Knock five times fast, hand over the bag of squirmy worms, and you can crawl inside The Monstore. The Monstore is the place to go for all of your monsterly needs. Which is perfect, since Zack definitely has a monsterly need. The problem? His pesky little sister, Gracie, who never pays attention to that “Keep Out” sign on Zack’s door—the one he has made especially for her. But when Zack’s monsters don’t exactly work as planned, he soon finds out that the Monstore has a few rules: No Refunds. No exchanges. No exceptions.

    She has heard lots and lots about that very human holiday Halloween, and even though she thinks she knows what humans are like, she has never, ever seen Halloween for herself. Until one very special Halloween comes along . . .

    

    LittleWas not small at all.In fact, she was overEleven feet tall.Betsy B. Little, a too-tall, gawky giraffe, wants nothing more than to become a graceful ballerina. But how can she possibly achieve this? Each time she takes a leap in ballet class, her head hits the ceiling! Everyone says she's simply too tall, but Betsy doesn't let that stop her from trying. With passion, determination, and some clever thinking, Betsy sets out to prove her dream is definitely not beyond reach.

    . . . Froggy?s off to camp?and Camp Run-A-Muck will never be the same!Froggy packs a lot into one week: hikes and archery lessons, K.P. and food fights, scary stories and funny songs around the campfire. But only Froggy could also manage to lose his trunks during swim class and overturn his kayak with the camp director in it. Lovable, bumbling Froggy will keep his many fans laughing with his latest antics.

    Illustrated by the masterful Ryoji Arai, the calm is shattered when the wind picks up and lightning cuts the sky. Yet out of this turbulence, the day blooms bright, the flowers open, and raindrops roll and drip down to the forest floor. The sun sets. The moon rises, and in a pool of water we see its reflection. We go to sleep with the forest, sinking into the pool, into the calm reflection of the moon. Harmonizing our human experience to the natural world, Arai invites the reader to hold imaginative space for our oneness with the natural world.

    In their very first collaboration, Robert Kraus and Jose Aruego give charm and validity to one of childhood’s more difficult experiences. Tender and catchy, Robert Kraus’s rhyming text, combined with Jose Aruego’s large, vibrantly clever illustrations, makes for a storytime classic.

    Pizza Pat stretches the floppy dough, puts on the gloppy tomatoes, adds the sloppy sausages, sprinkles on the cheese, and then pops it in the oven. But just before he cuts into his delicious pizza pie, he turns his back for one second--and the pizza disappears! A gang of hungry mice have taken Pat's irresistible creation away for themselves. Kids love pizza, and this cumulative Step 1 book, based on the poem "The House That Jack Built", will whet their appetites for both pizza and books!

    This house—an old one hunkered in the deep grass below a wide country sky—is a waiting house. Once it was full of laughter and song. The sounds of life rang within its walls. Now it stands quiet and still. The house has sheltered many families over the years and remembers them fondly, especially the children. New families arrive to look, but none stay. Perhaps the house, too, now belongs to the Long Ago and Used to Be? Or will the “right” family move in to honor its past and build new memories? Wistful and nostalgic, Mary Lyn Ray’s poetic text, combined with glowing, pastoral illustrations by E. B. Goodale that capture the lonely house’s unique character, create a quietly affecting hymn to hope and surprise that will enchant readers of all ages.

    As Amy and her family get ready to settle down for the night, the cat gets ready to explore and sees many things.

    Told in rhyming text, Inside Cat views the world through many windows, watching the birds, squirrels, and people go by--but when the door opens it discovers a whole new view.

    Now it's up to Magnolia to find a way to send this troublemaker home--but what could possibly scare an alligator away?

    First, everyone else gets a piece of cake with a frosting rose. But not Bernice. Then, everyone else gets strawberry-melon soda. Bernice gets the prune-grapefruit juice. And it's warm. The last straw is the one lousy (squished) candy she gets from the piñata. So when the balloons arrive, Bernice knows just what she has to do: grab them all. And then, poor cross Bernice gets carried up, up, and away. Luckily, she figures out just how to make her way back down to the party...and she brightens lots of other animals' days on her way.Hannah Harrison’s gorgeous animal paintings come alive in her second picture book. Her “exceptionally polished” debut, Extraordinary Jane, received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and  School Library Journal.

    Embarrassed to discover that he has no pants to wear, a young octopus visits several oceanic stores and is unable to find what he needs before swimming into the Under-Sea Emporium, where he searches for something that is just right for him.

    "Hush baby polar bear. Sleep in the snow, and dream of the places where sleeping bears go." Readers follow a baby snow-white plush polar bear that has been brought to life by his owner's imagination from the back of a whale with the sea spray surrounding, to a land of tall grass where butterflies fl oat by up into the sky itself…and happily right back through the window into the loving arms of his owner asleep in bed. Mack's lush and lovable illustrations suit the lulling, rhyming text to make a perfect bedtime book sure to leave readers and listeners with warm and fuzzy feelings read after read.