Children's Literature Legacy Award winner and Young People's Poet Laureate Carole Boston Weatherford and award-winning illustrator James E. Ransome use key moments from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life to inspire future generations to stand up for what's right, make the world a better place, and be a King.You can be a King. Stamp out hatred. Put your foot down and walk tall.You can be a King. Beat the drum for justice. March to your own conscience....

HOW DID A POOR BOY named Edson—who kicked rocks down roads and dribbled balls made from rags—go on to become Pelé, the greatest soccer player of all time? While other kids memorized letters, Edson memorized the scores of soccer matches. And when Edson finally played in a youth soccer tournament in the town of Bauru, Brazil, he focused on only one thing from the moment the whistle blew: the goal.Here is the picture book biography of the boy who overcame tremendous odds to become the...

This Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book and ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book provides a riveting brick-by-brick account of how one of the most amazing accomplishments in American architecture came to be. It’s 1930 and times are tough for Pop and his son. But look! On the corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue, a building straight and simple as a pencil is being built in record time. Hundreds of men are leveling, shoveling, hauling. They’re hoisting 60,000 tons of steal, stacking 10 m...

"A good introduction to both New England and the joys of nature." —BooklistIt's fall again, and time for Jim and Andy to help their dad run Fred's Fall Color Tours. The tourists they shuttle around are "Leaf Peepers" and, boy, do those Peepers love to ooh and aah about the dumbest things. Leaves, trees, pumpkins. Bo-o-ring. But this year, even as they poke fun at the Peepers, Jim and Andy can't help but notice how the leaves floating in the rive...

Rosa sat soMartin could march.Martin marched soBarack could run.Barack ran soOur children can soar.This is the seed of a unique and inspirational picture book text, that is part historical, part poetry, and entirely inspirational. It symbolically takes the reader through the cumulative story of the US Civil Rights Movement, showing how select pioneers' achievements led up to this landmark moment, when we have elected our first black President.Eac...

When Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) was first published in 1991, it met with an overwhelming response from readers and reviewers alike. Here was “a wonderful family story,” as The Horn Book Magazine said, “set matter-of-factly in an African-American environment.” Since then, the story of Sarah and Susan’s Sunday afternoon with their great-great-aunt Flossie—and her many hats and stories—has become a favorite book for sharing and for initiating conversations ab...

In this moving picture book from multi-award winning author Jacqueline Woodson, a young girl and her grandmother prepare for a very special day--the one day a month they get to visit the girl's father in prison. "Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m, and Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and low." As the little girl and her grandmother get ready, her father, who adores her, is getting ready, too, and readers get to join the community of families who ...

You may think that the story of the saxophone begins with Dexter Gordon or Charlie Parker or on a street corner in New Orleans. It really began in 1840 in Belgium with a young daydreamer named Joseph-Antoine Adolphe Sax—a boy with bad luck but great ideas. Coretta Scott King Honoree Lesa Cline-Ransome unravels the fascinating history of how Adolphe's once reviled instrument was transported across Europe and Mexico to New Orleans. Follow the saxophone's journey from Adolphe's imagination to...

Louis Armstrong has been called the most important improviser in the history of jazz. Although his New Orleans neighborhood was poor in nearly everything else, it was rich in superb music. Young Louis took it all in, especially the cornet blowing of Joe King Oliver. But after a run in with the police, 11-year-old Louis was sent away to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys where he became a disciplined musician in the school's revered marching band. By the time he returned to his neighborhood, ...

Women's soccer has never been more popular. At the top of the sport's list of star players is Mia Hamm. Her speed, aggressive play, and ability to "read the field" have sparked every team she's ever played on. At the University of North Carolina, she helped the Tar Heels capture four NCAA championships. Her continually stellar performances with the United States national team led them to win two out of three Women's World Cups, first in 1991 and again in 1999. And as a member of the 1996 g...

Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Written and published in two parts in 1868 and 1869, the novel follows the lives of four sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March — and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first part of the book was an immediate commercial and critical success and prompted the composition of the book's second part, also a huge success. Both parts were first publish...

TOUCHDOWN! James Patterson will have kids busting out laughing as they follow lovable bad-boy Rafe's struggles to score big on the field—and in the social scene!In this seventh Middle School episode, Rafe heads back to the place his misadventures began: the dreaded Hills Village Middle School, where he's now being forced to take “special” classes. He also finds himself joining the school's football team—alongside his main tormenter, Miller the Killer!But Ra...