Books published by publisher David Goodin

Tom is so good at fooling around that he does little else. His Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong, who thinks this is too much like having fun, calls upon the fearsome Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen to teach him a lesson. So the Captain challenges Tom to three rounds of womble, muck, and sneedball, certain that he will win. However, when it comes to fooling around, Tom doesn't fool around, and his skills prove so polished that the results of the contest are completely unexpected. . .

Inspector Mantis, Dr. Hopper, and their creeping, crawling coterie return for another series of thrilling tales in this long awaited sequel to Trouble in Bugland-and this time they're facing more deadly foes than ever. These four new adventures will once again have readers of all ages laughing aloud, while gasping with horror. In these Sherlockian escapades, one meets unforgettable bugs such as the relentless spring-cleaner Mrs. Inchworm, the bespectacled Professor Booklouse, the fearless Captain Flatfootfly, and the pleasant Miss Allegra Warblefly. Many others help along the way, providing clues, witty conversation, and candy to fuel Inspector Mantis and Dr. Hopper's Holmesean efforts to defeat the devious lepidopterans and arthropods. Joe Servello's vibrant color illustrations, paired with hilarious dialogue from Bill Kotzwinkle compel readers to faithfully follow along as this all-insect cast pursues justice.

Henrietta has big dreams for a little chicken: learning to sing, to swim, to fly, and, most important of all, to lay golden eggs. Even when her three thousand, three hundred thirty-three fellow inmates in the old henhouse laugh at her ambitions, Henrietta holds fast, practicing day and night. And while she's honing her talents, she's also getting ready to move on to the bigger, brighter world she can see through the tiny hole in the henhouse wall.Our heroine is no fool; she knows her limitations, but doesn't let them destroy her ambitions, any more than she lets the henhouse walls keep her a prisoner. And she's not above causing a little havoc along the way once the other three thousand, three hundred thirty-three chickens find her escape route, chaos reigns in the barnyard, by the pond, and among the wheat fields.Whether Henrietta achieves her dreams is debatable, but through her persistence and her resolute belief in herself, she does manage to change the lives of everyone in the henhouse for the better.This delightful fable is the first book by Hanna Johansen to be published in English. The spirited pen-and-ink illustrations by Käthi Bhend, printed in two colors, capture the henhouse denizens and their frenetic escapades down to the last feather.

Here, at last is a book of "uncommon common sense" for young people by someone who has worked with them for thirty-five years. F. Washington Jarvis is one of the nation s most eminent educators, now in his twenty-eighth year as headmaster of Boston's Roxbury Latin School, the oldest school in continuous operation in North America.Jarvis s approach is anecdotal. "If it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, it is ten times as true when you are speaking to young teenagers. They are gripped by the story of how real people cope with real situations. They are interested when you share with them the concrete realities of your own life and experience, and they are almost always willing to listen to adults who actually believe in something, who actually stand for something."Jarvis's addresses, reprinted from his school's publications, have enjoyed something of a cult "underground" circulation among young people - and their parents and grandparents. Now his "top hits" have been brought together in a single volume for wider circulation.The author never talks down to his audience. He knows that - appearances to the contrary - students are asking the deepest questions, questions about whether life has meaning and purpose. He also knows that teenagers often find themselves caught by surprise in situations where they have to make tough decisions. And he believes that they are willing, even eager, to know how others have coped in similar situations.This is a book of deep and practical wisdom, one of our surprise "bestsellers" in hardcover, and now available in softcover to serve an even wider audience.Winner of the 2001 Christopher Award

This charming book will delight any child or adult who appreciates ballet, Paris, New York, childhood, and mystery (not necessarily in that order). The book's plot is deceptively simple: Catherine, the eponymous heroine, begins her story watching her own daughter demonstrate jazz steps in their ballet school on a snowy afternoon in New York. Memory takes her (and the reader) back to her childhood, spent in the tenth arrondissement of Paris. In her youth, Catherine lives with her gentle father, Georges Certitude, who runs a shipping business with his partner, a loud, failed poet named Casterade. The real partners in this story, however, are the father and daughter who share the simple pleasures of daily life: sitting in the church square, walking to school, going to her ballet class every Thursday afternoon.Behind this gossamer storyline, Catherine Certitude is filled with mystery. Why did Georges change his name to Certitude? What kind of trouble with the law did Casterade rescue him from? Exactly what does Georges do, and what kind of deals is he always discussing with men in worn raincoats? Why did Catherine's mother, herself a ballerina, leave Georges to return to New York? That these mysteries remain mysteries is part of the book's charm. But that Catherine and her father love the ballet, music, and City of Lights, is certain.

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if it were a little more…exciting? Perhaps, Jared Williams suggests, it would help if you were a ninja. Inspired by the author's conversations with his son, Rabbit Ninja alternates between the quotidian boredom of a young school-aged rabbit (his teeth-brushing and school lessons) and bursts of imagined ninja action, filled with nunchucks, noodles, and the Ultimate Nemesis. Its charming full-color illustrations and playful narration create lively movement from page to page -- the book is also chock-full of ninja facts that will delight and inspire fledgling ninjas in the making. Subtly wise, Rabbit Ninja is a vivid triumph of the imagination that encourages young readers to imagine wilder and more colorful possibilities for themselves.

