Arcadia Public Library

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.

Bell has spent his whole life -- all eleven years of it -- on Mars. But he's still just a regular kid-he loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the US colony are keeping. Like, why don't they have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It's up to Bell -- a regular...

Self-reliant Max Starling, a twelve-year-old detective and problem solver, struggles to keep his identity a secret as he investigates a case of arson, while cryptic messages from his still missing parents indicate that they need rescuing.

When her brother goes off to school, Amanda finds new things to do, including ballet dancing, cleaning her room, and making a very sad, mad day go away, with the help of hugs from Mother Pig.

Normally Blue Kangaroo waits for his owner and friend Lily to decide what activities the two will do, yet when Lily has no answers one day, it is up to Blue Kangaroo to make a plan all by himself.

Citing how over-protected youth are ill-equipped to handle the demands of the real world, a guide to raising self-reliant young adults explains how to revive core formative experiences to create responsible, active, and engaged citizens. --

Fourteen-year-old John comes of age and gains self-reliance during the summer he spends up in the Wyoming mountains tending his father's herd of sheep.

"In Scaffold Parenting, world-renowned child psychiatrist Harold Koplewicz introduces the powerful new and clincially-tested idea that this deliberate build-up and then gradual loosening of parental support is the single most effective way to encourage kids to climb higher, try new things and grow from mistakes, and to develop character and strength. Offering the ten building blocks or "planks" of an effective scaffold--from laying a solid foundation...

All the many things a young child can do independently are demonstrated, (tying shoes, riding bike, kicking ball), but there is one thing one cannot do alone.