Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles


Jane O'Connor - 2010
    After all, they are lavender. They are glittery. And best of all, they come in a silver case. So when Bree tells Nancy all about her trip to the eye doctor, Nancy can't help but wonder if her own eyesight is perhaps getting a little blurry too. . . .Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spetacles is a Level One I Can Read book, which means it's perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences. The back matter features a list of the rich vocabulary words that are used throughout the story along with their definition.

Texas Night Before Christmas


James Rice - 1981
    Based on Clement Clark Moore's poem, "Texas Night Before Christmas" is filled with images of the Lone Star State, lovingly described and illustrated by James Rice.

The Salamander Room


Anne Mazer - 1991
    Together, Anne Mazer and Steve Johnson have created a woodland paradise that any salamander would love to share with a child.

Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest with CD


Dan Farr - 2005
    Finnegan (Dick Van Dyke) is no ordinary toymaker. His providential meeting with Maggie, a resentful girl who doesn't believe in the magic of Christmas, is the beginning of a series of miracles that will change her heart forever.

The Day the Crayons Quit


Drew Daywalt - 2013
    But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: We quit!Beige is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown. Blue needs a break from coloring all that water, while Pink just wants to be used. Green has no complaints, but Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking to each other. What is Duncan to do? Debut author Drew Daywalt and New York Times bestseller Oliver Jeffers create a colorful solution in this playful, imaginative story that will have children laughing and playing with their crayons in a whole new way.

A Tale of Two Beasts


Fiona Roberton - 2015
    But the beast is not happy and escapes! A funny and charming tale about seeing both sides of the story.

Lost. Found.


Marsha Diane Arnold - 2015
    The wind carries it *whoosh* to a pair of raccoons who use it to play tug-o-war. When they run off, a beaver dons the scarf as the perfect winter hat...until it gets tangled on a tree branch. The scarf is lost and found by a series of animals, including a fox and a couple of rascally squirrels, who use it as everything from a swing to a trampoline.When all the animals lay claim to the scarf at once, calamity ensues that can only be fixed by a bear, a little patience, and friendship, in this nearly wordless, clever picture book.

Faraway Things


Dave Eggers - 2021
    Lucian's discovery on the beach this particular day, though, is no ordinary faraway thing. It's a cutlass: strong, shiny, and powerful. As its history comes to light, Lucian faces a choice: cling to the sword he loves or accept a gift that shines farther, wider, and deeper than he could have ever dreamed.

Bears in the Night


Stan Berenstain - 1971
    "A good job of combining words and pictures into a slapstick but cohesive story."--School Library Journal.

Rapunzel


Paul O. Zelinsky - 1997
    Zelinsky has once again with unmatched emotional authority, control of space, and narrativecapability brought forth a unique vision for an age-old tale. Few artists at work today can touch the level at which his paintings tell a story and exert their hold.Zelinsky's retelling of Rapunzel reaches back beyond the Grimms to a late-seventeenth-century French tale by Mlle. la Force, who based hers on the Neapolitan tale Petrosinella in a collection popular at the time. The artist understands the story's fundamentals to be about possessiveness, confinement, and separation, rather than about punishment and deprivation. Thus the tower the sorceress gives Rapunzel here is not a desolate, barren structure of denial but one of esoteric beauty on the outside and physical luxury within. And the world the artist creates through the elements in his paintings the palette, control of light, landscape, characters, architecture,interiors, costumes speaks to us not of an ugly witch who cruelly imprisons a beautiful young girl, but of a mother figure who powerfully resists her child's inevitable growth, and of a young woman and man who must struggle in the wilderness for the self-reliance that is the true beginningof their adulthood.As ever, and yet always somehow in newly arresting fashion, Paul O. Zelinsky's work thrillingly shows us the events of the story while guiding us beyond them to the truths that have made it endure.

The Magic School Bus Gets Ants In Its Pants: A Book About Ants


Linda Ward Beech - 1996
    Frizzle and friends team up to locate a "star", and in the process learn about the cooperative nature of animal social groups. Full color.

Rules of Summer


Shaun Tan - 2013
    Each spread tells of an event and the lesson learned. By turns, these events become darker and more sinister as the boys push their games further and further.

The Recess Queen


Alexis O'Neill - 2002
    Kids will relate, & parents & teachers will appreciate the story's deft handling of conflict resolution (which happens w/o adult intervention)Mean Jean was Recess Queenand nobody said any different.Nobody swung until Mean Jean swung.Nobody kicked until Mean Jean kicked.Nobody bounced until Mean Jean bounced.If kids ever crossed her, she'd push 'em and smoosh 'emlollapaloosh 'em, hammer 'em, slammer 'emkitz and kajammer 'em.Until a new kid came to school!With her irrepressible spirit, the new girl dethrones the reigning recess bully by becoming her friend in this infectious playground romp.

American Tall Tales


Mary Pope Osborne - 1991
      Here are Paul Bunyan, that king-sized lumberjack who could fell “ten white pines with a single swing”; John Henry, with his mighty hammer; Mose, old New York’s biggest, bravest fireman; Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, who could “outgrin, outsnort, outrun, outlift, outsneeze, outsleep, outlie any varmint”; and other uniquely American characters, together in one superb collection.   In the tradition of the original nineteenth-century storytellers, Mary Pope Osborne compiles, edits, and adds her own two cents’ worth—and also supplies fascinating historical headnotes. Michael McCurdy’s robust colored wood engravings recall an earlier time, perfectly capturing all the vitality of the men and women who carved a new country out of the North American wilderness.

We Forgot Brock!


Carter Goodrich - 2015
    Everyone can see Phillip, but only Phillip can see Brock. A night at the Big Fair is all fun and games until Phillip gets sleepy, heads home, and forgets Brock! Brock misses Phillip. And Phillip misses Brock. Will they reunite? With the help of another pair of pals, they just might. Because even imaginary friends get lost sometimes. Finding them is part of the adventure.