![Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0312553668.jpg?itok=UKr8j0Xe)
This silly-spooky parody of Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeline (opens in a new window) emulates the original’s cadence, storyline and illustration but with a decidedly Halloween-y twist. It begins, “In a creepy old castle/all covered in spines/lived twelve ugly monsters in two crooked lines… The ugliest one was Frankenstein.” It is sure to amuse even those not familiar with the original.
Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody
![The Dead Family Diaz](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0803733267.jpg?itok=r9CHlktX)
Angelito Diaz along with his skeleton family celebrates the Day of the Dead in the Land of the Living — and he was scared. Angelito isn’t nearly as frightened after he meets Pablo — and overcomes his fear of the living. Colorful, stylized illustrations and a brief note about the Mexican Day of the Dead/El Dia los Mueros conclude this recognizable story.
The Dead Family Diaz
![Biggest Pumpkin Surprise Ever](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0545402859.jpg?itok=N1Gh9Iu5)
Mice prepare to celebrate Halloween, first by finding pumpkins, using them for decorations, and finally unveiling a huge Jack-o-lantern! Festive illustrations on sturdy pages encourage close examination and active participation as children lift flaps to reveal hidden surprises.
Biggest Pumpkin Surprise Ever
![Bedtime for Boo](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0375869913.jpg?itok=0wUuj_TZ)
Boo, the smallest in his ghost family, enjoys the first time he’s allowed to stay up late whistling a “happy-ghost-lucky time.” He doesn’t think he can sleep until his wise mother helps him listen for comfy night sounds. Soft lines and gentle forms illustrate the gently rhyming onomatopoetic language for a mellow, non-scary Halloween story for younger children.
Bedtime for Boo
![Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald no combina](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0892392355_1.jpg?itok=WHvU7933)
Meet Marisol McDonald, a spunky young girl with fiery red hair and brown skin who wears green polka dots with purple stripes, mixes English and Spanish, and eats peanut butter and jelly burritos. Everyone tells her she doesn’t match, until one day she tries matching — and discovers that it makes her miserable. At the end of the day, however, her teacher shares a special secret with her and lets her know she likes Marisol for who she is: a creative, bilingual Peruvian-Scottish-American! This poignant story, based on Monica Brown’s childhood, celebrates each individual’s uniqueness and reminds children that it’s ok not to fit into boxes that other people may put you into. Bilingual text.
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/Marisol McDonald no combina
![Clara and the Curandera](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/1558857001.jpg?itok=iE5eSJZn)
Meet Clara, a little girl who is very, very grumpy. Mami is tired of Clara’s grumpy face, so she sends her daughter to the curandera — or healer — down the hall. The curandera knows just what Clara needs — to help her neighbors! Readers will cheer for Clara as she learns to focus on others rather than herself in this charming story.
Clara and the Curandera
![Chavela and the Magic Bubble](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/B00740IN4Y.jpg?itok=y11pVjZT)
Chavela loves chomping chicle — chewing gum and blowing bubbles. One day, while out with her abuelita, she finds a mysterious kind of gum she has never seen before. She pops it in her mouth and blows a giant bubble that lifts her up into the air and carries her on a magical journey. Candy-colored paintings illustrate this fantastical story with an ecological twist. An afterword provides information on natural chewing gum, the rainforest, and sustainable farming, as well as music to a traditional Latin American folksong.
Chavela and the Magic Bubble
![Butterflies on Carmen Street](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/1558854843.jpg?itok=t01WASA5)
Julianita is excited to receive her very own caterpillar to raise at school! Yet when her caterpillar, Tiger, finally emerges from his chrysalis, Julianita doesn’t want to let him go. She worries that he will get lost on his way to Mexico. “Tiger knows the way to Mexico because it’s in his heart,” her Abuelito reassures her. She feels sad to see Tiger fly away, but Julianita knows that someday, she will follow him to back to her grandfather’s beloved homeland.
Butterflies on Carmen Street
![Rocket Writes a Story](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0375870865.jpg?itok=eBjanH-5)
Rocket, the small dog (How Rocket Learned to Read (opens in a new window)), loves words and wants to use them in a story. His teacher — a patient yellow bird — helps Rocket write. Not only does Rocket write (and revise) a story, he finds a friend. Concrete strategies for successful writing are presented with a light and always appealing touch.
Rocket Writes a Story
![Pirates Go to School](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0545206294.jpg?itok=7EDjA_Ia)
What happens when pirates and their parrots go to school? Aargh! They learn to follow rules (like cleaning up their messes and enjoying story time) just like the regular kids in class. Wacky, exaggerated illustrations combine with the rhyming tale for a funny romp and different take on a typical school day.
Pirates Go to School
![Ollie's School Day: A Yes-and-No Book](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0823423778.jpg?itok=2ATmIktb)
Children share Ollie’s school day beginning with getting dressed for school (will he wear a bathing suit? A space suit? A police officer’s uniform? Shirt and pants?) as well as everyday activities until the he gets home. Young listeners will laugh as they participate in this inviting, comical, and lively presentation.
