Math Dictionary: The Easy, Simple, Fun Guide to Help Math Phobics Become Math Lovers

Children's Books

Monroe, Eula Ewing

Education & Reference

Astra Young Readers

There is no such thing as a monster, and certainly no such thing as a monster under the bed. That's what Howard's mother tells him. There is no such thing as a boy, and certainly no such thing as a boy on top of a bed. That's what Monster's mother tells him. But no matter what their mothers say, Howard and Monster remain afraid of the dark. Then one spooky night Howard and Monster come face-to-face with each other. Jackie French Koller and Betsy Lewin have created a "monster-under-the-bed" story that offers the perfect cure for fear of the dark.

No Such Thing

Koller, Jackie French

Literature & Fiction

Mai spends her days at the Widows' Store, listening to the Hmong women as they stitch and talk, stitch and talk. They are making pa'ndau---brightly colored story cloths--which they sell to the traders from Chiang Khan. Mai wishes she, too, could make one of the beautiful pa'ndau, but what story could she tell? This moving and poignant tale depicts life in a refugee camp in Thailand. Mai lives there with her grandmother, who helps her as she struggles to perfect her stitchery. Only by going back into her own brief and tragic past can she find a story to tell--one of hope and faith in the midst of war and confinement. Anita Riggio has rendered lush and sensitive watercolors that frame the story. You Yang, a Hmong immigrant, has stitched the pa'ndau that tell Mai's tale.

The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee's Story

Shea, Pegi Deitz

Merry Christmas, Old Armadillo

Christmas is a time for gift giving, and remembering old friends. But this Christmas it seems there are no gifts for Old Armadillo and no friends to remember him. "Merry Christmas!" he calls from the front door of his casita. But no one is there to hear. He checks his letter basket. But no one has sent him a Christmas card. Saddened, he shuffles back inside and falls asleep, believing his friends have forgotten him. Meanwhile, something wonderful is happening outside his casita. Roadrunner, Coyote, Raccoon, Bear, and others are secretly preparing a big Christmas surprise for their friend. Old Armadillo awakes to find the joy of Christmas as he realizes that his friends have remembered him after all. Larry Dane Brimner's loving story is filled with holiday cheer, and warmly illustrated by Dominic Catalano. Together, author and illustrator have created a picture book that will gladden the hearts of little ones each and every Christmas.

Brimner, Larry Dane

This picture book for young readers about family, friendship and faith is rich in the details of Middle Eastern village life. It tells the warm story of a bond between a father, a son, and the son's favorite camel, as well as their devotion to the Muslim faith, and the power of prayer in their daily life. Salah and his camel, Qadiim, are constant companions: They work together, eat together, and sleep together. Salah is distressed, however, because his camel always seems so sad and downcast, hanging his head low. But in middle of one night, Salah remembers what his father has told him -- that while mankind knows only ninety-nine names for Allah, there are actually one hundred names. What if Qadiim, the camel, could learn the hundredth name? Under the stars Salah prays "to Allah with all his strength." The next day-- a seeming miracle! -- the camel Quadiim carries his head high with a most knowing look. Does Quadiim know the one hundredth name? Beautifully written by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim and complemented by illustrations by Michael Hays that portray the lush, verdant landscape of the Middle East – from the banks of the Nile to its luminous starlit nights -- here is a spiritual and touching story of an Islamic family.

The Hundredth Name

Oppenheim, Shulamith Levey

Religion & Spirituality

Abraham Lincoln was the first President of the United States to wear a beard. What gave him the idea was a letter he received from an eleven-year-old girl from Westfield, New York named Grace Bedell. "Dear Sir," she wrote, " . . . if you will let your whiskers grow I will try to get (my brothers) to vote for you. You would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you . . ."

Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers

Winnick, Karen B.

Biographies

Leah's pony was swift and strong. Together they would cross through cornfields and over pastures, chasing cattle as they galloped under summer skies. Then came the year the corn grew no taller than a man's thumb. Locusts blackened the sky. The earth turned to dust. Gone were the cornfields and pastures where Leah and her pony once rode. It was the beginning of the great drought. Now Leah's papa faced losing the family farm. Set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Elizabeth Friedrich's deeply felt story, vividly portrayed through Michael Garland's stunning oil paintings, tells of one child and what she would sacrifice for love of her family.

Leah's Pony

Friedrich, Elizabeth

Animals

Every year my father and I plant a garden. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, marigold, and zinnias grow in neat, straight rows...and every spring my father tells me about Mr. Bellavista and the summer my father was ten. -From the book. That was the summer the boy lost a baseball under a tomato plant in Mr. Bellavista's garden. And someone tossed a tomato back instead of the baseball. A lively battle took place, which seemed like great fun at the time, but in the end Mr. Bellavista's garden had been destroyed. In a touching story of one boy's efforts to make amends, we see the rebuilding of a garden and the forming of a relationship across generations. With luminous, beautifully detailed watercolors, the artist has captured both the sadness and the quiet joy woven throughout the tale.

The Summer My Father Was Ten

Brisson, Pat

Based on a true story, The Royal Bee is an elegantly written tale that pays tribute to a young boy's courage and strength of character. Song-ho is a young Korean boy destined by birth to a life of poverty. Barred from going to school--only the sons of wealthy families could attend--he dreams of learning to read and write. Then one day he hears the sound of a school bell and follows it deep into the valley. There, the school master turns him away, but Song-ho's boldness and determination earn him a chance at gaining an education nevertheless. Dramatically illustrated with richly textured oil paintings, the story offers glimpses of daily life in Korea a century ago--for both the rich and the poor.

The Royal Bee

Park, Frances

Park, Ginger

The world is filled with numbers. From learning to count their fingers to learning to put on their shoes, children encounter mathematical concepts early in life. Steve Swinburne introduces children to number-related words in this bouncy, colorful photo-essay. From one to a dozen, lively photographs illustrated math words such as single, double, couple, and prefixes such as uni-, bi-, and tri-. The second half of the book is presented as a guessing game. Following Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes and Guess Whose Shadow?, Steve Swinburne offers children another entertaining look at an all-important concept.

What's a Pair? What's a Dozen?

Swinburne, Stephen R.

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Books by Astra Young Readers