The Red Scarf

Amazing stories can be told with almost no words, as Anne Villeneuve demonstrates in The Red Scarf, originally published in French as L’echarpe rouge. One day, a taxi driver finds a red scarf left behind in his cab by a customer. Determined to find the scarf’s owner, the cabbie unknowingly walks into a world filled with strange characters: a friendly lizard, a mischievous bear, a fearsome lion and his tamer, a daredevil, and a mysterious magician. Before he knows it, the cabbie becomes part of the show. Young readers will relish this almost wordless picture book about a seemingly ordinary day, which quickly turns into an extraordinary adventure.

Wiggle Giggle Tickle Train

“Hold on to the saddle, pony might prance, bucking and frisky, he’s roaming the ranch. GIDDY-UP!”A pony inspires a child to ride high on her father’s shoulders, a sailboat stirs two others to set off to sea in a cardboard box, and an airplane invites kids to soar like a bird.In 13 striking spreads, we see how children use the world around them as the inspiration for play. Vibrant photographs are juxtaposed with lively drawings to reveal the child’s own inventive interpretation. Short bursts of action-packed, rhythmic poetry encourage preschoolers to identify the patterning throughout the text and the sounds associated with each idea.While developing language skills, kids can join in the fun as they create their own imaginative play from what they see around them.

Mortimer (Board Book)

Even after his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters, and even two policemen try to get Mortimer to be quiet and go to sleep, he still insists on making noise.

The revised text and child-friendly format make it appropriate for preschoolers, but it retains all the humor of the original story .

Scaredy Squirrel at Night

Exhausted due to lack of sleep because he wants to avoid having bad dreams, Scaredy Squirrel finally devises a Bad Dream Action Plan which includes a fire extinguisher to snuff out dragons and a fan to blast away ghosts.

Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companion

Finalist for the Silver Birch AwardWinner of the 2002 Information Book Award When World War I began in 1914, no one knew that millions of young people would die in the agonizing years ahead. No one imagined the effect it would have on family life, or that whole villages would disappear, or thatentire nations would be changed forever. They believed their sons and daughters, mothersand fathers would be home by Christmas. They were tragically mistaken. With photos, memorabilia, and anecdotes, Linda Granfield brings us face-to-face withpeople from all walks of life who risked everything for their country. These painstakingly-gathered bits and pieces are remnants of conflict on a scale never before witnessed. Hastily-penned letters, notes written in code, and prayers for deliverance form an eloquent portrait of humanity, and a startling comment on the devastation of war.

I.D.

Some things can change you forever.This is a book about identity. Everyone remembers the life events that shaped their identity. That first love. The first all-out fight with a parent or sibling. The feeling of being let down by someone you love. Losing something or someone that matters to you. Struggling to fit in. I.D. collects 12 first-person accounts about life’s pivotal moments and offers each as an incisive graphic narrative.Illuminated by Peter Mitchell’s bold, gritty illustrations, these true stories tackle the universal experiences from childhood and adolescence that stay with us forever. Each anecdote and accompanying reflection reveals how individual identity can be shaped by common themes.By turns thoughtful, painful, funny and fierce, I.D. powerfully demonstrates that what defines us in youth doesn’t have to confine us forever.