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If You Like Chicken Soup for the Soul, Try...
Younger Readers
- Bea
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A young girl learns from her grandmother that she can find God all around her.
- Carlstrom
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A young girl asks her parents questions about God's clothes, speech, feelings and actions.
- Cooney
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As a child, Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up, she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful. She does all those things, the last of them proving to be the most difficult of all.
- De Paola
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A once-famous Italian juggler, now old and a beggar, gives one final performance before a statue of Our Lady and the Holy Child.
- Fox
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A small boy tries to discover the meaning of memory so he can restore that of an elderly friend.
- France
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Rat stays in his house feeling blue until a mysterious letter inspires him to go out and see his friends.
- London
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A boy's father celebrates the interconnectedness of the natural world through his daily words of thanks.
- Lovell
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Even when the class bully at her new school makes fun of her, Molly remembers what her grandmother told her, and she feels good about herself.
- Lucado
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Punchinello, a carved wooden figure, changes his opinion of himself after talking to his creator.
- Moeri
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The grumpy old woman had never properly celebrated Christmas, until the year that the Star Mother's youngest child came to earth to find out what the holiday was all about.
- Parks
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The black woman whose acts of civil disobedience led to the 1956 Supreme Court order to desegregate buses in Montgomery, Alabama, explains what she did and why.
- Polacco
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A homemade quilt ties together the lives of four generations of an immigrant Jewish family, remaining a symbol of their enduring love and faith.
- Polacco
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Trisha's difficulty learning to read makes her feel dumb, until her fifth grade teacher helps her understand and overcome her problem.
- Rylant
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In rhyme and pictures, this book lists some of the things that bring happiness and awe into our lives, including a baby bird, fresh-baked bread, snow, clocks, the moon and more.
- Say
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A Japanese boy learns of Christmas when his mother decorates a pine tree with paper cranes.
- Spinelli
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An anonymous valentine changes the life of the unsociable Mr. Hatch, turning him into a laughing friend who helps and appreciates all his neighbors.
- Wood
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Because Grandad has explained how all things in the natural world pray and make a gift to the beauty of life, his grandson is comforted when Grandad dies.
- Yolen
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Eight-year-old Matthew tells what happens when fire destroys the barn on his family's farm, and all the Amish neighbors come to rebuild it in one day.
Middle Readers
- Birdseye
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Six children of different religious backgrounds tell about their faith and what it means to them.
- Bridges
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Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement as a 6-year-old in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.
- Codell
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Thanks to the unusual teaching and quiet support of her fifth grade teacher, Sahara finds the courage to "drop her troubles in the trouble basket" and start fresh.
- Cohn
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Based on a true incident, this book describes how people in Billings, Montana, joined together to fight a series of hate crimes against a Jewish family.
- Creech
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After her mother leaves suddenly, 13-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route.
- Curtis
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The everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
- Demi
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Taken from the Jataka literature of Buddhism, each of these ten fables teaches a lesson.
- DiCamillo
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Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big, ugly dog Winn-Dixie.
- Fleischman
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A number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city lot into a productive and beautiful garden.
- Kehret
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The author describes her battle at age 13 against polio and its debilitating effects.
- King-Smith
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A piglet destined for eventual butchering arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success.
- Krull
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The first woman to win three gold medals in track in a single Olympics was African-American Wilma Rudolph, who overcame crippling polio as a child.
- Kurtz
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During the political strife and famine of the 1980s, two Ethiopian girls, one Christian and the other Jewish and blind, struggle to overcome many difficulties, including their prejudices about each other.
- Levine
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This book tells the story of people in Denmark who risked their lives to rescue and protect their Jewish neighbors from the Nazis during World War II.
- Lowry
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In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, 10-year-old Annemarie learns courage when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
- MacLachlan
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When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.
- McCann
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Posing as a nurse, Luba Tryszynska managed to hide and save the lives of more than 50 Jewish children in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the winter of 1944-45.
