Primary For Children

It isn't easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899 - particularly when you are the only girl ever born to the new settlement. With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can't seem to abide her family's insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. Not when there's fishing to be done, sheep to be herded, and real live murderers to be captured!

Leon and the Spitting Image is about a hotel full of animals. It's about an evil ice maker. It's about glass eyeballs and human catapults. It's about really old panty hose and Possibly Fake Hair.

Something strange is happening to Mr. Fetlock's well-trained racehorses! Suddenly his swiftest steeds are running slowly. Sometimes they just sit down. Nine-year-old Harriet Bean is just the right size to pose as a jockey and unravel this bizarre mystery. But as Harriet sits next to Black Lightning, she has second thoughts about riding such a terrifying beast and exposing the diabolical League of Cheats.

The Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to Colonial America. They arrive just as General George Washington is planning the crossing of the Delaware River. Before they know it, Jack and Annie are in a boat with the Father of Our Country as history is made!

For Kirsten McKenna, the world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has come under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. Only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side. Meanwhile, for Walker Jones, the goal is to survive at the new white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he's going to screw up like his cousin.

Jack and Annie are whisked down under to the land of Australia, where they save a baby kangaroo, a koala, and other animals from a raging wildfire.

Martine's parents are killed in a fire, and she must leave her home in England to live on a wildlife reserve in Africa with a grandmother she never even knew she had. As soon as Martine arrives at the reserve, she hears whisperings of a mythical animal living there, a white giraffe. No one has ever seen the animal, but it leaves footprints behind.

Professional faerie and storyteller Tanya Robyn Batt lifts the veil between the faerie world and our own, introducing a variety of faerie folk through stories, poems, and snippets of lore from Britain and Ireland. Introductions to each story are filled with fascinating historical and literary details about faerie customs, among the shower of pixie dust, glittery stars, and fluttery dragon flies.

Little Willy has a big job to do. When his grandfather falls ill, it is up to Willy alone to save their farm from the tax collector. He enters the National Dogsled Race, where he must beat the Indian Stone Fox and his five beautiful Samoyed dogs.

Doctor Dolittle, a little, lovable, old doctor, has so many animal pets spread throughout his house and garden that patients will not come to him anymore. As a result, he becomes poorer and poorer. But he occupies nearly all of his time as the animals' doctor, and soon discovers that he can talk to the animals; Jip the dog, Dab Dab the duck, and Polynesia the parrot.

After Tyler's father is injured in a tractor accident, his family hires migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’ t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences?

Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time runs out.

This second book, The Sands of Time, continues the adventures of Hermux Tantamoq, mouse and watchmaker in the imaginary city of Pinchester. When the museum announces a show of Mirrin Stentrill's latest paintings (monumental, visionary portraits of cats) Mayor Hooter Pinkwiggin vows to shut it down. Cats are touchy subject among Pinchester's mostly small-rodent population. But while militant mice organize to stop the show, most of Pinchester's stylish set is vying for invitations to the gala opening.

Lewis Carroll's enduring tale begins with Alice chasing the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole, where she encounters a world of delightfully eccentric characters like the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, the Mock Turtle, and the Queen of Hearts. Throughout her fantastic journeys, Alice retains her reason, humor, and sense of justice.

Molly Moon is back, and this time she's hypnotizing her way to the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Along with Rocky and Petula the pug, Molly is tracking the sinister activities of American billionaire Primo Cell, who wants to become president and take over the world. He has all the Hollywood celebrities in his power, but Molly Moon has an amazing power of her own, which even she doesn't know about.

In the Uplands, people have magical and fearsome gifts. Orrec, a boy growing into his powers, can destroy any living thing with simply a glance. But he refuses to use his ability, and wears a blindfold to protect others from his devastating gaze.

Something big is right here!It is this book of wonderful, funny new poems by beloved children's poet Jack Prelutsky. If you've read or listened to The New Kid on the Block, you have some idea of the treat ahead. And if you haven't, all you have to do is start listening! Here are four vain and ancient tortoises, a rat of culture, Super Samson Simpson, a meat loaf that defies an ax, five flying hotdogs - and many, many more people, animals, and things that are destined to become part of the lives of everyone who loves to laugh.

One Friday morning, Annabel's wish comes true when she wakes up and realizes she's turned into her mother! But after a major washing-machine mishap, losing Ape Face, and a terrible teacher conference, Annabel starts to suspect that being an adult is not as much fun as it seems. One thing's for certain: this is one freaky Friday she'll never forget!

kira-kira (kee' ra kee' ra): glittering; shining

Glittering. That's how Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem. The sky is kira-kira because its color is deep but see-through at the same time. The sea is kira-kira for the same reason. And so are people's eyes. When Katie and her family move from a Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia, it's Lynn who explains to her why people stop them on the street to stare.

Just as William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues has helped millions of Americans teach young people about character, The Educated Child delivers what you need to take control. With co-authors Chester Finn and John Cribb, former Secretary of Education Bennett provides the indispensable guide.