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A fun and interactive preschool adventure (with cutout surprises on almost every page!) that explores counting and colors, from the award-winning creator of The Watermelon Seed and Good Night Owl.

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Take a rhythmic, read-aloud (and rather silly) burrow into the unseen world of the wombat! Set in a similar style to Mopoke, this is a book created to be read together. The deliberately sparse script and silly illustrations invite the reader to follow the fate of a blossoming marsupial love story.

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For fans of Guess How Much I Love You? and Just Me and My Dad comes a heartwarming story perfect for Father's Day about a son and his papá who love to measure everything, including their love for each other.

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Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons

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Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons

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Discover the true story of an orphaned mallard duckling being raised by a pair of loons.

On a lake in northern Wisconsin in 2019, loon researchers were surprised to discover a mother and father loon caring for a mallard duckling. Normally loons and mallards live very different lives and do not get along. Follow along as the duckling grows and displays a mix of both loon behaviors and mallard behaviors. Intriguing verse and striking illustrations combine in this heartwarming tale of unexpected animal cooperation.

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A Moon For Moe and Mo by Jane Breskin Zalben

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A Moon For Moe and Mo by Jane Breskin Zalben

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An interfaith friendship develops when Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, overlaps with the Muslim holiday of Ramadan--an occurence that happens only once every thirty years or so.
Moses Feldman, a Jewish boy, lives at one end of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, while Mohammed Hassan, a Muslim boy, lives at the other. One day they meet at Sahadi's market while out shopping with their mothers and are mistaken for brothers. A friendship is born, and the boys bring their families together to share rugelach and date cookies in the park as they make a wish for peace.

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Invisible Things by Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller

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Invisible Things by Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller

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This creatively wacky exploration of the invisible things that make up the human experience encourages readers to look past the visible and connect with the things that are not seen.

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Between Monsters and Marvels by Alysa Wishingrad

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Between Monsters and Marvels by Alysa Wishingrad

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In the next standalone high-stakes middle-grade fantasy by Alysa Wishingrad, the author of the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection The Verdigris Pawn, a misunderstood young girl named Dare is shipped to the mainland from her tiny island and uncovers startling secrets behind her father’s death, the island itself, and the monsters that lend its lore.

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Fans of realistic fiction will enjoy this tale that tackles the challenges of blending a family during the COVID-19 Pandemic, while remaining light and fun.

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It was supposed to just be a normal basement―some storage boxes, dust, you know, the usual basement stuff. But when Milo is sent by his mother to fetch a sock from the basement of the historic home they've moved into, Milo finds a door in the back that he's never seen before. Turns out that the basement of his house is enormous. In fact, there is a whole world down there. As Milo travels ever deeper into the Basement World, he meets the many Things that live in the shadows and gloom...and he learns that to face his fears he must approach even the strangest creatures with kindness.

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Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the Covid pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation. But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past—one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret.

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Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Alan Gratz

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Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Alan Gratz

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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, Ground Zero, and Two Degrees comes this heart-pounding, inventive, and powerful new novel about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor... as only Alan Gratz can tell it!

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The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri

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The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri

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This is the tale of an exciting journey along the Silk Road with a young Monk and his newfound guardian, Samir, a larger than life character and the so-called “Seller of Dreams”. The man is a scammer; his biggest skill being the ability to talk his way into getting what he wants. While that talking did save Monkey’s life, it has left a lot of people furious with Samir— furious enough to hire assassins. Monkey decides to try and save Samir from the attempts on his life—as a way to pay off his debt! If he can save Samir six times, he’ll be a free man...but will they all survive that long?

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A gentle, collage-illustrated bedtime read about the often mysterious and always beautiful experiences to be found in nighttime spaces.

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We all go through awkward, unsteady phases—even animals! Award-winning author and photographer April Pulley Sayre shines a light on nature’s in-between moments in this relatable nonfiction picture book.

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From silly to serious, “no” can have many meanings but above all shows that little ones are getting bigger in this funny and empowering board book behind every kid’s favorite two-letter word!

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No holiday is complete without CELEBRATIONS! This unique board book helps families and educators discuss belief systems, ceremonies, and holidays to spread love and understanding for all faiths.

Complete with family discussion questions and a glossary detailing each celebration, faith, and practice. Created with 0-5-year-olds in mind.

