Little Star by Mary Packard

Setting: Prairie
Characters: Chief Iron Horse, Laughing Cloud, Little Star, Grandmother Gray Feather, Swift Eagle, Morning Star
Theme: Patience

Chief Iron Horse and Laughing Cloud wished on a start to have a baby. They finally did and names her Little Star. Little Star's Grandmother Gray Feather made he a necklace and told her that she could make a wish on it, but she should save it for when she really needed it. Little Star loved horses, especially one named Swift Eagle, but she knew she needed to save her wish. One night, Swift Eagle was sick and having a baby, and Little Star and her father thought she would die. Little Star knew this was the time to use her wish, so she wished that Swift Eagle and her baby would live. It worked! Morning Star was born with a white star on her head. Little Star was allowed to keep her as her own and they were both very happy.

Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

This is a story of a young boy who goes to help his uncle at a soup kitchen. He gets to meet new people, see those who are less fortunate, and gets a new perspective on life.

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard

Two girls go to visit their Aunt Flossie, and they look through all of her hats. Each hat has a story to go along with it. Once they go through a few of hats with powerful memories, they all go out for crab cakes.

The Legend of The Bluebonnet by Tomie DePaola

The story is about a young Native American girl whose parents and grandparents have passed away. Her people are suffering from drought and famine, so they decide to do a sacrifice to get rain. None of the people actually sacrifice their most prized possessions though. The girl ends up sacrificing her precious doll with blue feathers in its hair. The people finally see rain thanks to this young girl and the rain produces Bluebonnets like the blue of the feathers in her doll's hair.

City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

In this story, a young girl tries to start a community garden in an area of a knocked down building to brighten their community. A grumpy old man just sits and watches and then finally gets involved. Their garden becomes a success!

A Day's Work by Eve Bunting

In this story, a young boy from Mexico tries to get work with his newly-immigrated grandfather. Finally they get a gardening job after the boy lies to the man and says his grandfather knows how to garden. They end up messing up the garden, and the grandfather offers to fix it for free. They do, and the man pays them anyways.

Lon Po Po by Ed Young

Setting: House
Characters: Mother, Shang, Tao, Paotze, Po Po, Wolf
Theme: Don't answer the door for strangers, Outsmarting

In this story, the mother goes off to visit Po Po (the grandmother), and a nearby wolf sees her leave. He comes to the door pretending to be the children's grandmother. They say that their mother just left to go visit her. Finally Tao and Paotze decide to let the wolf in, and he blows out the candle right away. They all crawled into bed together, but Shang kept feeling weird things like a tail and claws. Shang decided to light a candle, and the wolf blew it out right away but not before Shang saw his face. Shang talked the wolf into having some Ginko nuts because they let you live forever. Shang and the other siblings climbed the tree to pick some of them for the wolf. Shang told the siblings about the wolf, and they made a plan. The children were eating the nuts and told the wolf they only worked right after you ate them so the wolf would need to go up the tree. They had the wolf get in a basket and pulled him up and dropped him three times until he was dead. The children came down from the tree and went inside. They locked the door and slept. When their mother came home, they told her everything that had happened.

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting

Setting: America, Apple Orchard
Characters: Farah, Jim, Anna
Theme: Give others a chance, Be yourself, Things will get better

Farrah is a young girl who just moved from an Indian country, and she doesn't speak English. Her new class in America is on a field trip to an apple orchard and the take a hayride to get to the apple trees. She's self-conscious of her head covering because no one else is wearing one. She introduces herself on the hayride. Once they get to the orchard, each child gets to pick an apple, and Farrah picks a green one. The the class combines all their apples to make apple cider. A boy tries to stop Farrah from putting her apple in because it isn't ripe, but she puts it in anyways. Then she helps Anna and John make the cider. Afterwards, they all get to drink some of the cider. On their way back on the hayride, Jim introduces himself and he burps. This helps Farrah realize that all the noises in America are just like the ones at home, and soon she will blend in here just like her apple with the cider. Then Farrah says her first word, "apple," and everyone claps.

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Setting: Central Park Zoo, New York, Penguin Exhibit
Characters: Silo, Roy, Mr. Gramzay, Tango
Theme: Families are family no matter who is in them

At the Central Park Zoo there are many families, but when it was time for the girl and boy penguins to couple up, Roy and Silo stayed together. They were always together, and they even wound their necks together like other penguin couples. Mr. Gramzay said that they must be in love. They made a nest together like the others, but they had no egg. They tried sitting on a rock, but nothing happened. Mr. Gramzay gave them an abandoned egg and they hatched it. They named their new little girl Tango because it takes two to Tango. Tango was the first penguin to have two dads. They took her for her first swim and everyone at the zoo cheered. At the end of the night, they all snuggled up together and slept like any other family.

