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*Top 5
Summary: Uncle Jed's Barber Shop tells the tale of a man who dreams to open his own barber shop during the peak of racial segregation in the South. The book is told from his great niece's perspective, Sarah Jean. She tells all the highs and lows of her Uncle's journey from the Great Depression and racism all the way to her Uncle finally conquering his dream of opening his own barber shop. While she reflects on his journey, Sarah Jean learns to finally dream for herself.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies the theme of how to dream through the way Uncle Jed never gave up on his dream. Uncle Jed had more down falls than he did triumphs, but this never stopped him in conquering his dream of owning a barber shop. This book contributes the idea of the importance to have major dreams in life to children's literature. Whether it be to own your own company or get a certain job. Those dreams are what help people get through the lowest points in life. This book also contributes the idea of never giving up in children's literature. Uncle Jed lost all of his money several times after saving up for so long, but this never stopped him. This perseverance is what makes conquering dreams worth it in the end.

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Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

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Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

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Summary: This African tale tells the story of two sisters Nyasha and Manyara, who were very beautiful. They lived with their father in a small village that laid beyond the river. Manyara hated her sister and was constantly being mean to her because of the fact that her sister was so kind and everyone loved Nyasha for that. Manyara swore that she would be queen one day and that she would make Nyasha her servant so that people would know her kindness was her weakness. Nysha met a snake in her garden and they became companions. The king announced that he was looking for the most beautiful bride. On their journey to the king the two sisters ran into a young boy and an old woman. Manyara was cruel to both the young boy and old woman, but Nyasha treats them both with kindness. When they reached the city gate the garden snake transformed into the king and admitted that he took the shape of many other people on their journey. They were tests and he knew that the most worthy person to be his wife and queen was Nyasha.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies the theme of what matters is on the inside through the way Nyasha treats every person in her life. Throughout the book we see two equally girls with the same goal, marry the king. However, only one of them can. Manyara treats everyone horribly and is extremely selfish, while Nyasha takes care of everyone that she comes across. At the end of the day we see Nyasha is chosen by the King due to the fact that she was kind on the inside. Nyasha was not just beautiful on the outside, but the inside as well. This book contributes the idea that the best thing you can do in life is treat others well. What is on the outside is a fleeting measurement of who people are, and what truly is going to be remembered is how you treat others. This book shows the importance of treating everyone kindly, even if they do not reciprocate it.

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Summary: A little girl is given a key to the house. In the house is a light. Where a bed and a book await the little girl. In the book is a bird that sings and flies through the dark. In that darkness the moon glows, which the sun shines on its face. The story then reverses all of this in a backwards sequence, which flows so well.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies the theme of what matters is on the inside through the way it breaks down the layers of a house. This book goes through all of the layers, ultimately showing that the house is just a shell in this whole scheme of a universe. From showing the little girl, to the bird, and the moon and sun and then reversing all of it, it is clear that what is in the home matters more than its outside. This book contributes the idea to children's literature to never judge the life of someone based on the home they live in. What matters is what goes on inside the home, who lives in the home, and the memories that have been made in the home. All houses look the same at night, dark and undefiled, but it is the light within them that make them stand out from one another.

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Summary: The book, The List of Things That Will Not Change, follows the crazy life of a young girl named Bea. Bea goes back and forth living between the New York City apartments of her divorced mother and father. Despite this divorce, Bea’s life is still so full of family and love, due to the fact that her parents remained close. Bea’s father is gay and is marrying his partner, Jesse, whom Bea loves very much. Along with that, Bea gets a new half sister from the marriage which she is so excited about. Bea is constantly being bullied about the fact that her father is gay and constantly faces homophobia by her classmates because of her fathers relationship. This makes Bea very angry and she resorts to violence and anger in the face of her classmates, including physically hurting someone in her class when they make a comment about her dad. Bea also struggles with school academically,  Bea feels as though she is living her life behind closed doors, as she does not let anyone into the hardships she faced daily. As the book progresses we see Bea go to therapy and continue to grow as a mature person in the way she deals with her struggles and emotions. She finds her voice and a list of things in her life that simply will not change, including that she will always have people in her life that are mean or homophobic. However, with this she learns how to deal with these things. She no longer resorts to violence, but learns more about LGBTQ and herself which makes her realize that love is the best response to all hate in this world.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies the theme of standing up in the right way through the way Be a transforms her reactions to the bullying she receives from her classmate from physical violence to treating everyone with love. This book contributes to the LGBTQ+ community by describing a story of what it is like to be an ally to friends or family with different sexualities. This book contributes the idea that love is love, and the best way to defend it is by loving. This book teaches kids that homophobia is wrong and it gives representation of the proper way to handle it.

