Animals

An equally silly and satisfying tale is the latest work in the popular series about Martha, a dog who learns to speak after eating alphabet soup. What does Martha do when she comes upon a crotchety canine whose owner utters harsh words instead of kindness? Martha teaches a parrot how to encourage the grumpy puppy and transform it into a lovable pet.

The author describes some of the dogs that have had special places in his life, including his first dog, Snowball, in the Phillippines; Dirk, who protected him from bullies; and Cookie, who saved his life.

Little Cherie is the cutest kitten in the litter, by she certainly isn’t the best behaved one. After she is sent to the corner to calm down, she finds a small crack that leads to a place called Little Friends Kindercare, filled wit friendly baby animals. But after being on the receiving end these rambunctious babies naughty behavior, Little Cherie returns home finally understanding that being cute can’t excuse thoughtless actions. This purrrrfect bedtime tale from a master storyteller addresses a problem that’s in the news and on parents’ minds. This lovable tale from Joyce Carol Oates and Mark Graham makes for a purrrfect bedtime story.

For the first to third grade set, spiders are fascinating and suitably gruesome, especially when looked at in EXTREME close-up. Amazing images show the beauty and otherworldliness of spiders. Simple, engaging text conveys basic information about spiders as well as cool and quirky facts. One stop-action montage shows a spider leaping twenty times its body length!

This guessing-game picture book will stretch the vocabularies of students and engage your entire class. Here’s how it works: On one page you’ll find a bold verb like “swing” with an illustration showing just part of an animal (for a hint). On the next page, you’ll find the animal itself — in this case, an ape. MacDonald’s paint-and-collage illustrations are wonderful and particularly good at showing animals in motion. At the end of the book are several pages of “animal facts.”

Little ones love to play peek-a-boo. With its oversize flaps and bright, bold illustrations, this follow-up to the highly successful Peek-a-Moo! is sure to be another hit with young readers. On every page, kids play peek-a-boo with a different animal found at the zoo, guessing what it is, then lifting the flap to find out. Each animal has a different sound that becomes part of the peek-a-boo game: Guess who? “Peek-a-roar!” says the lion. “Peek-a-ooo-ooo-ooo!” says the chimpanzee. The sweet, funny animals will keep kids laughing, while the large trim size and sturdy binding will ensure many hours of lift-the-flap fun!

Safari gives armchair explorers an opportunity to visit African animals in their natural habitats. A naturalist who often travels to Africa to paint wildlife, Bateman offers 12 paintings of animals along with little-known facts. For example, watching giraffes run is like “watching a herd of galloping rocking horses,” he says, but to see how they coordinate the movement of their necks and legs, you have to rock, too.

Sammy the Seal spends a day on the town and finds out what really goes on outside the zoo on an average day. But when Sammy the Seal makes his way down the streeet, an ordinary day becomes an extraordinary adventure as he searches high and low for just the right place to swim nad learns how to read and write in school. Children can listen to and read along with this favorite character, now available in audio for the first time.