Materials from Europe
A lone bird sits in a big tree, merrily singing its tune to the world. But soon it will be joined by a friend, and then another, and another. . . . As each colorful bird lands on the branch of the tree it joins the last in a cheerful song. But one flashy bird wants to rule the roost – until something small changes his tune.
Where do Tiggers come from? What do they like to eat? What sort of games do they play? Find out in this sweet, affordable storybook featuring Tigger, Pooh, and all the other friends who live in the Hundred Acre Wood.
Walter, the son of Lady Emma and Lord Nathan Rothschild, was a very unusual boy. He was born in 1868 to a family of bankers and was nearly the richest boy in the world. But that’s not what made him unusual. Walter was so shy he barely spoke. He had no friends, but he loved every creature that crawled, slithered or flew. At the age of seven he saw his first circus and was inspired to declare breathlessly to his parents: “I’m going to collect animals from all over the world and build a museum and I’m going to call it My Museum!” The family knew explorers who traveled the world to bring back animals for the London Zoo, and soon Walter had his first exotic creatures: several kangaroos. From there his collection grew and grew, until it threatened to take over the Rothschild estate. Lord Rothschild eventually lost patience with Walter’s hobby and insisted that Walter become a banker, like everyone else in the family. Reluctantly, Walter obeyed, but his dream couldn’t be dimmed–he used his earnings to purchase species from undiscovered lands. Eventually Walter created the largest zoological collection gathered by one man and was respected throughout the world for his contribution to science. He wrote 1200 books and scientific papers and named 5000 new species. Animals that now bear the name Rothschild include butterflies, fish, a millipede, a fly, a lizard, a porcupine, a wallaby, a bird of paradise, and even a giraffe. The painfully shy boy who never made a good banker forever changed our understanding of the world’s diversity of creatures.
The adventures of various nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters are retold in backward sequence with each tale interrelated to the other. Includes Goldilocks, Jack and the beanstalk, Jack and Jill, the frog prince, Cinderella, and the gingerbread man.
Ben and his Labrador, Ned, castaways from the legendary ghost ship Flying Dutchman, swore never go to sea again-but a mishap in South America lands them aboard a French pirate ship with not one, but two villainous sea captains in pursuit. To make matters worse, Ben is still haunted by visions of Captain Vanderdecken, whose ghost seeks vengeance on the former cabin boy. And that is only the beginning of their adventures!
A poor and foolish king marries off his three daughters to the Sun, the Moon, and the Raven and then tries to copy their special talents.
The Dream Mouse drives his cart with its load of sleep through the darkening village, bringing wondrous dreams to all the children.
This spirited folktale from Austria’s Ziller Valley tells the story of a poor woodcutter’s son who learns that he must pluck three feathers from the wings of a terrible dragon in order to win the hand of his beloved.
Trying to satisfy his nagging wife, a peasant catches a wagonload of fish, only to be relieved of them by a hungry fox.
After a witch places a curse on them, a childless couple lives in fear for many years before coming to understand that the curse is really a blessing in disguise.