Illustrations and easy-to-read text remind the reader that no matter what happens or how one feels, he or she matters.

Told in multiple voices, seventh-grader Libby sets off a chain of events that brings hope and encouragement to four different individuals across the country who are dealing with bullies, acceptance, homelessness, and grief.

When five-year-old Sulwe's classmates make fun of her dark skin, she tries lightening herself to no avail, but her encounter with a shooting star helps her understand there is beauty in every shade.

A frog who yearns to be any animal that is cute and warm discovers that being wet, slimy, and full of bugs has its advantages.

"Henny, a chick with arms, discovers the benefits of being different"--

"As the daughter of immigrants who came to America for a better life, Annie Inoue was raised to dream big. And at the start of seventh grade, she's channeling that irrepressible hope into becoming the lead in her school play. So when Annie lands an impressive role in the production of The King and I, she's thrilled ... until she starts to hear grumbles from her mostly white classmates that she only got the part because it's an Asian play with Asian...

"A picture book about a mermaid named Mabel, who unlike the rest of her family does not have a moustache, and the seven-armed octopus who becomes her friend and helps her see that she is just right the way she is"--

"Shannon is in eighth grade, and life is more complicated than ever. Everything keeps changing, her classmates are starting to date each other (but nobody wants to date her!), and no matter how hard she tries, Shannon can never seem to just be happy. As she works through her insecurities and undiagnosed depression, she worries about disappointing all the people who care about her. Is something wrong with her? Can she be the person everyone expects...

Eight-year-old Aven Green is despondent when she does not master the piano in one day, but with new inspiration from guitarist Mr. Tom, who is armless like her, along with a special gift from her great-grandma, Aven learns she does not need to be perfect to perform.

"Bob Comet is a retired librarian, isolated but not lonely, living out his quiet days in a mint-colored house in Oregon, surrounded by his books and small comforts. One morning, out on his daily walk, he performs an act of kindness that brings him into contact with a nearby senior center, where he soon begins volunteering. Here, as a community of peers and friends gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from...