Europe

Materials from Europe

The Flea

“Once there was a little flea who thought that he was too little . . .” And so begins an innocent quest. The flea wants to be bigger. He scales a pea. Then scales an apple. He climbs atop a flower, a plant, a tree, a home . . . a telephone wire, a skyscraper . . . finally, the flea finds himself on a cloud! Down below, a bear notices him. So, is the flea now big? Or just high up? The Flea uses appealingly stylized art, simple text, humorous twists, and one very determined flea to give young readers a light lesson on the importance of perspective and the malleable meaning of words.

Against the Odds

Kiki lives with her mother, father, and repulsive old dog. Life is good except that her father, a doctor, feels compelled to constantly embark on humanitarian missions to dangerous places. No matter how persuasive her arguments, Kiki can’t convince him to stay home. Her mother explains the odds — there’s very little chance her father will die because, after all, how many of her friends’ fathers have died? Unconvinced, Kiki dreams up ways to bolster those odds. If it’s unlikely that a girl would lose her father, wouldn’t it be twice as unlikely that she’d lose a father and a pet? When her father actually does go missing, and her mother becomes increasingly distraught, Kiki feels she really must do something — but can she live with the consequences of committing such a terrible, irrevocable act? This perceptive and compelling novel deals with serious moral issues in a funny, deeply human way.

On My Street

At No. 1, Mrs. McQueen

Her house is large and painted green,
And inside there resides a Queen,
With royal ears and regal chin,
She always wears a noble grin.

For every child born to one of her friends, Annette Fienieg used to make a colorfully decorated teeshirt, with a character you would fall in love with.
Now it is time to introduce those creations – Mrs. McQueen Fifi LaPointe, Johnny Deck, Lightfingers Louie and more– to a wider audience. From the same team who produced The Man in the Clouds.