Teachers, students, and even parents are preparing for THE TEST--The Instructional Performance Through Understanding (IPTU) test--and the school is in an uproar. Even though the grown-ups tell the children not to worry, they're acting kind of strange. The gym teacher is teaching stress-reducing yoga instead of sports in gym class. Parents are giving pop quizzes on bedtime stories at night. The cafeteria is serving "brain food" for lunch. The kids are beginning to think that maybe the test is more important than they're being led to believe. Kids and adults alike will laugh aloud as Finchler and O'Malley poke fun at the commotion surrounding standardized testing, a staple of every school's year.

    Zina is a tiny penguin. Alex lives in the Arctic. Zina lives in the Antarctic. Alex and Zina are polar opposites! They live on opposite sides of the world. Their personalities are very different, too. But they find a way to meet in the middle. Erik Brooks’s simple text and vibrant watercolor illustrations bring opposites to life in this lively look at two unusual best friends.

    Mouse wants a taste of his favorite vegetable, spinach, but our four-sided feline hates the green leafy stuff. Enter the threatening, pointed quills of a porcupine, and Mouse is ready to run! One letter leads to another and by the story’s end, Mouse and Porcupine are pals—and Eula might even try a taste of zesty spinach.

    The Five Little Monkeys are supposed to go to bed, but they convince Lulu there’s time for just one game of hide-and-seek first . . . and then another, and another . . . until they discover the ultimate hiding place. Lulu is frantic; where can those monkeys be?Vibrant, expressive illustrations in Eileen Christelow’s signature style accompany a catchy rhymed text that’s great for reading aloud. The refrain invites children to join in; as Lulu counts to 10, 24, and finally 104, young listeners will count along with her. And what little monkey can resist the idea of mischief at bedtime?

    . . .Bond's well-executed illustrations [project] a contagious sense of movement. A puckish sense of humor prevails among elephants who skateboard, don sunglasses, act tough, and even wink at the audience." —SLJ. 1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

    Slurp, munch, crunch! Little hands will be turning the page to find out the real meals of animals! Would an armadillo order spaghetti with meatballs if she went to a restaurant? No way! Through a series of humorous questions and answers, young readers learn about animals, where they live, and what they eat.

    They cruise down highway number 4 on their way to Shapeville, but they see an abandoned number along the way. Is it a 6? Is it a 9? And what's it doing on the side of the road? Once the trio reach Shapeville, there's another problem: a flood washed away all of the squares. Max and his brothers show the town that putting together two triangles will bring their shapes back together, and then they follow the residents on a trip to Count Town, where they put the missing number back in its place in the countdown to a rocket's blastoff.

    . . John [Hancock], Paul [Revere], George [Washington], and Ben [Franklin]. Oh yes, there was also Tom [Jefferson], but he was annoyingly independent and hardly ever around. These lads were always getting into trouble for one reason or another. In other words, they took a few . . . liberties. And to be honest, they were not always appreciated. Until one day, they all played a part in securing America's freedom."Deftly drawn, witty, and instantly appealing, the illustrations creatively blend period elements such as wood-grain and crackle-glaze texturing, woodcut lines, and formal compositions typical of the era, with gaping mouths and stylized, spiraling eyes typical of modern cartoons," wrote Booklist, and School Library Journal declared, "Exercise your freedom to scoop up this one."

    . . “I want a friend to sit with me!”Two little hot dogs sitting on a chair . . . One by one, more little hot dogs join the group until . . . there are ten little hot dogs on the chair. They play and play until . . . they all fall asleep. But then, one little hot dog wakes up, and one by one, guess what the other hot dogs do? This funny picture book featuring artwork in watercolor and black pencil shows young readers how to count up from one to ten and back down from ten to one.