Most Popular Books by Jean Little

Anna has always been the clumsy one in the family. Somehow she can never do anything right! She bumps into tables, and she can''t read the blackboard at her school. Her perfect brothers and sisters call her "Awkward Anna." When Papa announces that the family is moving from Germany to Canada, Anna''s heart sinks. How can she learn English when she can''t even read German? Nothing could be worse than this! But when the Soldens arrive in Canada, Anna learns that there is a reason for her clumsiness. And suddenly, wonderfully, her whole world begins to change.

Through the diary of 10-year-old Victoria Cope, we learn about the arrival of ragged Mary Anna, one of the thousands of impoverished British children who were sent to Canada at the beginning of the century. Mary Anna joins the Cope family as a servant and is treated well, but she has to cope with the initial apprehension of the family members and the loss of her brother, Jasper, who was placed with another family. Victoria vows to help Mary Anna find her brother, so they can be a family once again.

Kate Bloomfield is back! And she''s got a lot to say -- about school and friends and parents, about cartwheels (she can''t do them), about parsnips (she won''t eat them), about being alone and being herself, about life and love...even about Dave Nelson, who doesn''t know she''s alive. Outspoken, funny, sometimes confused but always observant, Kate is writing it all down -- "Hey World, Here I Am!" Notable Children''s Books of 1989 (ALA) Best Books of 1989 (SLJ) Notable 1989 Children''s Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC) Children''s Books of 1989 (Library of Congress) 1989 Children''s Books (NY Public Library)

Written with vivid recall of emotions and events, Little''s autobiography beginswith her early childhood in Taiwan and concludes with the acceptance for publication of her early novel.

The bestselling, award-winning picture book is now available in board book! On a stormy winter night in the barn, a donkey, sheep and cow recall the important contributions their ancestors made the night Jesus was born. Pippin the pig''s ancestors were NOT at the manger, so when Pippin asks, "But what did the pigs do?" she is told, "Pippin, face it. Pigs have nothing worthy to offer." But after Pippin runs away from the unwelcoming barn, she saves the day when a young mother wandering with her baby gets lost in a snowstorm and needs help and shelter. This sturdy board book edition has been revised for the younger set, while keeping the soul of the story, and gently teaching readers that everyone has something to offer.

With the help of his new friend, Tess, Jeremy deals with the imminent death of his father from cancer.

Make a wish and the sky''s the limit in this delightful rhyming story from the incomparable Jean Little. If wishes were ice cream, our cones would be doubles.If wishes were soapsuds, we''d blow shining bubbles. In this charming new picture book, children and their wild imaginations take centre stage! In a true celebration of wishers and dreamers, Jean Little entertains readers with bouncy rhymes depicting kids'' favourite wishes -- from puppies to pancakes; and sundaes to snowflakes. Governor General''s award-winning Canadian illustrator Geneviève Côté infuses each page with her inventive illustrations, literally turning each spread into a carnival of fun! If wishes were stories, there would only be one -- this one!

One by one, the baby animals are born on the farm, each making another barnyard mother yearn for a baby of her own. A warm-hearted, gently humorous story about a mother''s love.

Inspired by the real-life story of Helen Keller and the servant girl Martha Washington! How did Helen Keller manage before Annie Sullivan came to teach her language? This fictionalized story of two very different girls in the South, two decades after the Civil War, builds on the mentions of Martha Washington in Keller''s autobiography and reimagines their relationship. Martha, Helen''s constant companion, is the cook''s daughter -- a black girl, just a few years older, and the person who best understood Helen''s attempts at communication. Charged with keeping the unruly younger girl occupied and out of trouble, Martha is sometimes bullied, sometimes a co-conspirator, and often Helen''s rescuer. She is with Helen as Annie teaches her words and language, even on the miraculous day when Helen understands that the water running over one hand, and the word W-A-T-E-R that is being spelled into the other, are connected -- the event that freed Helen to communicate with the wider world. When Jean Little revisited Keller''s The Story of My Life, she became fascinated with the few mentions of Martha and wondered what it might have been like to be in Martha''s place and to be given the difficult task of minding Helen -- a girl so different, in a position of privilege and yet dependent on her. Could the two girls forge a friendship? Jean Little''s fascination with that personal dynamic has evolved into a remarkable story of two girls navigating through the world, Hand in Hand.

Nell makes two wishes on her birthday, but the next day they show little sign of coming true. Everyone in her household is busy and wants her out from underfoot and no one is willing to help her find her lost cat. In the end she finds more than a cat and she makes her own wishes come true with the help of a row of tall, bright, smiling sunflowers.

