Jill walked over and stood next to Sally. She played right before Sally in the recital. "I liked your pieces," Jill said. Sally said, "But I messed up on the second one. It sounded really bad." "Oh, I didn't notice," Jill said. She shrugged, "I made a couple of mistakes too. It's no big deal" Sally thought Jill was just trying to be nice. She couldn't remember Jill every making a mistake when she played. In fact, she made it look so easy all the time. After another sip of punch and a chocolate chip cookie, Sally was ready to leave. She wasn't in a very good mood and most of all she didn't want to face Mrs. Pratt. Sally felt like she had let her down. Sally Sanders is a perfectionist—if can’t she be the best, she feels like a failure. Sally procrastinates, shies away from new things, and constantly compares herself to others, convinced she’s not good enough. With the help of her teachers and mother, Sally learns how to relax and try new things without worrying so much about being the best. She can just be herself, and that is all she needs.

The Detroit Tigers, an umpire, a pitcher, and a mistake—one of the “classic, human, baseball stories” (Ken Burns, creator of the PBS mini-series Baseball). The perfect game is one of the rarest accomplishments in sports. In nearly four hundred thousand contests in over 130 years, it has happened only twenty times. On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga threw baseball’s twenty-first. Except that’s not how it entered the record books. That’s because Jim Joyce, voted the best umpire in the game in 2010 and 2011, missed the call on the final out. But rather than throwing a tantrum, Galarraga simply turned and smiled, went back to the mound, and finished the game. “Nobody’s perfect,” he said later in the locker room. “You might think everything that could have been said, replayed, and revealed about that night has already been uttered, logged, and exposed. You would, however, be as wrong as the unfortunate Mr. Joyce” (The Detroit News). In Nobody’s Perfect, Galarraga and Joyce come together to tell the personal story of a remarkable game that will live forever in baseball lore, and to trace their fascinating lives in sports. The result is “a masterpiece”, an absorbing insider’s look at two careers in baseball, a tremendous achievement, and an enduring moment of pure grace and sportsmanship (The Huffington Post).

Megan has spent forever planning her positively purple birthday sleepover. She's even made glittery purple invitations for every girl in her class. Then a new girl, Alexis Powell, joins their class. Alexis seems perfect: She's smart, pretty, and rules the soccer games on the playground. But no matter how hard Megan tries to be a friend to Alexis, the new girl is aloof or rude. At first Megan thinks Alexis is shy. Then Megan starts to fear that Alexis is treating her differently because she's deaf. When the girls are forced to collaborate on a science fair project, Megan learns the truth -- and realizes that nobody's perfect. Once again Marlee Matlin draws on experiences from her own childhood to tell Megan's story. In this funny, poignant book, readers will root for Megan, a spirited young girl who doesn't let anything stand in her way.

Collects stories by teenagers about retaining a positive body image, staying true to oneself, acceptance of positive and negative circumstances, and forgiveness.

One of the most important gifts parents can give to their children is an understanding of postive values. The Values to Grow on series will help children learn about values such as honesty friendship sharing responsibility love and selfesteem. The delightful stories in the series feature Jim Henson's Muppets in entertaining adventures that not only provide gentle lessons but also provide hours of reading pleasure.

The author of "I, Fellini" offers a candid look at the life and career of the great film director, Billy Wilder--much of it told in his own voice. 20 photos.