A hidden passage.A secret underground world beyond imagining.Night after night, the princesses mysteriously wear out their shoes. But how are they doing it? The baffled king promises a great reward to any man who can solve the mystery.From the colorful flurry of the princesses? dressing room to a captivating nighttime scene on an underground lake, Rachel Isadora has revitalized and reimagined this well-loved Brothers Grimm fairy tale by bringing the story of the twelve princesses to Africa. Her collage of blazing colors, rich textures and dramatic shapes evoke the patterns and palette of this beautiful continent. Returning to the lush setting of The Princess and the Pea, the unique presentation of this classic tale is sure to enchant readers with its vibrant imagery.

    How could everyone in a castle - even the flies on the walls - sleep for a century and then wake up? This magical, beautifully illustrated tale begins when the king excludes the most difficult fairy of the kingdom from a feast celebrating the birth of his beautiful daughter Briar Rose. Furious, the fairy storms in and curses the baby, pronouncing that on her fifteenth birthday she will be pricked by a distaff (from a spinning wheel) and fall down dead. The youngest fairy softens the curse to a century-long sleep. Despite the fact that the king burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom, 15-year-old Briar Rose finds herself in the tower where the evil fairy and her fate await her. The drama of the spell unfurls as she and the other inhabitants of the castle fall instantly asleep, from courtiers to kitchen maids. Thorny briars - moodily captured by Trina Schart Hyman's masterful paintbrush - grow up around the castle. Hyman depicts those who died attempting to break through the maze of thorns to reach the legendary sleeping beauty in a nightmarish illustration. But goodness and true love prevail when the perfect prince does finally find his way through the thick vines.Hyman won a Caldecott Medal for her work in Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, and her version of The Sleeping Beauty makes us believe in the magic of the spell. The scenes inside the castle are alive with color and movement and rich with details that children will devour eagerly. Moods and expressions are rendered exquisitely, especially those of the wild, red-haired beauty Briar Rose. This wonderful read-aloud classic is one of Hyman's best.

    Who will the king choose?Award-winning artist John Steptoe’s rich cultural imagery of Africa earned him the Coretta Scott King Award for Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. The book also went on to win the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. This stunning story is a timeless treasure that readers will enjoy for generations.Coretta Scott King Award for IllustrationCaledcott HonorReading Rainbow BookBoston Globe-Horn Book

    It includes Li Chi, the serpent slayer, and the old woman sly enough to outsmart the devil.

    At first, Martina is skeptical of her Abuela's suggestion, but when suitor after suitor fails the Coffee Test, she wonders if a little green cockroach can ever find true love.After reading this award-winning retelling of the Cuban folktale, readers will never look at a cockroach the same way again. Also available in Spanish and in audio (read by the author), Carmen Agra Deedy delivers a delightfully inventive Cuban twist on the beloved Martina folktale, complete with a dash of caf� Cubano.Teacher's Guide available!Pura Belpre Medal (Honor Book) - American Library AssociationOdyssey Award (Honor) - American Library Associationp>Best Children's Books of the Year - Bank Street College of Education

    . . in Ireland . . . in Zimbabwe . . . there lived a girl who worked all day in the rice fields . . . then spent the night by the hearth, sleeping among the cinders.Her name is Ashpet, Sootface, Cendrillon . . . Cinderella. Her story has been passed down the centuries and across continents. Now Paul Fleischman and Julie Paschkis craft its many versions into one hymn to the rich variety and the enduring constants of our cultures.A Junior Library Guild SelectionGlass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

    And that lost mitten stretches and stretches -- and stretches -- to provide shelter for many woodland creatures. A Ukrainian folk tale.

    Is the nature spirit that lives in the wooden walls of her house a help or a hindrance? Is the mischievous giant chicken a friend or a foe? Most importantly, will Anyaugo be able to save the food her aunties have cooked for the New Yam Festival the next day? A hugely entertaining look at the fascinating masquerade culture of West Africa, from the perspective of a plucky young Nigerian girl who finds the courage to protect the traditions she loves.

    With commentary by the author. “A must for mythology shelves.”--Booklist

    So begins the age-old tale of a kind-hearted young woman, her jealous stepmother, two hateful stepsisters, and a young man in search of a wife. The young man, Javier, falls madly in love with beautiful Adelita, but she disappears from his fiesta at midnight, leaving him with only one clue to her hidden identity?a beautiful rebozo? shawl. With the rebozo in place of a glass slipper, this favorite fairy tale takes a delightful twist. Tomie dePaola?s exquisite paintings, filled with the folk art of Mexico, make this a Cinderella story like no other.

    Cinder Edna was forced to work for her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, just as her neighbor, Cinderella, was.Edna, on the other hand, had learned a thing or two from doing all that housework, such as how to make tuna casserole sixteen different ways and how to get spots off everything from rugs to ladybugs. And she was strong and spunky and knew some good jokes.Then one day the king announced that he would give a ball ...

    It had fountains of cool, refreshing water to quench the thirst of the desert, and storytellers to bring the people together. But as the kingdom grew, the people forgot the dangers of the desert, and they forgot about the storytellers, too. All but one young boy, who came to the Great Square for a drink and found something that quenched his thirst even better: wonderful stories. As he listened to the last storyteller recount the Endless Drought, and the Glorious Blue Water Bird, he discovered the power of a tale well told. Acclaimed illustrator Evan Turk has created a stunning multidimensional story within a story that will captivate the imagination and inspire a new generation of young storytellers.

    When the poor man was unable to stand it any longer, he ran to the Rabbi for help.As he follows the Rabbi's unlikely advice, the poor man's life goes from bad to worse, with increasingly uproarious results. In his little hut, silly calamity follows foolish catastrophe, all memorably depicted in full-color illustrations that are both funnier and lovelier than any this distinguished artist has done in the past.It Could Always Be Worse is a 1977 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and Outstanding Book of the Year, and a 1978 Caldecott Honor Book.

    "Children will delight in the cunning way that Fiona triumphs over the leprechaun king, as well as in the rhythmic language of this well-told tale." - Kirkus Reviews

    Jim LaMarche's stunning paintings, reminiscent of his earlier work in The Rainbabies, are the perfect compliment to this favorite Grimm fairy tale.