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Summary: Mirandy and Brother Wind, tells the tale of a young girl named Mirandy who is preparing for her first cake walk. Mirandy is determined to have brother wind be her partner at the junior cake walk, because she knew she would win with him as her partner. Mirandy was told it would be impossible to catch brother wind. However, this did not stop Mirandy. Mirandy takes on this journey with her good friend, Ezel. Ezel wants to take a girl named Orlinda to the cake walk and plans on asking her. Mirandy visits many people and places seeking help on catching brother wind, and eventually gets her hands on a potion. Mirandy eventually catches brother wind. When she arrives at the cake walk, Mirandy catches Orlinda making fun of Ezel. This makes Mirandy very upset and she stands up for her friend. Mirandy chooses to dance with Ezel. They dance together and eventually win the cake walk with their new found confidence.

Importance and Contributions: This book illustrates the theme of standing up in the right way through the way Mirandy stands up for Ezel. Ezel spent the whole book trying to get Orlinda to go to the cake walk with him, but all Orlinda did was make fun of him. This made Mirandy angry, but she did not react with violence or hate. When Mirandy stands up to Orlinda, she takes that stance to do the right thing. Mirandy does not use hate in anything she says, but simply stands up for her friend. This then leads her to stand up in action, again not in violence. Mirandy choosing to dance with Ezel was the right way to stand up because not only did they win the cake walk, but she showed Orlinda that Ezel was more than worthy of being her partner. This book contributes this idea to children's literature. The idea that sometimes word alone is not enough. Sometimes the best way to stand up for someone is including them or participating with them in whatever they got rejected in. Not only does this stand up to the instigator, but it helps the person who was on the receiving hand of it. Mirandy's character contributes a beautiful example of true friendship and the proper way to stand up to bullies.

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*Top 5
Summary: The novel follows the tale of a 10 year old girl named Della and her 16 year old half sister, Suki. These two girls have gone through some horrible things together, and through all of it became inseparable due to the fact that they took care of each other for years. Suki and Della share the same mother, but have different fathers. Their mother is in prison, which ultimately leaves the two young girls in the hands of their mothers abusive boyfriend, Clifton. Clifton is terrible and abusive, physically, sexually, and emotionally. He is especially abusive towards Suki. They never reported him because he said they would separate the two girls. The girls made an escape from Clifton the day Suki found Clifton abusing Della, due to the fact that Suki caught it all on camera and they officially had more than just word of mouth. The girls end up in the foster care system, landing with a woman named Francine. Francine is very rough around the edges. Della describes her as anything but motherly, and cigarette loving. In moving in with Francine, the girls end up going to a new school, where Della makes new friends and enemies. Suki is having a harder time, she is consumed by sadness and trauma, and eventually tries to commit suicide. This is what makes Della realize how much her sister truly went through and realized that she must put her energy towards testifying against Clifton and standing up against Trevor, Della’s bully. One day, Trevor twists Della’s back and she explodes and tells him to never touch her or any girl ever again without permission. This is a turning point for Della because she realized how powerful her voice was and how much it could change the environment around her. Della uses that voice in her testimony against Clifton. Della finds her voice and stops the cycle of silence and hurt in her and Suki’s life.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the quote of finding one's voice through Della's journey from being scared to speak up and tell her story to being the girl who stands up for herself and others. At the beginning of the book Della is scared to report Clifton and does not speak up, but her turning point is when she defends herself and her girl classmates from Trevor. Della never looks back on not using her voice to bring justice. This book contributes the idea of standing up for yourself and the people you love to children's literature. Both Della and Suki's characters show how important it is to use your voice, even in scary situations. Using their voices is what saved the both of them from the abusive hands of Clifton. This book also does an amazing job at introducing and discussing the hard topic of abuse. This book does it in a manner that is not over telling or explicit.

