Americas

Materials from the Americas

A Prairie Alphabet

When most people think of the prairies, they picture endless flat plains, miles of farms with grain waving in the wind, gentle, undulating hills, and vast cattle ranches. But to the people who live there, particularly the children, the prairies are much more. A Prairie Alphabet offers the adult and child alike a remarkable tour – from the grain elevators that are an integral part of the landscape, to oil rigs that pop up like “grasshoppers,” to fairs and rodeos, to auctions, barns, combines, and dugouts. From the Hardcover edition.

Topsy-Turvy Town

Imagining a wacky town where it rains broccoli, police officers dance while on duty and people juggle wildcats before bedtime, a young boy is disregarded by everyone in his family except his understanding mother. By the award-winning author of The Grand Journey of Mr. Man.

Edward And The Eureka Lucky Wish Company

Edward wishes he could fly. But no matter how much he adjusts and re-adjusts the splurchler and turbo-twirler on his Skyhopper 2000, he can’t get off the ground. Imagine Edward’s thrill when he gets a coupon for not just one, but three wishes. Edward makes a wish that his Skyhopper could fly. And there it goes – Boing! Sproing! Z-z-ooom! – without him. Things really start to lurch out of control when his mother tells him to clean his room. Edward wishes that he didn’t have to! After a monster gobbles up the contents of his room until there’s nothing left to clean, Edward is determined to be more careful with his last wish. Wishes, like flying, should not be taken lightly. Will Edward ever figure out what he really wants to wish for?

Courage In The Storm

She urged the horse on with a jerk at the reins. Judy went on a few steps and stopped again. The object stretched right across her path. It was close and clear now, and Greta gasped. Her very heart seemed to stop beating. For there, like a ghost risen out of the ice, lay a ship. A ship, of all things! A big schooner with three tall masts, all crusted with snow. What was it doing here? Slowly her mind filled with awful suspicion. She tried to put it aside, but it came back. At last she faced the truth.

The little mare had been lost all this time. Instead of crossing the ice, they had been wandering down the river, towards the open sea.

Mortimer (Board Book)

Even after his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters, and even two policemen try to get Mortimer to be quiet and go to sleep, he still insists on making noise.

The revised text and child-friendly format make it appropriate for preschoolers, but it retains all the humor of the original story .

C’mere, Boy!

In a charming twist on the “boy wants dog” story, this time it’s a dog who begs his mama for a boy, promising to feed it, play with it and walk it; Mama points out that boys are very difficult to train, but Dog knows what he wants and in the end, the determined little canine’s perseverance pays off.

Pika: Life In The Rocks

A pika scurries across a rock pile high in the Rocky Mountians. He watches out for hungry hawks and weasels. Quickly, he nips leafy twigs off bushes and carries them to his rocky den.  This hamster-size cousin of the rabbit is storing up food.  He will build a “hay pile” as big as a bathtub.  As summer changes to autumn and winter settles in, the pika feeds from his hay pile and tunnets through the snow.  In the spring, he sings for a mate.  Soon, pika pups are climbing on the rocks.

Stunning photographs catch the pike in the act of living naturally.  A fact-filled text tells the story of how one of the world’s cutest animals can survive when life is pretty rocky.