When a little boy hears “no” from his mother one time too many, he feels his anger rising. It burns and builds, finally turning him into a giant dragon that destroys everything in its path. Nothing is safe: not toys or stuffed animals—not even Mom and Dad. But fortunately, a dragon’s fire doesn’t last forever.
Penguin Pete is a proud father, and he can’t wait to show his son Tim the wonders of their chilly world. When Little Tim gets lost during a snowstorm, he’s not worried much–he knows his father will always save the day.
Frog is excited — Hare has promised him that today will be a very special day. Nobody seems to know why, so Frog resolves to find out. Frog decides that Hare has been playing a trick on him…but has he?
On her fifth birthday, a little girl has an unusual birthday wish. She wants to go back to being a baby in her mother’s tummy. That way she’d never have to go to bed early, and she’d always be close to her mommy. But when she realizes that babies in tummies can’t go to birthday parties or play with their friends, it suddenly doesn’t seem like such a good idea. Could the real reason for her wish be that there’s a new baby in Mommy’s tummy already?
Little Nutbrown Hare loves big Nutbrown Hare as far as be can reach and as high as he can hop. But Big Nutbrown Hare loves him as far as his long arms can reach and as high as his strong legs can hop. Well then, Little Nutbrown Hare loves Big Nutbrown Hare right up to the moon.
Lola loves to hear Daddy read a new library book each night, an activity that spurs her imagination and results in inventive play the next day.
When he looks for his missing blue pencil, a boy enters a strange new world which contains some very familiar objects.
Young Tonito thinks and dreams of soccer all the time, even as he does homework, eats dinner, and spends time with his family.
In Edwidge’s story, Junior is trapped under his pancaked house for 8 whole days. After he is saved, people ask him repeatedly: “What did you do all this time? Were you scared? Did you cry?” “I played,” he answers. And so, with each page, we see how he played in his mind every day he was trapped–how he played marbles with his friends, won the best solo part in the choir, biked through St. Marc with his little sister, and ate the sweetest mango. Hope, love, and warmth dance across each page, reminding us that sometimes it is the simplest beauties that help us find our strength. Niki, the real boy whom this story is loosely based on, was pulled from the rubble after being trapped for 8 days. He was rescued by New York Task Force 1, a search-and-rescue team made up of New York City police- and firemen. They had to cut through three slabs of concrete and countless other pieces of debris before his mother could crawl in to coax Niki and his sister out. When he finally made it out of the wreckage, Niki did so with a beaming smile and wide-open arms–the image of hope.
Bertie, a young hippopotamus, wants to drink coffee, read the newspaper, use a credit card, and more, just like Daddy, who appeases the eager hippo with age-appropriate options such as making a newspaper hat. At story’s end, the tables turn when Daddy wants to play like Bertie.