This award-winning, beautifully made picture book by Jane Simmons is the story of a duckling who is too busy chasing dragonflies and bouncing on lily pads to stay caught up with Mama Duck. It perfectly captures a little one’s thrill of exploration in this gentle cautionary tale.
Based on a Medieval Book of Hours, this book describes the monthly activities of rural peasants in England during the Middle Ages. Rhyming couplets banner the top of each page while a paragraph for each month elaborates on the daily chores, showing the round of seasons in the farm year.
Here are seven tales — seven doorways to bizarre, yet strangely familiar worlds — to transport one and all. In these worlds are a child born to an ordered society but preordained to spread Dissolution; a girl who so loves the sun that she renounces her humanity for eternity; a cat and a boy, held captive by an evil magician until they can find a bigger magic of their own; a woman imprisoned in a strange country dominated by three ravenous wolves; and many other characters and stories just as exceptional.
Many years have passed since Queen Thirrin and her allies defended the Icemark against a brutal invasion. But now General Bellorum is back, along with his bloodthirsty spawn, twin sons even more vicious than him. Thirrin and Oskan also have a family: two girls and three boys. But darkness lurks within the House of Lindenshield: Medea, the couple’s cold-hearted, fifteen-year-old daughter, who’s just coming into her magical powers, may be the downfall of the kingdom. It’s up to her brother, Charlemagne, crippled by polio as a child, to return from exile and rescue the land he loves.
Duck’s truck is stuck in the muck.Who will help him out?First, frog lends a hand. Then sheep helps push, too. But duck’s truck won’t come unstuck! Can anyone help him get out of the muck? Or is duck out of luck?Find out in this rollicking read-aloud by the inimitable Jez Alborough.
“A charming picture book filled with a small child’s joyous love for all the animals on her farm. Large, bold illustrations and a clear text fairly explode with exuberance.” —School Library JournalI love Jock, my dog… I love the donkey braying “Hee-haw”Do you love animals, too? Flora McDonnell’s exuberant salute to our favorite beasts—a gallant dog, two genial ducks, an adoring ewe and her rowdy lamb, among many others—captures their characters in large, brilliant portraits. Perfect for sharing with several children or just one, I LOVE ANIMALS is as much fun as a visit to a real farm.
When Hal’s family makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave Charley, their comatose daughter, behind in a hospital ward while they spend the summer on the west coast of England, Hal finds it harder than ever to shake his sister’s presence. What power is letting him share her memories? And will they reveal the deep, dark truth behind her tragic “accident”? Set at a beach where growing up goes wrong, WAVES is a coming-of-age story about first love and first loss; about a family drowning in sorrow, and the remarkable son who is struggling against the tide to save them.
Oliver Donnington Rimington-Sneep COULDN’T and DIDN’T and WOULD NOT SLEEP! And why should he? As soon as his parents shut his door, Oliver’s off on all kinds of explorations: painting and reading, drawing and racing — and a little trip to Mars for good measure. But his explorations end where all explorations should: safe at home, in a warm bed . . . asleep. For every parent with an Oliver (or Olivia) in their lives, and every child seeking a little fun before shut-eye, OLIVER WHO WOULD NOT SLEEP is the perfect bedtime adventure.
When Harriet Bean’s father mentions that he has five sisters—whom Harriet has never met—she is immediately intrigued. Harriet is determined to uncover the whereabouts of her five lost aunts, but with nothing more than an unfinished family portrait and a few outdated clues, will she be able to locate them? Join Harriet in her search to reunite her father with his five lost sisters—Veronica, Harmonica, Majolica, Japonica, and Thessalonika.
Daisy isn’t afraid of Darkness when he quietly slips in through her bedroom window one evening. Together, Daisy and Darkness dance and play until bedtime. This enchanting story personifies Darkness as a friendly and welcome visitor. The rhyming text will help allay a childhood fear of the dark.