It’s time for The Best Pet Monster in the World Competition and Albert can’t wait to enter his very own monster, Sidney. But is sweet, well-behaved Sidney really the smelliest, dirtiest, most parasite-ridden monster of all?
Worst In Show
Author: Book Importer
Winnie
When Harry Colebourn saw a baby bear at a train station, he knew he could care for it. Harry was a veterinarian. But he was also a soldier in training during World War I. Harry named the bear Winnie, short for Winnipeg, his company’s home town, and he brought her along to the military camp in England. Winnie followed Harry everywhere and slept under his cot every night. Before long, she became the regiment’s much-loved mascot. But who could care for the bear when Harry went to battle? Harry found just the right place for Winnie, the London Zoo. There a boy named Christopher Robin played with Winnie–he could care for this bear too!
Chooky-Doodle-Doo
When one big-eyed chick fails to yank its prize worm from the ground, it’s time to bring in a friend—and then another, and another. But if adding a rooster to the crew still doesn’t do the trick, could it be that a worm isn’t always what it seems?
Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise
Hoot Owl is no ordinary owl. He is a master of disguise! In the blackness of night, he’s preparing to swoop on his prey before it can realize his dastardly tricks. Look there—a tasty rabbit for him to eat! Hoot Owl readies his costume, disguising himself as a carrot! Then he waits.
Water Rolls, Water Rises
A series of verses, in English and Spanish, about the movement and moods of water around the world and the ways in which water affects a variety of landscapes and cultures. Includes Author’s Note.
Eat, Leo! Eat!
Leo wants no part of sitting down with his family to eat Nonna’s big, delizioso lunch every Sunday. “I’m not hungry,” he insists. Not hungry? Hmm. Clever Nonna gets an idea. She’ll use a story to lure Leo to her table. And since the pasta in her soup, called stelline (little stars), is woven into the story about a boy who journeys to his grandmother’s at night, it works. But again on the following Sunday, Leo doesn’t want to eat. So Nonna expands her story, this time adding some chiancaredde (paving stones), the name of the pasta she’s serving that day, to create a path for her character to follow. Now Leo’s hooked.
The Elephantom
When a phantom elephant turns up uninvited and starts getting a little girl into trouble, she has no idea how to make him go away. But her grandmother happens to have a menagerie of phantom pets herself, so she knows just who to go to for help?
William and the Missing Masterpiece
Debonair cat-detective William finds himself at the center of a mysterious theft when the Mona Cheesa is stolen from a Parisian gallery. Can William put the clues together and solve the crime? Fans of Helen Hancocks’s Penguin in Peril won’t be disappointed in this hilarious tale of cat and mouse.
Emu
In the open eucalyptus forest of Australia, an emu as tall as a human settles down on his nest to warm and protect the eggs left by his mate. When they hatch, the chicks will be ten times bigger than domestic chicken hatchlings and covered in chocolate-and-cream stripes to provide camouflage in the grasslands. This unusual family sticks together until the hatchlings grow up, facing dangers that include eagles and dingoes.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume VIII, Issue 1.
The Pirate’s Bed
A pirate is sleeping snug in his bed, dreaming pirate dreams, when a great storm comes up at sea. The pirate sleeps on, but his bed is awake and scared of the thunder and the angry waves. Tossed this way and that, the ship finally crashes, sending the pirate to a tropical island and his bed off to sea.