Books with author Adam Gustavson

After Papa loses his job during the Depression, Hannah’s family moves to rural Minnesota, where she is the only Jewish child in her class. When her teacher tries to arrange carpools for a Saturday class picnic, Hannah is upset. Her Jewish family is observant, and she knows she cannot ride on the Sabbath. What will she do? A lovely story of friendship and community.

When Charlie exaggerates about his dad’s career and convinces his classmates that his dad would be the greatest Career Week speaker ever, what will happen if his dad actually does come and his friends find out the truth?When his classmates are boasting about their parents’ jobs, Charlie gets carried away and leaves the impression that his accountant dad is not only the president of his company but also that he will hand out free calculators to everyone. With rumors flying around the school and expectations escalating, Charlie jumps the gun and tells his teacher Mrs. Burke that his dad can speak to their class during Career Week. Now Charlie has no choice. He has to get his dad to come in. But then, just before the big event Mr. Bumpers loses his job. Charlie is dumbfounded and devastated. How will he explain to his class? Will his dad still come in during Career Week? Fortunately, Mr. Bumpers has some very surprising plans of his own.This fun series for young readers from Grammy–award winning author, Bill Harley, uses humor to illuminate important values such as learning to live together as a family and making the best of a bad situation.

Can Charlie face his fear of horror movies and enjoy Halloween?Charlie and Tommy have big plans for Halloween. They’re going to trick-or-treat and sleep over at Alex’s house. But when Charlie finds out that the entertainment at the party will be the “Scariest Horror Movies Ever,” he is struck by panic. Charlie loves candy, he loves sleepovers with his friends, but he absolutely hates horror movies.There is yet another wrinkle in Charlie’s Halloween plans. He is determined to win the big prize (ten movie tickets) that will be awarded for the best costume, but when he finally comes up with a genius prize-winning idea, he runs into an unexpected obstacle. How will Charlie be able to enjoy Halloween this year?This fun series for young readers from Grammy–award winning author, Bill Harley uses humor to illuminate important values such as taking responsibility, being helpful, and making the best of a bad situation.

Charlie Bumpers’s worst fear is confirmed: he has Mrs. Burke for fourth grade. How will he survive a year with the strictest teacher in the whole school?Shortly before school starts, Charlie Bumpers learns that he will be in Mrs. Burke’s class. It doesn’t matter that she’s been named Teacher of the Year. He’s still afraid of her. Last year when he was horsing around in the hall, he accidentally hit her in the head with his sneaker (don’t ask). The exasperated teacher declared that if anything like that ever happened again, Charlie would be banned from recess forever. How will he survive a year under a teacher who is just waiting for him to make another stupid mistake?This fun series for young readers from Grammy award-winning author, Bill Harley uses humor to illuminate important values such as tolerance, helpfulness, kindness, and making the best of a bad situation.

Charlie is cooking up some wacky plans to keep his friend Hector from returning to Chile, but when he learns that some classmates are bullying Hector, he turns all his energy to solving that problem.When Charlie learns that Hector’s family is moving back to Chile at the end of the year, he is crushed. With Tommy’s help, he immediately starts cooking up schemes to keep Hector here, including a campaign to get him selected as next year’s School Ambassador. (Surely Hector will have to stay, Charlie reasons, if he has such an important job.) As usual, Charlie’s schemes lead to one near-disaster after another. But moving away from his friends turns out to be the least of Hector’s problems. Three mean boys have targeted him for bullying and are making his life miserable. Hector wants to solve the problem by himself, but Charlie and Tommy see that he needs help. They start a campaign to save Hector and to defeat “The Jerzollies of Darkness.” This fun series for young readers from Grammy Award-winning author Bill Harley uses humor to illuminate important values such as learning to live together as a family and making the best of a bad situation. For more on this series, visit the Charlie Bumpers website here.

Can Charlie be a polite host to the most annoying little cousin in the universe?It’s Thanksgiving in the Bumpers’ household and Charlie has to be the perfect host to his annoying little cousin, Chip. Chip makes everything hard for Charlie―gets him in trouble, ruins his things, and generally makes a nuisance of himself. On top of that, for homework, Mrs. Burke has assigned Charlie the task of writing what a family is to him. How will Charlie be able to see past his “turkey” of a cousin to understand the real meaning of family?Grammy award-winning Bill Harley continues his fun series for young readers using humor to get across some important values such as learning to live together as a family and making the best of a bad situation.

