New Releases by Bethany Hegedus

A young boy learns to validate and accept his feelings as he comes to understand the different parts of himself. As a boy goes through his day, he encounters all sorts of people and experiences. He reacts differently depending on the situation. Whether it’s The Manager who takes charge and organizes, The Exile who makes himself small and disappears, or The Firefighter who employs a lot of noise and distractions, each of these “parts” is useful in helping him cope. Based on the popular teachings of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, this book is not only a great introduction to our feelings and behaviors but a way for all kids to talk about what they are experiencing. Children will learn to accept all parts of themselves and understand that within us there are no bad parts!

This companion book from the creators of You, Me, We: A Celebration of Peace and Community explores another subject near and dear to Mahatma Gandhi's heart: service. What does it mean to be of service? What do we have to give? Can receiving be an act of service? Being a neighbor? A family or community member? A global citizen? Service takes many forms, some as simple as holding a door open, sharing a sandwich, or gathering with friends to beautify a public park. Coauthored by Mahatma Gandhi’s late grandson and drawing on both his grandfather’s work and the philosophies of educator Maria Montessori, this timely story asks gently guiding questions to encourage even the youngest citizens to be mindful of what they have—and all they have to give. Rich in emotional wisdom, filled with ideas and prompts, and featuring vibrant and richly inclusive illustrations by Colombian artist Andrés Landazábal, this dynamic portrait of children sharing their time, energy, and talents will inspire readers to explore how much it means—and how it feels—to serve the greater good.

A playful, baseball-themed first-day-of-school adventure! Wake up, Sluggers. It’s time to . . . Batter up for the first day of school! It’s the first day of school at Grand Slam Elementary, and there is much to do before the Twins can step up to the plate! After putting on their uniforms, fueling up for the day, and doing an equipment check, the kids are ready to slide into first period. Opening day is full of curveballs, but the innings fly by until the kids return to home base, excited to do it all again tomorrow! With plenty of punny prose and playful baseball terms, this humorous read-aloud is the perfect way to get little sluggers ready for the first day of school.

"Peace is me. Peace is you. Pease is the great big we of community."--Back cover.

This glorious biography of Maya Angelou's life—from her traumatic childhood through her work as a freedom fighter and her triumphant rise as a poet—is a powerful tribute to a phenomenal woman.

The countdown to bedtime has begun. If you want to snooze, you can't lose in this football/bedtime mash-up! It's Sunday night, football night, and the countdown clock to bedtime is winding down. Will the Dream Team be able to get to bed on time? First there's the pre-game warm-up in the bath, then it's time to get suited up in pajamas, and don't forget your fancy footwork. After some interference from the family dog and a full-counter sweep of the kitchen, it's time to huddle up and cuddle up for a bedtime story time-out! Award-winning author Bethany Hegedus shows how football time equals family time in this hilarious twist on the bedtime ritual. Young football fans will finally want to huddle up and get ready for bed because sleep time has never been so much fun!

The first picture book about the inspiring life of humanitarian Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States and a Nobel Prize winner--from Alabama Spitfire author Bethany Hegedus. Even before Jimmy Carter became president, he knew the value of hard work. Living on his family's peanut farm, Jimmy saw how hard work yielded strong results. At least it did for some people. But growing up in the segregated South, Jimmy also saw firsthand how white people and black people were not treated equally. None of it was right. None of it was fair. So Jimmy created a list of Good Mental Habits to help him navigate life's challenges. The list guided his thoughts and actions and helped him fight for change, whether working with civil rights leaders to end racial discrimination in his home state of Georgia, helping to negotiate peace in the Middle East, or building homes for the poor through Habitat for Humanity. From the statehouse to the White House and beyond, Jimmy has worked to make change for all people, devoting decades to public service and becoming one of the most respected humanitarians of our time. It's hard work, but it's worth it.

