Books in Picture Me Books series

The John J. Harvey fireboat was the largest, fastest, shiniest fireboatof its time, but by 1995, the city didn't need old fireboats anymore. So the Harvey retired, until a group of friends decided to save it from the scrap heap. Then, one sunny September day in 2001, something so horrible happened that the whole world shook. And a call came from the fire department, asking if the Harvey could battle the roaring flames. In this inspiring true story, Maira Kalman brings a New York City icon to life and proves that old heroes never die.

Inspired by a real event, this is the fictional tale of a little girlwhose parents win Wayne Gretzky's hockey stick at an auction. When thechild begins to play with it, she becomes her team's star. Meanwhile,"The Great One" goes into the greatest slump of his career. Realizing he needs the stick more than she does, the girl returns it to him, andGretzky gets over his thousand-goal hump.Peter Maloney andFelicia Zekauskas really did win a Gretzky hockey stick at an auction,and The Great One subsequently did go into a slump. The authors haveturned their adventure into THE book for young sports fans, with cleverrhyming verse, witty pictures, and a heartfelt theme about what it means to give. They will donate a percentage of proceeds from this book tothe New York Presbyterian Hearst Burn Center for Pediatric Burn Care,which held the original auction.American Bookseller made the duo's first book, Redbird at Rockefeller Center, a fall 1997 Pick of the Lists, and called it "reminiscent of Dr. Seuss classics." With The Magic Hockey Stick, they've done it again!

Read (or sing!) your way through this picture book adaptation of the favorite teddy-bear tale, The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.If you go down in the woods today You'd better go in disguise For every bear there ever was Will gather there for certain because Today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic. Here’s everyone’s favorite teddy bear song with endearing pictures by the popular illustrator of Good Dog, Carl.

A variety of animals parade by in this familiar jumprope alphabet song.The antics never quite quit as a parade of animals sell their wares in this wildly illustrated version of the familiar alphabet ditty and ball-bouncing game. Young readers will delight in meeting such characters as Barbara, the bear with balloons for sale in Brazil; New York Ned, the newt who owns a noodle emporium, and finally the zipper-selling Zambian zebra and zebu, Zelda and Zach.

Winner of a Caldecott HonorA shy Japanese boy having difficulty adjusting to school is misjudged by his classmates. Chibi has been an outcast since that frightening first day of school when he hid under the schoolhouse. Afraid of the teacher and unable to make any friends, Chibi passes his free time alone — alone at study time, alone at playtime, always a "forlorn little tag-along." But when Mr. Isobe arrives, the teacher sees things in Chibi that no one else has ever noticed... "A shy mountain boy in Japan leaves his home at dawn and returns at sunset to go to the village school. Pictures and text of moving and harmonious simplicity." —Saturday Review

In this book with your little eye, take a look and play I spy - so starts the classic story from best-selling author/illustrator team, Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Each Peach Pear Plum introduces favourite fairy tale characters, such as Tom Thumb and The Three Bears and, with a poem on each page hinting as to what is hiding in the picture, children are encouraged to participate and follow the story themselves.

A companion to the Caldecott Honor Book Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book Jambo Means Hello introduces children to the Swahili alphabet with helpful pronunciation keys, while presenting East African culture and lifestyles through an easy-to-understand narrative and vivid illustrations. A Caldecott Honor Book* “A lyrical song of Swahili life.”—School Library Journal, starred review

From the highly acclaimed team of Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall comes the story of a girl who shares her love for desert life as she tells of treasured experiences like dancing in the wind on Dust Devil Day or sleeping outside on a hot summer night during The Time of the Falling Stars. Baylor's radiant prose-poem and Parnall's exquisite illustrations combine to create a joyous celebration of the human spirit.

A young girl discovers that her impoverished family is rich in things that matter in life, especially being outdoors and experiencing nature.Mountain Girl knows her family doesn’t have enough money. But as the family sits around their scratched-up kitchen table and discusses the subject, her parents say they’re rich. Don’t her parents see her worn-out shoes or the patches on her little brother’s pants? They begin to count up the value of the things they have. How much is it worth to be able to see the sky all day and feel the wind and smell the coming rain? Or to watch a cactus bloom or to sleep outside under the stars? After a while, Mountain Girl begins to realize money may not be as important as she thought. Could her family really be rich after all?