Once upon a time, in a land where horses were mythical beasts, there lived a unicorn—a Teeny-Weeny Unicorn. He lived with his family in a palace—one that was extra-large for him, full of extra-large rugs and extra-large food. And when his brother and sister played chess, they used him in place of a pawn. When…
Originally performed for ESPN s The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world s greatest heroes. The text is also peppered…
Vincent van Gogh traveled widely throughout Europe―on foot, by boat, and above all, by train. He wrote countless letters to his family as he went, using the world around him as the subject for hundreds of drawings and paintings. And in his day, that world looked very different from ours. Brimming with colorful illustrations, historic…
With its wide sky and warm earth, Princess Gie Gie s kingdom is a beautiful land. But clean drinking water is scarce in her small African village. And try as she might, Gie Gie cannot bring the water closer; she cannot make it run clearer. Every morning, she rises before the sun to make the…
There’s a ghost in Grandpa’s garden. It leaves tracks by the path where there was once a cool, dark stream. It makes mischief by knocking over flowerpots. And sometimes, it leaves behind a gift perfect for a curious boy in the form of little treasures from times gone by. The boy who is the narrator…
These short, vibrant tanka poems about Black boys and young men depict thirteen views of everyday life: dressed in Sunday best, running to catch a bus, growing up to be teachers, and much more. Each of Tony Medina s tanka is matched with a different artist–including recent Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Award recipients. Ages…
When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened. . . . Visual humor swims to…
Sadie is a little girl with a big imagination. She has been a girl who lived underthe sea and a boy raised by wolves. She has had adventures in wonderland andvisited the world of fairytales. She whispers to the dresses in her closet and talksto birds in the treetops. She has wings that take her…
The story of one family’s journey north during the Great Migration starts with a little girl in South Carolina who finds a rope under a tree one summer. She has no idea the rope will become part of her family’s history. But for three generations, that rope is passed down, used for everything from jump…
Seven-year-old Mary adores her ginger cat, Thomasina, and is crushed when Thomasina falls sick, and Mary’s father, a grim, inflexible man who is the town vet, decrees that the only thing to be done is to put Thomasina down. Mary refuses to speak to her father, and then she herself contracts a life-threatening disease. In…
What is time? Is it the tick tick tock of a clock, numbers and words on a calendar? It s that, but so much more. Time is a seed waiting to grow, a flower blooming, a sunbeam moving across a room. Time is slow like a spider spinning her web or fast like a wave…
Tove and her family go to the island with no address every summer. After checking to make sure that everything in the cabin is exactly as it should be, young Tove sets off on an adventure. She finds some interesting salvage on the beach, she visits the grotto and she offers to babysit her strange…
Folklore of the sea and rivers has a resonance in cultures all over the world. Watery hopes, fears, and dreams are shared by all peoples where rivers flow and waves crash. From English sailor superstitions to shapeshifting pink dolphins of the Amazon, from monsters of the deep, to Scylla and Charybdis and waterfall folklore. The…
From the dark, gnarled woodlands of the north, to the humid jungles of the southern lands, trees have captured humanity’s imagination for millennia. Filled with primal gods and goddesses, dryads and the fairy tales of old, the forests still beckon to us, offering sanctuary, mystery and more than a little mischievous trickery. From insatiable cannibalistic…
From the dark, gnarled woodlands of the north, to the humid jungles of the southern lands, trees have captured humanity’s imagination for millennia. Filled with primal gods and goddesses, dryads and the fairy tales of old, the forests still beckon to us, offering sanctuary, mystery and more than a little mischievous trickery. From insatiable cannibalistic…