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Introducing a sweet and silly buffalo who tries to bluff and fluff his way into being bigger than he really is. This laugh-out-loud story by an Emmy-nominated comedy writer shows it’s okay to be yourself.

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In this cozy picture book about friendship, Mole anxiously decides to journey through underground tunnels to attend a party.
Mole is invited to a party, which is very worrisome. What if the party is too rowdy for Mole? What if Mole doesn’t know anyone there? What if Mole is just too shy to make friends? Mole worries through the tunnels, around Snake’s burrow, under the forest, past Bear’s den, and all the way to Rabbit’s door. But despite all those worries, maybe Mole can find a quiet way to make friends . . .

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Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam by Fawzia Gilani-Williams

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Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam by Fawzia Gilani-Williams

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Two neighbors―one Jewish, one Muslim―have always been best friends. When they both fall on hard times, can they find a way to help each other? In Fawzia Gilani's retelling of this folktale―which has both Jewish and Arab origins―differences are not always causes for conflict and friendship can overcome any obstacle.

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Butt or Face? Can You Tell Which End You're Looking At? By Kari Lavelle

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Butt or Face? Can You Tell Which End You're Looking At? By Kari Lavelle

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Butt or Face offers kids a delightfully cheeky challenge: examine a close-up photo of an animal, and then guess whether you're looking at the top or the…um…bottom. The answer is revealed on the next page with a complete photo of the animal! Also included are factual animal details along with how these animals use camouflage or other trickery to engage with their home. Readers will discover animals like the Cuyaba dwarf frog whose backside looks like a pair of eyes, the Mary River turtle that breathes through its butt, and many more!

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Traffic! Road works! Ambulances! Where do you go when the hustle and bustle of the city gets too much?
The Spaces In Between weaves between the busy lives of several children who are all seeking secret spaces where they can go to find peace and quiet.
With themes of anxiety, fear, kindness and joy, join the children over the course of one day, and explore how each of them copes with their emotions. From the warm embrace of a loved one, finding joy by splashing through puddles, and feeling the crunch of autumn leaves on the pavement, this book is full of ideas on how to find calming spaces in the middle of the hubbub.

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Liline and Pepper: Best Friends by Samanka Dumond-Desir

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Liline and Pepper: Best Friends by Samanka Dumond-Desir

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Meet Liline, a Haitian-American kindergartener and her sassy cat Pepper as they learn, explore, and have fun in their city neighborhood. In Book 1 of this Level 1 early reader series, Liline and her family discover a cat and after trying to find its family with no luck, happily keep her. It takes a bit to pick the perfect name but they finally do!

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With humor and heart and brought to life by Jonathan Nelson’s warm, distinctive artwork, Kim Rogers’s A Letter for Bob celebrates the treasured cars that carry us through our most meaningful childhood moments.

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Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango

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Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango

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The Pura Belpré Honor winning novel in verse, in which a lost dog helps a lonely girl find a way home to her family . . . only for them to find family in each other along the way. From the Newbery Honor winning author of Iveliz Explains It All.

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9 year-old Obioma is a football star. She uses a special stick to score goals and never loses a race in her wheelchair! But when she moves to a new city, she has to go to a new school where she has no friends, and everyone calls her “the girl with the wheelchair”. Obioma misses playing football most of all, until one day a girl named Ayana asks her to race. Once they start playing football, everyone joins in and Obioma finds a new team to play with!

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Adam Rubin is back with this companion to The Ice Cream Machine, inviting you into six thrilling new worlds filled with daring and danger, mystery and mayhem—not to mention explosions! In a swanky New York City hotel, a reclusive guest appears to have spontaneously combusted. On a school field trip to a human anatomy museum in space, two kids try to pull off the greatest prank in history. Somewhere on a deserted island, three siblings try to make a life for themselves after the rest of the planet has been decimated by gigantic rock monsters. And then there's the small, quaint fishing town where a boy visiting his sister stumbles across an ancient curse; the traveling circus where a young girl becomes the assistant to a death-defying human cannonball; and the rugged wilderness where one kid with superpowers just can't seem to find some peace.

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From National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Sy Montgomery comes an ode to one of the most diverse, fascinating, and beloved species on the planet: turtles. With dazzling illustrations and emotionally engaging, fact-filled text, this picture book will speak to the wisdom these long-lived animals can lend.

