Books like Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage to Be Who You Are
By Maria Dismondy
For the kid who's ever been laughed at for being different, Lucy's story says loudly that staying true to yourself is its own kind of strength. Earnest, encouraging, and grounded in real schoolyard feelings.
A boy who loves the playground keeps running into Sammy, a boy who calls himself King and threatens to bury him, cage him with bears, or tie him to the slide — so his dad helps him figure out what to do.
A picture-book biography traces Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s path from a childhood in the segregated South to becoming a minister and civil rights leader, told through his own powerful words.
A girl starting her first day of school comes home discouraged when classmates mispronounce her name, then decides to go back and teach them to say it right — even if it takes a hundred tries.
A gentle pony too plain for the beautiful horses inside the walled city ends up the only one who can save its children when the bridge breaks in half.
During the Syrian Civil War, an ambulance driver stays behind in Aleppo when his neighbors flee, and finds himself feeding and comforting the many cats they left behind.
A girl dreads joining the special education class at her new school, nicknamed the junkyard, until her teacher Mrs. Peterson helps her see her odd, brilliant classmates for who they really are.
A champion Italian cyclist who won the 1938 Tour de France secretly uses his bicycle and racing fame to help save Jewish lives during World War II, risking everything without ever telling a soul.
On his first day at a new school, a shy boy named Yefferson hears his name mispronounced again and again, until his family helps him find the courage to speak up for himself.
In 1707, an eight-year-old girl travels into the Connecticut wilderness with her father to build a new home, then must find her courage when he leaves her with their Indian neighbors.
A boy who loves flowers plants the seed the Emperor gives him, but as the year passes his pot stays empty — and he must decide whether to face the Emperor with nothing to show.
A six-year-old girl becomes the first Black child to attend an all-white elementary school in New Orleans in 1960, walking past angry mobs of parents every day just to learn.
A young penguin named Pip-Pip longs to swim in the sea with his friends, but fear of the water holds him back until he finds the courage to take the plunge.
