Social Issues Books

First Day Jitters

Julie Danneberg

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: CHARLESBRIDGE PUBLISHING - Model: CB158089061X Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $5.48

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• Made with the Best Quality Material with your child in mind.
• Top Quality Children's Item.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Wonderful Book for the First Day of School 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Sarah is a scared, tense person who is going to her first day of school. She
doesn't want to go to school because she is so nervous about the students in the school. So she tries to do everything to avoid from getting out of bed but nothing works. What I liked most about this book was that it was funny, had great pictures, and it's surprise ending. I would recommend this book to teachers, parents, and friends.

new school 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Bought this book for my grandchild who was transferring from a private school to public school. This funny story helped ease her mind about the change.

Book about the first day in a new school - we all remember what that's like, right? 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My nieces haven't read this one yet.

The book runs through the excuses Sarah makes to avoid going to her new school (note that she's nervous about switching schools), and she's steadily cajoled into the front of the class where our Surprise! Announcement! reveals (and I admit, I was surprised - this is really well-done) that she's the teacher.

Well, no doubt teachers do get nervous on the first day of school, same as anybody else does :) Kids are likely to be surprised and laugh at the ending too, maybe even not believe it.

I do find it a little off-putting that Sarah's husband and boss essentially talk to her (and, in the beginning, treat her) like she's a child, but that's necessary to make the reveal an actual surprise.

I found the conversation between Sarah and the other characters to be very realistic (maybe a little less so for an adult, but, remember, we have to be surprised at the end), just like the conversations I had with my parents as a kid about school some days.

Editorial Review:

First Day Jitters

Paper Towns

John Green

Amazon Price: $12.23 List Price: $17.99 Not yet published By: Dutton Juvenile

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Editorial Review:

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

The Kissing Hand

Audrey Penn

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tanglewood Press Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $6.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 110 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Chester Raccoon doesn't want to go to school--he wants to stay home with his mother. She assures him that he'll love school--with its promise of new friends, new toys, and new books. Even better, she has a special secret that's been in the family for years--the Kissing Hand. This secret, she tells him, will make school seem as cozy as home. She takes her son's hand, spreads his tiny fingers into a fan and kisses his palm--smack dab in the middle: "Chester felt his mother's kiss rush from his hand, up his arm, and into his heart." Whenever he feels lonely at school, all he has to do is press his hand to his cheek to feel the warmth of his mother's kiss. Chester is so pleased with his Kissing Hand that he--in a genuinely touching moment--gives his mom a Kissing Hand, too, to comfort her when he is away. Audrey Penn's The Kissing Hand, published by the Child Welfare League of America, is just the right book for any child taking that fledgling plunge into preschool--or for any youngster who is temporarily separated from home or loved ones. The rough but endearing raccoon illustrations are as satisfying and soothing for anxious children as the simple story. (Ages 5 and older) --Karin Snelson

Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids

Carol McCloud

Amazon Price: $9.95 List Price: $9.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ferne Press Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $8.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

EXCELLENT, Get this for every child and teacher in your life! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

EXCELLENT, Get this for every child and teacher in your life! This book is an amazing way to get character education across to your children and family.

Love this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is fantastic. I am an elementary school counselor and it was a big hit when I read it with the Kindergarteners and 1st graders at my school. After a month they are still talking about filling peoples buckets. The story and illustrations are very well done and it's easy for kids to understand. I highly recomend this book to any parent or educator. It's even a good read for adults!

GREAT lesson for children and adults! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Have you filled a bucket today is a wonderful book about being kind to others! Filling someone's bucket or bucket dipping is such an easy concept for children to understand. It has helped make my children aware of other people's feelings. I highly recommend Have you filled a bucket today! And I have heard fabulous things about "the bucket lady!"

Editorial Review:

Through simple prose and vivid illustrations, this heartwarming book encourages positive behavior as children see how rewarding it is to express daily kindness, appreciation, and love. Bucket filling and dipping are effective metaphors for understanding the effects of our actions and words on the well being of others and ourselves.

Chrysanthemum

Kevin Henkes

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Mulberry Books Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $3.07

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Until Chrysanthemum started kindergarten, she believed her parents when they said her name was perfect. But on the first day of school, Chrysanthemum begins to suspect that her name is far less than perfect, especially when her class dissolves into giggles upon hearing her name read aloud. That evening, Chrysanthemum's parents try to piece her self-esteem back together again with comfort food and a night filled "with hugs, kisses, and Parcheesi." But the next day Victoria, a particularly observant and mean-spirited classmate, announces that Chrysanthemum's name takes up 13 letters. "That's half the letters in the alphabet!" she adds. Chrysanthemum wilts. Pretty soon the girls are making playground threats to "pluck" Chrysanthemum and "smell her."

Kevin Henkes has great compassion for the victims of childhood teasing and cruelties--using fresh language, endearing pen-and-ink mouse characters, and realistic dialogue to portray real-life vulnerability. He also has great compassion for parents, offering several adult-humor jokes for anxious mommies and daddies. On the surface, the finale is overly tidy and the coincidences unbelievable. But in the end, what sustains Chrysanthemum, as well as this story, is the steadfast love and support of her family. And because of this, the closure is ultimately convincing and utterly comforting. ALA Notable Book, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Horn Book Fanfare Honor List. (Ages 4 to 8) --Gail Hudson

The Night Before First Grade (Reading Railroad Books)

Natasha Wing

Amazon Price: $3.99 List Price: $3.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grosset & Dunlap Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $1.22

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A great introduction to the first grade world! 5 out of 5 stars.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

It's hard to write a book about first grade jitters. Many of the books out there make the first day seem just perfect, when it often isn't. What I like about The Night Before First Grade is the way in which the author recognizes the potentially frightening aspects of the first day of school and resolves them in a realistic manner.

