2021-22 6th Grade Public Purpose Books

This book is dedicated to all the kids at Head Start. Never, ever stop reading!

Boo is a bunny. A stuffed bunny. But he wasn't any ordinary kind of stuffed bunny - he was a talking kind of stuffed bunny.

Boo is a bunny. A stuffed bunny. But he wasn't any ordinary stuffed bunny - he was a talking kind of stuffed bunny.

He was a talking, moving, thinking, feeling, loving kind of stuffed bunny. Boo belonged to Lana, a 6-year-old girl who loved him more than ANYTHING!

There were shelves and books and desks and chairs and pillows and posters and carpets and clocks and posters and so, so many children. Boo gawked around as Lana set him against her backpack on the corner of her desk.

The day passed. First math, then spelling, then storytime, and then, finally, after so, so long, recess.

Stuffed into Lana's backpack on the first day of school, Boo could only see pencils and notebooks and crayons and paper and a big math textbook with little puppet pictures on it and so, so many supplies...

Unpacking Boo from her backpack, Lana said, "This is kindergarten, Boo!" Boo stared, awed, as if he'd seen a ghost.

Days passed, and passed, and passed. All that Boo could do was sit and stare and sleep and sigh and watch the world go by feeling so, so sad.

One day, Boo heard Lana talking with her mother. The conversation ended with, "Don't worry, Mama, I will!" Lana then rushed into her room and grabbed Boo. "Don't worry, Boo," she said. "You're coming to school with me tomorrow." Boo's heart swelled like a balloon.

The next day, Lana stuffed Boo into her backpack with pencils and notebooks and crayons and paper and the big math textbook with little puppet pictures on it and then they were off to kindergarten. When the boy teased Lana again, Lana said to him, "I'm not going to let you tease me. Boo is my friend. I'm not going to let you tease me because of it. I'm not going to let Boo be teased because of it." And for the rest of the day, the boy didn't say a word to Lana.

When they got home, Lana said to her mother, "I did it! I stood up for myself!" When she got to her room, Lana said to Boo, "Mama told me to be proud of who I am, and I got that boy to stop being mean! No one's going to stop me from bringing a stuffed bunny to school." Happily, Boo sat up straighter. "Especially a talking, moving, thinking, feeling, loving kind of stuffed bunny." And Boo knew she meant it.

Lana, tomorrow's your first day of kindergarten!

Then one day, Lana's mother said something very odd.

But after a long conversation which Boo attended in Lana's lap, he finally understood...

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"Hi," Lana said to a boy who was playing with a ball, grinning widely. "I'm Lana. This is Boo." She gestured to Boo, who was dangling from her hand. The boy grinned, too, but meaner. "Is that a stuffed bunny?" he said with a sneer. "Sure he is," Lana said defiantly. "And he's not just any kind of stuffed bunny. He's a talking, moving, thinking, feeling, loving kind of stuffed bunny." But her confidence faded when the boy laughed. "No one brings stuffed bunnies to school," he said, "not even talking, moving, thinking, feeling, loving kinds of stuffed bunnies." And this went on for the rest of the day. And the rest of the week. And the rest of the month.

One day, Boo watched Lana leave for school. Without him. He felt so, so lonely.

or other talking, moving, thinking, feeling, loving kinds of stuffed bunnies.

Dangling from Lana's hand, they followed the class out of the classroom, out the door, down the hall, up a hill, and onto the playground.

There were jungle gyms and monkey bars and swings and slides and sand pits and toys and lost shoes and clouds and trees and grass and so, so many children.

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