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My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense For Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris

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My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense For Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris

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This hilarious follow-up to the New York Times bestselling poetry book I'm Just No Good at Rhyming is full of surprising twists of wit and wordplay that will have readers rolling on the floor laughing!

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The Misfits: A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee

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The Misfits: A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee

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When a notorious thief is out for priceless treasure (gems! cats! general decorum!)—who're you gonna call? An elite team of crime-fighting underdogs, that's who! The Misfits are on the case in this hilarious illustrated series from Newbery Honoree Lisa Yee and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat!

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Two seventh graders discover it takes more than grit and a good pair of shoes to run 13.1 miles. You’ve got to have a partner who refuses to let you quit.
Drew was never much of a runner. Until his dad’s unexpected diagnosis. Mia has nothing better to do. Until she realizes entering Half Moon Bay’s half-marathon could solve her family’s housing problems.
And just like that they decide to spend their entire summer training to run 13.1 miles. Drew and Mia have very different reasons for running, but these two twelve year olds have one crucial thing in common (besides sharing a birthday): Hope. For the future. For their families. And for each other.

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A First Time For Everything by Dan Santat

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A First Time For Everything by Dan Santat

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A middle grade graphic memoir based on bestselling author and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat's awkward middle school years and the trip to Europe that changed his life.

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The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, And The Birth Of A Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day

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The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, And The Birth Of A Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day

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A “witty thriller” for middle-grade readers about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the world—and how the painting by Leonardo da Vinci should never have existed at all.

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It seems like Sage’s whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade. As house after house burns down, her Bushwick neighborhood gets referred to as “The Matchbox” in the local newspaper. And while Sage prefers to spend her time shooting hoops with the guys, she’s also still trying to figure out her place inside the circle of girls she’s known since childhood. A group that each day, feels further and further away from her. But it’s also the summer of Freddy, a new kid who truly gets Sage. Together, they reckon with the pain of missing the things that get left behind as time moves on, savor what’s good in the present, and buoy each other up in the face of destruction. And when the future comes, it is Sage’s memories of the past that show her the way forward. Remember Us speaks to the power of both letting go . . . and holding on.

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A fierce, feminist, and fun middle grade fantasy graphic novel about a twelve-year-old Indian American girl named Shakti who must learn the power of her ancestral magic if she wants to save her family and town from a dangerous curse. Written by Stonewall Honor Book recipient and Lambda Literary Fellow SJ Sindu and illustrated by Nabi H. Ali.

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In this story filled with quirky characters, Simon learns that life is full of tragedy, sensitive moments and most importantly, humanity. Humor abounds as Simon learns the true meaning of letting go of the past and facing the future as only a middle schooler can do.

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When Jarrett J. Krosoczka was in high school, he was part of a program that sent students to be counselors at a camp for seriously ill kids and their families. Going into it, Jarrett was worried: Wouldn't it be depressing, to be around kids facing such a serious struggle? Wouldn't it be grim?

But instead of the shadow of death, Jarrett found something else at Camp Sunshine: the hope and determination that gets people through the most troubled of times. Not only was he subject to some of the usual rituals that come with being a camp counselor (wilderness challenges, spooky campfire stories, an extremely stinky mascot costume), but he also got a chance to meet some extraordinary kids facing extraordinary circumstances. He learned about the captivity of illness, for sure but he also learned about the freedom a safe space can bring.

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In her poignant debut graphic novel inspired by her own life, Emily Bowen Cohen embraces the complexity, meaning, and deep love that comes from being part of two vibrant tribes.

Mia is still getting used to living with her mom and stepfather, and to the new role their Jewish identity plays in their home. Feeling out of place at home and at her Jewish day school, Mia finds herself thinking more and more about her Muscogee father, who lives with his new family in Oklahoma. Her mother doesn’t want to talk about him, but Mia can’t help but feel like she’s missing a part of herself without him in her life.

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You Are Here: Connecting Flights edited by Ellen Oh

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You Are Here: Connecting Flights edited by Ellen Oh

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A powerful and engaging exploration of contemporary Asian American identity through interwoven stories set in a teeming Chicago airport, written by award-winning and bestselling East and Southeast Asian American authors including Linda Sue Park, Grace Lin, Erin Entrada Kelly, Traci Chee, and Ellen Oh.

