I Lost My Tooth In Africa

Penda Diakité joins forces with her award-winning author/artist father to give a charming peek at everyday life in Africa. "This fact-based story of losing a tooth while visiting family in Mali rings with authenticity and good humour...[T]he illustrations exude happiness and togetherness." - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

While visiting her father's family in Mali, a young girl loses a tooth, places it under a calabash, and receives a hen and a rooster from the African Tooth Fairy.

From the Tooth Fairy to the Rolling Calf and El Ratón Miguelito—an illustrated look at what kids around the world do when they lose baby teeth. What do you do when you lose a tooth? Do you put it under your pillow and wait for the tooth fairy? Not if you live in Botswana! In Botswana, children throw their teeth onto the roof. In Afghanistan, they drop their teeth down mouse holes, and in Egypt, they fling their teeth at the sun! Travel around the world and discover the surprising things children do when they lose a tooth. Selby B. Beeler spent years collecting traditions from every corner of the globe for this whimsical book, and illustrator G. Brian Karas adds to the fun, filling every page with humorous detail. He perfectly captures the excitement and pride that children experience when a tooth falls out. Praise for Throw Your Tooth on the Roof “This book will be an eye-opener for young Americans who may have assumed that the Tooth Fairy holds a worldwide visa.” —Publishers Weekly “Karas’s illustrations, including his map, are deliberately lighthearted and make people the world over look uniformly friendly. A charming debut.” —Kirkus Reviews

This beautifully illustrated story connects past and present as a girl bakes a chocolate cake with her father and learns about her grandfather harvesting cacao beans in West Africa. Chocolate is the perfect treat, everywhere! As a little girl and her father bake her birthday cake together, Daddy tells the story of her Grandpa Cacao, a farmer from the Ivory Coast in West Africa. In a land where elephants roam and the air is hot and damp, Grandpa Cacao worked in his village to harvest cacao, the most important ingredient in chocolate. "Chocolate is a gift to you from Grandpa Cacao," Daddy says. "We can only enjoy chocolate treats thanks to farmers like him." Once the cake is baked, it's ready to eat, but this isn't her only birthday present. There's a special surprise waiting at the front door . . .

In an ancient cathedral in France, the Tooth Mouse decides it is time to choose her successor.

When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class, some of his classmates clamor to read their poems aloud too. Soon they're having weekly poetry sessions and, one by one, the eighteen students are opening up and taking on the risky challenge of self-revelation. There's Lupe Alvarin, desperate to have a baby so she will feel loved. Raynard Patterson, hiding a secret behind his silence. Porscha Johnson, needing an outlet for her anger after her mother OD's. Through the poetry they share and narratives in which they reveal their most intimate thoughts about themselves and one another, their words and lives show what lies beneath the skin, behind the eyes, beyond the masquerade.

With the help of her family, a resourceful Mexican American girl realizes her dream of having a space of her own to read and to think.

One day, BaMusa sets out for a festival to sell his hats. But when he falls asleep under a mango tree, some mischievous monkeys take them...Charming storyline, cleverly executed theme, inviting illustrations, and unusual sound effects for read-aloud fun." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review. "Diakité's use of language is as colorful and unusual as his artwork." - Publishers Weekly, starred review