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Summary: This short picture book tells the tale of a young page boy and a king. The king refuses to get out of the bathtub and the page calls on many people to help get him out. The page calls on a knight, the Queen, the Duke, and the Court for help. However, all of them fail to get him out. Finally, the young page just pulls the plug and the king runs out of the tub.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the theme through the way the young page boy developed his own voice. At first, he did not trust his own decision making and voice, so he asked a lot of older people to help. The page boy continued to watch all of them fail until he finally decided to make his own decision and use his voice to get the King out of the tub. This book contributes the idea to children's literature that kids should trust their own voice and idea. Kids should trust their decisions, even when older people question them. I think that this book contributes a sort of confidence for young readers in terms of how they think and when to use their voice.

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Summary: Truck is an all picture book. It follows the journey of a red truck that is filled with tricycles through many different stops to its final destination. The book takes us through many signs and lights, and of course we are forced to stop along with the truck. The truck goes on many city streets and corners seeing different cars and people.The truck goes over foggy bridges and under tunnels, always following the speed limit. The truck passes many other trucks just like itself. It goes through many cities and places. The truck stops at late night dinners and 24 hour truck stops. The truck goes through crazy weather and a lot of traffic.It passes through many busy and big highways, all to get to the final destination.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies this theme through the idea that the only reason the truck is on the journey is because what is inside of it. The idea that all the people and other trucks could see was the big red outside of the truck. They had no clue what it was carrying inside of it, it could have been anything but it was tiny little tricycles. The contribution this book makes to children's literature is offering a complex message about life through simple pictures. The book was conveying the message that everyone is carrying something around with them on the inside and that it matters enough to take a whole journey for. This book also contributes the idea that life does not stop no matter how much you are carrying, so it is important to evaluate what you're carrying around.

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Summary: Hey, Al tells the tale of a good hardworking man named Al and his dog Eddie. They did everything together. The two of them lived in a very small one bedroom apartment in New York, it was all they could afford. Al was a janitor and was constantly struggling with money. This was the root of the fights between Al and Eddie. One morning while Al was getting ready for work, a big blue bird flew through his window and offered to take Al and Eddie to the best place of their lives. Al was hesitant at first, but Eddie began packing his stuff immediately.. The next morning, the bird came and carried Al and Eddie to an island in the sky. The island was beautiful, filled with fresh fruit, flowers, trees, and many other exotic birds. The two of them spent many days there basking in the life, and agreed that both of them could live like that forever, until one day they woke up with bird features. Al and Eddie both wanted to leave. They would rather mop floors and live in a small apartment then be a bird, so they began to fly far away from the island and back towards New York. While they were flying Eddie became tired and fell into the ocean. Al finally made it home, as a human, but he did not have his best friend. Al was heartbroken, when all of a sudden Eddie ran into his arms.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the theme of to be grateful for what you have through Al and Eddies realization that their life before trading it away was better than becoming a bird. Al and Eddie were so quick to give up their life in New York because they were told the life on the Island would be better. However, this was a mistake. When the two of them began to change into birds they instantly realized that the life they had together before was great and that they took it for granted. If they had not left the island when they did, the two of them would have lost that life forever. This book contributes the message that life is not always greener on the other side for young readers. Al and Eddie gave up their good life because a random bird told them he could bring them to paradise. When they got there things seemed great, but they quickly changed. This goes to show that just because something seems "easier" or "better" than what you have, it is probably not what it seems like. This book teaches young readers to not blind themselves to how fortunate they really are.

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Summary: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane follows the story of a small Chinese rabbit doll named Edward Tulane. Edward Tulane was a gift to a young girl named Abilene from her grandmother. Abilene treats Edward Tulane with so much love. Unfortunately, Edward does not reciprocate this back to Abilene. He is cold towards her and very selfish, exactly the opposite of how she is. As the story continues, Abilene takes Edward with her on a family vacation on a cruise. Two boys begin to pick on Abilene and toss into the ocean. Edward is eventually saved by a fisherman, but he ends up in the hands of many people who do not care for him. Edward is put in the trash and used as a garden prop. Eventually, a young boy named Bryce comes and takes Edward to his sick sister, who eventually dies. Edward is then taken to dinner with Bryce, where he is shattered because Bryce does not have enough money to pay. Edward is taken to a repair shop, where Bryce promises not to come back for him because he cannot pay for the repair. Overtime, Abilene and her daughter come into the repair shop and buy Edward back. Edward is finally able to return the love Abilene gave him.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the theme of to be grateful for what you have through showing the realization Edward Tulane had when he realized he went from a life full of love to a life of being pushed aside and treated like trash. Edward was never grateful for the life that Abilene gave to him, and he only realized it once he had no one. This book contributes the idea that love is so important to be grateful for. A lot of younger children tend to think that love can be embarrassing or overbearing, especially when coming from a parent figure. This book puts in perspective of what it can be like to go from having all the love in the world to having no one. This is extremely powerful and can give young readers a sense of gratitude for what they have.

