Illus. in color. A boy's madcap adventures as he tries to retrieve his bouncing ball are told in "lively rhyming prose. Humorous, repetitious situations will delight children. Recommended."--"School Library Journal.
Winner of the 2012 Randolph Caldecott Medal This New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Best Illustrated Book relates a story about love and loss as only Chris Rashcka can tell it. Any child who has ever had a beloved toy break will relate to Daisy's anguish when her favorite ball is destroyed by a bigger dog. In the tradition of his nearly wordless picture book Yo! Yes?, Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka explores in pictures the joy and sadness that having a special toy can bring. Raschka's signature swirling, impressionistic illustrations and his affectionate story will particularly appeal to young dog lovers and teachers and parents who have children dealing with the loss of something special.
What’s a better present than a classic Beginner Book? Six of them—for less than the price of two! Following on the success of The Big Blue Book of Beginner Books and The Big Green Book of Beginner Books, we’ve taken the complete text and art of P. D. Eastman’s Sam and the Firefly, Robert Lopshire’s I Want to Be Somebody New!, Marilyn Sadler’s The Very Bad Bunny, Mike McClintock’s Stop That Ball!, Al Perkins’s The Digging-est Dog, and Joan Heilbroner’s Robert the Rose Horse and bound them together in one sturdy hardcover omnibus. This is a perfect introduction to reading that will whet young readers’ appetites for additional books in the Beginner Book series.
A city in peril is in need of a hero! Who will save the day? Five-year-old Rufus Jones has just bought a new pair of red shoes. He has no idea they are magical red shoes until he is called to action. Rufus’s enchanted shoes propel him on a thrilling journey. To save the city, Rufus performs unimaginable feats of strength. He finds the courage to rescue a cat trapped in a tree and lift a sinking ship onto the shore. A young boy’s dreams, determination, and imagination create an epic adventure not soon forgotten. As a father, grandfather, and great grandfather, debut author Lawrence D. Brown believes children deserve access to wondrous stories about imaginary worlds that encourage curiosity and stretch the imagination. Join Rufus and his red shoes, as a young boy becomes a hero.
5:00 pm. It is time for the execution. Two minutes later, Derrick found himself stepping on the old shaftthat wooden shaft where the to-be-executed stood before it was taken out from beneath their feet, leaving them hanging in the air by their necks! The world was a beautiful garden of dreams and perpetual reveries, where everything went just as Derrick Frederick crafted it. Untilit turned upsidedown. Untilthat glorious picturesque shattered. And hes forced to take the path which you take only when no other is left, where you no longer govern your actions, your pain does! The Red Diamond gives him a stand where he thought - and almost accepted - that everything was lost . . .
A laugh-out-loud look at all the fun things grown-ups never let you do . . . now in paperback! Jenny Offill, author of 11 Experiments That Failed, describes how tough it is to be a kid, when even the (seemingly) best ideas are met with resistance. The text is short, spare, and fall-on-the-floor funny—not to mention utterly child-friendly. Here, accompanied by Nancy Carpenter's hilariously clever illustrations, is a day-in-the-life look at a kid as she torments her brother, her pet, her classmates, and, of course, her mother. The theme of this Dragonfly Book is Just for Fun.
Simply Jim is the story of the early years of Jim Simply growing up in rural Alabama. Jim is thought to be slow mentally because he is quiet, bordering on being shy. He is thought to be a problem because of his slowness by his first grade school teacher. He is a tag along to his older brothers and his dad. In groups where others are talking but no one could remember what was said five minutes later, Jim remembers what was said, who had said it, and the context of what was said. He is very smart but lacks the social manners to fit in. Jim is mentored in baseball by his elementary school principal. His natural ability, developed by throwing rocks on his farm and influenced by his mentor, helped him to become a phenomenal pitcher sought by college and pro teams. Jim is a hard luck type because most of the people with whom he has a close relationship dies, moves away, or suffers maladies causing him to suffer in silence and persevere through loss and disappointment. His mother died in his early years. His mentor died early, and his father died before he is able to fulfill his baseball goals. His brothers and childhood acquaintances moved away. His only positive influences are Joe, an older ninety-seven-year-old man; his uncle John; and his childhood sweetheart, Julie. Jim has so much tragedy in his life but is on the verge of fantastic things happening to him.