But her village is so safe and quiet! What’s a future giant slayer to do?With her best friend Marie (an aspiring princess), and her brother Gaston (a pastry-chef-to-be), Claudette embarks on a super-secret quest to find a giant—without parental permission. Can they find and defeat the giant before their parents find them and drag them back home? Giants Beware! offers up a wondrous, self-contained world in the tradition of the very best of Pixar. Claudette and her friends will have you laughing out loud from page one.  Giants Beware! Author Q&A What was your inspiration for the book?Rafael:  I’m not entirely sure.  I recently went through some old sketchbooks of mine and realized that I’d been drawing a character that looked kind of like our main character, Claudette, years before we even began the book.  I guess I’ve had this character of this girl with a lot of spunk in my subconscious for a while.  I’m also really into French comics and that influenced the look quite bit. Which character do you identify with and why?Rafael:  I’m not impulsive like Claudette.  I’m probably most like Gaston.  He thinks before taking the leap.  He worries a lot.  That’s probably more like me.Jorge:  I wish I could say I was like Marie.  Marie doesn’t care what other people think of her.  In this book, she aspires to be a princess and other kids make fun of her, but she doesn’t pay them any attention.  She’s very confident and smart.   I wish I were more like her.  I also wish I were like Claudette.  She’s brave, reckless, and impulsive.  But I’m not like her either.  Like Rafael, I’m probably most like Gaston.  I’m a little nervous and I love sweets.How did your partnership begin?Jorge:  We’ve known each other since we were both in film school at the Ohio State University in Columbus. I was in a writing class at OSU, and of all the bad scripts in class, mine was one of the least bad scripts, and so it was chosen to be produced with Rafael as the director.  We spent a good month or so filming a very bad film together.  That is how we became friends. Rafael:  Fast forward years later to Columbus, Ohio circa 2007.  We were at John Novak’s house (our colorist and a mutual friend).  I told Jorge about these characters I had bouncing around in my head and a story about a giant.  I went off and wrote and drew up the ideas I had so far.  I gave them to Jorge, and told him to run with it.  And he ran.  How did you draw the book?  How did you write the book?Rafael:  I drew the whole thing in Photoshop, on a Wacon Cintiq (a tablet-monitor). I like drawing digitally because it gives me a lot of flexibly down the line for edits and moving things around. John Novak and Matthew Schenk colored the book.  We used a DropBox to move files around between John Novak and Matthew Schenk (color), Jorge, and me.  Jorge and I would meet every once in awhile either in person in Columbus or via video chatting to go over pages and notes. Jorge:  I used Scrivener to collect all my notes, and Final Draft to write the script.  I lettered the book in Illustrator, which gave me the chance to do one last rewrite.  I’m always rewriting, and I always tried not to send any script pages to Rafael until they were fully baked or else he’d start drawing right away.What’s up with Claudette’s dad?Do you mean like why is he missing his legs and an arm?  Well, he fought a battle against a terrible dragon and lost.  You always hear about these great warriors who slay dragons.  Well, Augustine is a great warrior who had a very bad day.  And now his favorite sword is sitting in the belly of Azra the dragon.  But that’s a story for another day.

    Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means changes like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. Because Ryan is all about trying to see the best. Even when things aren’t all she would wish for—her brother is infuriating, her parents don’t understand, when her recipes don’t turn out right, and when the unexpected occurs—she can find a way forward, with wit and plenty of sunshine.

    But one stormy August day, furious flood water carry him off and dump him on an uninhabited island. Despite his determination and stubborn resourcefulness--he tried crossing the river with boats and ropes and even on stepping-stones--Abel can't find a way to get back home. Days, then weeks and months, pass. Slowly, his soft habits disappear as he forages for food, fashions a warm nest in a hollow log, models clay statues of his family for company, and continues to brood on the problem of how to get across the river--and home. Abel's time on the island brings him a new understanding of the world he's separated from. Faced with the daily adventure of survival in his solitary, somewhat hostile domain, he is moved to reexamine the easy way of life he had always accepted and discovers skills and talents in himself that hold promise of a more meaningful life, if and when he should finally return to Mossville and his dear Amanda again.

    He's desperate for a decent wingman to help him navigate his idiotic life. So when best mate Padraic suggests Martin get an imaginary friend—or "IF" for short—he decides to give it a go. His first attempt is Loopy Lou, a hyperactive goofball who loves writing rubbish rap songs. But Martin soon gets fed up with Lou's loopiness and decides to trade in his IF for someone a little less wacky. Enter Sean "Caution" Murphy, an imaginary office clerk in a bad suit with a passion for laziness and a head full of dodgy jokes. Sean is full of tips and tricks to guide Martin through the perils of the playground, from dealing with his sisters' pranks to besting the bullying Bonner boys. But getting rid of Lou is not that easy, and having TWO imaginary friends is a recipe for trouble!

    The plants taste like chocolate, jewels appear in the soil, bugs talk to her, and her best friend is a rhubarb plant named Harry. But the most magical thing is that every single Monday, at exactly 1:00, it rains. Until the Monday when the rain just stops. Now it's up to Polly to figure out why, and whether her brother's mysterious illness and her glamorous aunt Edith's sudden desire to sell the farm have anything to do with it. Most of all, Polly has to make it start raining again before it's too late. Her brother's life, the plants' survival, and her family's future all depend on it. Kathleen Van Cleve has woven an unforgettable coming-of-age tale with all the heart and wonder of a Roald Dahl novel.

    She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath...as long as they stay in the Underneath. Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten's one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love — and its opposite, hate — the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises.

    She has a daddy who works on an oil rig, a great-aunt who always finds the lowest prices at the Piggly Wiggly, and two loyal best friends. So when her absent mother decides to move away from their small town, Gertie sets out on her greatest mission yet: becoming the best fifth grader in the universe to show her mother exactly what she'll be leaving behind. There's just one problem: Seat-stealing new girl Mary Sue Spivey wants to be the best fifth grader, too. And there is simply not enough room at the top for the two of them.