As a child falls asleep, the bedtime train rolls into his room, taking him to a fantastical world of penguins, a gum machine, and a train engineer named Brad.
The Bedtime Train
Oceania
Materials from Oceania
Singing Down the Rain
Step into a town where all the children are friends, but a drought has made the adults so grumpy they can’t stop arguing! Only a miracle can heal this divided town. Folks are so hopeless, they almost don’t recognize that miracle when it appears as a woman who specializes in rainsongs. Yet slowly the townspeople realize that with faith they can sustain each other during the dry times, and then sing down the rain together. Joy Cowley’s lyrical text and Jan Spivey Gilchrist’s impassioned paintings create a story of a community’s struggle to believe, and to connect with each other.
The Rusty, Trusty Tractor
A grandfather is convinced that his rusty, trusty fifty-year old tractor will make it through another haying season.
Mermaid Queen
As a child growing up in Australia, Annette Kellerman was a frail ugly duckling who dreamed of becoming a graceful ballerina. With courage and determination, she confronted a crippling illness to become an internationally known record-setting athlete who revolutionized the sport of swimming for women, a movie star who invented water ballet, and a fashion revolutionary who modernized the swimsuit.
Grandpa’s Teeth
Soon after Grandpa’s teeth disappear from a glass of water near his bed, Inspector Rate has the whole town under investigation.
Ranger’s Apprentice: Erak’s Ransom
What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy, that symbol of honor has long felt out of reach. Now, in the wake of Araluen’s uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians comes word that the Skandian leader has been captured by a dangerous desert tribe. The Rangers are sent to free him. But the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before. Strangers in a strange land, they are brutalized by sandstorms, beaten by the unrelenting heat, tricked by one tribe that plays by its own rules, and surprisingly befriended by another. Like a desert mirage, nothing is as it seems. Yet one thing is constant: the bravery of the Rangers. In this red-hot adventure, winner of the Australian Book of the Year Award for Older Children, John Flanagan raises the stakes on the series that has already sold millions of copies worldwide.
The Ghosts of Gribblesea Pier
Aurelie Bonhoffen, who has grown up in the circus, discovers a remarkable family secret on her twelfth birthday that may help in dealing with a sinister man who wants to take over her family’s pier.
Wrong Way
Sometimes a day out doesn’t turn out according to plan. But when one little duck wants to make a big splash all by himself, the wrong way to do things turns out to be just right!
Where Does Thursday Go?
Bruno and Bert try to find out what happens to a special day after it is over.
Little Devils
Robert J. Blake shines a light on a little-known animal.Burnie, Winnie and Big Stanley are three Tasmanian devil pups growing up in the wild. Along with their mother, they make one happy family. Since the pups are still so small, Mum does all the hunting. But one night, Mum doesnt come home and the pups are getting hungry . . . and worried. They need food, but more importantly, they need Mum. Big Stanley is the first to leave the den. Then Burnie. And finally Winnie. Together they set out with one goal in mind: find Mum.