Exploration Station Library: Picture Books

In the third book of her Right Now series, Dr. Daniela Owen, Ph.D. helps children learn what it means to be kind and aware of other people. Sometimes children just want to think about themselves, but we live in a world with lots of other people. It's important to be aware of and kind to all of these other people. This book is a guide for children to help them understand why being aware is important, and what actions they can do to show kindness. Dr. Daniela Owen, Ph.D. is a clinical child psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works primarily with children, adolescents, and their families and specializes in using evidence-based treatments to help with managing anxiety, worry, anger, and low mood. Through her children's books, Daniela brings to life concepts and strategies that can be helpful for children everywhere. Here, at Puppy Dogs & Ice Cream, we believe that children's books are more than just stories - they're vessels of inspiration, education, and imagination. Every book we publish is carefully selected to teach kids valuable lessons that will last a lifetime. From the publisher who brought to you "Fiona Flamingo", "Right Now, I Am Fine", "Zen Pig", "The Snowman's Song", "Bug Soup", and "The Super Tiny Ghost", "Right Now, I Am Kind" is a welcome addition to our incredible collection of best-selling children's books!

In simple, powerful words and vibrant illustrations, Donald Crews evokes the rolling wheels of that childhood favorite: a train. This Caldecott Honor Book features bright colors and bold shapes. Even a child not lucky enough to have counted freight cars will feel he or she has watched a freight train passing after reading Freight Train. Donald Crews used childhood memories of trains seen during his travels to his grandparents' farm in the American South as the inspiration for this timeless favorite. New York magazine's The Strategist chose Freight Train as one of the "Best (Nonobvious) Baby Books to Bring to a Shower." As The Strategist stated: "The Caldecott Honor Book is spare and minimal in both art and text and follows the journey of a freight train and all its cars until it rolls off the page and into the distance. It's a good way to learn all the different names of train cars, too." Red caboose at the back, orange tank car, green cattle car, purple box car, black tender and a black steam engine . . . freight train.

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Featured in its own episode in the Netflix original show Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices! National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone. There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway. (This book is also available in Spanish, as El Día En Que Descubres Quién Eres!)