Fantasy genre
Anna Banana can’t settle down tonight, even though her stuffed animal friends are tired and just want to sleep. They suffer through delay after delay and excuse after excuse, until Anna Banana is finally sleepy. And then, it’s time for their revenge! Her stuffed animals decide to teach her a lesson about respecting others at bedtime.
This beautifully written story, loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “Thumbelina,” was created in response to the gorgeous award-winning art of Nasrin Khosravi. Author Uma Krishnaswami’s sensitive and poetic tale opens when Lina, a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb, is found in a flower by her mother. Because she is so tiny, adventure and mishap easily befall her — a giant frog leaves her stranded on a lily pad, she is freed by curious fish, then pestered by crazy bugs. Lina lives by herself in the depths of a forest until the cold of winter approaches and she begins to feel lonely. She encounters a mouse, who is happy to have someone to dust and sweep for him, but one day in the back room of his house Lina comes across the body of a swallow. The mouse is convinced the bird is dead but Lina, thinking she sees a wing tremble, brings it food and water. Amazingly, the swallow revives and the two of them fly together to the garden of wishes.
Jamie and Emily try to clean up Hilltop stream with help from their little Tomte friends. Tomtes are small creatures, who only children can see. They live in ancient woods and like to help people and animals. Hilltop Farm has not been thriving: crops are failing, the animals are badly behaved and Bella the cow is ill. Poor Farmer Robinson puts the farm up for sale. But Emily and Jamie are determined to save the farm, so they ask their friends the Tomtes for help. Together, the Tomtes and the children look after Bella, milk the goats and plant seeds. They pick wild berries, collect eggs and make cheese. Can they persuade Farmer Robinson not to sell the farm? This is the second book about the helpful Tomtes who live in Hilltop Wood.
Iris understands that grown-ups are afraid of lions, but when she finds one in her playhouse she knows he is kind so she keeps him hidden from her parents for as long as possible.
A noble Dragon Fighter sets out on an expedition to fight the last dragon, inviting the reader along for the journey. Through shifting sands and tangled forests and past the whispering abyss, many awful perils are braved — witches, trolls, werewolves, ghost owls, scorpions, and vultures — but where is the dragon? Whether or not the reader is observant enough to read the subtle clues in the landscape and shadows, the final revelation of the elusive dragon’s whereabouts is sure to produce giggles and gasps of delight.
In a rundown diner, in an unnamed city, an ordinary fish asks itself the big questions in life. Glub finds the answers he’s looking for by listening to the lively characters of the greasy spoon beyond his fishbowl. And it’s through Glub that they, the lonely Foster included, uncover the answers to questions they had long forgotten.
All the animals escape from the zoo, and it seems there is nothing the old zookeeper can do to bring them back. Then he wakes up. Thank goodness, it was only a dream! Or was it?…
When a Russian billionaire robs the Norwegian Gold Reserve and melts the last remaining gold bar into the Premier Soccer League trophy, it’s up to Doctor Proctor, Nilly, and Lisa to recapture the precious prize. But after a failed break-in attempt at the billionaire’s subterranean gold-melting lab, and with the Norwegian Gold Reserve Inspection in just three days, the only way to retrieve the trophy is to win it back.
Hoping to prevent national panic and uproar, Nilly and Lisa join the Rotten Ham soccer team to try and lead the hopeless underdogs to victory before time runs out. And with the use of Fartonaut Powder, along with a handful of Doctor Proctor’s other wacky inventions, they just might have a chance!
Noble is a knight with a heart that’s true and, well, noble. With his not-so-trusty sword, Smite, he fights his way through a vicious, unfriendly landscape, sure (or at least, he thinks he’s sure) that one day he’ll defeat the bad guys (whoever they are) and win the heart (at least he guesses that’s the idea) of a beautiful princess. Then one day Rufus comes along and turns his world upside down. Rufus has his own ideas about how to get ahead: don’t fight, negotiate! Don’t play by the rules! Suddenly, life is more interesting–and less painful–than ever before. But the new rules are harder to live by than the old ones, and suddenly, it appears possible that Rufus might have an ulterior motive–at the very least.
An adventure story about greed, rebellion, and finding allies in the most unlikely places. Hodie is the unpaid odd-job boy at the Grand Palace in the Kingdom of Fontania. Fed-up, he decides to leave and better himself in the South. But the young Queen, 12 year old Sibilla, is fed-up, too, because of gossip about her lack of magical ability. She decides to go with him, insisting he go north to get his mother’s bag back from the Emperor of Um’Binnia.