Books with author Margaret Read MacDonald

Little Rooster is happy to find a diamond button―it's a perfect present for his mistress. Then along comes the King, who snatches the button for his treasure chamber! And when Little Rooster demands the button back, the King is so furious he has Little Rooster thrown into a well. One thing the King doesn't know: Little Rooster has a magic stomach. Water? Fire? Bees? No problem!

Selected as Outstanding by the Parent Council Best Books for BedtimeAround the world each night, parents tell stories to children as they put them to bed. Margaret Read MacDonald―a folklorist, storyteller, and children's librarian―uses bedtime tales in the daytime to end her story hours on a calm note. Here she includes five of her favorite folktales from around the world. “Chin Chin Kobokama” tells the story of a young Japanese girl who overcomes her fear of the dark―and learns there are good reasons to clean up her room. “Snow Bunting's Lullaby,” a lovely Siberian tale, shows the lengths to which Papa and Mama Bunting must go to protect their children―and get them to sleep. A South American tale explains the movement of the sun and moon. And “Kanji-Jo, the Nestling,” a lively Liberian tale, shows, as so many folk stories do, that there's no place like home. In elegant, finely detailed watercolors, artist Yvonne Davis joins MacDonald in guiding the reader on a bedtime trip around the world.

Have you ever heard the saying, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach”? Well, Cat's stomach is bigger than a lot of things. He is always hungry, and living with culinary-inclined Mouse, who makes thirty-five pies in one day, just makes it worse. Fat Cat swallows everything in sight, including the washlady and her washtub, a troop of soldiers and their swords, even a king and his elephant! But when Cat swallows Mouse and her sewing basket, that's the last straw. Tiny Mouse cuts to the heart of the situation, taking an upside-down world and turning it right-side-up again. Greedy Cat learns his lesson and turns “fat” into “fancy,” “fabulous,” and “fantastic.” Margaret Read MacDonald's infectious energy combines with Julie Paschkis's folk-inspired gouache paintings to create a new retelling of a favorite comic cumulative tale.

This riotous, cumulative counting song introduces children to animals and their babies, while teaching them to count up to sixteen in multiples of two. Readers will quack, moo, bark and neigh along with the rollicking CD. This work includes engaging rhyming text that teaches children to count to sixteen in multiples of two, and teaches the names of farmyard animals and their babies. It features colourful and whimsical illustrations, along with the text and music CD, inspire children to sing and dance along with the words and images.

"Goin' to town, gonna buy a little pig. Jig jog jig jog jiggety-jig!" But when the old woman tries to take that little pig home to her little boy, the pig won't cross the bridge—this little piggy is afraid of the water! The old woman pushes and pulls, cries and cajoles, with no luck. Until she sees a dog, a rat, and a cat—can the old woman convince them to help her get the piggy back home? Acclaimed storyteller Margaret Read MacDonald and illustrator John Kanzler bring new life to this classic tale.