2. Want to Sit Together?

Here are three books about finding friends and fitting in:

The Gingerbread Man Loose in School, written by Laura Murray, illustrated by Mike Lowery, $16.99, Putnam, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A gingerbread man hops off his cooling pan and races after the class that baked him in this bouncy tale about the importance of belonging. When the teacher calls, "Recess," no one grabs the gingerbread man, so he runs as fast as he can to catch up with the kids, only to get stuck to a ball, lose a toe and land inside a lunch bag. Will this zippy little cookie ever find his class and feel like one of the gang? After one read aloud, students will be clamoring to bake up their own class pet and fit him with Starlight Mint hat. Slipped into the back cover, a folded poster for your own smart cookie. The message here? Sometimes all it takes to feel a part of a group is running up to it and joining in.

I'm Here, by Peter H. Reynolds, Atheneum, $15.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A boy sits alone on a playground far from other children and feels like no one knows he's there. "They are there. I am here," he says with a longing look their way. The children's playful voices are "splashes upon splashes of sound," but all the boy can hear is "Boom. Boom." He tries to assure himself that at least he knows he's there, even if the other children don't seem to. Then a gentle breeze pats his head, a tumbling leaf lands for a visit and piece of paper glides to him on a lazy stream of air, rocking this way and that, slowly down, before landing at his knee. "How did you find me?" the boy asks the paper, his eyes glistening. He knows a playground is not where a paper wants to be, so he folds it into an airplane and launches it into the air. Maybe now the paper will get to where it wants to be -- and maybe, if he climbs aboard it, the boy will get there to. This sweet, touching book shows that making a little step forward can change everything.

I Love People, created by Francoize Boucher, Kane Miller, $14.99 (paperback), ages 9 and up, 120 pages. Here's a fun activity book from France that seems to say: Don't sweat it if you don't always know how to act with friends -- just do your best and let my pages help you. All readers need to get started are: "1. A small very big heart, 2. A full pencil case and 3. A taste for adventure." Boucher starts with a simple exercise; she asks readers to add 0s to the quote, "The m_re y_u l_ve people, the m_re beautiful y_ur life will be!" and then offers up social scenarios for readers to think about. For example, "Are you always ready to meet new people?" and "What's the difference between: 1. Loving something that's alive and 2. Loving an object?" There's even a page of phrases to help readers make up with a friend, including "I Wish We Weren't Mad at Each Other." Some of the other topics: how to deal with jealousy, how to share, how to help others and how to be a good person (Is it's ever OK to do to others as they've done to you? Boucher asks.) Cute, light-hearted, and full of great advice, this is the book to get a child off on the right foot (er sneaker). Fans of this might also like Boucher's I Love Words.

17. Wonder-full. Two Delights.

Mud Pies and Other Recipes, by Marjorie Winslow, with illustrations by Erik Begvad, The New York Review Children's Collection, $14.95, ages 4-8, 56 pages. Two little hands sift, sort and pat a buffet of make-believe dishes that any doll would love in this charming little cookbook, originally published in 1961 and now reissued. Narrated as if by a girl who is perfectly sure of herself, the book happily skips along from one adorable recipe to the next, rounding out with my favorite, Dollypops. "Pick a dandelion from the lawn carefully, so as not to disturb the fluff," Winslow instructs. "Hand it to your doll and tell her to lick." Organized by course, the cookbook goes from appetizers to menu lists, and also includes baking tips. In the foreword, you'll find advice about utensils and pans (empty egg cartons make handy muffin tins), clean-up (a puddle makes a nice sink) and cooking times: "Doll cookery is not a very exacting art," Winslow explains -- as you imagine a twinkle in her eye. "The time it takes to cook a casserole depends upon how long your dolls are able to sit at a table without falling over. And if a recipe calls for a cupful of something, you can use a measuring cup or a teacup or a buttercup."

Rose's Garden

By Peter H. Reynolds

Candlewick Press, 2009

$15.99, all ages, 40 pages

Standing astride a giant floating teapot, a girl named Rose sails the world gathering seeds for a city garden in this uplifting tribute to the late Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The girl, with her long jacket trailing behind and her head held high, echoes the spirit of the Kennedy matriarch -- her steely determination, exuberance and desire to increase the well-being of others -- as she pulls together a community to grow a garden.

The garden is both a metaphor for faith and symbolic of a mile-long ribbon of parks and public spaces in Boston inspired by Kennedy's life, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which officially opened in 2008, 13 years after her death at age 104.

In Reynolds' story, Rose is steadfast and sure, and drifts from place to place until her teapot, an ornate vessel the length of a large rowboat, is brimming with seeds of all kinds and she wanders into the port of a bustling city to look for a site for her garden.

From his lighthouse window, the harbormaster suggests Rose float upriver to where it's lovely, but Rose wants to search the city first.

There she finds a forgotten stretch of earth between two walls of buildings -- a barren plot similar to areas transformed into the Kennedy greenway -- and decides this is the place that needs her seeds the most.

But the garden doesn't come easily for Rose. As she's working the soil, a flock of birds swoops down on the teapot and the birds eat most of the seeds.

(The greenway too was slowed by obstacles, many related to the rerouting of Boston's overpass, the Central Artery. Room for parks became available as the artery was moved underground.)

Rose is startled, but she sees how full and happy the birds seem and realizes all is not lost. So she slips into the teapot to gather the few seeds that are left, determined to make the most of what she has.

Parents may be reminded of Kennedy's famous quote about her own resilience after tragedy, including the assassinations of sons, President John Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy:

"Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?"

Just like moving on in real-life, however, the seeds don't take quickly to the cityscape. Seasons pass without signs of life in the garden, with each season exacting its severity on the land.

Yet Rose doesn't give up and soon word of her faith spreads through the city.

Children from all over the city go to the empty plot to meet Rose and deliver her flowers they've made from paper. Like the seeds she's tried to spread, they share stories of their journeys to the city and together, become a community.

In a similar way, the greenway reunited the neighborhoods of Boston, connecting four park areas from the North End to Chinatown. Each park now celebrates the neighborhood it passes through and the city's history as a whole.

At the sight of all of the paper flowers arranged in the soil, Rose's heart brims. An entire city has pulled together. Then she wades through the sea of blossoms and a miracle unfolds.

She hears a bee and follows the buzzing to a real red rose bursting out of the paper garden, the first of many flowers sprouting to life.

At his mother's funeral in 1995, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy spoke of an inner strength that radiated from his mother's life, and thanks to Reynolds' tender tribute, we feel it once more.

Reynolds, a New York Times best-selling illustrator, is also author of So Few of Me, The North Star, The Dot and Ish.

To watch a "Telefable" version of the story, go to www.rosekennedygreenway.org/programs/telefable.