When her new family saw just how big and wonderful Esther really was, they fell in love--and their lives changed forever. Esther would soon grow too large for her bed, and their small apartment. She got into everything, including her neighbor's tasty garden. So the whole family moved from a small apartment to a big farm, where Esther and her animal friends could fit happily (and get into a little less mischief). Eventually, that farm would become the Happily Esther After animal sanctuary, home to rescued animals of all kinds.

    Adults will appreciate the "juxtaposition" of young kids properly using impressive words that many grownups may not have heard of before! Includes a list of extra words in the back for further learning.

    Day and night she painted hundreds of dots onto large canvases. The dots soon came off her pictures and ended up on her dresses, tables, and walls. But she wasn't sorry! An inspiring story about one of the most popular contemporary artists in the world. -- Amazon.com

    Emma's turtle lives in a backyard pen. He enjoys snacks that Emma feeds him. He also loves to listen to Emma as she tells him about faraway places such as Africa, Australia, and China. One day he decides to stop dreaming of those places and see the world beyond his pen. What will he discover? Eve Bunting's adorable story of an adventurous turtle is delightfully illustrated by Marsha Winborn.

    Summer swims move over for autumn sweaters until the snow comes back again. In Julie Fogliano's skilled hand and illustrated by Julie Morstad's charming pictures, the seasons come to life in this gorgeous and comprehensive book of poetry.

    Sarah Hale's inspiring story, accompanied by luscious watercolor illustrations, tells the tale of one woman who wouldn't take no for an answer.

    Little Calf follows along and mimics her grandmother at each stop on their journey. When Grandma leads them to a watering hole she recalls from years before, the elephants are overjoyed and Little Calf splashes about with her tender leader. Grandma's persistence and powerful memory is something Little Calf will never forget. Based on true events. Sandra Markle's acclaimed nonfiction writing takes on a more lyrical style alongside Fabricio VandenBroeck's gorgeous illustrations making this story of animal behavior accessible for younger readers. Back matter includes further information about the phenomenon of a herd of elephants that survived a drought, as well as fascinating elephant facts.

    Mary is one such dreamer, a little girl who learns to read by tracing the letters on her mother's tombstone and whose only escape from her strict father and overbearing stepmother is through the stories she reads and imagines. Unhappy at home, she seeks independence, and at the age of seventeen runs away with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, another dreamer. She travels to Europe and surrounds herself with more poets and writers, including Lord Byron and John Polidori. On a stormy summer evening, Byron suggests a contest to see who can create the best ghost story. After nine months of daydreaming, 21-year-old Mary Shelley's terrifying tale is published, a novel that goes on to become a very well-known monster story.

    Claire's bad day at school is helped after a visit to the Bunny Planet, where she has the day that should have been.

    But that’s a motion her parents are not likely to pass. After a two-to-one vote, it’s decided that some things need to happen before Isabella can leave the house—like eating breakfast and brushing her teeth! If her house is going to work like a democracy, Isabella knows what she has to do; call an assembly and campaign her way out the door! Taking inspiration from the women who trail blazed their way onto the political map of America, Isabella celebrates the women who were first to hold their offices. And if Isabella can get her parents out the door, she might just witness the first woman voted into the highest position of all…

    A perfect way for Royals fans, and baseball fans everywhere, to share that magic night with their children and commemorate it themselves with beautiful illustrations and clever rhymes.

    Layering photographs taken from the Hubble telescope into charming and expressive art, illustrator Susanna Chapman zooms in on one child's experiences: Ada knows that the best place for star-gazing is on the island in Maine where she vacations with her grandparents. By day, she tracks osprey in the trees, paddles a kayak, and hunts for shells. But she's most in her element when the sun goes down and the stars blink to life. Will the fog this year foil her plans, or will her grandfather find a way to shine a spotlight on the vast puzzle of the universe . . . until the weather turns?

    Emerging from this singular life is a lyrical universal invitation not to mistake difference for defect and to welcome, across the accordion scales of time and space, diversity as the wellspring of the universe's beauty and resilience.

    Greasebeam, B.Sc. (Serpentology), F.R.Aud., to serve up this compendium of dragon lore and sheer inventive nonsense. Expanding on a dozen illustrations from his calendar Dragons Draaks & Beasties, Base fabricates a trio of correspondents?a Viking, a Chinese silk trader and a Prussian explorer?whose letters chronicle their discoveries of dragons in various continents. The resulting web of yarns that Base spins is nothing short of hilarious ("Hope the looting and pillaging went well," writes Bjorn of Bromme in a letter to Olaf the Grim, for instance). Illustrations showcase the kind of intricate detail for which Base is so well known, and he bolsters his dragon art with a deadpan running commentary set in a border at the bottom of each page. "Dagbar defunctus est" notes one caption in a fit of understatement, as the accompanying cartoon depicts the demise of one of Bjorn's companions. There's much to enjoy here, and much to propel readers to seek out every last drop of humor. All ages. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

    Nobody notices Candida or appreciates her hard work.But one day Candida accidentally slips a poem she wrote into the sheet music and the girl so often behind the shadows gets recognized for her own talents. Vivaldi really did have an Invisible Orchestra made up of orphan girls he taught to play. This beautiful book pays tribute to their inspiration.