Billy Brown, having failed to heed his mother's warning to stay covered while he sleeps, awakens one morning to find his perfectly round brown belly button gone, and then tries to trick the Belly Button Beastie into giving it back.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Every night when Billy Brown's mother puts him to bed, she tells him to keep his covers on his bed but he ignores her advice, then the belly button monster steals his belly button and the fun begins.

This book supplies stories, essays, lesson plans and specialized storytelling strategies to help teachers "level the playing field" for all learners and better serve children with special needs. More than 57 percent of the over 6 million American children with disabilities are in inclusive (i.e., general) classrooms; "self-contained" classrooms serve children whose disabilities are either more severe or disruptive. As much as 20 percent of the children in an inclusive classroom are identified as "disabled," with the highest percentage of these having learning disabilities. While most classrooms have at least one child with a disability, teachers often have little or no training in educating and caring for these children. The need for resources that support educators working with children with disabilities or social/emotional difficulties is clear. This book fills this critical need, supplying school and public librarians, classroom and special area teachers, and storytelling teaching artists with storytelling strategies for reaching and teaching children with special needs in inclusive classrooms, self-contained classrooms, and public and school libraries. These full-text stories, essays, and lesson plans from experienced storytelling teaching artists provide educators with a wide range of adaptable storytelling and teaching strategies for specific disabilities and enable storytellers to discover news ways to perform their storytelling magic. The book also offers compelling real-life anecdotes that demonstrate the impact of these strategies in inclusive and self-contained classrooms; presents an introduction to the skills of storytelling, why they are useful, and how to use them; and includes suggested modifications for a wide range of disabilities as well as detailed resource lists.

After an especially "busy" day, a preschool-age boy overhears his mother say, "He's been a monster all day." So the little boy starts to fantasize about what life as a monster would be like. "I wonder why Mommy thinks that of me? / I guess if she does then a monster I'll be! / I'm big and strong! / I grumble and growl / and scare people off / with a sneer and a scowl. / Being a monster is fun!" There are no rules to remember or manners to follow. And monsters can stay out as late as they please, scaring everyone away. As it turns out, being a monster isn't all it's cracked up to be. No one wants to be friends with a monster. And who will read a story and tuck a monster into bed? Maybe being a little boy isn't such a bad thing after all.

A spaghetti dinner and a lot of giggling result in Caillou getting the hiccups. Daddy thinks he knows how to cure them, and together, they embark on a series of hiccup-curing trials. But none of them seem to work! Mommy insists the hiccups will go away on their own - as long as Caillou doesn’t make a big deal of them, and she’s right!