Life is especially tough for Joey. Not only does he struggle with ADHD, his family is truly dysfunctional. Readers will sense that Joey is a good kid who’s trying to do the right things, but often without much support. Readers will likely laugh and weep for Joey.

Sophie is really, really angry! Her sister took her stuffed gorilla. Then Sophie triped on a toy truck. Furious, she slams out the front door and just keeps running. Soon, though, she calms down and starts to notice the ferns and birds. Before long she is ready to be back with her family.

There are a ton of books that offer child-rearing advice, and only a few less that describe research on childhood emotional and learning problems; this is one of the few books that combines the two. Edward Hallowell brings readers into his consultation rooms to meet his clients — and the descriptions and dialogue are effective in bringing the situations to life. When You Worry About the Child You Love will help you understand why your child is unhappy or underachieving, will help you help your child to manage her emotions, and perhaps most important, will help parents do what they can and stop blaming themselves.

Here is a model of reading ideal for striving readers, focused on their personal interests, topic-specific reading, deep background knowledge, contextual reading strategies, and mentoring support. More important, the model moves away from a deficit approach to conceptualize striving readers in a new way. Chapters share success stories of readers who overcome their struggles and highlight instructional strategies and materials you can use to develop activities and lessons for children and adults. Use this research-based model in the classroom or at home to help your striving readers achieve high levels of literacy.

Are you brave enough to be your true self? Ikarus Jackson is, but it isn’t always easy. The people in his neighborhood point at his wings. The kids at school laugh. The teachers call him a distraction. One girl identifies with Ikarus, but she is too shy to speak up for herself, let alone for him. Maybe I should have said something to those mean kids, she thinks, when their taunts send him drifting into the sky. Inspired by Ikarus’s own courage, she sets out in search of him and so begins her own journey of self discovery — leaving both of them transformed. “I wanted to create a book that tells kids never to abandon the things that make them different, to be proud of what makes them unique. Every child has his own beauty, her own talents. Ikarus Jackson can fly through the air; I want kids to find their own set of wings and soar with him.” — Christopher Myers

“…the book is a winner! This charming tale delivers a message of respect, resilience and hope to its young audience…The adventures of the appealing characters are extraordinarily effective in demystifying learning disabilities for special needs kids and their classmates. It belongs in every elementary school library, and save room on the shelves for the sequels!” — Rick Lavoie, Former Executive Director of Riverview School in East Sandwich, MA, and producer of How Difficult Can This Be?: The F.A.T. City Workshop

This is the story of Chic L. Dee, a boy bird with learning disabilites, who flip-flops when he tries to fly. While he struggles to accept his limitations, he begins to discover his talents, trust his intuition and find his own way. Perhaps most importantly, he learns about making room for differences. Any kid who has ever felt embarrassed socially, who has ever resorted to bravado in the face of shame, will understand Chic — and love this story.

“I’m normal because I am a normal kid — going to school, being happy, getting homework, having a family. I’m not normal because I’m dyslexic…” Thus begins the autobiography of an eleven-year-old boy who describes how he created a board game based on the popular Harry Potter series and entered it into his school’s yearly Invention Convention, where it became an instant hit.

Zipper, is a bright, well-intentioned fifth-grader whose impulsive behavior gets him into trouble at home and at school. He speaks before he thinks, making it hard to keep friends; he forgets to do his homework; and although he’s a talented pitcher, he misses a key baseball game. Follow Zipper as he discovers a newfound talent and learns to manage his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.