Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles

Wiles, Deborah.
EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS
Orlando : Harcourt, 2005.
IL 3-6, RL 4.0
ISBN 0152051139

Ten year old Comfort Snowberger lives in a funeral home with a loving extended family. It’s a very busy place with flowers to arrange, special foods to cook, mourners to console and life notices (not obituaries) to be written. Her happy, contented world is shaken when first Uncle Edisto dies and then within months, great-great-Aunt Florentine dies. Beyond those tragedies her best friend, Declaration, is starting to hang out with two other girls from their class. Comfort learns that she will be responsible for keeping her younger cousin, Peach, calm at great-great-Aunt Florentines funeral. Peach is a special child who is very upset about the deaths in the family. Comfort objects but her mother reminds her of the family motto, “We live to serve”. On the way to the graveside, Comfort’s beloved dog, Dismay, and Peach are swept up in a flash flood. Instant decisions have to be made. Would you have done the s ame thing? (New Hampshire Great Stone Face 2007)

Three Good Deeds by Vivian Vande Velde

Vande Velde, Vivian.
THREE GOOD DEEDS
Orlando : Harcourt, 2005.
IL 3-6, RL 6.1
ISBN 0152053824

Click on Howard had a problem. One day, when he joined in with the other boys in Dumphrey’s Mill, teasing the ugly old village witch, She retaliated by turning him into a goose…an actual goose, with feathers and webbed feet, able only to say “honk”! She informed him that there was only one way out of his predicament. He must perform three genuine good deeds. But how was he to do that in his present condition? Follow Howard on his quest and find out how this prankster-turned- poultry attempts to carry out his mission, and what he learns along the way. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face 2007)