Material appropriate for primary age groups
All of Ramon’s farm animals make a unique sound as he tends to them. Every animal has its own silly story, but Ramon has the last word At the end of each one, he makes up a verse that sums up each lovable animal’s personality. Full color.
Leaping into a shirt and thrusting his arms into his pant legs, the Absentminded Fellow dashes out into the London streets, frantically hails a cab, rushes through the train station and right into an abandoned car. Three days later, to his surprise, he’s still in London…This droll character portrait will quickly have listeners chiming in on the chorus.
The birds of Australia’s Boonaroo Bay hold a contest to determine which of them has the best beak.
Josephine loves to dance, but everyone reminds her that kangaroos don’t dance—they hop! Kangaroos don’t wear tutus, and they never wear ballet shoes! So Josephine sneaks into town, where the ballet rehearses, and watches for hours as the dancers spin and swirl and pirouette and curtsy. But on the day of the ballet performance, the prima ballerina twists her ankle and a new dancer is needed for the lead role, a dancer who can jump higher than all the rest. Will Josephine be able to make her dream of becoming a ballerina come true?
When twin giants set out in search of happiness, the result is a comedy of errors that is doubly clever and enormously funny.”Isn’t he e-nor-mous!” says the giant father when his first twin son is born. “There’s a-lot-uv-’im!” notes the giant mother when the second twin boy arrives. And as Normus (a vegetarian) and Lottavim (a carnivore) grow and grow, the two are hugely happy — playing Roll the Boulder, singing badly, and doing everything together. But when the day comes for the hulking lads to seek the giantesses of their dreams, will going their separate ways only lead them into double trouble?
A whimsical, quirky, and very personal history of cars. In the early days, cars were primarily a source of recreation. They shared unpaved roads with horses and wagons, and when they ran out of gas — which was often because there were few gas stations — horses had to pull them home. Driving mania soon began to shape the landscape. Cars begat gas stations, which sparked the popularity of family camping, going to the drive-in, and fast food. They even spawned bridges so that people could ford rivers in the comfort of their cars.
Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many years, as more and more land was cleared, Kenya was transformed. When Wangari returned home from college in America, she found the village gardens dry, the people malnourished, and the trees gone. How could she work to bring back the trees and restore the gardens and the people?
Although life is difficult in José’s Central American village, he enjoys playing football with his friends, sharing the large meals cooked by his aunts, and even going to school. But a civil war breaks out in his country. Outspoken people like his mother are in danger, so José and his mother must flee.The road north to make a new home is arduous and very long, but it is only the beginning of hard times. They face days of paperwork and nights in a hostel for refugees. Even when his mother finds work as an office cleaner, they must rely on a food bank.Slowly, the pieces of this new life begin to come together as José and his mother realize that they have finally arrived at the happy end of a very long road.
Every day John Patrick Norman McHennessy sets off along the road to learn, and every day strange and improbable happenings make him late. To make things worse, his teacher, Sir, never believes his stories. One day, John Patrick Norman McHennessy is able to make it on time and finds that an improbable and strange thing has happened to Sir. Just how the tables are turned provides a twist every child will relish.
When their adventures lead them to explore the biggest and scariest villain of all, Harry and George realize that they are not brave, only reckless and foolish.