Jane Manning

Hosting a backyard sleepover for her two friends, Millie struggles to keep her temper when things do not go as she hoped, a situation that is further challenged by a scary howling dog.

Wilson is a curious sheep, and after he foolishly climbs into the back of a piano movers' truck, he ends up alone in the big city, far from the farm. But Wilson is also one smart sheep, and soon enough he's finding his way home to his worried owner by recognizing the sounds that he heard while he was trapped in the truck--a jackhammer, a calliope, a hotdog man. And could that be the excited barking of his friend Tippy, the border collie?

During Fun with Food Week in her school science class, second-grader Beetle McGrady tries to work up the courage to eat an ant.

"A new spin on "Sleeping Beauty" told from the perspective of a little mouse who can't get to sleep because of the princess's very loud snoring"--

Billy spends time with his "second family" at the Floral Avenue firehouse where his mother works, and dreams of growing up to be a firefighter just like her.

Here is the library, not just as a place that houses books, but as an experience. Fifteen poems celebrate the thrill of getting your first library card, the excitement of story hour, the fun of using the computer, the pride of reading to the dog, and the joy of discovering that the librarian understands you and knows exactly which books you'll love. The poems, compiled by noted poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins, pay homage to the marvels of...