- Paterson
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In 1899, 10-year-old Robbie, the son of a preacher in a small Vermont town, gets himself into trouble when he decides to give up being Christian in order to make the most of his life before the end of the world.
- Peck
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During the recession of 1937, 15-year-old Mary Alice comes to a better understanding of her grandmother when she is sent to live with the feisty, larger-than-life woman in rural Illinois.
- Robinson
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The six mean Herdman kids lie, steal, smoke cigars and then take over the community Christmas pageant.
- Robinson
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This biography of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the major leagues, is told by his daughter.
- Rusch
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This book includes the true stories of more than 20 young activists doing things to make the world a better place.
- Ryan
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Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California.
- Saint-Exupery
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An aviator, whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert, encounters a little prince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life.
- Stepanek
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The author, not yet a teenager, was a poet whose inspirational words rose from his long-standing struggle with a rare form of muscular dystrophy.
- Voigt
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Abandoned by their mother, four children begin an arduous search for a home and an identity.
Older Readers
- ---
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This collection of real-life stories written by teenage girls and women relates their dreams about love, friendship, recognition of their talents, and how they make their dreams and wishes come true.
- ---
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The stories in this anthology explore the topics of religion, belief and spirituality.
- ---
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Here are more than 100 new and inspiring stories that present a fresh way of looking at life, friendship, heroes, growing up, love, faith, compassion, tough times and motivation.
- Alvarez
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In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, 12-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.
- Bauer
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When 16-year-old Hope and her aunt move from Brooklyn to Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in a diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor.
- Beals
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Beals, one of the nine black students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, tells an incredible story of faith, family love, friendships and strong personal commitment.
- Fleischman
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While traveling to each corner of the country to build a whirligig in memory of the girl whose death he causes, 16-year-old Brian finds forgiveness and atonement.
- Frank
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Hidden with seven other people in an attic for two years in Nazi-occupied Holland, Anne, a young Jewish girl, chronicled her day-to-day life in a diary, which was discovered after her death in a German concentration camp.
- Ihimaera
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As her beloved grandfather, chief of the Maori tribe, struggles to lead in difficult times and to find a male successor, young Kahu is developing a mysterious relationship with whales, particularly the ancient bull whale whose legendary rider was their ancestor
- Jacob
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This collection of writings by teenage girls of diverse backgrounds deals with topics that are relevant not only to young women of color, but also to the people who are raising, teaching or nurturing them.
- Johnson
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On a visit to her grandmother Ola, who is dying of cancer, 14-year-old Emmie hears many stories about her family history, and comes to better understand her relatives both dead and living.
- Karr
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During the early 1900s, a teenage inmate's dreary life in a women's prison changes for the better after she becomes a member of the prison choir and participates in the production of the operetta The Pirates of Penzance.
- Koja
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After spending time with Jinsen, the unusual and artistic new student whom the school bullies torment and call "Buddha Boy," Justin ends up making choices that impact himself, Jinsen and the entire school.
- L'Engle
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When her grandfather is dying of leukemia and death seems all around, 15-year-old Vicky finds comfort in the pod of dolphins with which she has been doing research.
- Lewis
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The author relates the stories of kids who made a difference in their neighborhood, community, or the world by helping in such areas as crime, life-saving and the environment.
- Mikaelsen
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In order to avoid a prison sentence, Cole, an angry 15-year-old, is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.
- Namioka
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Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper-class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.
- Nye
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When 14-year-old Liyanne Abboud and her family move from St. Louis to a new home between Jerusalem and the Palestin-ian village where her father was born, they face many changes and must deal with the tensions between Jews and Palestinians.
- Philbrick
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At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.
- Wilkinson
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The author quotes the Biblical account of Jabez and describes how his prayer to God can be used by today's teens to enrich their lives.
- Wolff
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Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, 15-year-old LaVaughn learns from friends and inspiring mentors that life is what you make it -- an occasion to rise too.