And award-winning artist Kinuko Craft add, her own magic: a visual feast of exquisite, jewel-like paintings that sweep across the pages.Together, Mayer and Craft have created an unforgettable world that readers of all ages will want to return to again and again.

    Now, illustrator Kim Smith has reimagined the story as a classic Christmas fable—complete with bumbling burglars, brilliant booby-traps, and a little boy named Kevin who’s forced to fend for himself. Through a series of comic adventures, Kevin learns lessons about responsibility and the importance of family. With an amusing read-aloud story and enchanting, immersive illustrations, this charming adaptation can be enjoyed year after year alongside The Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and other Christmas storybook classics.

    She treats each one with skill and kindness--even the toughest crocs with thick skins and large, powerful jaws. Little Doctor marvels at these fearless beasts, listening to their stories, while she diagnoses and cures what ails them. But when she meets Big Mean, the largest crocodile in the land with jaws clamped tightly shut, Little Doctor can't figure out what's wrong. And she might be just a little bit afraid.When one creative idea lands Little Doctor right inside Big Mean's tremendous jaws, she is sure she'll be munched or crunched--until she sees that Big Mean isn't so horrible, after all. As it turns out, the crocodile is only protecting her hatchlings, all tangled in plastic, inside her mouth.Watercolor illustrations create a richly imagined world in this awe-inspiring story about how even little kids can be fearless, and even big, mean creatures sometimes need help.

    Archibald Coo, an erudite big-city pigeon, is tired of the way people treat him and the other pigeons. They're always being shooed and swatted, and they're never admired the way the other birds are. As Dr. Coo tells his pigeon friends: ?It wasn't always this way.? In ancient times, pigeons were known to accompany the gods. They brought news of the Olympic Games to all of ancient Greece. And more recently, they delivered messages and medicine to soldiers on battlefields. They were heroes! Surely, Dr. Coo reasons, pigeons can find a way to earn the admiration of people once again. And he's got just the bold plan to do it. Award-winning journalist Sarah Hampson's picture book debut is a celebration of the diversity inherent in a big city and a lesson on how looking for the good in others is the best way to get along with them. Through her activist pigeons, she offers a child-friendly example of how to affect change, and shows how cooperation and compromise are the keys for diverse groups to harmoniously coexist --- a topical subject. With soft lines and a warm palette, Kass Reich's illustrations bring a fresh pigeon's-eye perspective to New York's inhabitants and cityscapes. This book could be used to spark classroom discussions on respecting differences, working out disagreements, or stepping up to counter injustice, all important subjects for the budding self-awareness and personal development of young children. It also aligns with character education lessons on self-respect, initiative and inclusiveness.

    

    Mercer Mayer's famous Little Critter works hard to do it right in this funny picture book. Little Critter has a mountain of tub toys to remember, stuffed animals to line up so they can watch, bubble bath to pour, a floor to flood, and so much more. What will Little Critter find at the end of his huge effort? A dry and cozy finale.

    An injured magpie and a one-eyed dog live happily together in the forest, until a jealous fox arrives to teach them what it means to be alone.

    A dangerous black fog looms outside the village, but its inhabitants are kept safe by an ingenious machine known as the dam. Pig’s father built the dam and taught him how to maintain it. And then this brilliant inventor did the unthinkable: he walked into the fog and was never seen again.Now Pig is the dam keeper. Except for his best friend, Fox, and the town bully, Hippo, few are aware of his tireless efforts. But a new threat is on the horizon—a tidal wave of black fog is descending on Sunrise Valley. Now Pig, Fox, and Hippo must face the greatest danger imaginable: the world on the other side of the dam.Based on the Oscar-nominated animated short film of the same name, The Dam Keeper is a lush, vibrantly drawn graphic novel by Tonko House cofounders Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi.

    Life outside the robot factory is confusing.Little Robot has a lot to learn...And that's what friends are for.But with danger in the way, will friendship be enough to save them?

    Meanings are illuminated in this different kind of dictionary, which is every bit as heartwarming as the experience of baking cookies with someone you love.Amy Krouse Rosenthal's sweet little lessons, mixed with warm and inviting illustrations by mother-daughter duo Jane Dyer and Brooke Dyer, make for a book that will hit the spot! Go ahead, have another bite! (And another.)A lovely Valentine's Day present, especially with some home-baked cookies.

    A cryptic picture message from their mother leads them to a familiar gate in the woods, but comfortable sights quickly give way to a new world entirely—Down—one inhabited by talking birds and the evil Puppeteer queen. Summer and Bird are quickly separated, and their divided hearts lead them each in a very different direction in the quest to find their parents, vanquish the Puppeteer, lead the birds back to their Green Home, and discover the identity of the true bird queen.With breathtaking language and deliciously inventive details, Katherine Catmull has created a world unlike any other, skillfully blurring the lines between magic and reality and bringing to life a completely authentic cast of characters and creatures.

    There's a `just right' quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read the words aloud. Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long."—Booklist.This New York Times Notable Book of the Year is a wonderful introduction to the pleasures of poetry and word play from a master of the genre, Jack Prelutsky.

    Never fear, this smart cookie has a plan to outfox the fox. Will it work? Let's just say that the ending is sweet for everyone. Ernst's familiar art, here placed against gingham-check backgrounds, utilizes the oversize format to best advantage, with large characters leaping out of their frames. On the cover, the candy-studded Gingerbread Girl with licorice-whip hair stares boldly out at readers. Kids won?t be able to resist following her inside. Booklist

    When she runs away, she happens upon a curvy tree who helps her understand the importance of being different! This picture book stands alone, but also plays an important role in the Land of Stories series--making this a must-have book for fans and new readers alike!

    In a hotel in Paris one evening in 1879, Mark Twain sat with his young daughters, who begged their father for a story. After the girls chose a picture from a magazine to get started, Twain began telling them the tale of Johnny, a poor boy in possession of some magical seeds. Later, Twain would jot down some rough notes about the story, but the tale was left unfinished . . . until now. Plucked from the Mark Twain archive at the University of California at Berkeley, Twain’s notes now form the foundation of a fairy tale picked up over a century later. With only Twain’s fragmentary script and a story that stops partway as his guide, author Philip Stead has written a tale that imagines what might have been if Twain had fully realized this work: Johnny, forlorn and alone except for his pet chicken, meets a kind woman who gives him seeds that change his fortune, allowing him to speak with animals and sending him on a quest to rescue a stolen prince. In the face of a bullying tyrant king, Johnny and his animal friends come to understand that generosity, empathy, and quiet courage are gifts more precious in this world than power and gold. Illuminated by Erin Stead’s graceful, humorous, and achingly poignant artwork, this is a story that reaches through time and brings us a new book from America’s most legendary writer, envisioned by two of today’s most important names in children’s literature.