eSource: Free Teaching Guides
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The Button Box
After Jewish fifth-grader Ava and her Muslim best friend Nadeem are called hateful names at school, Ava’s Granny Buena rummages in her closet and pulls out a glittering crystal button box. It’s packed with buttons that generations of Ava’s Sephardic ancestors have… View →
The Chilly Adventures of Mr. Small
Mr. Small, a little hamster who encounters adventure whenever he leaves his cage, meets a snowflake and together they explore a winter wonderland and make many new friends. View →
The Christmas Mitzvah
Al Rosen, a Jewish man, takes on the jobs of his Christian neighbors on Christmas Eve and day so they can spend the holiday with their families, starting a tradition that lasts for decades. A mitzvah, as Al explains, is a good deed, especially apt on holidays. A… View →
The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent
Eighteen-year-old Del is in a healthier place than she was a year and a half ago: She’s sober, getting treatment for her depression and anxiety, and volunteering at a suicide-prevention hotline. Her own suicide attempt is in the past, and living in San Francisco with her beloved… View →
The Color of Sound
Twelve-year-old Rosie is a musical prodigy whose synesthesia allows her to see music in colors. Her mom has always pushed her to become a concert violinist, but this summer Rosie refuses to play, wanting a “normal” life. Forced to spend the summer… View →
The Contest
Four teenagers in need of money and a second chance are offered the chance to enter a mysterious high-stakes “contest” with a $10 million prize. To compete, they each must do a series of strange tasks—and they gradually realize that they’re caught in an elaborate plot… View →
The Deep Blue Between
Twin sisters Hassana and Husseina have always shared their lives. But after a raid on their village in 1892, the twins are torn apart. Taken in different directions, far from their home in rural West Africa, each sister finds freedom and a new start. Hassana… View →
The Fabulous Cakes of Zinnia Jakes
Zoe Jones is Zinnia Jakes, a nine-year-old secret pastry chef! She makes the tastiest and most wonderful cakes. Together with her magical cat, Coco, her best friend Addie, and her aunt Jam, they get into incredible adventures. View →
The Fairy-Tale Color Collection
These wordless picture books play with the reader’s knowledge of fairy tales to set up expectations, then show how making assumptions can end up completely off-target. Each book ends with a delightful surprise, an aha moment of discovery that reveals the story to end very… View →
The Fight for Black Rights (Alternator Books ®)
Examine the struggle for justice for Black Americans, from voter suppression and the controversy over Confederate monuments to the protests against police brutality and racially motivated violence. Gain historical and current context to understand why the fight for Black rights continues View →
The Flight of Swans
Based on the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale Six Swans, The Flight of Swans follows Ryn’s journey to save her family and their kingdom. Princess Andaryn’s six older brothers have always been her protectors—until her father takes a new Queen, a View →
The Four Freedoms
In 1941, on the eve of the nation’s entry into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to Congress and the world. In the speech, he outlined four universal freedoms that people around the world deserved. The Four Freedoms shows why these freedoms were important to fight View →
The Girl Who Saved Yesterday
When the girl, Silence, is sent by the trees to save Yesterday, she doesn’t know what her task is, only that it is important. Returning to the village that cast her out, Silence recognizes her purpose: to join the dead with the living in an act that celebrates their memory. View →
The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist!
An exuberant read aloud story about a school trip outdoors with rhyming word play and madcap energy, set against the quiet observant Liam. From the award-winning creators of That’s Not a Hippopotamus. It’s the class trip to Dismal Hills wilderness. The… View →
The Inkberg Enigma
“Haven’t you always thought there’s something WEIRD about this town, Miro?” Miro and Zia live in Aurora, a fishing town nestled in the shadow of an ancient castle. Miro lives in his books; Zia is never without her camera. The day… View →
Their Skeletons Speak
On July 28, 1996, two young men stumbled upon human bones in the shallow water along the shore of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. Was this an unsolved murder? The remnants of some settler’s or Native American’s unmarked grave? What was the story behind this… View →
The Jane Doe Chronicles
For countless centuries, the people of Bluehaven worshiped the Manor―trekking through its gateway to the Otherworlds, returning with tales of adventure―until the Night of All Catastrophes, when the Manor sealed its doors. On that very night, two strangers arrived in Bluehaven: John Doe… View →
The Life Heroic
Heroes are superhuman. Or at least it’s easy to assume that when you read ripped-from-the-news stories of derring-do. But in reality, almost anyone who’s motivated can be a hero, and the heroes who make the biggest impact aren’t always the ones who make headlines. This… View →
The Little Pirate Queen
Lucy sails across the sea, fixing and mending her small rickety raft, hoping to reach Far Away Island. But when a gigantic wave sweeps all the other children away, except Lucy, the Little Pirate Queen is determined to rescue everyone no matter what. “With… View →
The Little Tree
When the Little Tree sees the world around her narrowing, she worries about what life will be like for her Little Seed. She decides to take the biggest risk of all, and let Little Seed find a richer life on her own. View →
The Long, Long Journey
Crackle! Crackle! Crunch! What’s hatching from that egg? It’s a young bar-tailed godwit. She will spend the summer in Alaska learning to fly, find her own food, and escape from scary predators. Her long, long journey begins in October when she flies to New Zealand. This… View →
The Manic Panic
Some grown-ups have so much screen time that they just can’t cope when the wifi goes out. Luckily the grown-ups in Manic Panic live with a smart kid who loves to read and an adventurous grandma who knows how to have fun without the internet. Manic Panic is a wry… View →
The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project
Riley lives in TropeTown, where everyone plays stock roles in novels. Riley, a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, is sent to group therapy after going off-script. Riley knows that breaking the rules again could get him terminated, yet he feels there must be more to life than recycling the same… View →
The Many Faces of George Washington
“No picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person . . . there was an expression of his face that no painter had succeeded in taking.”—London’s New Monthly Magazine in 1790 George Washington’s face has been painted,… View →