Delightfully illustrated with collages of cut paper, watercolors, and ink, this silly rhyming story for readers up to about age 7 from two-time Carnegie Medalist Margaret Mahy shows and tells what lurks behind the cushions of the family's favorite wingback chair. When Father goes looking for his keys, stray coins and threads come out along with a rind or two and a diamond ring. But then a seven-inch spider, and a conger eel? A cake, a drake, and a smiling snake? The living room piles up with all kinds of exotic and long-lost objects and creatures, until something truly wonderful emerges.
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A winner of the National Jewish Book Award, Michael Rosen remembers with such fondness the road trips he and his family used to take to the country that he eventually moved there himself. In this book for readers 4 to 7, he captures the rollicking freedom of those Sunday drives in a tale full of unexpected twists and unexplained turns, describing the hunt for seed pods, feeding pretzels to mallards on a lake, hiding in the space behind a waterfall, patting horses' ears, stopping for root beer floats, and falling asleep in the back seat. Marc Burckhardt illustrates the adventure in folk art–inspired paintings.
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One of the most unusual heroines in picture-book history, Elizabite is a carnivorous plant with a mischievous sense of humor and a prodigious appetite. In this rhyming tale for readers up to 7 by the creator of Curious George, Elizabite is found in the jungle and brought back for study, where she feasts on hot dogs and nips at fingers, dog tails, and the occasional human hind-end. The rapidly-growing plant soon becomes more than her researchers can handle—until she foils a burglar, and her fame earns her a real home. H.A. Rey's 1949 story is full of droll humor, and Elizabite is surprisingly charming.
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Hank, the charming, fedora-wearing snake from Craig Frazier's Stanley Mows the Lawn returns in this picture book for readers 4 to 7, although he's in a bit of a funk. Stanley is too—he thinks his yard is flat and boring. So when he tells Hank he's headed into the city to find some inspiration, and then speeds off in his truck, Hank calls a cab and heads downtown after him. But the city is a big place—just where is a little green snake in a hat supposed to find inspiration?
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Illustrated with lush, realistic renderings of garden flowers and wildlife, this rhyming fantasy for readers up to 6 tells of a country garden that failed to bud and bloom when it should have been springtime. Young Ida and David go out to investigate, and find a slumbering bear. But this is no ordinary bear, this is Poppy Bear, who has golden paws and brings spring with him wherever he goes. And now that he's awake, Poppy Bear and the children see to the whole garden, with flowers blooming in their wake.
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The Searcher—a raccoon—comes home from a night of foraging and climbs into Old Tree, whose branches always cradle him, and falls into a deep slumber. But as he sleeps a ferocious storm rolls in, with winds that try to blow Old Tree over and floodwaters that try to pull him from the ground. The Searcher sleeps on, blissfully unaware of the danger, until the storm abates and he wakes up and finds bits of his friend all over the ground. David McPhail illustrates this tale for readers up to 7 with dramatic ink and watercolor drawings.
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A timeless portrait of daily activity in a small town (or a quiet neighborhood in a larger town), this rhyming book for prereaders starts and ends with a young family—Daddy, Mama, and a baby boy—while also looking at a mail carrier, a grocer, kids at play, an ice cream vendor, an auto mechanic, and others in the town. Scott Beck's deceptively simple paintings, with smooth planes of color and geometric houses and cars, are often connected by their details—for instance, a woman hanging her wash in the background of one picture becomes the main subject of the next.
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In this paean to the joys of reading—a rhyming tale for prereaders—a young boy is very proud of the fact that he "used to read pictures but now can read words," but he can't seem to get anyone else in his family to sit still long enough for him to read to them. His parents and his grandparents would love to hear him read—a little later—and even the dog disappears when he hears kibble in his bowl. Finally the boy decides he should just read to his stuffed animals, when there's a knock on the bedroom door. Michael Garland illustrates the story in shaded, round-faced cartoons.
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A simple story of a boy playing fetch with his dog takes on a quirky, charming twist in this book by an award-winning magazine illustrator. James Yang uses simple shapes and patterns along with a jaunty graphic style as Joey throws a ball for what seems miles and miles, and spot-eyed Jet obediently chases after it—through a flock of birds, through trees, across a pond of fish, over hills, across a busy street, between café tables, over rooftops and through tunnels—then runs back, only to have Joey throw the ball again.
LIST PRICE: $15.95 OUR PRICE: $7.50