What do cats really see? What do trees talk about? Should you make funny faces on a windy day? Do worms rule the world? Do mothers always tell the truth? Do snails have nightmares?
Short Stories for Little Monsters
Picture Book
Kumak’s Fish: A Tall Tale From The Far North
On a beautiful Arctic morning, Kumak looks out the window of his house at the sun rising over the frozen river. “Ahhh, spring,” says Kumak to his family. “The days are long, the nights are short, and the ice is still hard. Good day for fish.” Eager to give Uncle Aglu’s amazing hooking stick a try, Kumak packs up his family and heads out to go ice fishing. “Good day for fish!” they all agree. Hapless Kumac is the only one in his family without fish until the tug at the other end of his line incites a mighty battle. A clever ending reveals that the whale-sized fish that Kumak imagined was actually a line of small fish in tug o’ war position. Kumak reigns, and there’s plenty for everybody. Authentic details throughout the playful art and text, as well as endnotes on Inupiat fishing, provide young readers with a fascinating window into another culture in this follow up to KUMAK’S HOUSE a 2003 Children’s Book Council Notable Trade Book in Social Studies.
Tidy
Pete the badger likes everything to be neat and tidy at all times, but what starts as the collecting of one fallen leaf escalates quickly and ends with the complete destruction of the forest.
In the Land of Elves
A new edition of this beautiful picture book from Daniela Drescher, author and illustrator of In the Land of Fairies. Full-spread watercolour illustrations reveal the secret world of the elves and their animal companions.
Waiting for the Biblioburro/ Esperando el Bilioburro
Teacher and librarian Luis Soriano Bohórquez packs his two burros, Alfa and Beto, with books and makes his way over mountains and through valleys to visit children in far-flung villages in rural Colombia all for the sake of literacy and culture.
How Do You Say?/ ¿Como Se Dice?
“The story of two giraffes – one English-speaking and one Spanish-speaking that overcome the language barrier to forge a friendship”
Walk with Me
A deceptively simple, imaginative story depicting the complex emotional reality of a girl whose father no longer lives at home. The girl conjures up an imaginary companion, a lion, who will come with her on the long walk home from school. He will help her to pick up her baby brother from daycare and shop at the store (which has cut off the family’s credit), and he’ll keep her company all along the way until she is safe at home.
Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 2.
In a Cloud of Dust
In a Tanzanian village school, Anna struggles to keep up. Her walk home takes so long that when she arrives, it is too dark to do her homework. Working through the lunch hour instead, she doesn’t see the truck from the bicycle library pull into the schoolyard. By the time she gets out there, the bikes are all gone.
Join the discussion of In a Cloud of Dust as well as other books centered around relocation on our My Take/Your Take page.
The Owl and the Lemming
As Owl swoops down and blocks the entrance to a lemming den, he is sure that he has a tasty meal in the little animal he has cornered. But this lemming is not about to be eaten! This smart little rodent will need to appeal to the boastful owl’s sense of pride to get away.
Grumpy Feet (Lily and Bear)
Lily loves to draw, but today something feels different. Things feel a little frumpy and bumpy, just not so and not quite right. Her pencils are too pointy. Her paints are too sloshy. And her crayons are too stubby. Even her friend Bear can’t help, until they realize that Lily has Grumpy Feet! It takes a special friend like Bear to turn Lily’s day around!