They can look like objects, animals, or even people. You won't find many straight lines here! Award-winning author Brian P. Cleary explains how concrete poems work--and uses them to create all sorts of wild wordplay. Ode to a Commode is packed with mind-bending poems to make you puzzle and ponder. And when you've finished reading, you can try your hand at writing your own concrete poems!

    During the Great Depression, a family seeking work finds employment for two weeks digging potatoes in Idaho.

    Soon he sees three dolphins--two adults and a baby--swimming toward him. A large fishing hook is embedded in the baby's back, and suddenly Wayne realizes that, in their own way, the dolphins are asking for his help.

    It's now available in a paperback digest format certain to bring this tale's magic to an even wider circle of fans.The summer Opal and her father, the preacher, move to Naomi, Florida, Opal goes into the Winn-Dixie supermarket—and comes out with a dog. A big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor. A dog she dubs Winn-Dixie. Because of Winn-Dixie, the preacher tells Opal ten things about her absent mother, one for each year Opal has been alive. Winn-Dixie is better at making friends than anyone Opal has ever known, and together they meet the local librarian, Miss Franny Block, who once fought off a bear with a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They meet Gloria Dump, who is nearly blind but sees with her heart, and Otis, an ex-con who sets the animals in his pet shop loose after hours, then lulls them with his guitar.Opal spends all that sweet summer collecting stories about her new friends and thinking about her mother. But because of Winn-Dixie or perhaps because she has grown, Opal learns to let go, just a little, and that friendship—and forgiveness—can sneak up on you like a sudden summer storm.

    But he's never satisfied: Something is missing.In his first book, actor and musician John Lithgow introduces a memorable character, a fickle yet lovable child prodigy who brings the sounds and rhythms of an orchestra to sprawling visual life. With a double gatefold showing the entire orchestra, this is the ultimate book for the music lover in all of us.Deedle-ee Doodle-eeDoom-pety CLANG!

    The eighth-grade season is here, and the boys have come together as a team. Now key starters, Tiki and Ronde are ready for a great season, and with hard work and determination, maybe they will even go all the way to the State Championship! But when Coach Spangler announces that he has been asked to move up to the high school team, and Mr. Wheeler, the science teacher, is tapped for the head coaching job, the season seems over before it begins. Sure, Coach Wheeler played college football until he was benched by an injury, but it just isn't the same. Tiki wants to give Coach Wheeler a chance, yet the team's loyalties are divided. What does a science teacher know about the game of football? Can the team work together, get behind their new coach, and play smart? Inspired by the childhood of NFL superstars Tiki and Ronde Barber, Go Long! is a story of teamwork, perseverance, and what it takes to be a champion.

    But in this picture book, it’s finicky mom and dad—not the child—who eat only pizza with pepperoni (delivered), burgers from a bag, or noodles from a box. Eager to experience new flavors, Matilda secretly sets out to learn how to cook, satisfy her hunger for something more . . . and expand her parents’ palates, too.

    Especially the books in Spanish that Abuela gave to her just before she moved away. They were classics that Abuela and Dominguita read together, classics her abuela brought with her all the way from Cuba when she was a young girl. It helps Dominguita feel like Abuela’s still there with her. One of her favorites, Don Quixote, tells of a brave knight errant who tries to do good deeds. Dominguita decides that she, too, will become a knight and do good deeds around her community, creating a grand adventure for her to share with her abuela. And when the class bully tells Dominguita that girls can’t be knights, Dom is determined to prove him wrong. With a team of new friends, can Dominguita learn how to be the hero of her own story?