Following the runaway success of Crime and Puzzlement 1, 2, and 3 (all available from Godine), by popular demand Lawrence Treat conjured up yet another devilishly delightful collection of picture mysteries -- this time for younger readers without any violent crime.The clues are in the pictures; it's up to you, the young detective, to size up the situation and solve the mystery. Read the story; look at the picture; grab a pencil; solve it yourself!

This charming book of hand-colored papercuts is guaranteed to delight gardeners young and old, active and armchair. It is a delicious garden alphabet, a convention as old as the sixteenth century, but one that seems to lend itself especially well to the advantages of high relief, gaily-colored papercuts.In this vivid garden, where A is for Arbor and Z is for Zucchini, artist Wisnewski brings her talents to bear not only on flowers, shrubs, herbs, and fruit, but also on the resident fauna: bees and cats, children, dogs, and rabbits. The result is no static florilegium, but a witty and whimsical beehive of various and charming activity.

We have entered an age where microbreweries are in the mainstream, producing experimental amber nectars to the taste (and sometimes distaste) of all palates. Using flavors as diverse as chocolate, grapefruit, mint, and more, brewers push the boundaries of what it means to make a beer. Online groups exist to trade rare brews from coast to coast and country to country (Pliny the Elder, Heady Topper, anyone?), but here, Mary Azarian, with her characteristically charming woodcuts, takes us back to a simpler time where fifteenth-century households produced up to two hundred gallons of beer and ale a month. Seen as a nutritional necessity, this beer came from grain and fresh spring water, and was primarily brewed by women. The Ballad of John Barleycorn is still sung in England today, personifying the spirit of the grain, the essential component of beer-making. From planting, harvesting, brewing, and celebrating, this ballad covers the process of beer-making. Including a four-ingredient recipe, this book reminds us that sometimes the simplest way is best.

From the duo who delighted readers with The Lonely Phone Booth comes this wonderful new book featuring a diverse family of memorable characters. Pablo Pressman has homework to do, and Pablo will do almost anything to avoid doing his homework. But when his computer breaks down, he is desperate. His mother takes him up to the attic to discover her old typewriter. A what-writer ? asks Pablo, mystified. When his mother shows him how to strike the keys just so, and the words start to appear on paper, Pablo is delighted. And imagine his triumph when he presents his homework at school, amazing his teacher and all his friends with the story of the mechanical marvel that saved the day.

What do children and adults love in equal measure? Food! And what food inspires rapture in the hearts of children and adults alike? Pizza! Have your children ever asked where pizza comes from? Who invented the Pizza Mar­gherita? How did anyone think of combining such scrumptious ingredients as mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and fresh-baked bread? Thanks to Pizza in Pienza, you and your young charges will have all the answers, in English and Italian, including a recipe for homemade pizza. Here is the essential history of pizza, told by a charming Italian girl who lives in Pienza and whose favorite food is . . . well, you can guess it: pizza. Life in Pienza is pretty old-fashioned, and our young heroine knows everyone on the street and at the market by name. She comes home from school at midday to eat meals with her family, but in between her snack of choice is pizza, and her favorite place is Giovanni's, where Giovanni cooks pizza the old-fashioned way in a hot brick oven heated by a wood fire. Her grandmother, of course, makes it by hand and teaches her how to make it too. Her love of pizza even leads her to the library, where our heroine learns all she can about this ancient and ever-popular food, and so do we.Susan Fillion, author and illustrator of Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: Bringing Matisse to America, has shifted her attention from France to Italy in this wonderful book for younger readers. While children will love the vibrant illustrations and simple story of this girl and her great love, adults will be riveted by the history and challenged by the bilingual text for what good is a history of pizza in English only? Read the Italian out loud (Chiudo gli occhi e respiro il suo caldo profumo e il suo sapore) and your mouth will really start watering.

Like many good fables, this story opens with a found-ling left rather inconveniently, if not surprisingly in the woods. A large lizard, ever conscious of tripping hazards, picks up the infant and takes her home, where she soon grows into a pretty, pampered, and generally useless young woman named Isabella. Despite her adoptive mother's efforts (for the lizard is really a witch in disguise) to shape her up, the girl prefers the alluring life offered her by the charming Prince Rupert, a world of cooks and servants, palaces and jewels, luxury and indolence. Luckily, the lizard woman is a canny, concerned parent. She does not suffer fools lightly and is not about to let her daughter's too-easy transition to palace life go unchallenged. And so she arranges a surprise transformation for her daughter one that puts the prince's marital plans on hold and gives the witch just enough time to hammer home a few lessons about the downside of idleness, the inanity of vanity, and the satisfactions of self-reliance. In this witty, modern interpretation of a classic Italian folktale, Leah Marinsky Sharpe has crafted a light-hearted mother-daughter fable with a moral that is sure to strike a chord with readers of all ages. The illustrations by Jane Marinsky glow with rich color and playful humor. Together, words and pictures provide a zesty treat for parents and children alike.