Charlie is ready to play the bad guy in the class play, but Mrs. Burke has other ideas!Charlie Bumpers has his heart set on playing the role of the evil Sorcerer in the fourth grade play. But his dreams of villainous stardom go up in smoke when he finds out that Mrs. Burke has cast him as the Nice Gnome! Determined to rectify this terrible injustice, Charlie concocts one plan after another, but nothing seems to work.To make matters worse, his dad has assigned chores to all the kids in the family and Charlie’s job is walking Ginger – the diggiest, sniffiest, and poopiest dog in the universe. Can Charlie deal with these challenges without causing havoc all around him?This fun series for young readers from Grammy–award winning author, Bill Harley’s uses humor to illuminate important values such as taking responsibility, being helpful, and making the best of a bad situation.

Charlie Bumpers is finally on the same soccer team as his two best friends, and they’re sure the Pirates will be the best team ever! But their high hopes are crushed on the first day of practice.Not only do they have a bunch of shrimpy and inexperienced teammates, their new coach doesn’t believe in star players. The first few games are a big disappointment to Charlie. So, if they can’t be on a winning team, Charlie thinks, maybe he, Tommy, and Hector can at least win the prize for selling the most candy bars for the fundraiser. But after a series of near catastrophes, Charlie and his friends learn that hotshot plays and gimmicky sales techniques aren’t as effective as hard work, honesty, and cooperation.Grammy Award-winner Bill Harley continues his fun series for young readers, using humor to illuminate important values such as working together as a team and making the best of a bad situation.

The biography of William Ellsworth Hoy, the first deaf player to have a successful career in professional and Major League baseball.Now in paperback! William Hoy loved baseball. Growing up in the 1860s and '70s, he dreamed of one day playing in the major leagues. A far-off fantasy for many boys, fulfilling this dream was even more of a long shot for William, who was deaf.Striving to find his place in a hearing world, Hoy became a shoemaker. He took pride in his work, but baseball was still his real love. When an amateur team coach saw him playing behind the shoemaker's shop, Hoy dazzled the coach with his hard-hitting skills. Moving from amateur clubs to the minor leagues and eventually to the majors, Hoy proved himself again and again-overcoming obstacles and becoming a star both on and off the baseball diamond.Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy is a tribute to one of the most inspirational figures in baseball history. A talented player with a standout record, Hoy is a shining example that success in life should not be measured by differences but by drive and determination.

A little courage yields unexpected surprises when Justin visits the dreaded lost and found.When Justin loses the special hat his grandmother made for him, he looks everywhere for it. Everywhere, that is, except the lost and found. Mr. Rumkowsky, the old school custodian, is the keeper of all the lost and found items, and everyone is afraid of him, including Justin. When he finally musters the courage to enter Mr. Rumkowsky’s domain, he discovers a whole world of treasures. But things keep getting weirder and weirder, until way down at the bottom of Rumkowsky’s giant box Justin unearths something completely unexpected…Bill Harley and Adam Gustavson team up to bring readers a fun and witty story about how a little courage can go a long way.

William Hoy loved baseball. Growing up in the 1860s and '70s, he dreamed of one day playing in the major leagues. A far-off fantasy for many boys, fulfilling this dream was even more of a long shot for William, who was deaf.Striving to find his place in a hearing world, Hoy became a shoemaker. He took pride in his work, but baseball was still his real love. When an amateur team coach saw him playing behind the shoemaker's shop, Hoy dazzled the coach with his hard-hitting skills. Moving from amateur clubs to the minor leagues and eventually to the majors, Hoy proved himself again and again--overcoming obstacles and becoming a star both on and off the baseball diamond.Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy is a tribute to one of the most inspirational figures in baseball history. A talented player with a standout record, Hoy is a shining example that success in life should not be measured by differences but by drive and determination.

Charley was rough. Charley was tough. Charley wore fancy blue gloves.Charley Parkhurst always was more comfortable around horses than around humans. One of the most respected stagecoach drivers in the old West, Charley also kept one of the biggest secrets anyone could keep.Now, through thrilling paintings and Verla Kay’s signature cryptic rhyme, readers are invited to explore an amazing real life, lived without limits.