How many shades of blue are there?There’s the soft blue of a baby’s cherished blanket, the ocean blue of a romp in the waves, the chilly blue of a cold winter’s walk in the snow, and the true blue of the bond that exists between children and animals.In this simple, sumptuously illustrated companion to Caldecott Honor Book Green, award-winning artist Laura Vaccaro Seeger turns her attention to the ways in which color evokes emotion, and in doing so tells the story of one special and enduring friendship.

    These contrasts play out beautifully across the page from left to right, and across a couple of long gatefold pages. Whether it's the nervousness of a beginning paired with the happiness of a middle; the indignity of a cut against the happiness of a scab; the boredom of nothing to do contrasted with the happiness of nothing to do; or the divide of mine against the happiness of our, these pages challenge the reader to think about daily activities and experiences and the feelings they conjure. They also lead us to think about the substance of our happiness, and what the ingredients of it might be. Written with subtlety and nuance and illustrated in pencil, pen and watercolor with great tenderness, The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in its Mouth is a gentle, fun, and philosophical read, with which one can start and end the day.

    A plucky stray cat takes a Grand Tour in Kate Banks' story of a family on a European vacation. As the family travels from one city to the next, the cat finds its own means--by bus, boat, train, truck, and bike--to tag along on the trip, visiting historic landmarks like Buckingham Palace and the Cathedral of Notre Dame along the way. Readers will pore over the spreads to find  where City Cat is hiding in each city, and detailed backmatter explains the history behind the sites in each locale.

    There are sleepy pups, hyper pups, glamorous pups--and some that are a mix of everything! This energetic book, with its fun rhyming text and adorable illustrations, is sure to thrill the young dog lover. Anyone who's ever adopted a furry friend will already know the true trick to picking a pup . . . the pup picks YOU!

    Three picture-packed gatefolds inside showcase even more familiar and exotic species. These images are part of Sartore's lifelong project to photograph every animal in the world, with special attention given to disappearing and endangered species.

      Lulu and her master, Remy, a passionate but struggling portrait painter, wander the French countryside looking for customers. They don’t need much business —just enough for some figs and cheese to keep their bellies full—but not many people seem to appreciate Remy’s abstract style.   Before long, Lulu secretly lends a paw to Remy’s work and—voilà!—the pair are the most celebrated artists on the salon circuit. If only Remy knew why . . .   With art from both beloved children’s book illustrator Kevin Hawkes and award-winning miniatures artist Hannah Harrison, this funny and heartwarming story about friendship and creativity shows that there are many ways to be good at the same thing . . . and that a true friend is always there for you.

    Join a little red, pasta-loving penguin named Pomodoro on his quest to cure boredom and find friendship.Pomodoro encounters a bully, but in the end, it is his love of all things pasta that helps him find an unlikely dinner partner!

    He dreams of the past and how he got under that silly bush! Find out what happens to him. Will he make it home?This is a cute fully illustrated eBook for ages 2 and up.

    Each story is split into parts of approximately 500 words, so they can be easily read at bedtime. They are suitable for children over 5 years of age as the narratives may be too complex for those younger. The stories usually portray characters facing challenges. One friendly bear wants to learn how to read. A brave sailor leads the way to a magical island. A smart little boy tries to build a flying machine. They each succeed by perseverance, openness and ingenuity. They achieve great things by doing simple, good deeds. An important aspect of the book is that there are no situations where a character has to do wrong in order to gain something. Even when battles take place, as they sometimes do on pirate ships, they have no detail of violent gestures or actions. This is a point that has been attentively pursued throughout the book. There are many classical children's stories that involve a great deal of violence. Hansel and Gretel's own parents leave them in a forest to die, the huntsman in Snow White kills the wolf, Cinderella's sisters are filled with envy. The Wonderful Roundabout was written with the belief that stories can set the foundations for the moral character of children and, therefore, should, in all ways, inspire kids to become caring, generous and motivated individuals. Which is why references to violence or mischief are removed. The obstacles our characters face are more those that appear when one tries to follow a dream that is not readily accessible - such as reaching a magical castle, transforming a bicycle into a mouse or building a bridge in a beautiful place. Simply put, if at least one child becomes a better person after hearing one of the stories, then The Wonderful Roundabout would have fulfilled its purpose.

    Beep, beep! Bow wow! Take a spin! Through country and city, from desert to beach, this rhyming, rollicking, chantalong book offers plenty of sights to see and count. Sheepdogs in their jeep, greyhounds in a bus, even bulldogs driving cabs! Award winner Carolyn Crimi and rising star Stephanie Buscema invite kids to read it loud, read it often, and read it silly.

    There’s just one hitch: Spencer’s new pet is a balloon. And that means No. Sharp. Objects. No drooling dogs at the park. No prickly porcupines at the vet. And absolutely no pinning tails on any donkeys! Spencer’s New Pet is a story of pure fun about a boy, his dog, and a friendship that endures life’s sharpest...and most unexpected twists.

    One day, when the boy is at school, Louie tries his own paw at painting a still life. Is this purely an accident, or is Louie a "genius," just like his master?

    Doggie laureates not only chew on quite a lot of things, they also reveal their creativity, their hidden motives, and their eternal (and sometimes misguided) effervescence through such musings as "I Dropped a Ball," "I Lose My Mind When You Leave the House," and "Can You Smell That?" Accompanied throughout by portraits of the canine poets in all their magnificence, I Could Chew on This is a work of unbridled enthusiasm, insatiable appetite, and, yes, creative genius.

    Janeczko and Richard Jones invite you to enjoy an assortment of poems that inform and inspire.Today I walked outside and spied a hedgehog on the hill. When she and I met eye to eye, she raised up straight and still. Be they practical (how to mix a pancake or how to bird-watch) or fanciful (how to scare monsters or how to be a snowflake), the poems in this book boast a flair and joy that you won't find in any instruction manual. Poets from Kwame Alexander to Pat Mora to Allan Wolf share the way to play hard, to love nature, and to be grateful. Soft, evocative illustrations will encourage readers to look at the world with an eye to its countless possibilities.