The One The Only Magnificent Me

A little boy tries to make himself one-of-a-kind with feathers, paint, and glue before realizing that he is already unique.

A little girl and her canine assistant set out to make the most magnificent thing. But after much hard work, the end result is not what the girl had in mind. Frustrated, she quits. Her assistant suggests a long walk, and as they walk, it slowly becomes clear what the girl needs to do to succeed. A charming story that will give kids the most magnificent thing: perspective!

Coretta Scott King 2021 Honoree A winner of the ILA 2021 Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards in the fiction category. NCSS 2021 Notable Social Studies Book Maine Lupine Award Winner A CBC Recommended Book • A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A New York Public Library Best Picture Book of 2020 Kirkus Starred Review PW Starred Review School Library Journal Starred Review Told by a succession of exuberant young narrators, Magnificent Homespun Brown is a story -- a song, a poem, a celebration -- about feeling at home in one’s own beloved skin. With vivid illustrations by Kaylani Juanita, Samara Cole Doyon sings a carol for the plenitude that surrounds us and the self each of us is meant to inhabit.

Maggie the Magnificent, the spunky new kid at school, struggles to win over her stand-offish classmates with her not-quite-perfect magic tricks. When this fails, she finds herself promising to magically fulfil one wish for each classmate the very next day. Although she instantly skyrockets to mega-popularity, she soon realizes she'll be magnificently unpopular the next day when her magic tricks do not succeed. Maggie makes one final effort to impress her new classmates, but will it be enough to keep her new friends, or will she destroy the friendships forever?

Magnificent Me, Magnificent You Gratitude Journal A Grateful Heart Is a Happy Heart Gratitude is said to be the mother of all virtues. Cultivating an attitude of gratitude activates other noble virtues such as humility, compassion, wisdom, joy, integrity and trust to name a few. The mindful practice of gratitude has been scientifically proven to have positive effects on our brain. When we express gratitude regularly, it releases our mind from its usual wants and worries. It shifts our concerns from being mostly about ourselves and those close to us, to being about all living beings. We become more aware of the bigger universal flow and wonderment of the world around us and all its miracles. Gratitude releases the mind from the shackles of self-concern, resulting in improved wellbeing. We become more responsive as opposed to reactive to life events and move into a place of grace, where we acknowledge a bigger perspective at play, which in turn supports us in fully embracing the current moment. There are many ways to cultivate gratitude in our daily lives; one of which is keeping a gratitude journal.

"Dion Graham's confident, enthusiastic narration powerfully depicts a young African-American boy who is beginning to identify who he is in the world. Quincy Tyler Bernstine adds a dynamic array of female voices. No detail is overlooked in this production.... Realistic sound effects link the audio to the pictures and reflect the story's urban setting."-AudioFile

We are story-making people. We love reading stories—and we love hearing the personal stories of others. We need stories, or narratives, to make sense of our world. And those stories shape our lives. What is the story you have been told about the gospel? About God? About the Christian life? About Jesus? About the cross? About yourself? About heaven? Your answers to these questions will form a story that will determine how your life will go. The answers reveal your ability to trust, to love, to hope—and even your capacity for joy. Any story worth giving the power to shape our lives must pass a simple test: Is it beautiful, good, and true? If it is, then it is a magnificent story—and that is where transformation takes place. From James Bryan Smith, author of the bestselling book The Good and Beautiful God, comes this spiritual formation resource meant to help both individuals and groups understand the magnificent story of Christ in their lives. The field-tested material within includes spiritual practices at the end of each chapter and a group discussion guide. Uncover the true story of beauty, goodness, and truth that will satisfy the ultimate longings of your heart.

May Sarton’s powerful and profound novel of an extraordinary life, and of one woman’s efforts to preserve the force and vitality of her experiences on the pages of a book For the second time in my life—and I am now seventy—I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep. From her opening statement, Cam, the narrator of The Magnificent Spinster, declares her grand intentions: to write a novel—a worthy and important one in celebration of her recently deceased friend and teacher, Jane Reid, whose dearth of family threatens the memory of her almost tangible greatness. And so she writes, re-creating Jane’s childhood, adolescence, and years as a teacher—including the one in which Cam was her student. She writes of Jane’s irrepressible spirit and the charming letters Jane penned about her adventures, and she recounts Jane’s growing isolation as she aged, which, rather than softening her, only made her shine brighter. Raw, warm, and beautifully rendered, The Magnificent Spinster is a stunning achievement—part memoir, part epistolary recollection, and part novel within a novel about friendship, memory, and the power of a brilliant soul.