Mr. Lincoln's Way by Patricia Polacco

Setting: School
Characters: Mr. Lincoln, Eugene
Theme: Don't judge others, Have patience with others

All the children at school thought Mr. Lincoln was the coolest, but there was one student, Eugene, who was mean to all the teachers. Mr. Lincoln said he was just troubled. One day, Eugene was picking on a kid, and they said they would yell for Mr. Lincoln. Eugene said he wasn't afraid of Mr. Lincoln and called him a horrible name. Mr. Lincoln saw Eugene looking at birds so he decided he would talk to him about them. Eugene said his grandfather's farm had lots of birds. Mr. Lincoln decided he would put Eugene in charge of attracting birds to their atrium. Lots of birds came, and Eugene was happy. He didn't tease anyone. He said that the ducks and their ducklings would need a pond eventually. One day Eugene went to talk to Mr. Lincoln. He told him the his dad said Mr. Lincoln wasn't their kind. Mr. Lincoln said that people are different like birds are different, and their all beautiful. After that, Eugene promised he would be good at school. Finally the ducklings hatched, but their parents kept leaving them for the pond. Eugene and Mr. Lincoln coaxed the ducklings to the pond, and Mr. Lincoln invited Eugene's grandfather to watch. In the end, Eugene said that he would make Mr. Lincoln proud one day.

In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco

Setting: California
Characters: Girl, Meema, Marmee, Will, Millie, Mrs. Lockner
Theme: Families are families no matter who is in them

In this story, the main character is adopted by two women who she calls Meema and Marmee. They later adopt Will at three days old and Millie at two months old. Meema was short, stout, Italian, and loved to cook and sew. Marmee was tall, thin, organized, and fixed and cleaned things. Meema was a pediatrician while Marmee was a paramedic. In their house, their family would laugh, listen to music, slide down the banister, pop popcorn in the fireplace, and played in the sun room. One time all the kids got the flu, and the moms brought them two puppies to make them feel better. They later named those puppies Miso and Wasabi. The family also built a treehouse, cooked family meals in the kitchen, and talked at each meal. Meema organized a block party and each family made a game to play. Meema and Marmee made a huge mini golf course. There was huge variety of diverse food at the party as well. At the party, Mrs. Lockner told Meema and Marmee that she didn't like what they were. They were extremely upset, and their neighbors comforted them. In their later lives the main character goes on the medical school, Will went into engineering, and Millie went off to be a fashion designer. They all got married at their mothers' house. The mothers became grandparents and eventually passed away, but now Will lives in their house and passes down the memories.

The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco

Setting: End of Summer, Michigan, School
Characters: Trisha, Dad, Grandmother, Mom, Kay, Mrs. Peterson, Thom, Gibbie, Jody, Ravanne
Theme: Being different is alright, Be yourself

Trisha wanted to stay with her dad and grandmother for school rather than going back to California with her mom. Her parents talked about it and decided that she could stay there for one year. Where she went to school in California she was always teased because she just learned to read and was in special classes. In her new school, no one would know her, and she even made a new friend named Kay. When Trisha arrived for her first day of school, Kay didn't wave to here and other girls stared at her. They told her she was in Mrs. Peterson's class. Trisha's new teacher welcomed her new class to the "Junkyard." Later Trisha asked Thom, one of her fellow classmates, why their class was called the junkyard, and Thom told her it was because everyone was different. Trisha went home that night and cried to her father. He said that if things didn't get better in a month, she could go back to California. The next day Mrs. Peterson gave each child a vial with a scent inside of it. With that scent they had to find others with that scent and that would be their tribe for the year. Trisha's tribe turned out to be her, Gibbie, Thom, Jody, and Ravanne. They all became best friends very fast. People picked on them at school, but Jody would defend them. One day the class took a trip to the junkyard. Each tribe had to find things and make them into something new. Trisha's tribe founder a broken model airplane, and Gibbie decided they would try to fly it to the moon. All the tribes worked on their creations in class, and they showed them off to each other. Trisha's tribe's plane needed a motor, and the whole class decided that they would raise money for it. Finally they got the motor and Jody wanted to name the plane "Junkyard Wonder." Tragically, Jody dies because his body grew too big for his hear to handle. In his honor they named the plane what he wanted and were going to fly the plane of the roof of the school. The principal heard of this news and said they couldn't do it and that the janitor was to take the plane away. Finally they convinced the principal to let them fly the plane if Gibbie's dad was there. The plane flew off the roof and up into the sky out of sight. Nowadays Thom is an artistic director of ballet, Ravanne is working in the fashion industry, Gibbie works for NASA, and Trisha writes children's books.

