Pat Miller

Growing up in the segregated town of Clarksville, Tennessee, in the 1960s, Alta's family cannot afford to buy her new sneakers--but she still plans to attend the parade celebrating her hero Wilma Rudolph's three Olympic gold medals.

When Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate contemplates how to make her feel better and what it means to be kind. From asking the new girl to play to standing up for someone being bullied, this moving and thoughtful story explores what a child can do to be kind, and how each act, big or small, can make a difference or at least help a friend.

In this heartfelt picture book, a child imagines ways to connect with a grandmother who lives far way. Whether by rocket ship or jet pack, train or in a plane, any journey is worth it to see someone you love. With an inviting, accessible text by Pat Zietlow Miller and inventive art from the critically-acclaimed illustrator Suzy Lee, this picture book reminds us that, no matter the physical distance between us, the people we care about are never far...

On her very first day of school, Sophie is reluctant to make friends with the other children, preferring to play with two squash she grew in her garden--but when a particularly persistent boy named Steven gives her a packet of seeds as an apology for accidentally ripping her picture, she realizes that it just takes time to grow a friend.

Illustrations and rhyming text follow a young rabbit as he leaves home on a journey, discovering the joys of different kinds of roads and what they may bring--including a way back home.

Relates how to find your courage and use it when life seems frightening or you start something new.

"Students create a vegetable garden on their school's rooftop." --

Every baby bear knows the warmth of spring only comes after sleeping through the cold of winter. For little cub Elliott, however, it's not that easy. First, something tickles his nose, rousing him from a dream, and then every shadow, noise, and passing thought keeps him up. No amount of fluffing of his pillow or tossing and turning will help. He even tries nudging his mom out of her slumber! But he's Still. Wide. Awake.