Hedgehog’s Magic Tricks

Like many amateur magicians, Hedgehog finds that his tricks don’t always proceed as planned. Mouse doesn’t quite disappear, Rabbit (being larger than Hedgehog) is difficult to pull from the hat, and Duckling is not quite brave enough to endure a turn as magician’s helper. But when Hedgehog’s friends see how sad he is, they provide a surprise that results in everyone agreeing that Hedgehog is very good at magic after all. Preschoolers will delight in the sweet illustrations and in seeing what Hedgehog doesn’t — his friends helping to make his day magical.

Mister Dash and the Cupcake Calamity

When Madame Croissant decides to open a bakery, the baking world is thrown into turmoil. Daphne, Madame’s granddaughter, helps with Mayor Chester Field’s order for five hundred cupcakes.

Pip and Posy: The Big Balloon

Pip is proud of his big red balloon, but when he lets go of it and it floats away out of reach, Posy cheers him up with lots of bubbles.

Mouse Bird Snake Wolf

The gods have created a world that is safe and calm and rather wonderful. They have built mountains, forests, and seas and filled the world with animals, people, and unnamed beasts. Now their days are fat with long naps in the clouds, mutual admiration, and tea and cake. But their world has gaps in it filled with emptiness, gaps that intrigue Harry, Sue, and little Ben until they begin to see what might fill them. One by one the children conjure, from twigs and leaves and stones, a mousy thing, a chirpy thing, and a twisty legless thing. But as the children’s ideas grow bolder, the power of their visions proves greater and more dangerous than they, or the gods, could ever have imagined. Is it possible to unmake what’s been made?

Floating on Mama’s Song

A seven-year-old girl is amazed when her mother’s singing suddenly begins to make her listeners float, but Grandma says she must stop, making Mama terribly sad until her daughter makes her smile again.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 3

Ribbit!

When a pig visits a frog pond, sits on a rock, and says only “Ribbit!”, news spreads fast but only the wise old beetle has an explanation.

Busy-Busy Little Chick

Mama Nsoso knows her chicks need a warm new house, but each day when they set out to collect sticks and mud she is distracted by good things to eat, while Little Chick stays busy gathering the building materials himself.

The Highway Rat

A very bad rat rides his horse along the highway stealing travelers’ food, from a rabbit’s clover to a spider’s flies, until clever Duck introduces him to her “sister.”

Trixie Ten

The youngest of ten children, Trixie grows tired of all the noise and sets off on her own to find a quiet place.

Robomop

A robotic mop, assigned to clean a basement restroom, yearns to feel the sunshine, see the world, and more, but when he is finally outside, he discovers that what he needs most of all is a friend.

Worlds of Words

International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature

Fantasy