This is the poignant tale of a woman who resides in a nursing home, and who seems to live more in a worldof memories than here in the present. Although Miss Olivia is unable to respond, and their presence often seems to go unnoticed, daughter Angel and great-grandson Troy know better. Anything from a beautiful sunset to the mention of her porch swing - Troy's favorite place - can take her back into her past, from when she was just a little girl out on the farm with her papa, to a recent birthday shared with her daughter.

Laminack treats this sensitive topic with care, giving voice to the often silent tragedy of watching a loved one slip out of the present and into the past. Bergum's delicate watercolors also give soft expression to the love that holds a family together during difficult times....

The hilarious, heartwarming story of an anxious boy and a very loose tooth TREVOR, THE LAST in his class to be a member of the Missing Tooth Club, finally has a wiggly tooth. Each day he proudly shows his friends how it wiggles more and more. But each friend in turn cautions him about the scary ways a loose tooth can be pulled out--from fingers to string to pliers. Trevor wants his tooth to come out, but he doesn't want someone to yank it out. When Grandma Sally shows his class how to make old-fashioned taffy, Trevor learns there are also fun ways to pull a tooth! With a delightful twist at the end that hints at the cyclical nature of life, Lester Laminack's humorous story captures the anxious joy that each child experiences with his or her first loose tooth. Kathi McCord's whimsical illustrations bring Trevor and his classmates to life and gently encourage young readers to experience the delight and excitement in reaching this childhood milestone....

JAKE AND HIS FELLOW STUDENTS are getting ready for a celebration. Tomorrow is the 100th day of school and everyone is going to share their collections of 100 things. The day of the celebration arrives. Jake's friend Henry brings 100 bottle caps and Emily brings 100 paper clips. But Jake forgets the 100 family pictures he has glued into a special memory book at home. Disaster! The problem is solved thanks to Jake's ingenuity and the sensitivity of his wonderful principal, Mrs. Wadsworth. He does have a collection to display that day… and something special to share with the class on the 101st day of school. Lester Laminack's well-crafted story shows schools in their best light and Judy Love's charming illustrations brightly capture the excitement of a busy school day...

SO BEGINS AUTHOR Lester Laminack's poetic memory of the adult who made him feel incredibly special--his grandmother. Every Saturday, the narrator, a young boy, rides his bicycle up and down country roads past farms, a graveyard, and a filling station, until he reaches his beloved Mammaw's house. She is waiting for him. While she picks tomatoes, he pushes the lawnmower through the dew-wet grass. Afterwards, he always helps her make teacakes from scratch, breaking the eggs and stirring the batter. But the best part, he remembers, is eating the hot, sweet cakes fresh from the oven.

Children will understand the special relationship of the narrator and his grandmother. Set in a small town in the Leave It to Beaver days of the mid-sixties, the story evokes a gentler and more innocent time and place. Young readers will almost hear the sounds of bicycle wheels on gravel and the criiick-craaack-criiick of a metal glider in Laminack's richly detailed prose. Award-winning illustrator Chris Soentpiet's images beautifully capture the relationship and the place, perfectly depicting the simplicity of an earlier time....

When the television weatherman predicts a big snowfall, the narrator gleefully imagines the fun-filled possibilities of an unscheduled holiday from school.

Piling under warm blankets. Sipping hot chocolate in snowman mugs. Building a snow fort. Piling up a zillion snowballs inside. Sledding in the neighbor s field. In scene after snowy scene, from sunrise to sundown, a pair of siblings, with their father in tow, show how they would make the most of their day off.

But when the family wakes up the next morning, they are in for a disappointment. As the family members pile into the car so they won t be late for school, an unexpected twist reveals who wanted the snow day most of all....