Each of our holidays has its own familiar traditions: Trick-or-treating on Halloween, eating turkey on Thanksgiving, waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas, exchanging cards on Valentine's Day. But where do these customs come from, when did they begin, and why do we continue to observe them? In the engaging blend of careful research and lively prose that has earned her books a lasting place on the holiday bookshelf, Edna Barth explores the multicultural origins and evolution of the familiar and not-so-familiar symbols and legends associated with our favorite holidays. Full of fascinating historical details and little-known stories, these books are both informative and engaging. Festively illustrated by Ursula Arndt, they are now available again in hardcover as well as paperback editions, featuring new, eye-catching jacket designs, and fun holiday activities inside the paperback covers. Each book includes an annotated list of holiday stories and poems and an index.

    She doesn't care about flowers, garbage, or any of the other smelly things most dogs enjoy. As a result, Dumpling has no dog friends. With a useless nose, she can't relate. Dumpling is lonely . . . until she and her people move to the country. And then the good dog has to choose between obedience and friendship – with a skunk!Ridiculous, touching, and a little bit disgusting, Skunkdog, with its lively storytelling and comic pictures, will spark conversations and giggles.

    She wants a birthday party but all the really big monsters turn up and they're really, really bad.

    Best selling children's book author Mark Smith answers the question that every child wants to know.Do Monsters Wear Undies?Find out for yourself in this fully illustrated rhyming picture book that comes to life with bright vibrant colors, and a catchy rhythm that kids will fall in love with.Hooray for underwear! Says a giant monster bear.He wears his boxer shorts while playing his favorite sports.Say hi to Max, A monster who wears slacks.He has purple hair and matching purple underwear.This book has been created with early readers in mind, but the whole concept will appeal to the kid in all of us.Do monsters wear undies? What are you waiting for? Grab a copy and find out for yourself!

    In this companion volume to Eric Carle's Animals Animals, he celebrates mythology and legends from around the world, and breathes life into the creatures that inhabit them. Illustrating poetry from such authors as Anne McCaffrey, X. J. Kennedy, Myra Cohn Livingston, and John Gardner, Eric Carle invites readers of all ages to enter the fabulous world of Dragons Dragons & other creatures that never were.

    The Russian folktale about an old woman's endless search for the Christ child.

    Based on the wonderfully atmospheric and dramatic Cornish tale of Old Tom, the fisherman, and his cat Mowzer, who braved the wrath of the Great Storm-Cat to save their village.

    In this absorbing story his courage and chivalry are tested to the full when he swears to save the honour of his King by marrying the Loathly Lady.Winner of the 1985 Kate Greenaway Medal.

    Kay catches a magic golden leaf and enters a world where dreams are true, but when she tells her family, all of them are too busy to listen and understand - except one.

    Now the adventure of these two unlikely sweethearts has been paired with vibrant paper-collage illustrations by Anne Wilson. Her colorful art creates a whimsical backdrop for Owl's romantic pursuit of Pussycat. "The Owl and the Pussycat" will delight children and adults and show a new generation of readers the magic of true love. Awards and honors for "The Owl and the Pussycat": "Publishers Weekly" starred review

    Each has a special magic, an aura that is sometimes beautiful and fascinating, sombre and frightening, or exciting and colourful. But what unites all these stories is the essential quality of folk-lore, something that transcends the boundaries of nations, of custom and time, that gives them their permanence and universality of appeal. "Authors need folk-tales," Richard Adams says, "in the same way as composers need folk-song. They're the headspring of the narrator's art, where the story stands forth at its simple, irreducible best. They don't date, any more than dreams, for they are the collective dreams of humanity." In order to preserve as far as possible the immediacy and directness of authentic folk story-telling, each of the nineteen tales is presented as being told by an imagined narrator to one or more hearers at a particular time and place, sometimes past, sometimes present. However, the reader is never told the identity either of the teller or his hearers, but is left free to infer both them and the occasion solely from the narrator's own words. This original technique adds a novel dash of piquancy to this fine collection.

    . . but his little dragons are being way too noisy and have way too much energy! One drowsy dragon is trying to get some sleep, but his ten little dragons want to have fun instead. Five are playing with their toys, six are making milk shakes, and seven are watching scary shows on TV. Find out what a drowsy has to do to catch some ZZZZZZs in this rolicking counting book.

    Although she is surrounded with gifts and has rooms, gardens, and a courtyard to explore, Pandora is drawn to one room--the one that holds that jar. Is Pandora’s curiosity a curse? In a seamless blend of prose and verse--and drawing from traditional mythological sources--Robert Burleigh dramatically tells Pandora's story for young readers. Complemented by Raul Colón's bold illustrations, Pandora is an unforgettable introduction to the classic myth.

    A child's great-grandfather reminisces about the times he and his dog Three Names went to school on prairie roads in a wagon pulled by horses.

    In January 1680 a dozen Pueblo Indians are charged with conspiring to incite a revolution against the colonial government. When the prisoners are brought before the Governor, one of them is revealed as a young woman. Educated by the friars in her pueblo's mission church, Serafina speaks beautiful Spanish and surprises the Governor with her fearlessness and intelligence.The two strike a bargain. She will entertain the Governor by telling him a story. If he likes her story, he will free one of the prisoners. Like Scheherezade, who prevented her royal husband from killing her by telling him stories, Serafina keeps the Governor so entertained with her versions of Nuevo Mexicano cuentos that he spares the lives of all her fellow prisoners.Some of the stories Serafina tells will have a familiar ring to them, for they came from Europe and were New Mexicanized by the Spanish colonists. Some have Pueblo Indian plots and characters--and it is this blending of the two cultures that is Anaya's true subject.