When eleven-year-old Lolo captures a tarantula, it turns an ordinary summer into a series of adventures that take him and his friends beyond their Mexican-American neighborhood in East Los Angeles.
Lolo and Red-Legs
Pets
Guess What I Found In Dragon Wood
In this twist on the “boy finds lost pet” tale, a young dragon discovers a Benjamin in Dragonwood. The dragon takes the boy home, to school and the playground. The Benjamin is a fascinating creature. He doesn’t have claws or scales and can’t even fly. When the Benjamin gets homesick, the dragon decides to help him get home. How will the other Benjamins react to finding a dragon in their world?
Please Don’t Tease Tootsie
Featuring Tootsie the Cat, Dixie the Dog, and Bitsy Bunny, rhyming text and bold illustrations provide preschoolers with valuable tips and helpful advice on the proper way to care for family pets.
Dogfish
Everyone has a dog. Except for one little boy. He has a goldfish. He needs a dog. Mom says, “Why do you need a dog when you have such a nice goldfish?” But goldfish can’t catch sticks or go for walks or wag their tails…. Can they? Maybe they can…
Bridget Fidget and the Most Perfect Pet
When a big box arrives one morning, Bridget Fidget leaps out of bed and spins down the stairs. She knows what’s inside—a unicorn! After all, she’s always wanted a pet unicorn, so it must be a pet unicorn. But inside the box is just another . . . smaller . . . box. And it’s buzzing. This is no unicorn. But could it possibly be something even better? For all kids who’ve ever wanted what they couldn’t have (because it’s a mythical creature or just beyond the family budget), here’s Bridget Fidget—the girl in a whirl who finally sees that even better things can come in unexpectedly small packages. Like Eloise and Olivia before her, Bridget’s got moxie to spare.
Dog Friday
Meeting the four Robinson children next door, 10-year-old Robin Brogan joins in the merry mayhem that always accompanies the Robinsons and rescues an abandoned dog that he hopes he will be able to adopt.
The Snagglegrollop
When he asks for a typical pet–a dog, a cat–his parents say no, so Sam wonders, “How about a Snagglegrollop?” A what?! The next day Sam comes home from school with a strange-looking creature indeed! The Snagglegrollop eats an awful lot of food–and entire tubes of toothpaste, too. But it tells silly jokes and takes the family for wonderful weekend romps. They become very fond of it. Some nights, though, the Snagglegrollop just sits on the roof, staring at the stars. “It seems quite sad,” Sam thinks. Could it be that all it needs is the companionship of his classmate Emily’s Quibblesnuff?
My Brother Bert
Bert’s little sister knows that he loves to bring home pets and hide them in his room, and her curiosity about what is going on in there has been building and building. Finally she simply cannot wait any longer to check it out for herself. Inside, she discovers a zoo-worthy collection of animals tucked into every nook and cranny.
Dancing Through The Snow
After four different foster placements, Min is back at Children’s Aid a week before Christmas. She has no family, no birthday, no idea of where she came from. Then Jess Hart, a former Children’s Aid doctor who sees past Min’s hardened shell, decides to take Min home for the holidays. Has Min found her place at last?
Mia’s Story: A Sketchbook of Hopes & Dreams
From award-winning picture book artist Michael Foreman comes the uplifting tale of a girl whose search for a lost puppy leads to some wondrous wildflowers — and a magical way to transform her barren village. In a bleak little village in Chile, Papa comes home from his day of selling metal scraps with a wonderful surprise for his daughter, Mia. It’s a puppy she names Poco, who follows the little girl everywhere — until one day, as puppies will do, Poco wanders away. As Mia searches for her pup, she finds herself all alone at the top of the highest mountain, where she gathers a clump of snow-white flowers to plant by her home. Soon Mia’s fragrant flowers have spread through the village and blanketed the once-ugly dump. Before long, she is selling her flowers in the city square, telling crowds of customers that “they come from the stars.” But wherever the flowers are, Mia is always reminded of Poco. Is it possible the flowers may bring back her beloved dog after all?
Take a closer look at Mia’s Story as examined in WOW Review.