A message in code starts Tim off on an exciting treasure hunt through a dark cave, an underground tunnel, and other strange places until at the end he finds a happy surprise.

    

    She was known far and wide as Detective Dog Nell. Peter's dog Nell has an amazing sense of smell. Whether it's finding a lost shoe or discovering who did a poo on the new gravel path, her ever-sniffing nose is always hard at work. But Nell has other talents too. Every Monday she goes to school with Peter and listens to children read. So who better to have on hand when they arrive one morning to discover that the school's books have all disappeared! Who could have taken them? And why? There's only one dog for the job... and Detective Dog Nell is ready to sniff out the culprit!Written by the brilliant Julia Donaldson and stunningly illustrated by the multi-talented illustrator and printmaker Sara Ogilvie, The Detective Dog is a fast-paced celebration of books, reading, libraries, and the relationship between a little boy and his rather special dog.Now available in a cased board book format, perfect for introducing Detective Nell to younger children!"

    In a spare text that reads as pure song and illustrations of astonishingly beautiful scratchboard art, Sidman and Krommes remind us that sometimes, if spoken from the heart, wishes really can come true.

    Thankfully, the bestselling duo of author Laura Numeroff and illustrator Felicia Bond -- creators of If You Take a Mouse to the Movies and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie -- have teamed up to show us the hijinks a whiskered school guest could cause.Starting with asking for your lunchbox, this critter is set for mischief. The feisty mouse asks for a snack for later (cookies of course), a notebook, and pencils, and wants "to share your backpack, too." After he arrives at school, the pushy classmate tries his hand (make that paw) at math and writing on the blackboard, afterward whipping up a messy, pink science experiment and building a "little mouse house" from blocks. The schooltime antics don't stop there, but a busy mouse tends to get hungry after so much playtime. Naturally his snack is in the lunchbox, which is stored "in a safe place" with his new picture book inside.Following the whimsical style of their previous books, Numeroff and Bond have done it again. Their high-adrenaline mouse will have readers cheering while their eyes comb the illustrations for extra nibbles of fun. Although the book's main human character looks positively exhausted at the end, we can only holler for more of the little guy with the huge school spirit. Matt Warner

    Now she guides children on the first steps to reading with three sweet, funny stories about a stuffed bear and a frisky dachshund who happen to be best friends. Simple, engaging texts and bright, colorful pictures make this a perfect book for emergent readers to read by themselves or to share with friends. And in Dog and Bear, readers will discover two chaming characters, ready to take their place on the shelves next to Henry and Mudge, Frog and Toad, and George and Martha.Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories is the winner of the 2007 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Picture Books. This title has Common Core connections.

    Kids will love to see their own quirks reflected in these adorably rendered creatures, and perhaps will be comforted to know that—just like them—narwhals can be perfectly happy all on their own and quail also get tired of being told to be quiet.

    When he spots a beehive in the distance, he heads right for it Sitting on top of the beehive is Bee who graciously offers Bear some honey, but Bear is worried. He believes that bees are big, scary creatures who do not share their honey. But Bear's new friend just happens to be a bee And Bee is small and most certainly is not scary. But do bees share honey? Turns out they do

    He’s not used to being away from home and he doesn’t know any of the other kids in his class. And when he meets classmates Moisés, Mo, and Kevin, Musa isn’t sure they’ll have much in common. But over the course of the year, the four boys learn more about each other, the holidays they celebrate, their favorite foods, and what they like about school. The more they share with each other, the closer they become, until Musa can’t imagine any better friends. In this charming story of friendship and celebrating differences, young readers can discover how entering a new friendship with an open mind and sharing parts of yourself brings people together. And the calendar of holidays at the end of the book will delight children as they identify special events they can celebrate with friends throughout the year.

    When the prairie dogs discover that they can pluck and pull the fuzz into fabulous fashions, their fear quickly turns to curiosity, then delight, then pure greed.The frenzy that erupts threatens to tear apart the prairie-dog town forever. But when mean ol' Big Bark is kidnapped after taking all the fuzz for himself, the prairie dogs come to the rescue and remember the true meaning of community.

    When things start to go wrong around the house, Lily is quick to blame her new furry friend, but doesn't notice the much bigger and more dangerous feline that has taken up residence - a huge tiger!

    But the other colors are always leaving him out. So he decides to create his own project: an all-gray book. Once upon a time, there lived a wolf, a kitten, and a hippo…Gray just knows it’s going to be perfect. But as he adds page after page, the Primary and Secondary colors show up…and they aren’t quite so complimentary.A book within a book, this colorful tale explores the ideas of fitting in, appreciating others, and looking at things from another perspective and also uses personality and wit to introduce basic color concepts.

    When he tries to move in with friends, more chaos ensues. Will Rabbit learn to change his selfish ways?

    He wanted a different kind of pet — one that could run and catch, or chase string and climb trees, a soft furry pet to sleep on his bed at night. Definitely not Norman. But when he tries to trade Norman for a "good pet," things don’t go as he planned. Could it be that Norman is a better pet than he thought? With wry humor and lighthearted affection, author Kelly Bennett and illustrator Noah Z. Jones tell an unexpected — and positively fishy — tale about finding the good in something you didn’t knowyou wanted.

    A mission to find something spectacular. So they dig a hole. And they keep digging. And they find . . . nothing. Yet the day turns out to be pretty spectacular after all. Attentive readers will be rewarded with a rare treasure in this witty story of looking for the extraordinary—and finding it in a manner you’d never expect.