Tallulah, like so many other little ballerinas is longing to toe shoes, the kind that real ballerinas wear when they dance on pointe. Not content to wait, as everyone tries to tell her she must, she takes home a pair of discarded slippers and makes some sad discoveries. Unlike so many ballet stories, this one ends on a hopeful note with a nod to the bigger idea that some things you have to wait for and can't happen instantly.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2013.

John Jensen not only feels different, he looks a lot different from the folks on the train, office, on the street or in the emergency room. It's the big doctor with enormous ears that helps John understand that we do not all look the same. After all, Doc is an elephant and John is a crocodile. This droll tale will tickle kids and leave them with some ideas to think about, too.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Good fun here with an optical illusion that goes from duck to rabbit—depending on how you look at it. This is both a funny idea and one that also introduces a big idea about the eye of the beholder. It starts out as a funny little argument and ends on the possibility that other’s point of view just might be true. A big idea! 3 & up.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.