Sophie Casson – illustratör

From Sara Cassidy, acclaimed author of A Boy Named Queen, comes a stunning wordless graphic novel about friendship, loss and hope.For as long as Saanvi can remember, she has been friends with her elderly neighbor Helen. They play cards and garden together and, especially, care for the wild birds that visit Helen’s yard. When Helen dies suddenly, a “For Sale” sign goes up, and movers arrive, emptying the house of its furniture and stripping the yard of its birdfeeders. The sparrows and hummingbirds disappear.Soon a bulldozer tears down Helen’s house. All winter, Saanvi walks numbly past the property as developers begin to build condos. Then one spring day, amid the dust and turmoil of construction, she finds a weathered playing card wedged between two rocks. She holds it to her chest, and finally sobs.After a tearful night, Saanvi wakes inspired. She slathers peanut butter on pinecones to hang from tree branches, hammers together a birdhouse from scrap wood and drags a kitchen stool outside to hold a bowl of water. Finally, she retrieves a nest that has been unraveling on Helen’s old property and places it in a tree in her own yard. Saanvi’s yard soon fills with Helen’s birds. They have a home again.This beautifully illustrated, wordless graphic novel shows Saanvi’s journey through close friendship, then hollowing loss and change, until she finally finds hope.Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Words are powerful. Words spread truth. Words turn to action. Words matter in this lyrical account of the White Rose Resistance.The White Rose Resistance was the German student movement that used the power of the written word to speak out against the Nazis during World War II. They worked in secret to distribute leaflets condemning the government’s actions at a time when doing so meant putting your life at risk.The story follows siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, who were instrumental members of the resistance. Words Matter transports readers through the world the siblings inhabited, from their idyllic childhood to becoming leaders in the Hitler Youth groups; the Nuremberg Rally; witnessing the arrests and murders of innocent people; and finally emerging as leaders of the White Rose Resistance — while still believing in the goodness that lived in the hearts of the German people. The Scholl siblings were arrested and executed in 1943 but their legacy, and the words of the Resistance, live on.Written in verse and strikingly illustrated for middle-grade readers, Words Matter brings to life an unforgettable true story of nonviolent resistance. Hans and Sophie’s story demonstrates the enduring power of words, especially in times of propaganda and fear.Includes a historical note.Key Text Featuresauthor's notefurther readinghistorical contextillustrations Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Folk songs such as “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain," “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” take on lives of their own, becoming stand-alone stories featuring several zany characters, including an acrobatic pink-haired roller-skater girl, a straw hat-wearing unshaven hillbilly astronaut, a banjo-playing cow-loving weasel, and a hard-working monkey who happens to love dumplings! The accompanying recordings of these popular sing-along songs for kids highlight gifted singers and seasoned musicians, producing a fresh original sound for a new generation. A unique code for the digital download of the recordings is also included.