Washoe County Library System

It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but the odds are against her until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.

"Hefty Smurf wants to get the Smurfs excited about exercising, so he organizes the first-ever Smurf Championship Games. Weakling Smurf trains very hardbut he is very weak. Can he find the confidence he needs to win?"--Amazon.com.

Teased for his fair coloring, eleven-year-old Jimmy McClean travels with his maternal grandfather, Nyles High Eagle, to learn about his Lakota heritage while visiting places significant in the life of Crazy Horse, the nineteenth-century Lakota leader and warrior, in a tale that weaves the past with the present. Includes historical note and glossary.

When he reads in a book that bumblebees cannot fly, Buzzy suddenly doubts himself and forgets how.

A shy unicorn has a hard time making friends. In his sadness, his colors start to fade away until they are gone completely. Worrying that he may never get back his colors or make true friends, the unicorn finds himself lost and alone. It is not until he comes across a group of spunky crayons that his world changes. The crayons band together to help their new friend get back his colors, and in the process play and have fun. The crayons helping generosity...

"The award-winning author of Kitten and the Night Watchman is back with an inspiring and poignant picture book about a boy learning the self-confidence to fulfill his dream of dancing in front of his peers. The only audience shy, quiet Stanley dances in front is his pet mice, Squeaker and Nibbles. He also practices when he’s alone in empty classrooms or the gym when he helps the janitor after school, tap dancing shuffle, tippy-tap, tippy-tap. But...

Young Maya is shy and often feels fragile and scared because of her asthma, except when she's in the water—it's the one place where she feels strong. While everyone else in her town is scared of "the Beast," the giant wave heard all around the world as it crashes into the shoreline, Maya finds the noise comforting, the curves of the wave soothing. If she could only tame it, then everyone could see all the beauty it has to offer. With a pink surfboard...

When Baby Duck is not sure she is ready to get into the pool with the swim team, her grandfather encourages her.

A boy dreams of long hair in this sweet story about self-expression and embracing our most authentic selves Noah has a special day coming up, and he has a very long wish list. But there’s one thing missing from it, the thing he wants more than anything else in the world: long, beautiful, wavy hair. Noah understands that his hair will grow if he just doesn’t get a haircut. But almost all the boys that Noah knows have short hair, and he’s heard...

Teased because he likes to spend all of his time reading, the Gentleman Bug decides to change in order to catch the eye of the new Lady Bug in the garden, but she is not impressed until he goes back to being himself.