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In The Table Where Rich People Sit, a picture book by Byrd Baylor, a girl takes a look around her and sees that her family’s house is not what she thinks it should be. It dawns on her that her parents don’t realize how poor they really are, so she calls a family meeting. The family gathers around the table, and the girl points out that the very table at which they are sitting is in terrible condition. It is dilapidated and worn, because the family has gotten so much use from it. She tells her family that they are not sitting at a table where rich people should sit, and proceeds to instruct her parents to seek better jobs in order to earn more money.

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Babe was a character in a book before he was put onto the silver screen in the movie that uses his name as a title. Well, if you liked the movie, “Babe”, you should really enjoy the book-remember what they say-”the book is always better.” The book begins with Farmer Hogget winning Babe in a fair by guessing his weight. Little does Babe know, however, that the Hoggets would like to turn him into pork chops when he grows up!

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Most of us are familiar with many of the fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers. See if you can read some lines from some of these stories and guess the name of the story that they came from.

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Did you read the book A Long Way From Chicago also written by Richard Peck? If you have, then you know who Grandma Dowdel is. If you haven’t read it, and you’ve picked up a copy of A Year Down Yonder, get ready for Grandma Dowdel to start ruling your world.

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A dream catcher is a Native American craft created for children and adults. It is believed that the the dream catcher will filter out all the bad bawedjigewin (dreams) and allow only good thoughts to enter into our minds. You will see a small hole in the center of each dream catcher where those good bawadjige may come through. With the first rays of sunlight, the bad dreams would perish.

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The Hopi tribe comes from northern Arizona. As with all tribes, these people have certain traditions that they celebrate. One in particular that is of interest involves dolls called Kachina Dolls.

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New Orleans Jazz was first heard about 1900, in a musical climate laden with folklore influences ranging from ragtime to spirituals, from work songs to blues, from minstrel shows to marching bands, from the colorful Mardi Gras celebrations to the picturesque funeral processions.

New Orleans played a key role in the birth and growth of Jazz, and the music’s early history has been more thoroughly researched and documented there than anywhere else. But, while the city may have had more and better Jazz than any other from about 1895 to 1917, New Orleans was by no means the only place where the sounds were incubating.

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Do you remember the song, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”? You might not realize that its melody was written by a man considered by a great many scholars to be the world’s greatest composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In his short life (1756-1791), Mozart accomplished many feats which may not ever be repeated. As a seven and eight year old, he began to compose his first music. At age 13, he wrote an entire mass for his friend’s Father Cominicus Hagenauer.

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If you’re a believer in superstitions, then Friday the 13th could be your unlucky day. But, remember, it’s simply a superstition, and nothing more. Some people take them seriously, but there is no factual evidence that anything will happen to you.

Nonetheless, superstitions are still observed and believed by many. In honor of Friday the Thirteenth, we’ll tell you about the origin of the day and why it’s considered unlucky. And, we’ll also mention a few other superstitions and unravel their mysteries.

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Wouldn’t it be cool if you could be in charge of your house?! Maybe you’d eat cookies for breakfast, play video games all day, ride your bike around the kitchen or make your little sister clean your room. The possibilities are endless! Jut, Marty, Nick and Gus are four brothers who get to do just that in When the Boys Ran the House by Joan Carris.

When their mom gets sick and has to stay in bed and their dad is away on a business trip, the boys are left in charge. But after a swarm of bees invade their kitchen, the cat gets a spray-paint job and a weird smell takes over their living room, Jut wonders if he’s really able to manage the house and three younger brothers.

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Gussie Grant recently moved from the exciting world of Los Angeles to a quiet sheep farm in Oregon. At least there are no neighbors close by to complain about her loud French horn. She makes a friend, Tex Fuller, who might be able to get her a place on the school’s winning basketball team. She enjoys the open fields and lakes, too. But what really excites her is the old rumor of a monster in the lake near her ranch.

The first night, while practicing her French horn, she hears a low, moaning sound coming from Lake Looney. What was it? Probably just an echo. Then she stumbles across a giant orange egg. Now she has to know. She starts exploring and pretty soon comes across other clues that lead her on a wild journey that might just have a monster and a buried treasure at the end! Read The Friends of the Loony Lake Monster by Frank Bonham to find out what happens.

Are you wondering how you can change some of the terrible things going on in our world? Besides, when in the world would a kid find the time to do anything anyway? With television shows to watch, video games to play, snacks to eat, who has time? In It’s Our World Too: Stories of Young People Who Are Making a Difference, by Margaret A. Bush you will read about some kids who have decided that there’s no better time than the present to take action. Read about a group of first and second graders in Sweden who decided to save a rainforest by buying it.

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