The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

As any parent, teacher, coach, or caregiver of a learning disabled child knows, every learning disability has a social component. The ADD child constantly interrupts and doesn’t follow directions. The child with visual-spatial issues loses his belongings. The child with a nonverbal communication disorder fails to gesture when she talks. These children are socially out of step with their peers, and often they are ridiculed or ostracized for their differences. A successful social life is immeasurably important to a child’s happiness, health, and development.

It’s report card day — the most dreaded day in Hank’s school year. And when Hank gets his grades, they’re his worst nightmare come true: a D in spelling, a D in reading, a D in math. After school, Hank and his friends go to his mom’s deli. His mom is on the prowl — she knows a report card day when she sees one. Hank tries to stall her, but she’s going for his backpack. He’s cornered. Hank hands the report card off to his friend Frankie, who gives it to his friend Ashley, who gives it to Robert, who puts it into a meat grinder! Hank watches as his Ds are ground into a big salami, and this particular salami is being made for a very important client. How will Hank get out of this one?

Katie Kelso is sick of being a dork. Now that she’s in seventh grade, she vows that her life will change. She’s going to become a P.K. — a Popular Kid. Soon Katie is up to her neck in problems. Spud Larson, the best looking boy in her class and the leader of the P.K.’s, seems to like her. But so does Brian Straus — sensitive, smart, mysterious Brian. What will happen if her mother turns out to have cancer? And what should she do about the literary magazine? Her teacher wants her to try out for it, but Katie has dyslexia, and she’s probably the worst speller in junior high.

Spending a month on a remote island in Maine with his teasing older brother and grandparents he hardly knows is not Josh’s idea of a great time. But that’s what happens the summer his parents go abroad. Twelve-year-old Josh, who has dyslexia, can’t do anything right in his grandfather’s eyes, and is constantly compared to his perfect bookish brother, Simon. So Josh secretly plans to run away back to New Jersey. However, despite gruff Gramps, Josh finds himself captivated by life on Sea Island and all of the challenges it offers him. Plus, Josh discovers unexpected romance and kinship with a young visitor. His biggest challenge, though, comes at the end of the summer when he faces a life-threatening emergency and uses skills he didn’t know he had to lead the rescue.

Everything you wanted to know about phonics but were afraid to ask! This practical handbook, written by an early reading specialist, will show you how to build engaging, effective phonics practice into your reading-writing program. Lots of ready-to-use lessons, word lists, games and learning center ideas.

It’s a deadly triad: bullies who terrorize, bullied kids who are afraid to tell, bystanders who watch, participate, or look away, and adults who dismiss the incidents as a normal part of childhood. Drawing on her decades of work with youth, this practical book by bestselling parenting educator Barbara Coloroso explains the three kinds of bullying, the differences between boy and girl bullies, four abilities that protect your child from succumbing to bullying, seven steps to take if your child is a bully, how to help the bullied child heal and effectively discipline the bully, how to evaluate a school’s antibullying policy and much more.