Sara is a bossy cat who likes to get her way. Sam is a cuddly older bunny with spotted fur and wise advice. Sam and Sara love to go on adventures, but when Sara keeps seeing a red butterfly, Sam is sure she is just imagining things. Red butterflies don't live in this part of the country, she tells Sara. But is the red butterfly really just something in Sara's overactive imagination? Or is there more to these strange sightings? Everything becomes even more mysterious when Sam and Sara's human, Meg, has visitors who bring with them a new mystery about the red butterfly. Will this be their next big adventure?

Sara is a bossy cat who likes to get her way. Her best friend, Sam, is a cuddly older bunny with spotted fur and wise advice. One day they find a shiny red ball that's stuck between their pantry's wall and sagging floor. They can't get it unstuck no matter how hard they try. When Sara and Sam's human, Meg, retrieves the toy for them, they spend many joyous moments playing with it. But now Meg is interested in the ball too! There's something inside it—something she thinks another human might want. Sara is upset. She doesn't want to share. At least not until she learns why someone wants their new treasure and discovers how good it can feel to make somebody happy.

Was there anyone in the world more tragic than her? He just had to squat on the toilet and cross over to the body of a trash with four spiritual roots. After being duped into learning the Affliction Transformation technique, he would have to go through countless emotional tribulations in order to master the Great Dao and be dumped numerous times from then on.

Sara's Father Once, skinny Erin Delaney and popular Sam Stone shared teenage high jinks, loads of laughter…and a breathless, tentative passion. But their futures had lain far afield—wrenching Erin away, wedding Sam to Erin's sister. And what might have been…never was. Now, an endless decade later, Erin again plunged deep into Sam's unforgettable gaze—over the head of a feisty, motherless tot who called Sam "Daddy." Irrepressible little Sara stole Erin's heart…yet made her ache with secret sorrow. Now with Sara's every hungry smile and Sam's tormenting touches, the past haunted Erin, taunted her, with what might never be….

This valuable reference guide provides suggestions of picture books set in more than 70 countries in each continent of the world, along with standards-based activities. Reading the World with Picture Books presents an exhaustive collection of booktalk options with picture books that are set in the major countries of each continent. Hundreds of children's books with an international flavor are organized by continent and then by country, and suggested activities accompany the titles, encouraging students to interpret information related to historical or geographic concepts and use problem-solving skills. Activities range from those appropriate for beginners to experienced researchers/writers. All call for high-level thinking and most provide opportunities to respond in creative ways. In addition, all of the activities are keyed to selected national standards in language arts and social studies. The picture books suggested are not only excellent choices to capture a booktalk audience's attention and educate young readers about world culture, but also to demonstrate how human beings have adapted to the various environments of the world.

Taking inspiration from the author's own Afghan-Uzbek heritage, this contemporary YA debut is a breathtaking journey into the grief that lingers through generations of immigrant families, and what it means to confront the ghosts of your past. Struggling to deal with the pain of her parents’ impending divorce, fifteen-year-old Sara is facing a world of unknowns and uncertainties. Unfortunately, the one person she could always lean on when things got hard, her beloved Bibi Jan, has become a mere echo of the grandmother she once was. And so Sara retreats into the family business, hoping a summer working on her mom’s latest home renovation project will provide a distraction from her fracturing world. But the house holds more than plaster and stone. It holds secrets that have her clinging desperately to the memories of her old life. Secrets that only her Bibi Jan could have untangled. Secrets Sara is powerless to ignore as the dark truths of her family’s history rise in ghostly apparitions -- and with it, the realization that as much as she wants to hold onto her old life, nothing will ever be the same. Told in lush, sweeping prose, this story of secrets, summer, and family sacrifice will chill you to the bone as the house that wraps Sara in warmth of her past becomes the one thing she cannot escape...