Books like The Other Side
By Jacqueline Woodson
For families ready to talk about the lines grown-ups draw and the kids who quietly find ways around them, this is a gentle, honest place to start. Quiet, tender, and thoughtful, with a slow summer warmth.
On a snowy night, a girl finds a lost wolf cub while she herself is far from home, and the two must find a way back together.
An aging donkey, dog, cat, and rooster, each cast off by masters who no longer want them, set out together for Bremen-Town to become street musicians and find a robbers' cabin standing in their way.
A lonely boy and a bluebird form an unlikely friendship, told entirely without words — until the bird risks everything to save him from harm.
A girl living in a tent camp finds comfort in her only friend, a pebble that listens to her stories — until a frightened, lost little boy arrives and needs comfort too.
A young Quaker boy on old Nantucket is trailed everywhere by a seagull he finds annoying — until the bird disappears on a cold winter day and Obadiah discovers he actually misses it.
An imaginary friend waits and waits to be chosen by a child, and when no one picks him, he does the unimaginable — he leaves his island to find his perfect match himself.
An old mailman bikes through the forest every day delivering letters that mend friendships and spark invitations among the animals — though he alone never receives any mail, until one special letter finally arrives.
A fox and his dog share an inseparable life together until the dog dies, sending the fox into grief so deep he tears apart the garden they once tended, until an unexpected pumpkin vine slowly draws him back into the world.
A poor boy joins the procession of gift-bearers traveling to Bethlehem, and with no treasure to offer the newborn Christ Child, he plays the only gift he has: a song on his drum.
A picture book biography of the Persian poet Rumi, following him from a boy enchanted by birds and books to a scholar whose grief over losing his best friend Shams led him to his greatest teaching: that love is in us and everywhere.
A wolf who has always lived alone atop a hill grows uneasy when a little wolf quietly settles beside him and won't leave — and slowly, warily, learns to let him stay.
A mighty lion spares a trembling mouse instead of eating her, and when a poacher's rope net traps him, the tiny mouse returns to set him free.
