"How can we meet today's elevated goals and engage middle school kids-but not simply replicate our winner-take-all society? How can our students achieve a higher standard-the commitment to bend the world towards justice? In a word, inquiry. Welcome to the classroom of Sara Ahmed. With Smokey Daniels as your guide you'll see exactly how Sara turns required topics into questions young adolescents can't resist investigating and units that help them become thoughtful, compassionate, and action-oriented. Smokey and Sara share everything you need: a developmental look at middle school kids, lessons for collaboration, self-awareness, and compassion, a toolbox of strategies, structures, and handouts, commentary from Smokey that highlights key teaching moves, Game-Time Decisions from Sara that reveal instructional choices, documentation of the incredible work that inquiry allows kids to do, engaging units on commonly taught middle school themes. Give kids all the complexity the standards could ever expect, and something they don't: the chance to grow from bystanders into Upstanders." -- pages (4) of cover.

Who has the most power to stop and prevent bullying? Teachers? Parents? The Principal of the Universe? No, no, and no way! When it comes to changing bullying behavior, nobody has more power than upstanders--all the people who see bullying or know it’s happening...and decide to do something about it. How strong are upstanders? Stronger than a snarling seventh grader. More powerful than a petty put-down. Able to delete Internet rumors with a single click. When BYstanders choose to act as UPstanders, they are real superheroes!

The stench of decay pierced the air aboard the boxcar of trapped Jews. “Why me?” fifteen-year-old Max asked himself, as a convoy rumbled from the Warsaw Ghetto to Majdanek death camp in May 1943. The Nazis had destroyed the Glauben family’s business, upended their rights, and ultimately decimated their neighborhood. The deluge of questions would only intensify after the Nazis murdered Max’s mother, father, and brother. Max channeled grit, determination, and a fortuitous knack for manufacturing airplane parts to outlast six horrific concentration camps in his quest to survive. This memoir explores Max’s mischievous childhood and teen years as a go-to ghetto smuggler. Max journeys from displaced person to American immigrant and Korean veteran. He reveals how he ached as he dared to court love and rear children. For decades, he bottled up his trauma. Then he realized: He could transform his pain into purpose. Infused with raw emotion and vivid detail, historical records and Max’s poignant voice, this memoir relays the true story of the harrowing violence and dehumanization Max endured. It relays Max’s powerful lifetime commitment to actively thwarting hate and galvanizing resilience. Max insists you, too, can transform your adversity into your greatest strength. In the seventy-five years since his liberation, Max has ceased to ask himself, “Why me?” Instead, he reframes his focus, eager to partner with you and ask: “What can we do next?”

Girl bullies, internet bullying, and substance use are themes in this James Preller middle grade standalone companion to Bystander Mary O’Malley is tired of keeping secrets. Secrets like her older brother, Jonny’s, drug use. Starting seventh grade is tough enough without the upheaval her brother is bringing to their family. It seems the only person who might understand is Griffen Connolly, whose older sister runs with Jonny in the wrong crowd. Mary thought Griff was too cool, too popular for her. But now he wants to hang out with her, and listen. When two girls Mary thought were her friends decide to slam another girl online, Mary tries to look the other way. Then the girls turn on Mary, and suddenly, she doesn’t have a safety zone. Her brother is out of control, her family’s energies are all spent on him. There is only one person she can turn to. But can she trust Griff? Or is he one of the bullies?

This book is a life balance guide for student activists.

Hardly anyone noticed young Sally McCabe. She was the smallest girl in the smallest grade. But Sally notices everything—from the twenty-seven keys on the janitor’s ring to the bullying happening on the playground. One day, Sally has had enough and decides to make herself heard. And when she takes a chance and stands up to the bullies, she finds that one small girl can make a big difference. Grammy-nominated children’s musician Justin Roberts, together with vibrant artwork from award-winning illustrator Christian Robinson, will have readers cheering for young Sally McCabe.

Saddle up for a life-defining, death-defying adventure. Joseph Johnson has lost just about everyone he's ever loved. He lost his pa in an accident. He lost his ma and his little sister to sickness. And now, he's lost his pony-fast, fierce, beautiful Sarah, taken away by a man who had no right to take her.Joseph can sure enough get her back, though. The odds are stacked against him, but he isn't about to give up. He will face down deadly animals, dangerous men, and the fury of nature itself on his quest to be reunited with the only family he has left.Because Joseph Johnson may have lost just about everything. But he hasn't lost hope. And he hasn't lost the fire in his belly that says he's getting his Sarah back-no matter what.The critically acclaimed author of The Honest Truth returns with a poignant, hopeful, and action-packed story about hearts that won't be tamed... and spirits that refuse to be broken.