Material appropriate for primary age groups
A lyrical portrait of seal characteristics and life explains how seals appear to be slow and sleepy creatures on land but are powerful, graceful and dynamic animals under the water who cleverly outmaneuver predators and skillfully catch fishy dinners.
Hare, Hippopotamus, and Elephant all live together in the forest. But often, when Hippopotamus and Elephant have nothing better to do, they tease Hare and say horrid things to him. When Hare finally gets fed up with them, he conceives a plan: he will challenge each of the massive creatures to a tug-of-war competition. On either side of the trees, Elephant and Hippopotamus pull and tug all through the night, incredulous that Hare could be so strong!
Pecking his way through the door of a house, an intrepid little woodpecker busily raps on a rhyming sequence of indoor objects, from a hat and a mat and a racket and jacket to a teddy bear and a book called Jane Eyre.
Nat the Cat packs a picnic to share with her friends Billy Goat and Hugo Hare. But Billy feels grumpy and Hugo feels sad, then Nat starts to lose the smile she had. This is the tale of a smile gone astray and how it came back to save the day!
Neglected by her busy father, a lonely young girl receives a toy gorilla for her birthday and together they take a miraculous trip to the zoo.
When his best friend is lost in a terrible storm, an intrepid young puffin teams up with a big blue whale to mount a rescue mission and discovers that while many other birds match his friend’s description, none are quite the same.
These are stories within stories: the narrator remembers herself as a young child hearing them from her grandmother, as they cooked, hung up laundry, prepared for the Sabbath, or cleaned house for Passover. This framing of the stories emphasizes their continuing pleasure across generations; and customs, idioms, traditions, even recipes that the Jews brought with them from Eastern Europe are an unobtrusive part of the telling.
Natasha isn’t really a bad girl. It’s just that she wants to play on the swing now, not after the wash has been hung up to dry. And she wants her soup now, not after the goats have been fed. Looking after Natasha keeps Babushka, Natasha’s grandmother, very busy.Then, after lunch, Natasha notices a doll sitting on Babushka’s shelf…a doll Babushka tells Natasha she played with just once when she was a little girl. When Natasha plays with the doll while Babushka goes to the store for groceries, she discovers why once is enough with Babushka’s doll…and finds out just how tiring it can be to take care of a child who wants everything now.
Vasya, a little Russian boy, watches and waits through the seasons for the flax to grow that will be spun and woven into material for his new shirt.
Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson tells the story of how his grandfather taught him to turn darkness into light in this uniquely personal and vibrantly illustrated tale that carries a message of peace.
How could he—a Gandhi—be so easy to anger?
One thick, hot day, Arun Gandhi travels with his family to Grandfather Gandhi’s village.
Silence fills the air—but peace feels far away for young Arun. When an older boy pushes him on the soccer field, his anger fills him in a way that surely a true Gandhi could never imagine. Can Arun ever live up to the Mahatma? Will he ever make his grandfather proud?