Mr. and Mrs. Rogers can't be there for Amelia Bedelia's first day as their housekeeper, but leave her with a long list of things to do. Before setting to work, Amelia bakes her employers a lemon meringue pie--she makes good pies. Then she sets to work. "Change the towels in... Read More

Miss Nelson cannot control her classroom. "The kids in Room 207 were misbehaving again," the book starts off. "Spitballs stuck to the ceiling. Paper planes whizzed through the air. They were the worst behaved class in the whole school." Squat faces of children doing headstands during story hour, tongues out,... Read More

Nate the Great is a detective. He works alone. One morning, while eating pancakes, Nate receives a phone call from a girl he knows, Annie. He hoped it would be someone calling about missing diamonds or a million dollars, but it's just Annie. She has lost a picture of her... Read More

In an easy-to-read purple and green-toned graphic novel, greet the day with Stinky, a round-headed purple swamp creature, and his pet toad, Wartbelly, as they emerge from their smelly cave filled with rats, bats, and pickled onions, and go for a morning stroll in the swamp. "I love the mushy,... Read More

The sky is sky blue; the day is sunny. Cow kicks the red ball, but it goes over the outstretched arms of Mouse, Duck, and Pig. "Oh no! The ball went into THE DOGHOUSE!” On the next double page, the now indigo sky surrounds a sinister-looking orange doghouse, with a... Read More

Red-ponytailed Cowgirl Kate and her chocolate-colored talking horse Cocoa are the best of buds. In four cheerful, easy-to-read chapters, Kate tells Cocoa the story of how she found him, gives him a surprise in a box, counts cows with him, and sleeps in the barn with him, where he sings... Read More

Dog, a little brown dachshund, and his best friend Bear, a multicolored stuffed teddy, have three little adventures together. Bear is scared to jump down from a tall chair until Dog coaches him to slide down his long back; Dog wants bear to play with him, but Bear is busy... Read More

People look at this Caldecott Honor winner and scratch their heads. The story seems so elemental—a big-eyed light blue pigeon tries to persuade readers to let him drive the bus, even though the bus driver has warned us not to. When. it was first published, I read this wacky little... Read More

In a dark cave in a dense forest in a faraway kingdom, three little dragons are in their beds, not feeling well. “Methinks I heard a sneeze,” declares the Good Knight, out on his daily ride, and gallops through the forest to attend to their fevered sniffling, coughing, and sneezing.... Read More

Congratulations to Cynthia Rylant and Suçie Stevenson, the winners, in 2006, of the first annual Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for " . . . the most distinguished contribution to the body of American children’s literature known as beginning reader books . . ." Children have long loved this groundbreaking easy... Read More

A boy named Buzz sets off in his pith helmet to catch something smart for The Amazing Pet Show. Boink. He bumps into a fly. The fly stomps his feet and says, "Buzz!" "You know my name!” Buzz exclaims. “You are the smartest pet in the world!" At first, the... Read More

Caught painting pictures on the floor, ceiling, walls, curtains, and door by his exasperated Mama, an unrepentant little boy sneaks down the paints she's just hidden at the top of the closet and proceeds to paint himself all over, one body part at a time. Sung or chanted exuberantly to... Read More

"Be quiet!," "That's enough, David!," and "Go to your room!" are just some of the admonitions that David's mom yells at him while the round-headed dynamo barrels around the house making mischief. "Come back here, David," she exclaims as the gleeful little terror takes off, naked, down the street. In... Read More

"That's it, I'm running away," says Zelda to her little sister Ivy upon learning that Dad is making cucumber sandwiches for lunch yet again. Off to the back yard march the orange and red bushy-tailed fox sisters, setting up their blanket behind the butterfly bush and playing 14 hands of... Read More