Child Self Esteem

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.

From rising young star to co-captain of the 2015 Women's World Cup Champion team, Abby Wambach's impressive career has shown her what it truly means to be a champion. Whether you're leading from the bench or demanding the ball on the field, real success comes when you harness your inner strength, forge your own path, and band together with your team.

You are unique, which means there is only one of you in the entire world. Do you know how incredible that is? This planet has billions of people on it, and there is no one like you on it. You have a wonderful way of looking at the world. You are brave, funny, intelligent, and incredible. It would help if you always remembered that. Only you know how to shine the special light inside you, and only you can give that light to others.

Despite Jessica's shocking appearance and the fear she evokes in him and most of the seventh-grade class, Tom slowly develops a tentative friendship with Jessica that changes his life. Firegirl is a powerful story that will show listeners that even the smallest of gestures can have a profound impact on someone's life.

While her mother, aerobics queen Kiki Sparks, spends the summer touring Europe, 15-year-old Colie Sparks is stuck in sleepy Colby, North Carolina. But she's not complaining. For one thing, her Aunt Mira is a sweet, laid-back eccentric; for another, no one knows that back home in Charlotte Colie is seen as a formerly-fat "golf-course slut," the school scapegoat. Then, by fate or by accident, Colie lands a waitressing job, where she meets Morgan and Isabel.

It’s Mila’s first day of school, but mixed with excitement is worry. What if she can’t find her classroom? What if no one likes her? What if she’s too nervous to speak up? With a little advice from her brother, she learns that she has everything she needs right in her Invisible Backpack: an Invisible Microphone to help her find her voice, an Invisible Flashlight for when she’s feeling lost, an Invisible Net to catch her if she falls, and much more.

Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-old who moves through the world a little differently than anyone else on her Ojibwe reservation. It always seems like her mom, her kokum (grandma), and her teacher have a lot to learn - about how good Jo Jo is at cleaning up, what makes a good rhyme, and what it means to be friendly. Even though Jo Jo loves her number one best friend, Mimi, (who is a cat), she’s worried that she needs to figure out how to make more friends. Because Fern, her best friend at school, may not want to be friends anymore.

Teaching other kids how to be funny is the toughest gig that Jamie Grimm has ever had, and with the highest stakes. If he fails, his school library will be shut down for good! With the fate of his school's library on his shoulders, Jamie has to dig deep to see if he has what it takes to succeed at his most difficult challenge yet.

The cult known as the Community has taken everything from 17-year-old Minnow: 12 years of her life, her family, her ability to trust. And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too. Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame, and it's clear that Minnow knows something - but she's not talking.

It's OK to Be Different encourages kids to be kind and befriend those who are different from themselves, showing young children that they don't have to look alike or enjoy doing the same activities to be kind to one another. Listeners will come away with the message: You should always be kind to those who are different from you. Because to them, you are different, too.

Life Strategies for Teens is the first guide to teenage life that won't tell you what to do, or who to be, but rather how to live life best. Employing the techniques from Dr. Phil McGraw's Life Strategies, his son Jay provides teens with the 10 Laws of Life that make the journey to adulthood an easier and more fulfilling trip. Whether dealing with the issues of popularity, peer pressure, ambition, or ambivalence, Life Strategies for Teens is an enlightening guide.

Max's parents are missing. They are actors, and thus unpredictable, but sailing away, leaving Max with only a cryptic note, is unusual even for them. Did they intend to leave him behind? Have they been kidnapped? Until he can figure it out, Max feels it's safer to keep a low profile. Hiding out is no problem for a child of the theater. Max has played many roles, he can be whoever he needs to be to blend in. But finding a job is tricky, no matter what costume he dons. Ironically, it turns out Max has a talent for finding things.

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?

For years before they both achieved acclaim in their respective professions, good friends Taye Diggs and Shane W. Evans wanted to collaborate on Chocolate Me!, a story based on experiences of feeling different and trying to fit in as kids. Now, both men are fathers and see more than ever the need for an audiobook that encourages all people, especially kids, to love themselves.

In starred reviews, Booklist has described Gerber's novels as "highly empathetic" and "truly inspiring" - Taking Up Space promises to be a realistic and compelling story about overcoming struggles with body image and learning that true self-esteem comes from within.

Growing up in the shadow of his football star brother, Chris, Newt Newman has never felt particularly special. When Chris is knocked into a coma, Newt's two best friends decide that taking him out for Halloween is the best way to cheer him up. Using some of Chris's old, oversized clothes, Newt creates his best costume ever - Captain Nobody!

I was 13 when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy’s Buick, parked next to the old Chart House down in Montara at 11 o’clock on a Tuesday night. Tommy was 17 and the supposed friend of my brother, Darren. I didn’t love him. I’m not sure I even liked him. In a moment, Deanna Lambert’s teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of “school slut”, Deanna longs to escape a life defined by her past.

Zeus comes from a long line of heroic dogs, and he dreams of glory as a K9 commander. But he receives a much more dangerous assignment - middle school! And as all good service dogs know, the only way to get through hostile territory is by being invisible. Zeus’ new human, Madden, is diabetic, and he wants to be invisible, too. That’s hard to do with a huge German shepherd at his side to alert him when his blood sugar drops. And it’s even harder because Madden makes this noise called music that draws attention. Zeus’ mission becomes clear: He must destroy music.

In the fourth book of the Peabody series, the meek and well behaved Jean asks the Lord to help her be brave and send her on an adventure. Over the next several weeks Jean learns to stand up for herself, say the truth even when it's hard, and say what she wants to do. But on a trip to her aunt and uncle's farm in Alabama, Jean has an abandoned hunting lodge, a cave, a missing will, and a stolen jewel to contend with. Proud that she has conquered her fear well enough to learn to ride a horse, Jean has enormous tasks.

A science-class field trip to the Everglades is supposed to be fun, but Sarah's new at Glades Academy, and her fellow freshmen aren't exactly making her feel welcome. When an opportunity for an unauthorized side trip on an airboat presents itself, it seems like a perfect escape - an afternoon without feeling like a sore thumb. But one simple oversight turns a joyride into a race for survival across the river of grass. Sarah will have to count on her instincts - and a guy she barely knows - if they have any hope of making it back alive.