When Queen Beatrice visits the royal family of Norway, she receives a lovely surprise gift, a cute fluffy kitten. She names the kitten Albert and brings him home to live in the palace. As Albert grows up he gets into all kinds of trouble. Albert has many friends at the palace, including Isabelle the Chambermaid, Gerard the Butler, Angus the Chauffeur, Norman the Grenadier Guard, Princess Sophie, Prince Nicholas and his best friend Sergeant Major, the Magpie. Albert travels to lots of lovely places with the Queen, meets lots of nice people and some not so nice. If Albert does not like you, then watch out. His favourite trick is rubbing his paws on the carpet and giving you a nasty electric shock, which can be painful. Albert loves to roll in smelly horse poo and it’s usually left to Isabelle to bath him before the Queen finds out. Life is good at the palace and Albert makes the most of his position as The Queen’s Cat. In this story Albert wonders if the Queen has remembered his first anniversary at the royal palace and he also meets an unfriendly dog.

    Big Nate is a self-described genius. Instead of doing homework, he'd rather do these all-new brain-busting crossword puzzles, mazes, Sudoku puzzles, secret codes, and famous scribble games. Big Nate is the king of cartooning, so he'd love the goofy cartoons of his BFFs, Francis and Teddy, know-it-all Gina, his archrival, Artur, and un-favorite teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, a.k.a. Godzilla. And as a kid who thinks highly of himself, he'd be totally excited to take a trivia challenge all about, well, him. The Big Nate Doodlepalooza is a wonderful addition to the bestselling collection of Big Nate books, sure to be enjoyed by all aspiring cartoonists and fans of Big Nate.

    They have ungrounded apprehension about whether or not the blind bobcat is a real cougar cub . By the end of the tale, they realize that they really ARE the same, overlooking their fears and differences as they embrace their new friend. Eighteen watercolors.

    The Witch of Blackbird Pond with related readings.