’t fit in with her adoptive family in California, either. But when Tracy and a friend discover a soldier’s dogtag hidden among her father’s things, it sets her past and her present on a collision course. Where should her broken heart come to rest? In a time and place she remembers only in her dreams? Or among the people she now calls family?

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships

What makes a camel friends with a Vietnamese pig?  Or a wild polar bear with a sled dog?   In a young preschool book, Catherine Thimmesh makes us wonder at the truth and mystery of unlikely animal friendships.  Because the stories behind these friendships are true, not contrived, they not only give readers insight into animals, but challenge preconceived notions about compatability.  Without becoming didactic or laden with message, this book expresses tolerance of differences and makes us look the kindness of animals — and humans — a little differently.

Butterflies

Katherine is almost eighteen. Severely burned when she was three, she dreams that one day she will look like everyone else. Be like everyone else. Achieve her dreams. But Katherine won’t be seen as a victim. Her life is filled with fun and humor and friendship, as she faces her first “real” date, arguments with her mum, and decisions about her future.

An extraordinary story of a journey where pain and trauma become triumph and a passion for living, “Butterflies” is a coming-of-age story that celebrates the fighter in all of us.

The Camel That Had No Hump

All the camels are worried when a baby camel is born among them without a hump. The adult camels try unsuccessfully to fix this problem. Surprising events lead to a happy ending to this gentle story where children expand perceptions of the differently gifted among all of us.

Kindergarten Day USA and China

Readers spend a school day with two kindergarten classes in this flip-me-over book. One side tells the story of a class from Schenectady, New York, and the other side tells of a class from Beijing, China. As the day progresses, clocks show the time in the USA and in China, noting that its daytime on one side of the world and nighttime on the other. Discover the differences and similarities between these two countries as the classes participate in activities such as reading stories, drawing pictures, eating lunch, playing at recess, and solving problems.