Gigi wants to go by something besides her baby name-but her full name, Geraldine, is too long to write and Hanako, her middle name, doesn't feel quite right. Will Gigi find the perfect name? This exciting new I Can Read series is brought to you by author-illustrator Melissa Iwai, whose popular books include Soup Day and Dumplings for Lili. Gigi and Ojiji: What's Iin a Name? is a Level Three I Can Read book. Level 3 includes many fun subjects kids love to read about on their own. Themes include friendship, adventure, historical fiction, and science. Level 3 books are written for early independent readers. They include some challenging words and more complex themes and stories. The story contains several Japanese words and a glossary of definitions. Praise for Gigi and Ojiji: "Gigi crafts her Japanese American identity in this enchanting early reader. The cuteness, inclusivity, and cross-cultural problem-solving represented will have young readers coming back again and again. A must-buy." -School Library Journal (starred review) "The text is well supported by the endearing illustrations, which capture all of Gigi's big emotions and depict her as a biracial child, with a white father and Japanese mother." -Booklist (starred review) "An affirming option in the quickly diversifying field of early-reader books." -Kirkus

A Geisel Honor–winning series! Join Gigi as she tries natto, a traditional Japanese food, in this exciting and engaging Level Three I Can Read book by acclaimed author and illustrator Melissa Iwai. Intergenerational relationships, Japanese culture, and social and emotional learning are highlighted in this sweet biracial story, perfect for sharing with children 3 to 6. Ohayo! It’s breakfast time and Gigi can’t wait to make her favorite meal—Peanut Butter Toast. Yummy! But Ojiji doesn’t like peanut butter. How can anyone NOT like peanut butter? Ojiji prefers Japanese foods—like natto, made from fermented soybeans. Will Gigi learn to love a new breakfast treat? This story highlights the close relationship of Gigi and her grandfather and the importance of trying new things! This exciting and engaging I Can Read series is brought to you by author-illustrator Melissa Iwai, whose popular books include Soup Day and Dumplings for Lili. Gigi and Ojij: Food for Thought is a Level Three I Can Read book. Level 3 includes many fun subjects kids love to read about on their own. Themes include friendship, adventure, historical fiction, and science. Level 3 books are written for early independent readers. They include some challenging words and more complex themes and stories. The story contains several Japanese words and a glossary of definitions. Praise for Gigi and Ojiji: "Gigi crafts her Japanese American identity in this ­enchanting early reader. The cuteness, inclusivity, and cross-cultural problem-solving represented will have young ­readers coming back again and again. A must-buy." —School Library Journal (starred review) "The text is well supported by the endearing illustrations, which capture all of Gigi’s big emotions and depict her as a biracial child, with a white father and Japanese mother." —Booklist (starred review) "An affirming option in the quickly diversifying field of early-reader books." —Kirkus A 2023 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor title El día de los niños, el día de los libros selection 2023 ALSC Notable 2023 CBC Teacher and Librarian Favorites Award 2023 A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year in the 5-9 beginning reader category (2023)

Melissa Iwai's Soup Day celebrates the importance of making a nutritious meal and sharing in the process as a family. On a cold, snowy day, a young girl and her mother shop to buy ingredients for vegetable soup. At home, they work together--step by step--to prepare the meal. While the soup is cooking, they spend the time playing games and reading. Before long, Daddy's home and the family sits down to enjoy a home made dinner. A Christy Ottaviano Book

Get ready for a ride through the alphabet at a busy construction site. Iwai's bright, bold illustrations perfectly complement Sobel's irresistible rhyming text as the workers build, scoop, and dig their way to the end of the alphabet. Full color.

