This Is Not My Hat

From the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling and award-winning I Want My Hat Back comes a second wry tale.When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened. . . . Visual humor swims to the fore as the best-selling Jon Klassen follows his breakout debut with another deadpan-funny tale. Caldecott Medal – 2013

The Man in the Clouds

The Man in the Clouds lives up a mountain and shares his treasure–a beautiful painting–with all the people from the village below. Those whose lives are touched by unkindness and cruetly are especially moved by the painting, finding comfort in its promise of a beautiful world that does not know pain and suffering.

One day, a stranger comes up and tells the Man in the Clouds how much his painting is actually worth. Bit by bit, this changes how he perceives his art and begins to think of it in terms of monetary value. In fear of his precious painting being stolen, the Man in the Clouds puts locks on his doors and chases people away. Finally, he is all alone, then finds out that his painting has lost all its beauty.

He destroys the painting, opens his doors and windows, and discovers the real beauty lies outside.

The Price Of Loyalty

When Manny moves on to Raleigh Middle School, he’s relieved that he’ll be with his other Latino friends from elementary school. Hanging out with his vatos is great; but before Manny knows it, kids are calling the clique the Emperors and saying that they are a gang. Gradually Alex, whose older brother is in prison, starts calling the shots; and the pressure is on Manny ”first to shave his head and eventually to get drugs for the vatos. Close calls with the authorities become more and more frequent, and Manny can see where it’s all headed. Does he have the guts to turn his back on his oldest friends so he can keep clean? This riveting novel about peer pressure and core values highlights a hot-button topic.

The Kite Fighters

In Korea in 1473, eleven-year-old Young-sup overcomes his rivalry with his older brother Kee-sup, who as the first-born son receives special treatment from their father, and combines his kite-flying skill with Kee-sup’s kite-making skill in an attempt to attract the notice of Korea’s young king, who chooses Young-sup to fly the royal kite in the New Year kite-flying competition.

The Gold Coin

Juan has been a thief for many years. So when he peeks through a crack in Doã Josef´s door and sees a gold coin in her hand, he immediately decides to steal her treasure. Stealing it, however, is not as easy as Juan had thought, and soon he is traveling around the countryside, trying to catch up with the old woman and her gold. But as this original tale with a Central American setting shows, there are other, human kinds of treasure waiting to be discovered.

Jungle Crossing

Kat can think of dozens of good reasons not to go on a boring family vacation to hot, grungy Mexico. Number one: missing her friend Fiona’s minicamp. If she’s not there, she’ll begin eighth grade as a social reject. Despite her reluctance, Kat ends up on a teen adventure tour where she meets Nando, a young Mayan guide (who happens to be quite a cutie). As they travel to different Mayan ruins each day, Nando tells Kat his original legend of Muluc, a girl who lived in the time of the Ancient Maya. The dangerous, dramatic world in which Muluc lives is as full of rivalry, betrayal, and sacrifice as Kat’s world at school. And as she makes new friends and discovers treasures in Mexico, Kat begins to wonder: Is she willing to keep sacrificing her self in exchange for popularity?

The Last Giants

The Last Giants is an exceptional book, containing a poignant message about the fragility of our world and its inhabitants’. After finding a huge tooth on the docks, English explorer Archibald Leopold Ruthmore sets out to seek the race of giants to whom the tooth belongs and discovers nine giants, the survivors of a singularly gentle and kindly race.