Auntie Yang S Great Soybean Picnic

A Chinese American girl's Auntie Yang discovers soybeans--a favorite Chinese food--growing in Illinois, and their family starts a soybean picnic tradition that grows into an annual community event.

"You're invited to a glorious Fourth of July picnic where you'll learn all about sharing, the good things along with the bad"--

MaMa and BaBa play mahjong all day long. And all night long. We hear the clicking of mahjong tiles morning, noon, and night. Big sister, JieJie, and her little brother, DiDi, see their parents playing mahjong all the time. It's their favorite family tradition. With Uncle T.T. and Auntie Helen around, the house is always alive with singing and chatting, the aromas of hot tea and good food, and of course the constant sounds of a family having fun together! One day JieJie and Didi will grow up and have families of their own, and they will teach their children the game as their parents taught them. As it has done for centuries, the playing of mahjong continues to bring families together, allowing for traditions to be passed on generation after generation. Beth and Ginnie Lo are sisters (and best friends!). They had a happy Chinese American childhood in West Lafeyette, Indiana, where they learned to play mahjong while sitting on their father's lap. They continue to play to this day. Ginnie, a computer science professor, wrote the story, and Beth, a ceramic arts professor, made the illustrated ceramic plates. This is their first book. Beth now plays mahjong in Missoula, Montana, with her husband, son, and Chinese cousin who lives up the valley. Ginnie plays mahjong in Eugene, Oregon, with her husband, their children, and the authors' mother, who lives next door.

A man known as the "Trashcan Wizard" sings and dances his way through the French Quarter in New Orleans, keeping his beloved city clean, until Hurricane Katrina's devastation nearly causes him to lose his spirit.

Marisa gets to help make dumplings this year to celebrate the New Year. But she worries if anyone will eat her funny-looking dumplings. Set in the Hawaiian islands, this story celebrates the joyful mix of food, customs, and languages from many cultures.

An introduction to Spartan Races (races meant to challenge, to push, to intimidate, to test) from one of the "founding few" and creators, Joe De Sena.

A teenager struggles through physical loss to the start of acceptance in an absorbing, artful novel at once honest and insightful, wrenching and redemptive. (Age 12 and up) On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything -- absolutely everything -- changed. Now she’s counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, "That’s her -- that’s Shark Girl," as she passes. In the meantime there are only questions: Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life? In this striking first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it’s like to lose part of yourself - and to summon the courage it takes to find yourself again.

A proud king, too vain to admit what he does not know, learns a valuable lesson when he readily grants his wise man a special request