Folk songs such as “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain," “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,� and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star� take on lives of their own, becoming stand-alone stories featuring several zany characters, including an acrobatic pink-haired roller-skater girl, a straw hat-wearing unshaven hillbilly astronaut, a banjo-playing cow-loving weasel, and a hard-working monkey who happens to love dumplings! The accompanying recordings of these popular sing-along songs for kids highlight gifted singers and seasoned musicians, producing a fresh original sound for a new generation. A unique code for the digital download of the recordings is also included.

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.

Toby's parents think he worries too much and they want to get something that will be good for him. He's very pleased when they get him a dog who can be his companion. They sit up half the night looking at the snowstorm.
In the morning Toby and his friends make a snow fort. In his excitement, he forgets about his puppy. His friend takes care of the puppy. Toby learns how people care for one another.

On the morning after Christmas, Toby's family begins the day like any other holiday. All of a sudden everything changes when someone phones to tell them that Toby's aunt has died in a car accident. They pack up and drive to his grandparents' house in the country where all the family are gathered. After the ceremony at the funeral home, everyone goes to the family home. Toby notices that although everyone is very sad, they are also able to smile, chat and even sing. He wonders why people can be both happy and sad. He also wants to know what happens when a person dies. This story brings out all the questions a curious child might ask when someone dies in a family.