This ebook includes audio narration by Meryl Streep. This winning heroine will inspire every child to cheer her on as she ventures through a bitter cold snowstorm in William Steig's classic Brave Irene Brave Irene is Irene Bobbin, the dressmaker's daughter. Her mother, Mrs. Bobbin, isn't feeling so well and can't possibly deliver the beautiful ball gown she's made for the duchess to wear that very evening. So plucky Irene volunteers to get the gown to the palace on time, in spite of the fierce snowstorm that's brewing-- quite an errand for a little girl. But where there's a will, there's a way, as Irene proves in the danger-fraught adventure that follows. She must defy the wiles of the wicked wind, her most formidable opponent, and overcome many obstacles before she completes her mission. Brave Irene is a 1986 New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year. Adapted into a short film in 1989 from director Daniel Ivanick.
Princess Merida and her horse Angus go on an adventure through the forest, where their safety is threatened when Angus encounters all of his fears--loud noises, the dark, and heights.
“Will inspire, inform, and delight those of any age who areengaged in—or by—the arts.” — The Horn Book Renowned children’s literature authority Leonard S. Marcus speaks with twenty-one of the world’s most celebrated illustrators of picture books, asking about their childhood, their inspiration, their creative choices, and more. Amplifying these richly entertaining and thought-provoking conversations are eighty-eight full- color plates revealing each illustrator’s artistic process in fascinating, behind- the-scenes detail. This inspiring collection confirms that picture books matter because they make a difference in our children’s lives.
THE COUNTRY CHILD by ALISON UTTLEY - Originally published in 1931. CONTENTS I . DARK WOOD . . I1 . WINDYSTONHEA LL . I11 . IDOLS . . . . IV . SCHOO . L . . . V . SERVING-MEN . . V1 . THE CIRCU . S . . V11 . THE SECRE . T . . V111 . TREES . . . . IX . LANTERNLI GHT . . X . MOONLIGH . T . . XI . DECEMBER . . . XI1 . CHRISTMADSA Y . . XI11 . JANUARY . . . XIV . THE EASTERE GG . XV . SPRING . . . . XVI . THE THREE CHAMBERS XVII. THE GARDEN . . XVIII . THE OATCAKME AN . XIX . MOWING-TIME . . XX . THE HARVEST . . XXI . THE WAKE . S . . vii THE COUNTRY CHILD DARK WOOD THE DARK WOOD WAS GREEN AND gold, green where the oak trees stood crowded together with misshapen twisted trunks, red-gold where the great smooth beeches lifted their branching arms to the sky. In between jostled silver birches - olive - tinted fountains which never reached the light-black spruces with little pale candles on each tip, and nut trees smothered to the neck in dense bracken. he bracken was a forest in itself, a curving verdant flood of branches, transparent as water by the path, but thick, heavy, secret a foot or two away, where high ferny crests waved above the softly moving ferns, just as the beech tops flaunted above the rest of the wood. The rabbits which crept quietly in and out reared on their hind legs to see who was going by. They pricked their ears and stood erect, and then dropped silently on soft paws and disappeared into the close ranks of brown stems when they saw the child. . She walked along the rough path, casting fearful glances to right and left. She never ran, even in moments of greatest terror, when things seemed very near, for then They would know she was afraid and dose round her. Gossamer stretched across the way from nut bush to bracken frond, and clung to her cold cheeks. Spilt acorns and beech mast Iay thick on the ground, green and brown patterns in the upside-down red leaves which made a carpet. Heavy rains had swept the soil to the lower 1eveIs of the path, and laid bare the rock in many places. On a sandy patch she saw her own footprint, a little square toe and a horse-shoe where the iron heel had sunk. That was in the morning when all was fresh and fair. It cheered her to see the homely mark, and she stayed a moment to look at it, and replace her foot in it, as Robinson Crusoe might have done, A squirrel, rippling along a leafy bough, peered at her, and then, finding her so still, ran down the tree trunk and along the ground. Her step was strangely silent, and a close observer would have seen that she walked only on the soil between the stones of the footpath, stones of the earth itself, which had worn their way through the thin layer of grass. Her eyes and ears were as alert as those of a small wild animal as she slid through the shades in the depths of the wood...
The first American woman to have received a pilot's license, Harriet Quimby, describes her April 1912 solo flight across the English Channel, the first such flight by any woman.
Sometimes the long arm of grief grabs you by the throat - In this novel of loss, courage, and resilience, we experience Vienna's tumultuous years from Austria's 1934 civil war, through World War II and postwar occupation, to independence. Three lives intertwine, bringing these extraordinary events to life. Emma fights to come to terms with grief and her country's betrayal. Sophie seeks to reclaim her lost history, and Friedrich struggles with secrets that will throw all their lives into turmoil again.
Before Shrek made it big on the silver screen, there was William Steig’s SHREK!, a book about an ordinary ogre who leaves his swampy childhood home to go out and see the world. Ordinarily, that is, if a foul and hideous being who ends up marrying the most stunningly ugly princess on the surface of the planet is what you consider ordinary. SHREK! can be found in this collection of six modern picture-book classics by Steig, along with stories concerning creatures ordinary and extraordinary—from Irene, a brave and loving little girl who must battle a howling blizzard, to Spinky, a boy who is so completely annoyed by his family that he no longer has any use for the human race. Gathered together for the first time, these entertaining stories will delight fans of Steig, both old and new.
Ralfy the rabbit wants to read books all the time even if it means he has to steal them, and soon his obsession sends him spiraling into a life of crime.