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*Top 5
Summary: The book Rick covers the self discovery journey that a young middle school boy named Rick takes on. The story opens up with Rick entering middle school with his best friend Jeff, who is not the nicest person. Unfortunately, Rick just goes along with it picking on boys and girls along with his best friend. At the same time, his parents are pointing out girls in his grade that they think Rick would be cute with. While all of this is going on we see Rick’s internal battle with figuring out why he doesn’t feel that way about anyone, boy or girl. Rick starts to believe something is truly wrong with him. Rick eventually starts talking to a girl on his class named Melissa. Melissa introduces Rick to Spectrum, which is an LGBT+ alliance group. Rick begins to learn more and more about himself and other people through this group, but it also presents several problems such as him feeling as though he has to hide his membership and along with the idea that he has to start reconsidering his friendship with Jeff. As all of this continues Rick begins to true discover himself and the world around him through being himself and standing up to people like Rick. At the end of the book we finally see Rick love himself for his true identity, and he realizes nothing is wrong with him.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies the theme of self-love and acceptance through the way Rick grows to explore and accept himself and the people around him. Rick towards the beginning of the book hated himself for the confusion he felt, but as the book continued and as he started to accept others more he finally accepted and loved himself. Rick realized that all that matters is if he is a good person and loves everyone. This book offers a major contribution to the LGBTQ+ in children's literature. Many children's books and TV shows tend to avoid diving into the topic of sexuality, but this book goes all in. It allows for young readers going through similar situations to see that other people are going through the same thing, and that it will be okay. This book also contributes healthy discovery and acceptance methods such as joining an informational group or the reevaluation of toxic relationships. This book provides a great example of how real and important it is to love the LGBTQ+ community, whether a part of it or not.

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Summary: This novel follows a young girl named Yumi Chung on her journey to find herself. Yumi Chung is a very shy girl with a lot of confidence issues. She is constantly bullied by kids at her school for her hair, her culture, and her parents restaurant. Instead of standing up for herself, Yumi keeps a journal of everything that has happened in a comedic manner. Yumi is being sent to a test-prep tutor camp, which will help her earn scholarships. Yumi is very upset about this, until she stumbles upon the opportunity of a lifetime: comedy camp. The camp is run by her favorite YouTube star. The problem with the camp is that they think Yumi Chung is a different person, Kay Nakamura. Instead of correcting them, Yumi plays the role. As the camp continues, Yumi begins to find her own voice and stand up for herself in ways she never has become. Yumi finally releases the star she is.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the theme of self-love and acceptance from Yumi Chung's transformation from a shy girl to a girl who could light up a whole room. Yumi Chung went from a girl who did not like any aspect of herself. She did not like her hair, her culture, and just her general personality. She kept everything about herself locked up and did not let anyone in. That was until camp. Even though she was behind a different name, she started to love herself. This gave her the confidence to be fully her at the end, even behind her own name. This book contributes a lot to children's literature. The major thing I think it contributes is it teaches kids to love and accept themselves and the culture they came from. Yumi Chung was bullied for her looks, her parents job, and different aspects of her culture. At first, she let this get to her so she began to try to conceal her true cultural identity. However, at the end we see Yumi Chung being fully herself and embracing every aspect of her culture, both physically and emotionally. I think this book is exceptionally contributive to the times due to the Anti-Asian violence going on in the United States.

