Child Esteem

There's a new guy in town, and Pete can't wait to meet him. After all, more friends means more fun. But who can he be? When Pete finally meets Gus, he realizes they're very different from each other. But that's what makes him cool: Gus is special in his own way, just like Pete and just like you, and there is something everyone can do!

Growing up without parents and without schooling, 14-year-old Cloyd is trouble - trouble to himself and everyone else. Sent by his tribe to a home for Indian boys, he is alone and half-wild in remote Utah canyons. As his feeling of isolation turns to desperation, he runs away to find even more trouble. When Cloyd is found and taken to live with an old rancher, he begins to explore the countryside.

Longing to be one of the popular girls in her new town, Kammie Summers has fallen into a well during a (fake) initiation into their club. Now Kammie's trapped in the dark, counting the hours, waiting to be rescued. (The girls have gone for help, haven't they?) As hours pass, Kammie's real-life predicament mixes with memories of the best and worst moments of her life so far, including the awful reasons her family moved to this new town in the first place.

Cinderella's stepmother and two stepsisters treat her like dirt. Each and every day, they force her to clean their clothes, cook their meals, and only give her rags to wear and crumbs to eat. But each night, in secret and in shadows, Cinderella trains to be a ninja!

After a traumatic run-in with the fortune teller from a visiting funfair - thanks to an unfortunately timed sneeze - Riley finds himself cursed. Life as he knows it quickly becomes a catalogue of disasters - from wetting himself onstage during the school show, accidentally supergluing himself to his classmates and ruining the school football team’s sponsorship deal, to flooding his house and losing class four’s pet rabbit - Riley knows the bad luck is out to get him. Enter new kid: Brad Chicago. He’s super-cool, well-groomed and stylish, with an excellent stationery collection.

Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside a grim Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation: she becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in. All of them, like her, are lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives.

In the dead of night, a truck arrives in Slaughterville, a small town curiously named after its windowless slaughterhouse. Seven mysterious kids with suitcases step out of the vehicle and into an abandoned home on a dead-end street, looking over their shoulders to make sure they aren't noticed. But Ravani Foster covertly witnesses their arrival from his bedroom window. Timid and lonely, Ravani is eager to learn everything he can about his new neighbors: What secrets are they hiding? And most mysterious of all...where are the adults?

Pride. Popularity . . . Poetry? Middle school. Ruby and Mia are total opposites: Ruby is a little awkward, not a “joiner,” and loves to write poetry. While Mia is type A, popular(ish), and wants to be class prez. They used to be friends. But now they have nothing in common anymore. . . . Or do they?

Everybody! is a touching and funny exploration of empathy and unity -- featuring Elise Gravel's signature quirky and funny monsters! Everybody is unique and different. But we are all more similar than we think. Just like you: Everybody has fears. Everybody has moments of joy... and moments of sadness. Everybody makes mistakes... and can fix them.

Hank Watson enjoys helping his basketball team win big games. However, his true passion is cooking. Hank doesn't tell his team that he likes to cook because he's afraid they'll make fun of him. When an opportunity arises to meet celebrity chef Brenton Spooner, Hank jumps at the chance. But while practicing a difficult dish to impress his idol, he accidentally burns his hand. The injury isn't serious, but it affects his performance both on the court and in the kitchen.

In this story based on the author's childhood, a young Black boy confronts his first experience of overt racism. In recounting the events to his grandfather, the young narrator asks: “How can she hate me when she doesn’t know me?” Grandpa offers wisdom and encouragement to the child, reminding him that another person’s hate does not change the fact that he is loved and that he matters. Tyler Merritt presents a message of love and acceptance that will resonate with young listeners and offer a starting point for conversations about racial equality between parent and child.

Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie has been writing and performing her music for decades. She was the first Indigenous person to win an Academy Award (for an original song), the first person to breastfeed on TV (on her recurring role on Sesame Street), and is widely recognized for her activism on Indigenous rights and her powerful folk ballads.

Some people are better at singing than others. Why is that? A researcher explains why some people love doing karaoke, and others simply can't do it.

Evie is happiest when she is healing people, diagnosing symptoms and prescribing medications, with the help of her devoted friend Wormy. So when Wormy unexpectedly proposes to her, she kindly turns him down; she has far too much to do to be marrying anyone. And besides, she simply isn’t in love with him. But a certain meddling fairy named Lucinda has been listening in, and she doesn’t approve of Evie’s rejection. Suddenly, Evie finds herself transformed from a girl into a hideous, hungry ogre! Evie now has only 62 days to accept another proposal - or else be stuck as an ogre forever.

Fifth grader Patrick Lowe loves to draw. While he fills sheet after sheet with beautiful drawings, he imagines he is the indomitable White Knight, far removed from the problem that haunts him at school: he can't read. When he tries, the words blur, and he feels like he's suffocating. As a result, many of Patrick's classmates think he's stupid - and Patrick believes them.

Cody Lee Carson leaves his old self behind as he starts at a new school for his fifth-grade year. The new Cody is a brilliant author who keeps a journal to record this stunning transformation, but changing is not easy. Has Cody really left his old self behind?

Alice is ready for eighth grade, but she isn’t ready for this summer. All her friends are spending their days swimming in the neighborhood pool - all of them except Alice. Somehow neither curiosity about her widowed father’s new girlfriend nor the thrill of reading a forbidden book can distract her from her greatest fear: the deep end of the pool. Brimming with high spirits and courage, Alice the Brave tackles some of the biggest problems of growing up: conformity, popularity, and independence.

Happiness does not come from revealing all your skin, going clubbing every weekend where you get so drunk you don't remember who you kissed, or maxing your credit cards just so you can buy the latest designer jeans. Happiness comes from living a life of character.

Elbow Grease is back and about to face off against the gnarly monster machine Motozilla, but it's going to take teamwork. Luckily, Elbow Grease can count on his four big brothers to rev their engines and help him try to beat the beast! From multi-talented mega celebrity John Cena comes this exciting story about the importance of believing in yourself. Full of high-octane sound effects and characters kids will cheer for, this fun and fast-paced audiobook proves that teamwork makes the dream work!

Your girl already knows a lot about caring for her body. She eats her veggies, tries to get enough exercise and sleep, and uses soap when she needs to. But does she know that a little care and keeping are great for her mind and spirit, too? This audiobook is full of expert know-how and fun ideas to help her bounce back from any setback, focus on what matters, and tune out the rest. She’ll learn to find calm inside, connect better with friends and family, truly enjoy the world around her—and be the happy girl she’s meant to be.