Away at school, Sally Copeland has always dreamed of going home, but now that she’s there, she feels frightened and unsure of herself.Will her brother and sister accept her? Will she be able to do things for herself? And what will it be like to go to a regular school and be the only one with cerebral palsy?

An autobiography dealing with the author''s career as a writer, her blindness, and her guide dog Zephyr.

Celebrate the love between mother and child in this new board book edition of the sweetest story of all! One by one, baby animals are born on the farm. Frolicking barnyard babies put smiles of love on their mothers'' faces, and each time a new animal is born, another mother yearns for one of her very own. When a new human mom shows off her own baby, it''s the sweetest one of all . . . because it''s her very own. A warm-hearted story with gently humorous rhymes, this sturdy board book is the perfect gift for a new baby''s bookshelf.

With the help of her new friend who has magic boots just like her own, Emma overcomes her shyness and no longer hates reading out loud in school.

Flora Gauld, born in Taiwan of missionary parents, comes to live in Canada and is left with her Aunt Jen when her parents return to Taiwan.

Jean Little''s poignant novel about an abandoned girl, and the dog who helps teach her how to trust again. Ten-year-old Min has had a long history of foster care since she was abandoned at age three. Now, let go by yet another foster family, Min continues to build a protective wall around herself. Her newest caregiver, a former Children''s Aid doctor, sees past Min''s hardened shell and tries to find a way to reach her...and does, finally, by taking in a sick, neglected dog that has escaped from a puppy mill. While watching the dog recover and open its heart to its new owners, Min comes out of her own shell. Readers will rejoice as Min opens her heart and allows herself to be a part of a loving family, to make friends and to finally stand up to the taunts of a bully, whose hurtful words have contributed to her lack of self-esteem.

Two sets of sisters learn about family relationships during a vacation they share at a beach cottage.

Emma has always wanted a little brother. Now her family is adopting Max, and Emma is sure he will be the best brother ever. But Max has his own ideas. He thinks sisters are yucky, and that Emma is the yuckiest! Is this really what having a brother is all about? In Jean Little''s warmhearted, perceptive story about adoption, Emma learns that there is more to having a little brother than she had ever guessed -- and that in order to get the brother she wants, she must first learn to be the sister he needs.

Not only does Meg Copeland have to share a room with her handicapped sister, Sally, she even feels out of place with the rest of her family. And to make it worse, she''s struggling in school and probably won''t move on to the next grade. She''s sure she''s going to be a total failure.

Fee uses her diary to record all of her fears when the Spanish Flu rages through Toronto. It comforts her when she almost loses her twin sister, and when it actually takes their older sister Jemma.

A warm story about friendship and migration from the incomparable Jean Little. Jane and Maya are very different. Maya is a quiet girl and a refugee, new to this country, while chatty and outgoing Jane has lived in the same place her whole life. The girls become instant friends. When they learn about endangered species in school, they decide to do their own small part to help by supporting migrating monarch butterflies. Together they plant a milkweed garden to feed and shelter the tiny creatures, then watch in amazement as a monarch hatches and grows before leaving on the long journey to Mexico. After all the butterflies have departed, Maya shares her own migration story -- her family''s long journey to Canada. Maya wishes the monarchs safety in their new home too. In her heartwarming final story, Jean Little weaves a simple tale of childhood curiosity into larger themes of immigration, friendship and the wonder of the natural world. A true gift of a story from a Canadian treasure.

Shakespeare is a Seeing Eye puppy. But before the time comes for him to train with a blind person, he must spend six months with a girl who has never learned to love. He does all he can to teach her, but the job places him in some dangerous situations and by the end of the story he has earned the title Rescue Pup. Rescue Pup is the first of two books in a series. Book two is Forward, Shakespeare!

When a frightened girl and boy arrive on the Twiss family''s doorstep to escape the Blitz, Charlotte wonders how she will keep her war guests from missing their parents back home, or from cowering every time a plane flies overhead. Though the war is being waged across the Atlantic, Charlotte begins to feel its danger, as her brother George defies their parents and enlists in the Navy. After months of receiving letters from overseas, suddenly there is no word from him -- has the unthinkable happened and George''s ship been sunk by a German submarine? Charlotte Twiss''s diary shows her innermost feelings about her life on the Canadian homefront, as she helps her war guests "settle in" and wonders whether her brother is safe from harm.

