Social Kids

After sixth grade, the very worst year of his life, Rafe Khatchadorian thinks he has it made in seventh grade. He's been accepted to art school in the big city and imagines a math-and-history-free fun zone. Wrong! It's more competitive than Rafe ever expected, and to score big in class, he needs to find a way to turn his boring life into the inspiration for a work of art. His method? Operation: Get a Life! Anything he's never done before, he's going to do it, from learning to play poker to going to a modern art museum.

Over the past decade, educational instruction has become increasingly digitized as districts rush to dole out laptops and iPads to every student. Yet the most important question, “Is this what is best for students?” is glossed over. Veteran teachers Joe Clement and Matt Miles have seen firsthand how damaging technology overuse and misuse has been to our kids. On a mission to educate and empower parents, they show how screen saturation at home and school has created a wide range of cognitive and social deficits in our young people.

In a book that’s both accessible and enlightening, Rebecca Friedrichs recounts her 30-year odyssey as an elementary school teacher who comes face to face with the forces dividing and corrupting our schools and culture - state and national teachers’ unions. An exciting true story that features real-life testimonies of teachers, parents, and kids as well as political and social commentary, Rebecca’s journey leads her to the realization that the only hope for America’s schools and families is returning authority to parents and teachers while lessening the grip of state and national unions.

From the beloved author of the Mr. Terupt and Perfect Score series comes this stand-alone middle-grade novel about a girl who is dealing with the tragic loss of her best friend, and the dog that helps her forge new friendships and find happiness once again.

James Patterson's hilarious story of perseverance and courage shows everyone's favorite troublemaker, Rafe Khatchadorian, the star of the Middle School series, learning to become a leader at long last. After a rough summer, Rafe is heading back to the dreaded Hills Village Middle School, the site of the very worst years of his life. And as if that's not bad enough, he's learned that he's going to be held back a year unless he can prove himself on an outdoor survival excursion.

After the death of his brother and the sudden end of his marriage, and after his ex-wife moved to another state leaving him alone with their two young children, Dan Glick embarked on single fatherhood in an unusual way: he took his kids on a journey around the world. The idea was to go see some of the world's rare life forms before they disappeared from the planet, and to do it before the kids themselves would grow up and chart their own paths.

Alexandra, also known as Al, has been playing baseball with her older brothers for as long as she can remember. But when she ages out of Little League, it seems like it’s the end of the road for Al and the sport she loves. Until, that is, her friend Sammy suggests that Al try out for the middle school team—a team that has always been boys-only. Al is prepared to fight for her right to try out, but to her surprise, the coach is delighted by her interest.

Buffalo Fluffalo arrives on the scene puffed up with self-importance. Stomping around and raising billows of dust, Buffalo Fluffalo proclaims his superiority to the other creatures—the ram, the prairie dog, and the crow—who just want to be his friend. So Buffalo Fluffalo, who has had enuffalo, heads off to grumble to himself. Suddenly, a rain shower pours down from the clouds and—what’s this? All of his fluffalo is a soggy mess! There Fluffalo stands, a drenched pip-squeak without his disguise.

Twelve-year-old Daniel, the new kid in town, soon learns the truth about his nice - but odd - new friends: one can fly, another can turn invisible, yet another controls electricity. Incredible. The superkids use their powers to secretly do good in the town, but they’re haunted by the fact that the moment they turn thirteen, their abilities will disappear - along with any memory that they ever had them. Is a memory-stealing supervillain sapping their powers?

Amelia Bedelia and her entire class are going on a hike. Amelia Bedelia is excited. What will she find for the classroom nature table? Amelia Bedelia spots squirrels, deer, birds, and insects along the trail. She has fun splashing with her friends in a stream, collecting leaves, and having a picnic. Best of all, her nature table find is a surprise in more ways than one! An easy-to-listen-to book about friendship and exploring the natural world.

Fart is desperate to make friends and have fun. But no one likes a fart - not even a fart with a heart. With plenty of laughs and even more heart, this delightful book shows that even the smelliest among us can find a friend in this world.

Being brave, really being brave...is believing in yourself. It’s asking for help when you need it. It’s standing up to that monstrous bully and helping them be better and kinder. It’s looking into the eyes of grief, taking its hand, and riding the waves of change. It’s breathing through monkey brain when the world becomes chaotic, and it’s getting closer to nature by stepping just outside of your front door.

You need to work to live. That’s the truth for most people, and plenty of people in power have been abusing that truth for centuries. Long before the first labor unions were formed, workers still knew what exploitation looked like. It looked like the enslavement of Black people. It looked like generations of children dying in dangerous jobs. It looked like wealthy people hiring private militaries to attack their employees. But workers have always found a way to fight back.

Do you ever wonder what your anxious child is feeling? Do you wish you could take all their worries away? Are you ready to empathetically relate to their anxiety and learn coping techniques that will support your entire family? This audiobook is for the parent who wants to understand pediatric anxiety to its core. Beginning with an in-depth look at what anxiety really is (through your child’s eyes) and leading to a toolbox of applicable strategies you and your child can practice together.

Pizza and Taco have the oh-so-relatable problem of not knowing what to do when boredom strikes. The answer? Throw a party! They have a location, a guest list, and decorations. Everything is perfect . . . until it isn't. In fact, it's kind of a DISASTER! Ice Cream has a meltdown, and who knew Hamburger was lactose intolerant? (Who invited Cheeseburger anyway?) Well, now they know how NOT to throw a party!!

Give Them The Words is a must-listen for anyone who is seeking practical advice and actionable strategies to improve communication for exceptional kids. Written by Speech Language Pathologist and mother Kim Gallo, this thought-provoking, easy-to-follow, and pragmatic guide draws upon Gallo's expertise in early intervention and her previous published works.

Kate’s life in Baton Rouge, full of friends and family, gymnastics and Girl Scouts, is just plain great. But then, at the age of twelve, she suddenly develops a mysterious shoulder pain that won’t go away . . . and that will change her life forever. It turns out that Kate has one of the rarest genetic disorders in the world, Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. FOP causes bone to form in places in the body where it shouldn’t, and there’s no cure yet.

Strike Up a Conversation with Anyone, Connect to Others on a Deeper Level, and Establish Stronger Relationships It can be hard to know how to start or maintain a conversation, especially with people we don't know very well. It's not always easy to know what to say in social situations, and sometimes it feels like everyone else around us seems to have a better handle on conversation than we do. We've all been there before. You meet someone new and you're not sure what to say, so you end up saying nothing at all. This can make it difficult to form new relationships or strengthen existing ones...

Fresh off her football victory as QB, Alex Carlisle is on cloud nine. But with football season ending, Alex is ready to get back on the field in the spring. Ideally she'd like to play soccer again, but as she's about to sign up for tryouts, she hears word around the school that they're planning to cut athletic funding, and girls' soccer might be first to go. Now, Alex knows playing soccer is about more than just healthy competition. It's about fighting for their right to play.

Emotional intelligence is crucial to succeeding in the modern world. In an economy based almost entirely on services, you need to be able to key in quickly and efficiently to the emotional states or needs of those around you. This is necessary in order to understand how to best serve not only yourself but the other person, as well.