Along the way they find friends to guide and support them, and when the new day dawns, it is full of promise. With gorgeous, richly realized illustrations and immense hope at its heart, Rain Before Rainbows holds out a ray of sunshine for anyone looking for light.

    Knowing the havoc it will cause, all the animals try to prevent the elephant from sneezing.

    . . "Hey, I may be a squirrel, but my name is Taco! And I don't eat nuts and tree bark—blech—I prefer tacos!" The natural predator of squirrels is . . . "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who is writing this book? I do not like where this is going." This hilarious send-up of a children's nature primer teaches kids that the most important story is the one you write yourself.

    Sometimes you're sad. Sometimes you're good. Sometimes you're bad. But no matter what, one special little elephant will always know his mother's love. The love shines on the foil-splashed, padded cover and all the way through this color-saturated book.

    Counting and dancing gohand in hand at Mambo Jamba's, the place where hippos hokey-pokey and meerkats macarena and ten little chimps do the Cha -- Cha -- Cha until Mama Chimps says, "Time for bed!"

    But how will his roaring go over at the library? Has Dinosaur finally met his match in Storytime? By combining everyone's favorite feisty red dinosaur with a variety of animals and a celebration of reading, author-illustrator-designer Bob Shea has created another irresistable romp for toddlers and parents to enjoy together.

    . . . So begin the lyrics that have been cracking up listeners since 1963, when songwriters Allan Sherman and Lou Busch borrowed the music of Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours" to create the funniest camp song ever heard.On a rainy first day, a young camper writes home in the hope that his "Muddah" and "Faddah" will let him leave the dreaded Camp Granada. Bemoaning everything from the lake that has alligators to battling counselors and waiters to a bunkmate with malaria, this kid lays it on thick. But just like the weather, a camper's attitude can improve when the sun comes out. Jack E. Davis's exuberant and quirky watercolors are the perfect accompaniment to Sherman and Busch's tongue-in-cheek humor.

    Roars the little lion cub."Who will play with me?1 red monkey rushes up a tree.Poor little lion cub! All he wants is someone to play with, but he is simply too noisy. As the little lion cub Roars his way across the grassland, young picture-book readers can count the African animals,identify them by color...and Roars along too.This rollicking, Roaring poem, about a rambunctious little lion cub, is a collaboration of the talented author and illustrator team Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole.Children's Pick of the Lists 2000 (ABA)

    It's impossible not to flip the page, and flip it again, and again, and again. A first book of motion for kids, it shows a horse in full gallop and a turtle swimming up the page. A dog runs, a cat springs, an eagle soars, and a butterfly flutters. Created by Rufus Butler Seder, an inventor, artist, and filmmaker fascinated by antique optical toys, Scanimation is a state-of-the-art six-phase animation process that combines the "persistence of vision" principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement. It harkens back to the old magical days of the kinetoscope, and the effect is astonishing, like a Muybridge photo series springing into action—or, in terms kids can relate to, like a video without a screen. Complementing the art is a delightful rhyming text full of simple questions and fun, nonsense replies: Can you gallop like a horse? giddyup-a-loo! Can you strut like a rooster? cock-a-doodle-doo!Every child who opens the book will be amazed—and so will every parent.

    My heart is a slide. My heart can be closed...or opened up wide.Some days your heart is a puddle or a fence to keep the world out. But some days it is wide open to the love that surrounds you.

    But when a small, scared crow falls from midair, Scarecrow does the strangest thing. . . .Bestselling author Beth Ferry and the widely acclaimed Fan Brothers present this tender and affectionate tale that reminds us of the comforting power of friendship and the joy of helping others.

    But when it comes to reading, the letters just look like squiggles to him, and it soon becomes clear he struggles more than his peers. When his teacher asks each child in the class to write a story, Aaron can’t get a single word down. He is sure his dream of being a storyteller is out of reach . . . until inspiration strikes, and Aaron finds a way to spin a tale in a way that is uniquely his. Follow Iggy Peck, Rosie Revere, Ada Twist, Sofia Valdez, and Aaron Slater on all of their adventures! Add the picture books, chapter books, and activity books starring The Questioneers by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts to your family library today.

    Twirling, leaping, spinning, and gliding, on skates and flippers, the duo mirror each other's graceful dance above and below the ice. But when Flora gives the penguin the cold shoulder, the pair must figure out a way to work together for uplifting results. Artist Molly Idle creates an innovative, wordless picture book with clever flaps that reveal Flora and the penguin coming together, spiraling apart, and coming back together as only true friends do. Plus, this is a fixed-format version of the book, which looks nearly identical to the print version.

    Nibbles is a very naughty book monster - he's chomping, munching and nibbling his way through fairytales that don't belong to him! Can you help catch him and put him back in his own story? Lift the flaps, peek through the peep holes, and chase Nibbles through a fantastical world of fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

    A follow-up to the successful I Love Trucks!, this rhymed picture book introduces the preschool set to trains and the jobs they do.