Books published by publisher Youth Communication

A new audiobook from the critically acclaimed and internationally award-winning author, Aaron Braxton's, Jesse and the Caterpillar Who Got Its Wings! An unforgettable, fascinating, and deeply moving, coming-of-age portrait about discovering relationships, searching for greatness, and growing up amidst the Midwest. Jesse, and awkward 5th grade loner, has an intelligence and curiosity that has always made him see the world differently. Anchored by his blossoming friendship with the pretty and infinitely more popular Khalilah, he experiences love, loss, and tragedy, while using the shape shifting metamorphosis of caterpillars - from craving, crawling, earthbound creatures, to graceful winged beauties - as lessons for life, building self-awareness, and appreciating an identity he never fully understood. No longer sure of anything, an unexpected disaster causes him to question everything he always thought he knew about the world and about life. "The book is so pure," says Hollywood writer/director Tim Chey, "I read it in ONE sitting and absolutely LOVED IT!” Bold, beautiful, insightful, and raw, this transcendent work, takes you inside the precocious and subconscious lenses of an ordinary, and at times, extraordinary young adolescent. The story will make you laugh, cry, reminisce, and within an uncontrolled world, question: “When the carefree age of childhood innocence is lost, what remains in its place?” Jesse is a hero for all ages. One who proves, “When there’s greatness inside, no one can say you can’t fly.” *Academic Language and Common Core Standards aligned.

Do You Have What It Takes? is a new resource for helping teens succeed after foster care. This survival manual for teens, mentors, foster parents, staff, and CASAs is written by teens who have been there. The teen writers show how they have managed the emotional and practical skills they need to live on their own after foster care. Do You Have What It Takes? includes lessons and worksheets that teens can do on their own or in workshops, plus nine lessons for group activities. Teens will learn emotional skills like how to form a support network, how to set goals, how to work with difficult people, and how to manage emotions like anger and loneliness. They will also learn practical skills like money management, finding a job, finding an apartment and keeping it clean, and taking care of their health.

Inspire teens to read and learn. Show teens making smart decisions. Promote social and emotional growth. Help teens recognize their strengths. This Leader's Guide to Real Stories, Real Teens includes a wealth of activities including role plays, social barometers, Bingo games, debates, trials, and more that make it fun for teens to read the stories and explore the themes in Real Stories, Real Teens [ISBN #1-933939-70-2]. The Leader's Guide also includes the full text of every story from Real Stories, Real Teens, with convenient teen-tested discussion questions. The activities in this Guide are designed for out-of-school settings and informal school setting like advisories. The Guide includes helpful suggestions for running groups with teens, including icebreakers, teambuilding activities, and guidelines for handling sensitive topics. Real Stories, Real Teens received the Distiguished Acheievement Award for "Best Curriculum for a Specialized Audience" (Nonfiction, Grades 9-12) from the Association of Educational Publishers. Note: This Guide is to be used with Real Stories, Real Teens [ISBN 1-933939-70-2] an anthology of 26 true stories by teens. For full info for this program go to the website realstoriesrealteens.org

Make way for the Goodness Gorillas! These self-appointed kindness-spreaders are turning their classroom, their families, and their whole community topsy-turvy with good deeds! Peter sharpens all his classmates' pencils for them...Jessica pulls out a mat for everyone in her gymnastics class...Tina packs up her old toys and gives them to a charity...the whole group cleans up the neighborhood park.But the Goodness Gorillas are about to face their toughest challenge ever. What will they do about Todd, the meanest boy in class? Is Todd really bad through and through, or is it true that there's goodness hiding within every little soul?

History isn't always made by great armies colliding or by great civilizations rising or falling. Sometimes it's made when a chauffeur takes a wrong turn, a scientist forgets to clean up his lab, or a drunken soldier gets a bit rowdy. That's the kind of history you'll find in The Greatest Stories Never Told. This is history candy -- the good stuff. Here are 100 tales to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy: more than two thousand years of history filled with courage, cowardice, hope, triumph, sex, intrigue, folly, humor, and ambition. It's a historical delight and a visual feast with hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that bring each story to life. A new discovery waits on every page: stories that changed the course of history and stories that affected what you had for breakfast this morning. Consider: The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer Some Roman officials were so corrupt that they actually stole time itself Three cigars changed the course of the Civil War The Scottish kilt was invented by an Englishman Based on the popular Timelab 2000® history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston on The History Channel®, this collection of fascinating historical tidbits will have you shaking your head in wonder and disbelief. But they're all true. And you'll soon find yourself telling them to your friends.

Looking for quick ideas to get your teens writing? These easy-to-use writing prompts are favorites with teens, including reluctant writers. Originally published as writing contest questions in New Youth Connections, the prompts cover school, family, relationships, "the future" and other topics. Each prompt includes a prize-winning essay to use as a model to motivate young writers.

The gap between the richest and the poorest Americans has been growing for decades, and experts predict it will continue to widen. Young people bear the brunt of this inequality because it makes it harder to get a job and to pay for the college education you need to move up the ladder. Political changes could help close the gap, but in the meantime, teens can help prepare themselves for financial independence. In this book, teens write about learning to handle money wisely, to manage their own income, to pay for college, and how our larger economic system determines their financial standing.