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Summary: Olivia follows the life of a little young girl pig named Olivia. Olivia is good at many things, especially wearing her entire family out, including herself. She loves the color red and can wear anything she dreams of. On sunny days Olivia and her family go to the beach, which is where she learned how to build sand castles. She even got so good she built the empire state building. On rainy days she loves to go to the art museum. Her favorite picture is one of ballerinas, and she always stares at it for a long time. She dreams of herself dressed in a tutu dancing along with the ladies in the pictures. Olivia creates many messes and is forced into several time outs. At the end of the day, Olivia is crazy, but dreams big.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies the theme how to dream through the way Olivia's character has little dreams throughout her day. Her dreams of being in a famous painting or building a huge sand castle bring happiness into her life. Through this it teaches the reader that the little everyday dreams bring about a sense of happiness and hope. This book contributes many things to children's literature. Olivia teaches the importance of imagination and dreams in everyday life. She teaches young readers how to dream everyday, even if it is just a simple imagination of stepping into their favorite TV show. Olivia demonstrates how dreams lead to creativity and self-discovery that you cannot get through anything else.

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Summary: The book covers the tale of the night a young boy named Max wore his wolf suit. The suit brought out a sense of rebellion and mischief in Max, which makes his mother angry enough to send him to bed. When Max got to his bedroom it began to turn into a forest and eventually he hopped on a boat and sailed to the place where the wild things are. Max was not afraid of the wild things, even though they were all bigger and scarier than he was. Max tamed the wild things and was named “King of the wild things.” The wild things danced, hung from tree branches, and paraded max around. After all of this commotion Max sent all of the wild things go to bed without supper. While they were all asleep, Max realized that he wanted to be with the people who loved him the most of all, and the smell of the dinner he missed filled his head with certainty that he wanted to return home. When he returned home, Max found his dinner, still hot, right in his very own bedroom.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the theme of don’t be afraid to adventure through Max’s character stepping into another world full of monsters. While the world may have been an imagination, Max was never scared to adventure with the monsters. He took control of them, partied with them, and eventually had the courage to adventure away from them and back to his home. Max was never afraid to adventure, whether at home or where the wild things were. This book contributes an idea similar to David vs Goliath to children’s literature. Max’s character is a good representation of most children as he has a bright imagination and a crazy amount of energy. Max’s character shows that just because you’re smaller, weaker, or younger than something does not mean that you should be scared to adventure with it or go against it. His character contributes the idea that adventuring sets people up with the tools to conquer their fears.

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*Top 5
Summary: The story tells the tale of a young boy named Peter exploring a snow covered world. Peter does not hesitate and puts on his bright red snow suit, and heads out to adventure. Peter walks through the snow, attempts to engage in a snowball fight, makes snow angels, and climbs up and slides down many snow covered hills. Before he returns home, Peter gathers up some snow and puts it in his pocket for the next day. That next morning Peter immediately checked his snow and was saddened to see it had melted, until he looked out his window and saw that the world remained white.

Importance & Contributions: This book embodies this theme of adventure through the way Peter never hesitates to jump out into the snow covered world. Peter is a young boy and the world is a big and scary place, but this did not scare him away from doing what he wanted: playing in the snow. Throughout the book Peter is shown trying to participate and do many different things in the show, which all takes the courage to adventure. This book contributes to the call for the reader to take on adventure. To embrace the cold and uncomfortable. In the book we see Peter try to play in the snowball fight with the older kids, he failed, but what was important to remember was that he tried and he took that risk. This book demonstrates that feeling uncomfortable can be a good thing. It shows the reader that if they do not take that adventure into the world, they can miss out on so much fun and self-realization.

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*Top 5
Summary: This book follows a young boy named CJ and his Nana (his grandma) on a bus ride through a very busy city to their local soup kitchen, which they go to every Sunday after Church. Throughiut the novel we see CJ have a pessimistic view of the bus. From complaining about waiting around in the rain, questioning why he has to do it but his friends don’t, and to asking why they cannot simply just get a car. She then goes on to point out all of the amazing people her and CJ have met through riding a bus, the blind man and his spotted dog, the musician, Mr. Dennis (the bus driver),  and the two cool teenage boys that had CJ in awe. Each of these people taught CJ a lesson. The final questions CJ asked was why they had to go to the soup kitchen and why it was always so dirty at the soup kitchen. She responded to him, “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, CJ, you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.” After she said this CJ looked up and saw a perfect arching rainbow above the soup kitchen, it was beautiful.

