Ocean State Libraries

"El Deafo: Superpowered Edition is a must-have collector's edition for existing fans and the perfect gift for new readers, with 40 all-new pages of childhood photographs, early sketches, notes from Cece, and much more!"--Amazon.com "Starting a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest. At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic...

Children's author-illustrator Tomie De Paola describes his experiences at home and in school when he was a boy.

The author relates incidents in his life and how they inspired parts of his books about the character, Brian Robeson.

The author describes some of the dogs that have had special places in his life, including his first dog, Snowball, in the Phillippines; Dirk, who protected him from bullies; and Cookie, who saved his life.

The author relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.

"August Wilson (1945-2005) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who had a particular talent for capturing the authentic, everyday voice of Black Americans. As a child, he read off soup cans and cereal boxes, and when his mother brought him to the library, his whole world opened up. After facing intense prejudice at school from both students and some teachers, August dropped out. However, he continued reading and educating himself independently....

"Born in 1867 in the "Big Woods" in Wisconsin, Laura experienced both the hardship and the adventure of living on the frontier. It wasn't until after she was sixty that Laura Ingalls Wilder started chronicling those times, which resulted in nine Little House books, a hit TV series that ran for eight years, and her own permanent place as a heroine of the American West"--

Author Gary Paulsen relates tales from his youth in a small town in northwestern Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such as skiing behind a souped-up car and imitating daredevil Evel Knievel.

"Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring...

"Children's author Donald Crews recalls a childhood visit to Bigmama's house in the country, where he finds his relatives full of news and the old place and its surroundings just the same as the year before."--