Pet wanted Max wants a furry pet. Emma wants a pet too, but she''s allergic to animals with fur. When Emma finds the perfect animal, will Max like his sister''s strange pet?

seems young Elspet Mary has known nothing but loss. First her mother died, then her father, leaving her in the care if her aunt and uncle. With them, she has moved from one lonely Scottish village to another, and now, just as she is beginning to feel at home, she is being torn away again, to move to rugged Upper Canada. What awaits her in the strange new land? What will become of her grandmother, left behind in Scotland, and her beloved cat? Will she finally find a place to call home, a place where she belongs? Told in Jean Little''s inimitable voice, this moving coming-of-age story explores loss, loneliness and love-and the universal search for a place to belong.

A wise, tender, and funny summer adventure story from one of Canada''s most beloved writers for children. On a flight from Vancouver to Toronto, two girls meet, forming an unlikely friendship. Tall, athletic Samantha is going to spend the summer with a family friend while her father is in South America. Alexis, a shy girl who likes books, is being sent to a horse farm to learn how to ride while her mother and stepfather are travelling in Australia. As they talk, Sam and Alex realize they''d each rather be doing what the other is: Sam''s elderly hostess runs a bookshop, and the family Alex is staying with is young and boisterous. By the time their flight lands in Toronto, the girls have hatched their plot. They''re going to trade places for the summer. After all, the people they''re going to visit have never met them, and their own parents are far away and hard to contact. But will they manage to pull it off? For how long? And with what consequences?

Seeing-eye pup, Shakespeare, conquered many fears in Rescue Pup. Now he is back, about to be matched up with a blind boy, ready to begin his working life. Tim is enraged by his blindness and wants nothing to do with a guide dog. But he is no match for Shakespeare.

Harry tries and tries to get rid of his hiccups. He tries drinking a glass of water upside down, he tries putting an ice-cold key down his back, he gleefully tries eating a spoonful of sugar. But nothing works! In this charming picture book, written by children''s literature legend Jean Little and illustrated by award-winning illustrator Joe Weissmann, Harry is afflicted with a case of the hopeless hiccups. It''s not until Harry has a surprise encounter with a different sort of neighbor that it seems like Harry might finally get some relief...hiccup, hiccup...

Dickon wasn''t happy in his old home or his old school. He hopes that in his new neighborhood he will meet children who never knew his old, hyper self, who will like him for who he is now. And he hopes for a dog of his own. Dickon''s mother calls him Birdie. She feeds him milk from a teddy bear mug. She worries if he''s out of her sight for a moment and she knows how filthy and vicious dogs can be. Dickon is delighted to discover that the Humane Society is right on the other side of the fence behind the new house, but only by disobeying his mother will he ever get close to a real dog.

When Emily''s parents move to an eighteen-room house so that her four unpredictable cousins can live with them, life for Emily, an only child, is never again the same.

While on a picnic, a father puts together familiar elements from various stories until he comes up with a version his children like.

Gruntle decides to leave the city to be a "real" pig like her grandfather, but she discovers that rolling in muck and eating swill and living without any books to read are not for her.

As the world around her braces itself for World War II, a young Canadian girl with impaired vision prepares to begin public high school.

The very future of the nation was at stake ... This handsome, affordable paperback edition contains James Madison''s entire narrative of the stirring historic debates that led to the creation of one of the free world''s most respected documents: the Constitution of the United States. Known today as the "Father of the Constitution," Madison clearly and precisely chronicles the often-heated discussions, and his is the primary record of the events that established the United States government, its division of power, and ultimately the character of American democracy. Through Madison''s words we understand the essence of the personalities involved and the conflict and compromise that was inherent in the drafting of the document. The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 includes Madison''s notes and remarks as well as other requisite information for interpreting the events of that historic year. The work is divided into three parts: "Antecedents of the Federal Convention of 1787," which presents the complete text of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation; "The Federal Convention of 1787," a day-by-day description of the debates surrounding the formation of the Constitution; and "The Constitution, Its Ratification, and Amendments," which presents the complete text of the Constitution, documents attesting to its ratification, and the Bill of Rights. With a preface by University of Richmond historian Robert Alley, this landmark work is absolutely indispensable for historians, scholars, and all those who treasure America''s heritage.

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Visually impaired from birth, Jean Little constantly faced new difficulties. Encouraged by her parents she began to write. She now is one of Canada''s leading children''s authors.

Cumulative rhyming tale of a man who swallows a flea, a piranha, and even a wapiti, while his dog warns that his eating habits will be the death of him.