Alone on a wagon train and threatened by the man who murdered her mother, Dixie Dandelion steals a horse belonging to an undercover Pinkerton agent and escapes to the town of Six Shooter Siding. Hired at first to cook in a railroad camp, she begins to make friends, even the town’s soiled doves assist her when she buys the abandoned ranch. Determined never to depend on others, especially men, Dixie is torn between trusting Pinkerton Jackson McCullough and standing on her own. But will this new independence be enough to save Dixie when the past catches up with her?

Make social emotional learning fun and engaging with 24 ready-to-use lessons about phenomenal plants and astonishing animals. Storytelling is a learning device used by humans for centuries, and for good reason: storytelling is one of the best ways to increase critical thinking skills and social emotional learning (SEL). The award-winning Social Emotional Stories combines storytelling with thought-provoking lessons and activities to help elementary students improve their self-esteem, increase their engagement with school, and give them a sense of empowerment. The book contains 24 individual lessons that include: An SEL objective with specific keywords like “inner strength,” “problem solving,” and “responsibility” An engaging story that focuses on a distinctive quality of either a plant (like the inner strength of bamboo) or an animal (like the courage of a pig) Multiple activities that are quick, easy, and require few supplies to help kids identify and dive deeper into the specific SEL concepts represented Educators can use these lessons individually with students, in small groups, or with an entire class. The lessons are interdisciplinary and flexible, with only minimal prep time required, allowing educators to adapt them for their situation. Extensive digital content supports the lessons with reproducible forms and a full-color photo of each plant and animal.

This flexible resource combines character education with analogies to powerful stories from nature. The heart of each of the book’s twenty-five lessons is an engaging story, written to kids, describing a particular animal or plant and its distinctive qualities. Busy classroom teachers will like this book’s accessibility and flexibility. Kids can read a story individually or in groups, or follow along as the teacher reads it aloud. Accompanying each story, teachers will find several activities—most of them quick, easy, and requiring few supplies—that further investigate animals or plants and the connections between their qualities and human behaviors. Every lesson examines several main character traits, providing starting points and sample questions for discussing and exploring analogies between events in nature and human acts of character. Features include a chart cross-referencing lessons to specific character traits and a list of further resources. Digital content contains all of the book’s reproducible forms, including a color photo of each plant and animal, plus a complete bonus lesson.