Lili loves to cook baos, and Nai Nai has taught her all the secrets to making them, from kneading the dough lovingly and firmly to being thankful for the strong and healthy ingredients in the filling. But when Nai Nai realises that they are out of cabbage (Secret #8: line the basket with cabbage leaves!) she sends Lili up to Babcia's apartment on the sixth floor to get some. Babcia is happy to share her cabbage, but she needs some potatoes for her pierogi... What follows is a race up and down the stairs as Lili helps all the grandmothers in her building borrow ingredients for different dumplings: Jamaican beef patties, Italian ravioli, Lebanese fatayer and more. Energised by Melissa Iwai's engaging artwork and kinetic storytelling, Dumplings for Lili is a joyful story of sharing food, friendship and love in all their forms.

"Gigi crafts her Japanese American identity in this enchanting early reader. The cuteness, inclusivity, and cross-cultural problem-solving represented will have young readers coming back again and again. A must-buy." -School Library Journal (starred review) Gigi, a biracial six-year-old girl, learns about her Japanese culture from her grandfather when he comes to visit. Perfect for social emotional learning. Gigi can't wait for her Ojiji-Japanese grandpa-to move in. Gigi plans lots of things to do with him, like playing tag, reading books, and teaching Roscoe, the family dog, new tricks. But her plans don't work out quite the way she'd hoped. And her grandpa doesn't seem to like Roscoe. Will Gigi find a way to connect with her Ojiji? This exciting new I Can Read series is brought to you by author-illustrator Melissa Iwai, whose popular books include Soup Day and Dumplings for Lili. Gigi and Ojiji is a Level Three I Can Read book. Level 3 includes many fun subjects kids love to read about on their own. Themes include friendship, adventure, historical fiction, and science. Level 3 books are written for early independent readers. They include some challenging words and more complex themes and stories. The story contains several Japanese words and a glossary of definitions and pronunciations. "The text is well supported by the endearing illustrations, which capture all of Gigi's big emotions and depict her as a biracial child, with a white father and Japanese mother." -Booklist (starred review) "An affirming option in the quickly diversifying field of early-reader books." -Kirkus

None of the panda books are ever about red pandas! Red wants to change that. When Red discovers a new book about pandas, she can't wait to read it! Except it's about only one kind of panda, and red pandas are completely left out. Red never gets to read stories about pandas like herself! So she decides to take matters into her own paws and write her own book. But when Red looks around, it seems like the only kind of pandas the world sees are the black and white kind. Will anyone want to read about red pandas? It's up to Red to finish her story and find out...

On a cold, snowy day, a young girl and her mother shop to buy ingredients for vegetable soup. At home, they work together--step by step--to prepare the meal. While the soup is cooking, they spend the time playing games and reading. Before long, Daddy's home and the family sits down to enjoy a home made dinner. This book celebrates the importance of making a nutritious meal and sharing in the process.

Based on a true story, a stray dog befriends an orphan boy in a refugee camp on a Greek island. The fishermen on Lesvos call her Kanella because of her cinnamon color. She's a scrawny, nervous stray -- easily intimidated by the harbor cats and the other dogs that compete for handouts on the pier. One spring day a dinghy filled with weary, desperate strangers comes to shore. Other boats follow, laden with refugees who are homeless and hungry. Kanella knows what that is like, and she follows them as they are taken to a makeshift refugee camp. There she comes to trust a bearded man, an aid worker, and gradually settles into a contented routine. Kanella grows healthy and confident. She has a job now -- to keep watch over the people in her camp. One day, a little boy arrives and does not leave like the others. He seems to have no family and, like Kanella, he is taken in by the workers. He sleeps on a cot in the food hut, and Kanella keeps him warm and calm. When two new adults come to the camp. Kanella is ready to defend the boy from them, until she is pulled away by the bearded man. They are the boy's parents, and now he must go with them. Eventually, the camp is dismantled, and Kanella finds herself homeless again. Until one night, huddled in the cold, she awakens to see two bright lights shining in her eyes -- the headlights of a car. The bearded man has come back for her, and soon Kanella is on a journey, too, to a new home of her own. Key Text Features maps illustrations author's note Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.