Porcupines are scary. Bats are ugly.Or are they . . . ?This captivating book invites you to look beyond your first impressions at these awe-inspiring animals in the wild. After all, it’s best not to judge a beast until you understand its full, lovely life.

    At last she does, and they all bounce up and down with joy, welcoming her home.

    Wednesday chases squirrels while the two friends discuss fishing and war and how back before the neighborhood was there enormous woolly mammoths roamed where houses now sit.Thoughts open up to other thoughts, and ideas are born and carried forward, often transforming into other ideas until he finds that ideas really are all around, you just have to know what to do with them.

    As in his previous books, Redwoods, Coral Reefs, and Island, Jason Chin has taken a complex subject and made it brilliantly accessible to young readers in this unusual, innovative, and very beautiful book. A Neal Porter Book

    

    But when his friends come by to check on him, they realize that Bear is still awake! They brew him hot tea and sing him lullabies, but nothing seems to work. Can Bear get to bed? Or will he be up all winter?

    Bernard snores…LOUDLY! So loudly that he keeps all of the otters awake during naptime. So loudly that Grumpy Giles tells Bernard to move his snoring somewhere else!Sad and lonely, Bernard tries sleeping in new places far away from the other otters: in a lake, in puddles, in a fountain. But no matter where he tries to nap, somebody complains. He just wants to hear two words: "Good night!"

    His new apartment's balcony is too windy and small for a garden. But what appears to be a drawback soon leads to a shared burst of creativity as Theo and her Poppa decide to paint a new garden. As they work side by side — sowing seeds with brushes and paint — a masterpiece begins to take shape that transforms the balcony into an abundant garden. When Poppa goes away on holiday, Theo helps nurture the garden and it begins to take on a life of its own. This garden grows not from soil but from love, imagination and creativity. Readers will marvel at each stage of this fertile garden as it grows from seed to full flower, revealing the power of art to enrich our lives.

    He never worries about the world below…until one day, when Sarah straps on a big backpack and does something Truman has never seen before. She boards the bus! Truman waits for her to return. He waits. And waits. And waits. And when he can wait no longer, he knows what he must do. Even if it seems…impossible!

    Insomniac's new job, the family has an impossible time adapting to the change. They try everything to fall asleep at night--take hot baths, count to one thousand, sip mugs of milk--but nothing helps. Venturing out into the dark, they learn there is a whole world still awake and a beauty in their new and unconventional schedule.Ideal for bedtime reading, this gorgeous and lyrical story celebrates nighttime's mystery and magic.

    And through the long drive, the moon seems to be following them closely—Addy’s faithful guardian and friend.The comforting sense that the moon is your own personal companion is universal to childhood, and Ida Pearle has depicted it beautifully through her lyrical text and soft, sleepy cut-paper collage illustrations. This is a book that children will ask to hear every night at bedtime.

    It doesn't pretend to be anything else. And yet it is an extraordinary creation, in which author and artist speak to children in a very special way. The fanciful nonsense and marvelously intricate pictures are full of sly subtleties and happy surprises for both eye and ear. It is a book of absurd delights, of tiny, fey graphic details, of captivating scenes and lyrical phrases that stretch the imagination. Children will return to it again and again for new meanings, new images, new responses.

    As time passes, he teaches himself how to play the strange instrument, and eventually the beautiful sounds are heard by a father and son who are picnicking in the woods. The bear goes with them on an incredible journey to New York, where his piano playing makes him a huge star. He has fame, fortune and all the music in the world, but he misses the friends and family he has left behind. A moving tale of exploration and belonging from an exciting debut author-illustrator.

    A landlocked duck is very sad. One day, an egg rolled out of a nest and right into a deep pond. Now that egg is a little duck, and the water is still very scary. Jumping into the pond at all seems impossible, never mind swimming in a line with all his brothers. "You're a duck, and ducks don't sink," Big Frog points out. Practicing in a puddle helps a little, while backrubs and snacks from his mother help a little more. Big Frog offers to hold his friend's wing and dive in together, but our little duck knows that some challenges need to be faced alone. Even when they are very scary!

    From factories to farmlands, freeways to forest, each new landscape is explored through stunning illustrations and poetic text from this award-winning picture-book creator.