As spring slowly turns to summer, a little boy builds a fort and plants a garden in impatient anticipation.

In this charming book, one little boy can’t wait for summer to arrive. He keeps asking, “Mama, is it summer yet?” Mama responds saying, ”Not yet,” but there are plenty of signs that indicate spring is changing into summer: The earth is soft and there are seeds to plant, birds singing, ducklings in the pond, and pink blossoms blooming. The young boy even wears his bathing suit and carries a beach pail in preparation, but will it ever be summer? The text is a wonderful celebration of the change of seasons and showcases Nikki’s images of nature and the joys of family and community.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Once in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the life of a family. David James Duncan, author of the novel The River Why and the collection River Teeth, is just such a writer. And in The Brothers K he tells a story both striking and in its originality and poignant in its universality. This touching, uplifting novel spans decades of loyalty, anger, regret, and love in the lives of the Chance family. A father whose dreams of glory on a baseball field are shattered by a mill accident. A mother who clings obsessively to religion as a ward against the darkest hour of her past. Four brothers who come of age during the seismic upheavals of the sixties and who each choose their own way to deal with what the world has become. By turns uproariously funny and deeply moving, and beautifully written throughout, The Brothers K is one of the finest chronicles of our lives in many years. Praise for The Brothers K “The pages of The Brothers K sparkle.”—The New York Times Book Review “Duncan is a wonderfully engaging writer.”—Los Angeles Times “This ambitious book succeeds on almost every level and every page.”—USA Today “Duncan’s prose is a blend of lyrical rhapsody, sassy hyperbole and all-American vernacular.”—San Francisco Chronicle “The Brothers K affords the . . . deep pleasures of novels that exhaustively create, and alter, complex worlds. . . . One always senses an enthusiastic and abundantly talented and versatile writer at work.”—The Washington Post Book World “Duncan . . . tells the larger story of an entire popular culture struggling to redefine itself—something he does with the comic excitement and depth of feeling one expects from Tom Robbins.”—Chicago Tribune

Your students will engage in their first guided practice with fresh reading selections every week! Students can directly interact with text by underlining, circling, and highlighting text to support answers with text evidence.

Can Percy the Pug find the perfect puddle? Young children will love this delightful board book version of a favorite, fun story. Percy the Pug loves puddles—big puddles, small puddles, swamp puddles, stomp puddles. No puddle is just right, though . . . until he finds one with three friendly piglets. But protective Mama Pig does not believe pigs and pugs should mix, and she chases Percy away! He proves her wrong in a highly satisfying ending, earning himself a spot in the perfect puddle. Irresistibly illustrated by Keika Yamaguchi, Kim Norman's tale about a persistent pug and his pursuit of friendship in puddle paradise brims with warmth and charm.

A young girl describes what a typical day is like in her parents' Chinese store in Guatemala City, Guatemala.