Europe

Materials from Europe

The Pied Piper Of Hamelin

The town of Hamelin is infested with rats. The people are at their wits’ end. Then a strange man arrives at the town gates…The Pied Piper promises to help rid the town of the rats. But will they keep their promise to pay him? This classic version of the traditional tale is beautifully brought to life by Maren Briswalter’s gentle, charming illustrations.

Sleep Tight, Anna Banana!

Anna Banana can’t settle down tonight, even though her stuffed animal friends are tired and just want to sleep. They suffer through delay after delay and excuse after excuse, until Anna Banana is finally sleepy. And then, it’s time for their revenge! Her stuffed animals decide to teach her a lesson about respecting others at bedtime.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

The creator of Happy and Friends illustrates some of childhood’s most beloved songs from “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” and from “I’m a Little Teapot” to “The Wheels on the Bus” in this book and CD set.

City Cat

A plucky stray cat takes a Grand Tour in Kate Banks’ story of a family on a European vacation. As the family travels from one city to the next, the cat finds its own means–by bus, boat, train, truck, and bike–to tag along on the trip, visiting historic landmarks like Buckingham Palace and the Cathedral of Notre Dame along the way. Readers will pore over the spreads to find where City Cat is hiding in each city, and detailed backmatter explains the history behind the sites in each locale.

How Does My Garden Grow?

Sophie lives in the city, and her vegetables come from the supermarket. Then she goes to visit her grandparents in the countryside — and soon discovers how much there is to learn about how things grow! Sophie helps her grandfather through the different seasons, finding out about mulching onions, eating flowers, weeding, bees, making salad, catching beetles, digging, earthing up, picking and composting. When winter comes, Sophie has to go home — but her grandfather has one last surprise for her.

The Pilot and the Little Prince

This story is the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Little Prince. He was born in France in 1900, when airplanes were just being invented. Antoine dreamed of flying and grew up to be a pilot—and that was when his adventures began. He found a job delivering mail by plane, which had never been done before. He and his fellow pilots traveled to faraway places and discovered new ways of getting from one place to the next. Antoine flew over mountains and deserts. He battled winds and storms. He tried to break aviation records, and sometimes he even crashed. From his plane, Antoine looked down on the earth and was inspired to write about his life and his pilot-hero friends in memoirs and in fiction. Peter Sís’s remarkable biography celebrates the author of The Little Prince, one of the most beloved books in the world.

A New Day

This classic, much-loved board book without text leads young children through the rhythms of the day. The fun, simple illustrations show children doing everyday activities such as getting up, having breakfast, feeding the ducks, making lunch, playing and enjoying a bedtime story. This chunky book is perfect for little hands, and children will love to spot the detail in each picture.

Send for a Superhero!

Tune in as a father reads his children a bedtime story about the exploits of two villains, Filth and Vacuum, and their wicked plan to suck all the money out of the banks and cover everything with muck and slime. Who is strong enough to save the world? Not Steel Man, nor Flying Through the Air Very Fast Man, nor even Incredible Big Strong Green Man. It may just be a job for clever young Brad Forty, who transforms himself into . . . Extremely Boring Man! His superpower is making people fall asleep — but will it work on the children listening to this story?

Picnic

One day, Boy and Girl head down the hill with a picnic basket and meet a fancily dressed Sheep, Pig, and Duck. They all set off to find the perfect place to sit outside — until they see Bull coming! A short-lived chase segues into a gentle interactive text as the friends wend their way from an idyllic outdoor world to a welcoming house on a hill.