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Toddie, the world’s largest toddler, takes a sightseeing vacation with his family to New York City. Toddie enjoys landmarks such as Grand Central Station, Times Square and Yankee Stadium. However, he becomes separated from his parents and is very scared until he finds a lost dog. He befriends the dog and a bunch of kids they meet in the park, and continues sightseeing with them. Eventually, his parents realize Toddie is missing and start calling for him. Toddie gets a good idea — climb to the top of the Empire State Building to see if he can find them. It works! The family continues their silly…
This is a story about a bee, named Buzz. She flies about all day, stopping to visit with friends and really loves her life. Until one day, she sees an article torn from a newspaper that says “bees can’t fly.” While she was able to read only a portion of the article, it was all she needed to read before losing her confidence and ability to fly. Her friend Snail unsuccessfully tries to cheer her up. That evening, the pair smelled smoke coming from Old Owl’s tree. Old Owl is a very sound sleeper and appeared to be in serious danger. Since Snail cannot fly up to warn Old Owl, his only hope is…
Acclaimed author-illustrator Dan Yaccarino shares his family history beginning with his great-grandfather’s immigration to America. Like many young men and women searching for a better life, Michele Iaccarino (renamed Michael Yaccarino at Ellis Island) left his family in Italy and headed to New York. He left with few possessions, including a little metal shovel and his parents’ advice: “work hard,” “enjoy life” and “never forget your family.” Michele settled in New York City’s Little Italy, found a job using that little shovel, got married and had a family. When…
The summer is a great time to explore new topics with the kids, study the wonders of nature or learn about interesting places. Either at the library or bookstore, there’s no shortage of summer-themed books on a variety of topics to fit every age. Here are some recent releases worth checking out, along with some family favorites.
Monkey and Elephant are best friends. One night, Monkey stops by Elephant’s house with a gift, only to find a party going on inside. Monkey jumps to the conclusion that Elephant had a party without inviting him. Monkey feels very sad, then becomes angry and “gets even” by freezing Elephant’s toys. Confused by this mean-spirited act, Elephant becomes equally as mad and does something mean in return. The back-and-forth cycle continues and worsens until their friends decide to intervene. While Elephant and Monkey are sleeping, their friends send them off into the ocean in a rowboat. The two hash…
This is a sweet story about growing up. A young fox is born as spring brings new growth to his surroundings. Just like a young child, he is anxious to explore the outdoors. But, the youngling must remain in the care of his mother and father who teach him many things, such as how to hunt for food, protect himself and store food for the winter. He often thinks that he’s ready to go off on his own, but his parents say “not yet” and continue to teach him how to survive in the wilderness. Once the little fox proves to his parents that he’s mastered all of these essential skills, they lovingly allow…
Amelia Bedelia, the wacky housekeeper that takes everything she hears literally, heads out west to visit her Uncle Buck Bedelia and his “Double B Ranch.” From her first moments on the ranch, she has everyone scratching their heads. When she meets the ranch foreman, she wonders where the “one, two and three men” are, and has a terrible time envisioning how she will ride a horse that is completely broken. She also brings new meaning to “shoeing” a horse — think “shoo fly!” Her days at the ranch are filled with more misadventures, but as usual, everyone around her…
Students at Pepper Lane Elementary School are doing a lesson on planting and start a garden in their school’s yard. Along with Miss Marigold, their teacher, they hold a clean-up one Saturday to ready the yard for planting. The school’s grumpy neighbor Mr. Barkley (a.k.a. Mr. Barks-a-Lot) wonders why there’s so much noise in the schoolyard on a weekend. An avid gardener himself, Mr. Barkley joins the group and helps Miss Marigold plan a garden that’s sure to be one of the best in town. With plenty of great tips from Mr. Barkley and Miss Marigold, the time comes to “water, weed and…
A young adopted child loves to hear the story about how she came into this world and joined her new family. She’s heard the story many times and knows it by heart. Each page begins with “tell me again,” as she urges her parents to relay the steps of her adoption from the time they received the call, hopped on a plane, saw her for the first time, and so on. Each step of the way, funny and wonderful memories are recalled about how the girl and her parents became a family.
Fifty years ago, P.D. Eastman gave beginning readers a fun way to learn to read simple words and sentences with this classic canine extravaganza. Rather than a traditional plot, the book features a series of related vignettes featuring dogs of many colors, doing wacky things such as riding a roller coaster, skiing and other non-dog activities. However, the “story” does build to a culmination at the end — a grand pooch party.
