What do cats really see? What do trees talk about? Should you make funny faces on a windy day? Do worms rule the world? Do mothers always tell the truth? Do snails have nightmares?
Short Stories for Little Monsters
Author: Book Importer
Kumak’s Fish: A Tall Tale From The Far North
On a beautiful Arctic morning, Kumak looks out the window of his house at the sun rising over the frozen river. “Ahhh, spring,” says Kumak to his family. “The days are long, the nights are short, and the ice is still hard. Good day for fish.” Eager to give Uncle Aglu’s amazing hooking stick a try, Kumak packs up his family and heads out to go ice fishing. “Good day for fish!” they all agree. Hapless Kumac is the only one in his family without fish until the tug at the other end of his line incites a mighty battle. A clever ending reveals that the whale-sized fish that Kumak imagined was actually a line of small fish in tug o’ war position. Kumak reigns, and there’s plenty for everybody. Authentic details throughout the playful art and text, as well as endnotes on Inupiat fishing, provide young readers with a fascinating window into another culture in this follow up to KUMAK’S HOUSE a 2003 Children’s Book Council Notable Trade Book in Social Studies.
In the Land of Elves
A new edition of this beautiful picture book from Daniela Drescher, author and illustrator of In the Land of Fairies. Full-spread watercolour illustrations reveal the secret world of the elves and their animal companions.
How Do You Say?/ ¿Como Se Dice?
“The story of two giraffes – one English-speaking and one Spanish-speaking that overcome the language barrier to forge a friendship”
In a Cloud of Dust
In a Tanzanian village school, Anna struggles to keep up. Her walk home takes so long that when she arrives, it is too dark to do her homework. Working through the lunch hour instead, she doesn’t see the truck from the bicycle library pull into the schoolyard. By the time she gets out there, the bikes are all gone.
Join the discussion of In a Cloud of Dust as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
Grumpy Feet (Lily and Bear)
Lily loves to draw, but today something feels different. Things feel a little frumpy and bumpy, just not so and not quite right. Her pencils are too pointy. Her paints are too sloshy. And her crayons are too stubby. Even her friend Bear can’t help, until they realize that Lily has Grumpy Feet! It takes a special friend like Bear to turn Lily’s day around!
Growing Peace
On the morning of September 11, 2001, J. J. Keki, a Ugandan musician and coffee farmer, was in New York, about to visit the World Trade Center. Instead, J.J. witnessed the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. He came away from this event with strong emotions about religious conflict. Why should people be enemies because of their religions?
Feathered
When I was three years old, Mom plucked a curly white feather out of my neck. If I get scared or the loneliness comes over me, I run my fingertip over the tiny scar and dream about the day the rest of my feathers will grow in. That’s the day I’ll fly away from here. For eleven-year-old Finch, there couldn’t be a better time to fly away from her life.
Golden Boys
Colt Jenson and his younger brother, Bastian, have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts toys, bikes, all that glitters most and makes them the envy of the neighborhood. To the local kids, the Jensons are a family out of a movie, and Rex a hero successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he’s an impossible figure: unbearable, suffocating.
Good Night Tiger
Emma is trying to sleep, but the animals in her wallpaper are making too much noise! The gorilla bellows, the hippo stomps, the elephant trumpets, and tiger growls. “Go to sleep!”