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It's Time For Preschool by Esme Raji Codell

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It's Time For Preschool by Esme Raji Codell

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Esmé Raji Codell and Sue Ramá introduce very young children—and their parents and caregivers—to the world of preschool in this cheerful and welcoming book that is guaranteed to make the first day (and every day) a bit less scary and a lot more fun!

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I'll Build You a Bookcase by Jean Ciborowski Fahey

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I'll Build You a Bookcase by Jean Ciborowski Fahey

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In this charming picture book, children and their caregivers work together to build home libraries and discover the magic and wonder of reading books.

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From bestselling author Annie Barrows and Pura Belpré Honor award recipient Leo Espinosa, this funny yet thought-provoking picture book offers a sequence of outlandishly fun compare-and-contrasts that show how humans are much more like each other than we are different.

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Meet Mia Macarooney, an ordinary eight-year-old who finds out she has an extraordinary super-secret in this first chapter book in the brand-new Mia Mayhem series! Mia Macarooney is a regular eight-year-old girl who finds out that she’s A SUPERHERO! Her life literally goes from totally ordinary to totally super when she’s invited to attend the afterschool Program for In-Training Superheroes a.k.a. THE PITS! And the crazy thing is, in a weird meant-to-be sort of way, all of this news somehow feels super right. Because all her life, Mia thought she was just super klutz...but it turns out, she’s just SUPER! So now, it’s up to Mia to balance her regular everyday life and maintain her secret identity as she learns how to be the world’s newest superhero!

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What happens when a one-horned calf with impeccable logic is convinced they’re a unicorn? Helen Yoon spins an endearing comedy of self-determination for gigglers everywhere.

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Blue is a quiet color. Red’s a hothead who likes to pick on Blue. Yellow, Orange, Green, and Purple don’t like what they see, but what can they do? When no one speaks up, things get out of hand — until One comes along and shows all the colors how to stand up, stand together, and count. As budding young readers learn about numbers, counting, and primary and secondary colors, they also learn about accepting each other's differences and how it sometimes just takes one voice to make everyone count.

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"I wish I'd had these books as a kid. Hilarious!" -- Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants and Dog ManThis New York Times bestselling illustrated series is perfect for fans of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.They sound like bad guys, they look like bad guys . . . and they even smell like bad guys. But Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Shark are about to change all of that...Mr. Wolf has a daring plan for the Bad Guys' first good mission. They are going to break two hundred dogs out of the Maximum Security City Dog Pound. Will Operation Dog Pound go smoothly? Will the Bad Guys become the Good Guys? And will Mr. Snake please stop swallowing Mr. Piranha?!

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Dyamonde Daniel may be new in town, but that doesn't stop her from making a place for herself in a jiffy. With her can-do attitude and awesome brain power she takes the whole neighborhood by storm. The only thing puzzling her is the other new kid in her class. He's grouchy - but Dyamonde's determined to get to the bottom of his attitude and make a friend.

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For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life tends to be full of surprises—some of them good, some not so good. Today, though, is a good-surprise day. Bat’s mom, a veterinarian, has brought home a baby skunk, which she needs to take care of until she can hand him over to a wild-animal shelter.

But the minute Bat meets the kit, he knows they belong together. And he’s got one month to show his mom that a baby skunk might just make a pretty terrific pet.

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Dear Families,

Do you know what summertime means?… Plenty of time to read! We are looking forward to the simple pleasure of getting lost in a good book and we know you are too. You probably already have stacks of books picked out, but just in case you and your child need some inspiration, take a look at our recommended summer reading list, and check out some helpful links (below) to get started. Our list is intentionally diverse because of our belief that all stories are important and that it is critical to understand the lives of others and to experience stories that may be different from our own.

Please understand that categorizing by grade is only a beginning. It is our hope that you can peruse the list and find a book that is ‘just right’ for your particular child. We know that finding a "just right" book can be a journey and a work of art, so try these links for inspiration:

Visit our beloved Public Libraries: MCFL and SFPL

Support our local independent bookstore Book Passage

When you mention code #25, our school gets a percentage of the sale!

Happy summer, happy reading!

With love from your librarians,

Samareh and Margot