Itâ??s Lennyâ??s first day at playschool and heâ??s a bit nervous. Mum takes him there, and he meets a little girl called Lucy, who looks after him. Lenny and Lucy sing a song, do some drawing, ride the tricycles and play with a ball. Then, after a drink of juice itâ??s time for a story. When itâ??s time to go home Lenny wants to stay a bit longer to play with his new friend. And he canâ??t wait to come back tomorrow.

Reading the World’s Stories is volume 5 in the Bridges to Understanding series of annotated international youth literature bibliographies sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People. USBBY is the United States chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), a Switzerland-based nonprofit whose mission is bring books and children together. The series promotes sharing international children’s books as a way to facilitate intercultural understanding and meet new literary voices. This volume follows Children’s Books from Other Countries (1998), The World though Children’s Books (2002), Crossing Boundaries with Children’s Books (2006), and Bridges to Understanding: Envisioning the World through Children’s Books (2011) and acts as a companion book to the earlier titles. Centered around the theme of the importance of stories, the guide is a resource for discovering more recent global books that fit many reading tastes and educational needs for readers aged 0-18 years. Essays by storyteller Anne Pellowski, author Beverley Naidoo, and academic Marianne Martens offer a variety of perspectives on international youth literature. This latest installment in the series covers books published from 2010-2014 and includes English-language imports as well as translations of children’s and young adult literature first published outside of the United States. These books are supplemented by a smaller number of culturally appropriate books from the US to help fill in gaps from underrepresented countries. The organization of the guide is geographic by region and country. All of the more than 800 entries are recommended, and many of the books have won awards or achieved other recognition in their home countries. Forty children’s book experts wrote the annotations. The entries are indexed by author, translator, illustrator, title, and subject. Back matter also includes international book awards, important organizations and research collections, and a selected directory of publishers known for publishing books from other countries.

Lenny is in the garden with Mummy. While Mummy does some gardening, Lenny plays along. This simple and endearing story of parent and child sharing an everyday activity is perfect for reading with young toddlers. It has been created by a well-respected and successful author and illustrator of children's books and introduces a hugely appealing character.

"Where's Lenny? In the cupboard? In the bathroom? Daddy follows the clues until he and Mommy see a little giggly lump under the bedclothes in Lenny's bedroom. This warm, loving, everyday story is about building confidence and independence." --Page 4 of cover.

From one of the most gifted writers of her generation comes the harrowing and exquisitely written true story of how a family tragedy saved her life. Dani Shapiro was a young girl from a deeply religious home who became the girlfriend of a famous and flamboyant married attorney—her best friend's stepfather. The moment Lenny Klein entered her life, everything changed: she dropped out of college, began to drink heavily, and became estranged from her family and friends. But then the phone call came. There had been an accident on a snowy road near her family's home in New Jersey, and both her parents lay hospitalized in critical condition. This haunting memoir traces her journey back into the world she had left behind. At a time when she was barely able to take care of herself, she was faced with the terrifying task of taking care of two people who needed her desperately. Dani Shapiro charts a riveting emotional course as she retraces her isolated, overprotected Orthodox Jewish childhood in an anti-Semitic suburb, and draws the connections between that childhood and her inevitable rebellion and self-destructiveness. She tells of a life nearly ruined by the gift of beauty, and then saved by the worst thing imaginable. This is a beautiful and unforgettable memoir of a life utterly transformed by tragedy.

A moving novel about love, loss and growing up with a brother who has gigantism "Tough, tender and beautiful"Glenda Millard, author of The Stars at Oktober Bend Lenny Spink is the sister of a giant. Her little brother Davey won't stop growing - and at seven is as tall as a man. When they receive their monthly instalment of Burrell's Build-It-at-Home Encyclopedia set, fun and excitement burst into Lenny and Davey's lives. The amazing, mysterious entries in the book's pages give them a way to dream of escape: Lenny vows to become a beetle expert, while Davey decides he will run away to Canada and build a log cabin. But as Davey's disease progresses, the siblings' richly imagined world becomes harder to cling to in this deeply moving and original novel about grief, family and wonder. "Warm, humorous, absolutely real and above all, uplifting... Karen Foxlee, you're a genius" Wendy Orr, author of Dragonfly Song Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Australia. She trained and worked as a nurse before studying for a degree in creative writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She is the author of five books, including The Anatomy of Wings, which won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book in the South East Asia and South Pacific region, and Lenny's Book of Everything, which is published by Pushkin Children's Books.