Importance & Contributions: This book shows the theme of finding beauty and friendship in the most unlikely people through all of the relationships CJ and his Nana make on the short bus ride to the soup question. CJ is a young boy who made friends with teenagers, adults, the elderly, and the homeless. CJ makes so many friends in the most unlikely place, a bus. This book contributes very valuable lessons to children's literature.  I feel this book truly teaches that true beauty and happiness comes from helping others. How can you know what true beauty is if you have never surrounded yourself by dirt or things that are not considered beautiful? Will you ever be able to know what beauty is if you don’t? Beautiful people are made through how they treat others. Although the bus is not the most luxurious type of transportation, it is where CJ met some amazing friends and learned some of the most valuable lessons. Same with the soup kitchen, it is not the cleanest place, but it helped CJ find the beauty in the city and people around him. This book teaches that when we treat those around us with kindness, we make some of the best friendships, even in the most unlikely places.

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Summary: The book tells the tale of Johnny Orchard and a big bear. Johnny lived on an Apple orchard that was at the farthest point of the valley and closest to the forest. Whenever Johnny would go into town he would feel humiliated and ashamed because of the fact that his family did not own a bearskin. Johnny then decided he would kill a bear himself so he set out for the journey. While he was wondering the forest he came about a baby bear and Johnny instantly began caring for it. Johnny brought the bear home to his family, and the bears munchies began. The bear loved any food it could get its hands on, including that of the neighbors. The bear was always eating and he grew and grew. The neighbors were furious and demanded that they set the bear free in the forest. Johnny takes the bear to three different locations to set it free, but the bear always returns to the orchard shortly after. Johnny decides that he has to kill the bear and he will be the person to do it, so he takes the bear into the forest. While in the forest the both of them end up in a bear trap. Multiple zoo keepers come out from behind the trees and tell Johnny that they will take the bear to the zoo and he can visit him anytime.

Importance & Contribution: This book embodies the theme of finding beauty and friendship in the most unlikely people through the friendship that grew between Johnny Orchard and the big bear. At the beginning of the story we see that Johnny does not like bears and wants to kill one for its skin. However, once he gets to the forest and finds the baby bear, they instantly bond. Johnny and the bear become amazing friends despite how others feel about the bear. Johnny became friends with such an unlikely creature. This book contributes the idea of animal protection and relationships in children’s literature. Johnny loved the big bear so much and did not want to have to let him go or kill him. This offers the idea of the relationship that can exist between children and pets, which is extremely relatable. It also creates a sense of respect in children’s literature, due to the fact that Johnny saw the big bear as more then just a bear skin. This connection in children’s literature creates an understanding of why it is important to protect animal species and have a greater appreciation for animals in general.

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Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures 

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Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures 

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Summary: The story follows the tale of a young girl named Flora and a squirrel named Ulysses. Flora rescues Ulysses after he is injured by her neighbor. The squirrel comes back to life, but this time with human qualities. This is when Flora names him Ulysses. She takes him home and her mom freaks. Flora has never had a good relationship with her parents, especially her mom. Her parents are divorced and she finds that her mom is ridiculously harsh and cold towards her. Flora then heads off to her dads house with Ulysses. Flora meets many new people including an odd ball, William Spiver. Ulysses causes a lot of problems, such as a disastrous dinner. However, Ulysses also saves the day many times, including defending Flora’s dad from the landlord’s cat. After this, she returns home to her mom who is very angry that the squirrel is still alive, so she steals Ulysses and takes him into the forest. Flora sets out to find her squirrel friend with the help of her friends william spiver and tootie. Just before he is about to be killed Ulysses flies all the way back to the apartment. Flora eventually shows up and tells Ulysses she loves him, Ulysses loves her back. Flora’s mom also shows up and apologizes and tells Flora it was all out of love.

Importance & Contributions: This book shows this theme of finding friendship in the most unlikely ways through the friendships Flora develops. First, Flora befriends a talking squirrel. Her and Ulysses truly become companions and love each other so much. This friendship was a shock to everyone in her life, because who becomes friends with a squirrel? Another relationship in this book that pushes this theme is the one between Flora and William. William is not a normal guy, many people make fun of him. Flora was hesitant at first, but in the end she realizes that taking William on as a friend was one of the best things she has ever done and that the two of them had more in common than she ever thought. This book teaches children through literature that it is so important to befriend people even if they seem "weird" or "annoying." This book teaches the reader to not judge a book by its cover, because in reality there is probably a lot that is the same on the inside. This book provides a beautiful example of making new friendships and defending them, even if they are seen as odd.