Child Esteem

Feeling anxious about middle school’s academic challenges? Struggling to balance school, friends, and personal interests? If you’re nodding “yes,” you’re not alone. Many middle schoolers face similar struggles, but this guide is here to help. Welcome to the ultimate survival guide for middle schoolers, parents, and educators.

Norbert Riddle lives in the United State of Earth, where normal means following the rules, never standing out, and being exactly the same as everyone else, down to the plain gray jumpsuits he wears everyday. He's been normal his whole life - until a moment of temporary hilarity when he does a funny impression of their dictator, Loving Leader...and gets caught! Now, Norbert's been arrested and banished to planet Zorquat 3 in the Orion Nebula, where kids who defy the rules roam free in the Astronuts camp.

When Cam’s family decides to go to a luau during their vacation in Hawaii, he decides to stay behind to play some video games in the hotel. Lost in gaming euphoria, Cam slowly begins to realize that the rumbling noises aren’t coming from the TV—the entire hotel is shaking. Cam glances out the window of his hotel room just in time to see the nearby “inactive” volcano explode.

Garden Glen is a very bland place. Every house and every garden looks exactly like the other. That is... until Millie Fleur La Fae comes to town. Up on a scruffy hill, beside a ramschackle house, Millie Fleur plants her marvelously strange garden, filled with Sneezing Stickyweed, Fanged Fairymoss, and Grumpy Gilliflower. Millie Fleur finds it enchanting, but the townspeople of Garden Glen call it poison! But Millie Fleur is proud of her beloved little garden.

In this extraordinary new tale from Peter H. Reynolds, Jerome discovers the magic of the words all around him—short and sweet words, two-syllable treats, and multisyllable words that sound like little songs. Words that connect, transform, and empower.

Cameron Poole has a problem, a big problem: he's a bully magnet who struggles with anxiety. Being the smallest sixth-grader at his summer camp, everything around him triggers his everyday struggles with anxiety, or with his Beast, making it impossible for him to do the same things other kids can do. In a constant state of worry, Cameron feels like a perpetual failure, his self-esteem crushed. That's bad enough, but when Cameron learns that mythical monsters are trying to invade his camp, things go from bad to worse.

This is a story about a crayon I know. I wrote it for you.

Kids can be brave, just like adults, especially as they embrace the plan God has for their lives. New York Times bestselling author Annie F. Downs presents honest wisdom and humor, giving kids the courage and confidence to deal with everything from community engagement and friendships to anxiety and difficult changes in life.

Stephen Curry’s journey to the NBA wasn’t easy. Coaches and recruiters repeatedly told him he was too small to make it in the big leagues. But Stephen used their doubts to shape his ever-positive attitude and fuel his own underdog success story. Now, Curry pens an original story to inspire the next generation of go-getters and big dreamers.

Lotus Bloom just wants to express herself—with her violin, her retro style, and her peaceful vibe, not to mention her fabulous hair. Lotus is taking her talent to the seventh grade at a new school of the arts. The one where she just might get to play under a famous maestro. But Lotus's best friend thinks she should stay at their school. Rebel wants Lotus to help her protest, but Lotus isn't sure. If she's going to be in the spotlight, she'd rather it be for her music. When boys throw paper wads and airplanes into Lotus's afro, she finds herself in trouble for a dress code violation.

As the only Indian American kid in her small town, Lekha Divekar feels like she has two versions of herself: Home Lekha, who loves watching Bollywood movies and eating Indian food, and School Lekha, who pins her hair over her bindi birthmark and avoids confrontation at all costs, especially when someone teases her for being Indian. When a girl Lekha’s age moves in across the street, Lekha is excited to hear that her name is Avantika and she’s Desi, too! Finally, there will be someone else around who gets it.

Remove negative thinking and replace with positive thinking!

Five generations after Riley and Clay first set foot on Shiprock, the community is thriving. Liberated from the Breeders, the new society is free to live and love how they chose. Eighteen-year-old Meg is Shiprock’s apprentice gunslinger and wise-cracking security guard, keeping the people safe as she patrols the stony cliffs. She can hit a target at 50 paces with her eyes closed, and yet, she’s never ventured outside the sheer cliffs of her home. It isn’t safe out there. Marauders still roam, snatching up unsuspecting victims.

Magnolia “Maggie” Hagen is determined to be in the spotlight . . . if she can just get over her stage fright. This summer, though, she has big plans to finally attend Camp Rising Star, the famous performing arts camp she’s been dying to go to for three whole summers. But on the last day of school, her parents break the news: Maggie isn’t going to Camp Rising Star. She’s being shipped off to fat camp—and not just any fat camp. She’s going to Camp Sylvania, run by world-famous wellness influencer Sylvia Sylvania, who is known for her soon-to-be-patented Scarlet Diet.

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. She and her mother moved to Louisiana from the Philippines when she was little, and her mother still cooks Filipino foods and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” When Apple’s friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show her how special she really is.

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city saved by the magic woven into its walls when a devastating plague swept through the world years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the Earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow, who spends his days in the dark cellar of his master's shop grinding herbs and dreaming of wizards.

Fascinated by marine wildlife, a little Black boy dreams of one day swimming in the ocean alongside all the creatures that make it their home. It will take courage to move from the safety of the swimming pool to the vastness of the ocean, but as he begins his journey of discovery, he soon finds there’s nothing he can’t do. He realizes if he cares about the animals in the ocean, he must also care about their home and sets out to preserve the beaches he loves by picking up trash.

Before the storm, thirteen-year-old Quinn was happy flying under the radar. She was average. Unremarkable. Always looking for an escape from her house, where her bickering parents fawned over her genius big brother.

Woody wants to get un-weird - and fast! And he'll find help in the most unlikely of places. Woody is forever worried about being different. He thinks himself weird and a bit of a wuss, and two bullies, Della and Casey, make sure he doesn't forget that. It doesn't help that his mum is slightly bonkers. She dresses up as a sheep for a living - mostly for her job as a children's entertainer. And not to mention the fact that she forces Woody to wear old granny jumpers that she finds down the local charity shop.

Pinkalicious loves the color pink, but all the girls at school like black. They tease her, saying that pink stinks and pink is for babies. But Pinkalicious doesn't think so - that is, until her friends stop playing with her. Now Pinkalicious has a case of the blues. But could she ever turn her back on her favorite color?