The Matzah That Papa Brought Home by Fran Manushkin

Setting: Home, Passover
Characters: Little girl, Mama, Papa, Family
Theme: Traditions

Papa brought Matzah home, and Mama made a feast to go with it. They all shared the Passover seder. Then the little girl asked the four questions during the Passover seder sharing. They all dipped their pinkies and talked about the ten plagues. After that, they all sand "Dayenu" while their stomachs growled. After singing, they dipped bitter herbs and sipped Matzah ball soup. Then after searching all over the house, the little girl found the Afikoman. They all opened the door to invite Elijah to sleep inside. Then they all said, "Next Year in Jerusalem," and all went to bed. The Passover moon shined and brought sweet dreams so they could remember all the stories and the Matzahs that were brought home.

I Hate English! by Ellen Levine

Setting: New York, Chinatown, School, Chinatown Learning Center
Characters: Mei Mei, Bing, Nancy
Theme: Trust others, It's alright to be afraid

This is a story about a Chinese girl named Mei Mei who doesn't like English. She was smart in China, but her and her family moved to Chinatown in New York. School was all in English and the letters were nothing like Chinese. Chinese was fun to write. Mei Mei refused to speak in school since she would have to speak in English. She went with her cousin Bing to the Chinatown Learning Center. There she would teach other kids math since numbers were the same in both languages, and she could also speak Chinese there. She would help around there and write letters to people in Chinese, but she would have to put the address in English. She had a dream one night that she was on a plane with her friends and family speaking Chinese, and then she went on a trip with the Learning Center to Jones Beach and spoke Chinese. She had a great time there and only spoke Chinese. One day a woman named Nancy came to help Mei Mei at the Learning Center with English. She read Mei Mei a story in English about a family moving to California in a covered wagon. Mei Mei didn't have words for covered wagon in Chinese, and she didn't want English to have words that Chinese didn't. She began to cry, and Nancy said they would stop. She had a bad dream that night that she saw her friend Yee Fong, and she didn't remember her. The next day she was mad. She even said, "I don't care," in English to Nancy. Nancy said she knew that Mei Mei knew English, she just didn't want to learn it. She said that was too bad because everything in America happened in English, and she also wanted to get to know Mei Mei. Mei Mei said she was sorry, and then they went on a walk together. Nancy talked and talked until Mei Mei yelled, "Stop!" She wanted to talk now. She told Nancy about things in Hong Kong in English. They laughed together and had a great time. Now Mei Mei talks in Chinese and English.

The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story by Joseph Bruchac

Setting: New World
Characters: Man, Woman, Creator, the Sun
Theme: Don't take others for granted, Forgiveness

Long ago the Creator made a man and woman together so they wouldn't be lonely. They got married and were happy together. Then one day the man came home from hunting, and the woman hadn't began preparing the meal because she was picking flowers. The man became angry because he was hungry, but the woman was angry too because she wanted the man to the flowers' beauty. She finally told him she wouldn't live with him and more and left. He followed her and called her name, but the woman was too fast. He wanted to say he was sorry, but she was just too fast. The Sun saw that the woman was sad and decided to help the man since was truly sorry. The Sun shone on raspberries, but the woman walked right by them. The Sun did the same thing to blueberries and blackberries, but the woman didn't stop. Finally the Sun tried really hard and shone on a small patch of berries that turned into strawberries. The woman stopped and tried one. They reminded her of her husband before they fought, so she decided she would gather some for him. As she was picking them, he finally caught up to her. He asked for forgiveness, and she gave him the berries. That is how strawberries came to be, and to this day Cherokee eat strawberries and are reminded to be kind to one another.

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

Setting: America, School
Characters: Unhei, Mother, Mr. Cocotos, Grandmother, Mr. Kim, Joey
Theme: It's alright to be different, Be yourself

This story starts on Unhei's first day of school after she left Korea. Her grandmother gave her a wooden block with her name on it in Korean letters before she left. The kids on the bus can't say her name so they kind of pick on her a little. When she gets to class, she tells them she didn't choose a name yet. Her classmates were confused why she didn't have a name. When she got home that night, she told her mom she wanted an American name, but her mom said being different was good. They went to a Korean store for food and the owner, Mr. Kim, said her name, meaning "grace", was pretty. At home she tried out American names, but she didn't like any of them. The kids in her class gave her a jar with name suggestions in it. A boy named Joey asked what her name was, and she showed him her name stamp. Everyday her name jar got fuller, and one day she got a letter from her grandmother saying that she would always be her Unhei. One Saturday she ran into Joey at the Korean store, and he overheard Mr. Kim say Unhei's name. He repeated it and actually said it the right way. Right after that he left before she could ask him why he was there in the first place. The next school day, the name jar was gone and just one piece of paper was left. Unhei decided she would tell them her real name, and everyone said it and pronounced it correctly. Later Joey came to her house and gave her the name jar. He explained that he wanted her to keep her name so he took the jar. He also said Mr. Kim had given him his own Korean name. Mr. Kim made Joey a wood stamp like Unhei's. His stamp said Chinku in Korean letters. Chinku means "friend."