Finding just the right book to read together can open a door to helping a child understand difficult subjects like illness, loss, and big change. Here’s a list of some of the best.

Black Dog

Author: Levi Pinfold

A black dog appears outside the Hope family’s home. As each member of the family sees it and hides, the dog grows bigger and bigger. Only the youngest Hope has the courage to face the black dog. When it chases (追逐) her she shows no fear, so it grows smaller and smaller. Finally, back to the size of a normal dog.

I Remember

Author: Jeanne Willis

A sweet little boy visits an old lady one day. He seems familiar to her. He’s even got the same name as her grandson, George! Of course, he is her grandson George. He gently reminds her of what they’ve done together before. A beautiful book that might help children learn about dementia (痴呆).

I Talk Like a River

Author: Jordan Scott

In class, a boy hides at the back in the hope that he won’t be asked to speak. But the teacher directs a question his way. All his classmates watch him stumbling over (结结巴巴地说) his words. His father collects him from school, and takes him for a walk by the river.

Susan Laughs

Author: Jeanne Willis

Susan can do so many things - she can laugh, sing, fly, dance, swim and much more. The final page of this book reveals that Susan is in a wheelchair, showing that "disabled" doesn’t mean “disadvantaged”.

Hem an Bekele is not your typical high school student．Rather than spending his free time playing video games or staring at his phone, this 14 year-old from Fairfax, Virginia was calling professors and conducting experiments, all to create a soap that could treat skin cancer, and to make it affordable for everyone who needs it．His work won him the grand prize in this year’s 3M Young Scientist’s Challenge, a competition that encourages kids to think of unique ways to solve everyday problems.

Growing up in Ethiopia, Bekele found in pity that people working outside were likely to end up getting skin cancer．Skin cancer did have cures and was treatable in most cases．However, the average price of skin cancer treatment globally was almost $40,000．Those shocking statistics really inspired him to create a more accessible solution．He started doing experiments and working on different things, and that turned into his bar of soap as a project.

A lot of his research and development started in his family’s kitchen and in his basement．But as he reached the final of the competition, he realized that he did need to do a little bit more outside of just his house．So he reached out to people at University of Virginia and people at Georgetown, and he got a lot of assistance．The number one person would be Deborah Isabelle, who helped him organize and structure his ideas during the finalist competition．Bekele said that he definitely couldn’t have done that all by himself.

Bekele’s award-winning soap is a compound based bar of soap and it’s charged with different cancer fighting chemicals．The color of the soap is a bit of a dark type of white and it has a rough surface, which could be a good exfoliant（去角质剂）．It does have a strong medicine smell and feel a bit stickier．The whole point of it is that even once you wash off the soaps, the medicinal parts will stay on your skin．It can activate the body’s immune cells to defend cancer.

Bekele won 25,000 prize money and he was going to use it to continue research．He said, “I still need a lot of resources to be able to conduct this research, so this money will definitely help me achieve it.”

Several years ago, a worldwide heavy rain was predicted, but no one got prepared for what was to come. Then, some areas received over 100 mm of rain. Cars and trucks floated down the streets. Whole buildings were swept away. At least 225 people lost their lives, and millions became homeless.

The weather is always changing. Over the past few years, heavy rains have led to floods in many parts of the world. Droughts have taken place in Brazil and Australia. There have been heat waves in Europe which killed thousands. There have been more powerful hurricanes and tornadoes than ever before. In 2017 alone, the financial cost from global weather events was up to 340 billion dollars.

With more wild weather events happening, people couldn’t help asking questions: What is happening with the weather? And why? Is this natural, or our fault? The answer seems to be: a little of both. Wild weather is natural. But most scientists hold the same view that human activity has made the Earth warmer. It is this global warming that makes heat waves more likely. The higher temperatures also result in more water to go into the air, which causes heavier and more frequent rain. Many scientists also believe global warming makes hurricanes and other storms stronger.

This means we’re likely to see more wild weather. “But we don’t have to just stand there and accept it,” says scientist Michael. He and other experts say we need to stop the Earth from getting warmer. We also need to be prepared, to do things that will help save lives.