When the enemy bombs the library, everything burns, and only one book survives. As war rages around them, Peter and his father, alongside so many refugees, flee their home, taking with them a treasure box that holds something rarer than rubies and more precious than gold.
So the villagers elect the bossy Don Pepe as their mayor. Before long, singing of any kind is outlawed. Even the teakettle is afraid to whistle! But there is one noisy rooster who doesn’t give two mangos about this mayor’s silly rules. Instead, he does what roosters were born to do.
The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet is a WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for August 2017.
Raymond the dog is just your regular family pet until, one day, he has a thought: couldn’t he just sit at the table? Isn’t that what families do together? Soon Raymond begins to leave all his canine ways behind, and so do all the other dogs in town. Dogs go to the movies; dogs go out for coffee; and Raymond lands a high-powered journalism job at DOGUE magazine. But is Raymond’s new gig all work and no play? He doesn’t even have time for family dinner! Maybe, just maybe, Raymond misses the dog’s life.
Cycling rules the road in Amsterdam today, but that wasn’t always the case. In the 1970’s, Amsterdam was so crowded with vehicles that bicyclists could hardly move, but moms and kids relied on their bicycles to get around the city.
John Ronald loved dragons. He liked to imagine dragons when he was alone, and with his friends, and especially when life got hard or sad. After his mother died and he had to live with a cold-hearted aunt, he looked for dragons. He searched for them at his boarding school. And when he fought in a Great War, he felt as if terrible, destructive dragons were everywhere. But he never actually found one, until one day, when he was a grown man but still very much a boy at heart, when he decided to create one of his own.
George didn’t want to waste the night moon bathing. He wanted to build a sand castle that would turn any monster green with envy! But when George meets the strangest creature he has ever seen, the night takes an unexpected turn.
Daddy drives Matthew to kindergarten in his old green car. See you this afternoon, says Daddy, as he kisses him goodbye. But Matthew stops him from leaving and asks, What if, this afternoon, the old green car doesn’t start?
When Steve finds a beautiful gold horn lying on the ground in the forest, he realizes he has found his path to the exceptional! He immediately ties the horn to the top of his head and prances off to show his friends. Not everyone is impressed, but most of his friends agree Steve and his horn are indeed exceptional.
Left alone to prepare their family’s prize-winning dumplings for the annual cooking contest, the young Kang boys accidentally invent a new dish, “mian tiao,” or noodles, in a tale that includes a cultural note and a recipe for long life noodles.
When Benny the dog steals the show from Brillo the magician, he is forced to look for a new home where his rare talents such as juggling and tap dancing will be appreciated.