The inspiring true story of Harper Lee, the girl who grew up to write To Kill a Mockingbird, from Bethany Hegedus and Erin McGuire. Perfect for fans of The Right Word and I Dissent. Nelle Harper Lee grew up in the rocky red soil of Monroeville, Alabama. From the get-go she was a spitfire. Unlike most girls at that time and place, Nelle preferred overalls to dresses and climbing trees to tea parties. Nelle loved to watch her daddy try cases in the courtroom. And she and her best friend, Tru, devoured books and wrote stories of their own. More than anything Nelle loved words. This love eventually took her all the way to New York City, where she dreamed of becoming a writer. Any chance she had, Nelle sat at her typewriter, writing, revising, and chasing her dream. Nelle wouldn’t give up—not until she discovered the right story, the one she was born to tell. Finally, that story came to her, and Nelle, inspired by her childhood, penned To Kill a Mockingbird. A groundbreaking book about small-town injustice that has sold over forty million copies, Nelle’s novel resonated with readers the world over, who, through reading, learned what it was like to climb into someone else’s skin and walk around in it.

In this breathtaking companion to the award-winning Grandfather Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, with Bethany Hegedus, tells a poignant, personal story of the damage of wastefulness, gorgeuously illustrated by Evan Turk. At Grandfather Gandhi’s service village, each day is filled, from sunrise to sunset, with work that is done for the good of all. The villagers vow to live simply and non-violently. Arun Gandhi tries very hard to follow these vows, but he struggles with one of the most important rules: not to waste. How can throwing away a worn-down pencil hurt anyone? How can wastefulness lead to violence? With the help of his grandfather, Arun learns how every wasteful act, no matter how small, affects others. And in time he comes to understand the truth of his grandfather’s words: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson tells the story of how his grandfather taught him to turn darkness into light in this uniquely personal and vibrantly illustrated tale that carries a message of peace. How could he—a Gandhi—be so easy to anger? One thick, hot day, Arun Gandhi travels with his family to Grandfather Gandhi’s village. Silence fills the air—but peace feels far away for young Arun. When an older boy pushes him on the soccer field, his anger fills him in a way that surely a true Gandhi could never imagine. Can Arun ever live up to the Mahatma? Will he ever make his grandfather proud? In this remarkable personal story, Arun Gandhi, with Bethany Hegedus, weaves a stunning portrait of the extraordinary man who taught him to live his life as light. Evan Turk brings the text to breathtaking life with his unique three-dimensional collage paintings.

Lots of families have secrets. Little-Known Fact: My family has an antebellum house with a locked wing—and I’ve got a secret of my own. I thought getting kicked out of the Gifted & Talented program—or not being “pegged,” as Mama said—­was the worst thing that could happen to me. W-r-o-n-g, wrong. I arrived in Tweedle, Georgia, to spend the summer with Granny and Gramps, only to find no sign of them. When they finally showed up, Cousin Isaac was there too, with his trumpet in hand, and I found myself having to pretend to be thrilled about watching my musical family rehearse for the town's Anniversary Spectacular. It was h-a-r-d, hard. Meanwhile, I, Maebelle T.-for-No-Talent Earl, set out to win a blue ribbon with an old family recipe. But what was harder and even more wrong than any of that was breaking into the locked wing of my grandparents’ house, trying to learn the Truth with a capital T about Josiah T. Eberlee, my long-gone-but-not-forgotten relation. To succeed, I couldn't be a solo act. I’d need my new friends, a basset hound named Cotton, the strength of my entire family, and a little help from a secret code. With grace and humor and a heaping helping of little-known facts, Bethany Hegedus incorporates the passions of the North and the South and bridges the past and the present in this story about one summer in the life of a sassy Southern girl and her trumpet-playing adopted Northern cousin.

When a young white girl and a young black girl become friends while living in the south in 1959, fires, vandalism, and threats of the black business owners put their friendship to the test as they sort through family and social issues.