For example, when the protagonist arrives at school, she learns that there are two sections of first grade and that her best friend will be in the other section. Bravely waving goodbye to her friend, she discovers new interests in her classroom. The lunchroom is busy and a bit scary, but she weathers it nicely.

The text is in a rhythmic prose style, patterned after "The Night Before Christmas." I was a bit skeptical at first, but it works, and young readers will appreciate the consistent beat of the narrative. Deborah Zemke's illustrations are upbeat and slightly funky - just like first grade!

Editorial Review:

It's the night before the Big Day—first grade. Penny is excited to start the year with her best friend right beside her in the same classroom. This humorous take on Clement C. Moore's classic tale has a perfect twist ending that will surprise readers—as well as the "heroine" of the story—and help all about-to-be first-graders through their own backto- school jitters.

Maniac Magee

Jerry Spinelli

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• Made with the Best Quality Material with your child in mind.
• Top Quality Children's Item.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 712 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Maniacs are good friends 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

After reading Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, I have learned a lot about what it takes to be a good friend. I thought I had good friends before I read it. Friends are supposed to be people you can laugh with, remember forever, and trust enough to ask for a payday loan without any threat of interest. Spinelli produced in Jeffrey Magee a completely different kind of friend.
Maniac, as he came to be known by other characters in the book was homeless, needy, untrusting of most others, independent, and reclusive. He preferred running through town and sleeping with animals at the zoo to staying with his stiff, staunch, and insensitive foster parents. When he does run away, he finds himself in the same town his parents died. He discovers there the racial hate, socio-economic oppression, and disbelief in people he thought he had run away from. But he also discovered that the people there revered him as a legend.
Spinelli wastes no time complicating Magee's life. Soon after he runs away, Maniac is sought after by a neighborhood bully, ousted by racist adults, hunted by arrogant unsupervised white kids, and indebted to the first kind person he meets. Spinelli creates a lovelable boy, with many of the same characteristics as Tom Sawyer, and a lot of the same plights many of his readers recognize from experience. Only one thing makes Magee stand out from all the rest.
Magee is blessed with a shroud of heroism. In his own meandering and misanthropic way, Maniac saves a retired minor league pitcher from his lonliness, restores the legend of a fallen big brother, returns courage to a fearful bully and reaffirms a girls faith in humanity. He also teaches a town to accept differences on both sides of the track...in spite of color differences.
The novel is colored with humor, charm and sincerity. Spinelli seems to be unfolding real events on a neon canvas. So bright and amusing they can't possibly be real, these moments resonate with whispers of reality. Parts of Spinelli's childhood seep from the pages, touching the lives of all readers and embracing the childhood some have yet to leave behind.
Readability is enhanced by short fast paced chapters, a subtle thread of suspense and a genuine curiosity about what Maniac Magee will do next. No matter who reads this book, Magee is sure to run them down leaving their minds stamped with Jerry Spinelli's gifted writing.

Editorial Review:

After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary as he accomplishes athletic feats and other extraordinary exploits that awe his contemporaries. Paperback.

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten (Miss Bindergarten Books)

Joseph Slate

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• Top Quality Children's Item.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

miss bindergarten gets ready for kindergarten 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

beautiful illustrations filled with color and imagination, that the whole family will enjoy. Excellent tool for introducing a child to school for the first time and for getting any child excited about returning to school. Wonderful tool for parents in looking for a guide to what your child's progressive classroom should look like. Great tool for teachers, containing tested methods for engaging and instructing young children.

grandma 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

this is the most adorable book and truly is my grandsons favorite. teaches lots of different needs.

Editorial Review:

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, Paperback Joseph Slate. Illustrated by: Ashley Wolff. Here's a warm, humorous book for that special morning of mixed emotionsÑthe first day of kindergarten or preschool. Miss Bindergarten's soon-to-be students are excitedly, anxiously getting ready at home. Young schoolgoers will recognize their own actions and emotions in the rhyming text which incorporates the alphabet for additional interest. 40 full color pages. Trim size 11.08" x 9.06".

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky

Amazon Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: MTV Amazon Marketplace: 109 new & used starting at $5.21

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1262 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:

I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why.

With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite," is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis

Esperanza Rising

Pam Munoz Ryan

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: SCHOLASTIC BOOKS (TRADE) - Model: SB043912042X Amazon Marketplace: 130 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 310 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I Liked It 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

"Esperanza Rising," a great book to read over the summer.This book is about a young girl whos life goes way down hill but at the end her life changes a bit but she's always with the people she loves most. If you don't like it at first give it a chance, that's what I did and I liked it alot. The book requires you imagining to be Esperanza. At the end think about what you read. It's a great book to think about at the end and see if you love it because your brain will do a little review and you will like it.

Singley, 5th grader

Burckhalter Elementary School 5th grade, Oakland, CA student reviews 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

CHANTAL'S REVIEW- ESPERANZA RISING is a fictional book that tells the story of a girl who grew up rich and then had to learn how to live like a peasant. Esperanza taught me lessons. Don't be selfish and don't always think about yourself, think about others, too. ESPERANZA RISING shows you should never give up. Always believe in yourself. Other people should read it because it is a phenomenal book!

MARK'S REVIEW- ESPERANZA RISING is ficiton. Esperanza is my favorite person in the book because I think she's smart and intelligent."

BRYCE'S REVIEW- Esperanza means hope. That is what this story is about. Esperanza, the main character, had hope. I would recommend ESPERANZA RISING to anyone who wants to read a great book. I think this is a good book about changes and loving each other.

Editorial Review:

Notable Children1s Books in Paperback