Second-grader Lola has a wonderful family, a great teacher, and the best friend ever, Josh, and they all help her feel better after she is teased and forbidden to play team sports at recess for having accidentally hurt classmate Juan during a soccer game.
Throughout the morning, his daydreams transform the world around him. Unfortunately, lots of other people—the bus driver, the crossing guard, and his teachers—all tell him to get his head out of the clouds. It is only in art class that he realizes he can bring the wonder out of his head for the whole world to enjoy.
Join the discussion of The Wonder as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
An adaptation of the song “The wheels on the bus,” written in Spanish and English, which follows two children who see and hear a train, a fire truck, an ambulance, and other vehicles on their way to an amusement park. Includes music.
Being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what about when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious that American kids will like her. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she tells the class that she will choose a name by the following week. Her new classmates are fascinated by this no-name girl and decide to help out by filling a glass jar with names for her to pick from.
Join the discussion of The Name Jar as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
This book has been included in WOW’s Language and Learning: Children’s and Young Adult Fiction Booklist. For our current list, visit our Booklist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Featured in Volume VII, Issue 4 of WOW Review.
Then there are the evil ninjas, massive ape, mysterious mole people, giant blob, and countless other daunting (and astonishing) detours along the way to school. Are these excuses really why this student is late? Or is there another explanation that is even more outrageous than the rest? From Davide Cali and Benjamin Chaud, the critically acclaimed author/illustrator team behind I Didn’t Do My Homework Because comes a fast-paced, action-packed, laugh-out-loud story about finding the way to school despite the odds—and the unbelievable oddness!
Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people—but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age thirteen to provide for his family, and, eventually, became a cyclist. He rode an astonishing four hundred miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message: disability is not inability.
One country: Pakistan. Two children: Iqbal Masih and Malala Yousafzai. Each was unafraid to speak out. He, against inhumane child slavery in the carpet trade. She, for the right of girls to attend school. Both were shot by those who disagreed with them—he in 1995, she in 2012. Iqbal was killed instantly; Malala miraculously survived and continues to speak out around the world. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her work.
The series follows three friends who love to share stories. In each book, one is reminded of a well-known story: It’s Not About the Ball! is based on The Frog Prince; It’s Not About the Tiny Girl! is based on Thumbelina; It’s Not About the Diamonds! is based on the story of Diamonds and Toads; It’s Not About the Straw! is based on Rumpelstiltskin and It’s Not About the Beanstalk! is based on Jack and the Beanstalk.
Every spring, Lilia Garcia had to leave school early to go north with her family to pick fruits and vegetables. She was too young to work in the fields with the rest of the family, so her mother and teenage brother would sign her up to attend the local school. She was the only Spanish-speaking child at Coloma Elementary, and that, combined with the fact that it was late in the school year, made it difficult to make friends and keep up with the work.
Everywhere that Christopher Lane turns, he sees the face of the boy he killed. There is no escape from the guilt, not even on his return to Myers Holt—the secret London academy where he and five others are being trained to use their mental powers, their Ability.