For the parent buying an end-of-year present, or anyone who wants to thank a teacher, coach, tutor, or mentor with something warmer than a mug. Every book here honors that person — the one who saw a child before the child could see themselves, and gave them the lift a good mentor gives. Choose by the message you most want to send, write a note inside the cover, and any single one is a heartfelt thank-you.
Choose the one whose message fits the person you're thanking. They sort by what you most want to say. 'The Dot' and 'What Do You Do With an Idea?' are the courage-to-try picks — for the mentor who told a child to make a mark, or to believe in their own big idea. 'Thank You, Mr. Falker' and 'The Junkyard Wonders' are Patricia Polacco's own true stories of teachers who saw past a label and refused to give up on the child everyone else had — the truest thank-yous on the shelf, and the two that carry the most weight. 'Miss Rumphius' is for the mentor whose good work blooms quietly, later, out of sight, like sown flowers. And 'Because of Mr. Terupt' is the one for an older child, a whole classroom's love letter to the teacher who changed them. Match the book to the message and you can't go wrong.