A celebration of extraordinary teachers! The boy's breakfast is ordinary, his walk to school is ordinary, even his thoughts are ordinary. But when he goes to his classroom and sits down at his desk, his day begins to change - a new teacher, Mr. Gee, bursts into the classroom with an extraordinary idea that challenges all the children to use their imagination. Suddenly an ordinary day is turned topsy-turvy, and the boy is inspired in a way that will change him forever. The rollicking words and pictures celebrate the unexpected in this tribute to great teachers and students everywhere. Once Upon an Ordinary School Day is a 2006 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

It was an ordinary day, just like any other, and an ordinary boy made his ordinary way to his ordinary school. He had no idea that something extraordinary was about to happen!

This New York Times–bestselling novel is “lively, topical, and fantasy filled. Watch out, Terry McMillian. Cleage is on your tail” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). After a decade of elegant pleasures and luxe living with the Atlanta brothers and sisters with the best clothes and biggest dreams, Ava Johnson has temporarily returned home to Idlewild—her fabulous career and power plans smashed to bits by cold reality. But what she imagines to be the end is, instead, a beginning. Because, in the ten-plus years since Ava left, all the problems of the big city have come to roost in the sleepy North Michigan community whose ordinariness once drove her away; and she cannot turn her back on friends and family who sorely need her in the face of impending trouble and tragedy. Besides which, that one unthinkable, unmistakable thing is now happening to her: Ava Johnson is falling in love. Acclaimed playwright, essayist, New York Times–bestselling author, and columnist Pearl Cleage has created a world rich in character, human drama, and deep, compassionate understanding, in a remarkable novel that sizzles with sensuality, hums with gritty truth, and sings and crackles with life-affirming energy. “Very funny and charming . . . Following Cleage’s twists and turns of the human spirit, readers may find themselves on a very inspired and uplifted plane well before the last page.” —Washington Post Book World “Cleage . . . delivers a work of intelligence and integrity. . . . [A] memorable tale.” —-Publishers Weekly, starred review

This illustrated children’s book celebrates the extraordinary potential of ordinary deeds—showing how one child’s act of kindness can change the world One ordinary day, Ordinary Mary stumbles upon some ordinary blueberries. When she decides to pick them for her neighbor, Mrs. Bishop, her thoughtful act starts a chain reaction that multiplies around the world. Mrs. Bishop makes blueberry muffins and gives them to her paperboy and four others—one of whom is Mr. Stevens, who then helps five different people with their luggage—one of whom is Maria, who then helps five other people—and so on, until the deed comes back to Mary.

Sara gets stuck when she must paint a picture for the second grade art show, until she discovers the best place to begin.

When Bat moves to a new home, her wild young neighbors are convinced she is daft because she sees things so differently than they do, until Owl asks some questions that reveal the truth to all.

While her sisters were blessed at birth with exceptional skills, Princess Basil's "gift" is to be ordinary. But can a princess be ordinary? After escaping an unconventional kidnapping, Princess Basil finds herself far from her castle and must take fate into her own hands. She tracks down the fairy godmother who "blessed" her, and learns the solution to her ordinariness might be as simple as finding a magic ring. With an unlikely ally in tow, she takes on gnomes, a badger, and a couple of snarky foxes in her quest for a less ordinary life. Portland comics artist Cassie Anderson (Lifeformed) takes her webcomic to print in this tale of magical adventure, full of soul and humor for readers of all ages.