But not Minerva Louise! To her a snowy day--like everything else--is an adventure. But this chilly, chipper hen needs something to keep her warm. What she finds--and how she finds it--will keep young readers cackling.Minerva Louise expresses a range of emotions from pleasure to curiosity. . . . A great choice for storytime.--School Library Journal, starred reviewAn ALA Notable BookA School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

    dressing up, singing songs, building sand castles, napping (maybe), dancing, painting on walls and - whew! - going to sleep at last.

    It's just proper enough for a straight-laced boy like him. And when he asks his father if he may have one (please and thank you), his father says yes. Elliot should have realized that Dad probably thought he meant a stuffed penguin and not a real one . . . Clever illustrations and a wild surprise ending make this sly, silly tale of friendship and wish fulfillment a kid-pleaser from start to finish.

    Captain Alfred is sailing home with new ducks for his farm when his little boat is caught in an unexpected and mighty storm. Everything aboard the ship is flung to the far reaches of the sea, including the very special and beautiful duck egg he had nestled safely inside his fiddle case. But perhaps all is not lost: the little duckling stumbles out of his shell and discovers Captain Alfred's fiddle, floating not too far away in the waves. And when the duckling embraces the instrument with all his heart, what happens next is pure magic. Through an enchanting read-aloud text and beautiful artwork, award-winning author-illustrator Timothy Basil Ering shares a thrilling and fantastical story of a farmer, a gentle old lady, a dancing dog, and one brave, tiny duckling that will warm the heart.

    A muddy country road is no match for this little pick up--that is, until he gets stuck while pushing a dump truck out of the muck. Luckily, Blue has made a pack of farm animal friends along his route. And they're willing to whatever it takes to get their pal back on the road. Filled with truck sounds and animals noises, here is a rollicking homage to the power of friendship and the rewards of helping others.

    It’s never bath time for Big Smelly Bear: he doesn’t brush, he doesn’t wash, and he’s simply unBEARable. No one can stand to come close! Then, one day, he wakes up with a most awful, unreachable itch. He could really use a little scratch from a friend, but Big Fluffy Bear won’t help because Big Smelly Bear stinks! Will he change his ways and bathe? The witty ending is sure to satisfy!

    It's impossible not to flip the page, and flip it again, and again, and again. A first book of motion for kids, it shows a horse in full gallop and a turtle swimming up the page. A dog runs, a cat springs, an eagle soars, and a butterfly flutters. Created by Rufus Butler Seder, an inventor, artist, and filmmaker fascinated by antique optical toys, Scanimation is a state-of-the-art six-phase animation process that combines the "persistence of vision" principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement. It harkens back to the old magical days of the kinetoscope, and the effect is astonishing, like a Muybridge photo series springing into action—or, in terms kids can relate to, like a video without a screen. Complementing the art is a delightful rhyming text full of simple questions and fun, nonsense replies: Can you gallop like a horse? giddyup-a-loo! Can you strut like a rooster? cock-a-doodle-doo!Every child who opens the book will be amazed—and so will every parent.

    In this irresistibly charming picture book, many different quiet moments are captured, from the anticipation-heavy “Top of the roller coaster quiet” to the shocked-into-silence “First look at your new hairstyle quiet.” The impossibly sweet bears, rabbits, fish, birds, and iguanas are all rendered in soft pencils and colored digitally, and, as in all of the best picture books, the illustrations propel the story far beyond the words. A sure-to-be-a-classic bedtime favorite. Awards: 2011 ALA Notable Children's Book, 2010–2011, New York Times bestseller, 2011 CCBC Choices, 2011 NCTE Notable Children's Trade Book, 2010 New York Times Notable Book, 2010 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, 2010 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

    . . books! Books make the perfect pets, the boy decides, and chooses a bright red one. When it goes missing, a lively adventure is in store for readers who love a happy ending. Soon kids everywhere will wish for a pet book of their very own.

    The titles in Eileen Christelow's books all carry the Five Little Monkeys theme, and all will delight children with their antics.

    . . There's a big whale in the water and it's not budging! The boy tries everything to get the whale to leave. Nothing seems to work. Not fetch. Not tag. Not even offering his allowance. What's a boy to do? Luckily, he comes up with the perfect solution: he decides to chill out on a spray of water over the whale's spout. This colorful whale of a tale from the talented Joyce Wan is sure to inspire giggles from little guppies!

    There's only one problem: he can't read! But when a kind librarian invites him to join for storytime, this literature-loving pig discovers the treasure that books really are.Geisel Medalist Greg Pizzoli presents a new character who is sure to steal your heart in this picturebook full of humorous charm and vivid illustrations.

    Winter is hereand it's time to put on your gloves and mittens and scarf and hat and...Only award-winning poet Karla Kuskin and illustrator Fumi Kosaka could make bundling up for the snow so much fun!

    All is peaceful until—QUACK! Is that a duck at the barn door? And now a goat? A pig? A cow? A horse? Each new unexpected guest is bigger and louder than the last! How will the sheep ever get this barnyard crowd to quiet down before—COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!

    But the little wolves' increasingly sturdy dwellings are no match for the persistent porker, who has more up his sleeve than huffing and puffing. It takes a chance encounter with a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow full of flowers to provide a surprising and satisfying solution to the little wolves' housing crisis. Eugene Trivizas's hilarious text and Helen Oxenbury's enchanting watercolors have made this delightfully skewed version of the traditional tale a contemporary classic.