Pines and Plains Libraries

Misnamed by her teacher, seven-year-old Just Grace prides herself on being empathetic, but when she tries to help a neighbor feel better, her good intentions backfire.

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.

"Workplace positivity expert Shola Richards (Making Work Work) explores a radical new concept for rethinking our personal, professional, and social lives: togetherness."-- The African philosophy of Ubuntu embraces the belief that we are universally connected to each other. Richards suggests it could transform the way we treat others, making us kinder and more respectful to others, on and off the job. He believes that the illusion that we are more...

A little girl feels everything too deeply and she does not know how to be okay with all the sadness she sees, so she makes a "rhino suit" to keep herself safe from pain--only to discover that inside the suit she is shutting out not only the pain, but the beauty and love in the world as well.

"Annabelle discovers an animal bone in the woods and decides to make it her new plaything. But nature ends up moving Annabelle in mysterious ways. At first, Boney, as Annabelle names him, makes the perfect companion. While Mom is busy with the baby, Boney and Annabelle share a meal, play at the park, and share a bedtime story before Annabelle tucks Boney into his shoebox-bed for the night. But when creatures run wild through her dreams, Annabelle...

"A cogent, gorgeous examination of empathy, illuminating the myths, the science, and the power behind this transformative emotion

Empathy has become a gaping fault line in American culture. Pioneering programs aim to infuse our legal and educational systems with more empathic thinking, even as pundits argue over whether we should bother empathizing with our political opposites at all. Meanwhile, we are inundated with the buzzily termed...

In Think Like a Horse, veteran "horse whisperer" and leadership expert Grant Golliher applies his hard-won horse sense to teach invaluable lessons anyone can use to live a fuller, more successful life. Grant Golliher is what some would call a "horse whisperer," able to get a wild horse to calmly accept a saddle and a rider without the use of force. Through training thousands of horses, many traumatized or abused, Golliher was able to learn essential...

"Needed now more than ever: a guide that includes 500 diverse contemporary fiction and memoir recommendations for preteens and teens with the goal of inspiring greater empathy for themselves, their peers, and the world around them. As young people are diagnosed with anxiety and depression in increasing numbers, or dealing with other issues that can isolate them from family and friends-such as bullying, learning disabilities, racism, or homophobia-characters...

"A new ... literary horror ... about a family returning to their hometown--and to the dark past that haunts them still. Long ago, Nathan Graves lived in a house in the country with his abusive father--and has never told his family what happened in that house. Long ago, Maddie Graves was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn't--and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago,...

A dark past. A hidden power. A dangerous enemy. Harley Merlin has a lot of unanswered questions in her life. What drove her father to kill her mother? How can she know the true extent of her magical abilities? Has Wade Crowley always been this annoying? After the violent gargoyle incident that left many dead, Harley fears what other evil tricks her psychotic aunt has up her sleeve. When she discovers that magical foster kids like herself are in danger,...