Ollie’s School Day: A Yes-and-No Book
![I Spy: School](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0545402816.jpg?itok=AgTGKB4S)
Newly independent readers will figure out the riddles (culled from other books in the “I Spy” series) and enjoy locating the objects. Words and photographs on one side of each double page spread provide clues for decoding as well as what to look for in the more intricate photographic scene on the opposing page.
I Spy: School
![Dog Loves Drawing](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0375870679.jpg?itok=PzNWxzaJ)
When the story-loving small white dog – the owner of a bookstore (first introduced in Dog Loves Books (opens in a new window)) — receives a blank book, he’s puzzled. Inside, there’s a note from Dog’s aunt saying that “the lines [Dog] draws open a door to some wonderful adventures.” His imagination and creativity sparkle as Dog tells a story with line and color. Dog’s engaging story within a story is sure to inspire art and artists.
Dog Loves Drawing
![The Case of the Incapacitated Capitals](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0823424022.jpg?itok=NLJnr9Rf)
Upper and lowercase letters worry that Mr. Wright’s students no longer know when to use capitalization! A student letter to the principal about Teacher Appreciation Day is all wrong, prompting the small letters to send an SOS (Save Our Sentences). The kids (and readers) learn when to capitalize and a bit of letter history in this bright, humorous classroom tale.
The Case of the Incapacitated Capitals
![The Big Something](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0545244595.jpg?itok=CoHEotTt)
Best friends, Jilli and Jim fret, when Jilli’s dog, Fiercely, digs under the fence and into another yard. The children muster their courage and some gummy bears to confront the witch but discover that she’s a trusted teacher who’s preparing for school. This gentle, easy-to-read story, provides readers with an important reminder.
The Big Something
![Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0811874958.jpg?itok=amXfl-zA)
In this rhyming adventure, Mr. Magee and his dog Dee learn to ski. They didn’t expect to run into a very curious moose, however, which turns their outing a real cliffhanger!
Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee
![If I Built a Car](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0142408255.jpg?itok=f1KSEApr)
In Seussian rhyme and lively illustrations, Jack imagines and describes the car he will build — much better than the clunky family car!
If I Built a Car
![Summer Days and Nights](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0805090789_0.jpg?itok=cEHykLfX)
A girl and her family enjoy the pleasures of a summer day, capturing its colors, sounds, and tastes. The girl and her parents have a picnic in the park before night falls with its own special sights and sounds. Soft illustrations and rhyming text combine for the satisfying story until [I] “Turn off the light…/And dream of summer day…and nights.”
Summer Days and Nights
![Seed Magic](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/1561456225.jpg?itok=5YM9D2VA)
Children tease “crazy old Birdman” who feeds the pigeons in the park. That is, until he helps Rose discover beauty in the city and the color of flowers from simple seeds on her windowsill. Suddenly Rose finds a “singing garden” to brighten the gray city. Luminous illustrations swirl across the page to enliven the staccato free verse.
Seed Magic
![One Two That's My Shoe](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/1423143299.jpg?itok=_so6ixtG)
The charming child and hound first introduced in Apple Pie ABC are back. This time the girl chases her mischievous black-eared dog to reclaim her shoe through the gate to a hen house counting all the while in the cadence of a familiar nursery rhyme. Illustrations are open and appealing, adding story to the counting book.
One Two That’s My Shoe
![I Know a Wee Piggy](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0803737351.jpg?itok=PNDi-oFp)
A wee piggy escapes his boy at the fair for a very colorful adventure around the fair. The naughty pig “wallowed in white to go with the red…” but “It’s not polite to wallow in white…” The boy catches up just in time to see his pig win a blue ribbon. Funny, animated illustrations accompany the rhyming tale inspired by “I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly.”
I Know a Wee Piggy
![Hide & Seek](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0375870784.jpg?itok=kKoHnblp)
Animals at the “edge of the vast rain forest” play hide and seek. As Elephant slowly counts to 10, others hide. Elephant finds all of his friends easily — except Chameleon. Children will share the thrill of finding the right hiding place and being found right along with the colorful, stylized animals of the rain forest.
Hide & Seek
![Good News, Bad News](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/1452101108.jpg?itok=gk0H08sW)
Good news: rabbit has a picnic to share with his friend mouse; bad news: it starts to rain. So it goes — good and bad events — until mouse is overwhelmed by the bad news, hurting rabbit’s feelings. The duo reconciles, which is “very good news.” Understated text and simple illustrations enliven the series of improbable events for a comical picnic.
Good News, Bad News
![The Best Bike Ride Ever](/sites/default/files/styles/book_cover_mobile_1x/public/book/0803738501.jpg?itok=Nkrgf1-_)
Bonnie O’Boy’s first bike ride is a humdinger, taking her (and readers) on an animated, imaginative jaunt through her backyard. It lasts until Bonnie bumps into reality again. Child-like illustrations and lively language combine for an unforgettable ride.