The poems in this book tell stories of animals and nature, from two sweaty hippos, a smiling lizard and some creepy crawlers to a few tricky dandelions. At the end of each poem, find out more in an interview with a key character or a list of fascinating facts.
Johnny Maverick and his friends Tom and Stu want to win the prizes donated for their hockey team's Valentine's Day dance fundraiser. Whoever wins the dance contest takes home all the prizes, one of which is a graphite hockey stick. When the boys learn that Connie, the new girl in Howling, is a great dancer, they each want her as their dance partner. But they don't think about asking her to go with them until it's too late. And as usual, things don't turn out as planned for Johnny and his friends.
Johnny Maverick has come up with an idea to win a fundraising contest for the Howling Timberwolves hockey team. It seems fun, until a girl visits Howling - and starts to win challenges against Johnny. The entire town finds it funny; even worse, his friends Tom and Stu like what's happening.
When the Timberwolves get a new coach, they also get the coach's son. The only problem is that Eldridge Elwell is a terrible hockey player. The team is on the hunt to make the playoffs, and every time Eldridge plays a shift, it hurts the team more. Johnny Maverick is just as angry about it as anyone on the team, until he learns something important about the coach's son.
There's plenty of action both on and off the ice. At a big tournament in Calgary, teammate Tom Morgan plays a practical joke on Johnny Maverick, so naturally Johnny feels he has to pay him back. The rivalry escalates. After he scores a hat trick, Johnny is given a hockey stick signed by all the members of the Calgary Flames. He worries that Tom will do something to this prized trophy and decides he will not let it out of his sight. But in the end Tom outsmarts him one more time and Johnny learns that revenge is never a good idea.
The Howling Timberwolves need to win the best two out of three hockey games to make it to the championship finals. But first Johnny Maverick has to survive a visit from his six-year-old cousin, Sarah. And not even Johnny's dog Marvin is safe. Worse, Johnny's got a big lesson to learn on the ice, too. As always, Johnny and Stu and Tom thing they have the answers. But, as usual, they are wrong.
More than anything else in the world, Ali wants a pet cat for her birthday. Unfortunately her brother Jay is allergic to cats. One day, Ali discovers that something is sharing her clubhouse with her. To Ali's delight, the new resident is a beautiful white cat, who she names Snowy. Ali thinks that the clubhouse is the perfect home for Snowy. But is she right and, more importantly, is Snowy really hers to keep?
When Kyle finds a young dog almost drowned in a heap of seaweed on the beach, he claims the dog as his own and is happy for the first time in a while. He knows that his dog loves him, but whenever they walk on the beach, the dog swims out to sea and doesn't come back until Kyle calls and calls. Then one day, they run into an old man and it turns out that the dog may not belong to Kyle alone.
Harriet has a large collection of stuffed animals. Her favorite is an intrepid bear, Theodora (Teddy, to her friends), who leads the others in a variety of attempts to boss Harriet around and to claim the spot of alpha animal in the household. It is all Harriet can do to get her own way once in a while.
Sam and Nate tells the story of a developing friendship between two boys. Through letters, notes, school projects, a pregnant teacher and a substitute who has never taught children before, Sam and Nate support each other as best they can, but get into some funny scrapes while they're at it.
Jake and his younger brother Tommy are on their first camping trip. While exploring in the woods on Marsh Island, they lose their way. When the boys start to feel like they're not the only ones wandering in the woods, they begin to wonder if the story their dad told them about old Alfred Marsh and his lost fortune is true.
Seven-year-old Bruno is back and tackling problems with his trademark originality. He defeats hiccups. He trades his mother for a new hat. He skillfully avoids math. And thanks to his special Flutter Kick, he easily advances to the next level - in swimming and in life! Bruno is ready for any challenge as he learns all there is to know about being a boy.
In Monster Lunch we dine with Frankenstein, attend a burgoo and a birthday party, meet a grumpy garden dude and slurp hot zoop. Each poem is followed by an interview with the main character or fascinating facts about food. This collection of yummy, yucky, messy and hot rhyming stories is bursting with rhythmical fun.
Jeremy and his cat Aristotle must solve one more riddle to save the Enchanted Theater. Once again they travel through time and space. Once again they face their fears, this time deep in a maze beneath the ground and high in the sky above ancient Greece. If they succeed, the enchantment will be lifted. If they fail...
In Rhyme Stones, we go spelunking, we meet a witch who can't stay on her broomstick, a schoolyard bully, and we see how a simple piece of cloth can become anything we want it to be. Each long poem is followed by an exclusive interview with the main character, and each short poem has a "trailer" of cool facts about the theme.
In behind the raspberry bushes is a special place, a place Abby doesn't trust to just anyone. Then she looks through a knothole in the fence and right into a blue, blue eye. A toy tractor appears on her side of the fence and she pokes her little brother's stuffed blue monkey into the hole. The next morning she finds it with its tail ripped off. Who does the blue eye belong to?
Seven-year-old Ben loves pretending to be a robot, but his best friend Jessy is tired of being ordered to oil his knee joints and check his batteries. She says the robot game is boring and runs off to play with someone else. So Ben decides to build a real robot instead. He's built all kinds of things before: wind generators, solar-powered marble launchers, pinball machines. But none of his creations have ever really worked. Until now. When his robot begins talking, Ben is thrilled. However, nothing goes quite the way he thinks it will. Ben's robot is rather difficult to get along with. He complains a lot. He's bossy. He never wants to do anything Ben suggests. Having a real robot isn't nearly as much fun as Ben thought it would be. And to make things worse, no one - not even Jessy - will believe him.
Seven-year-old Christina desperately wants a dog. When she visits a kennel with her parents, she comes home with Prince, a greyhound recently retired from his champion racing career. Christina is thrilled and spends all her time with her new pal. They are like two peas in a pod. But one day, when Prince is left alone in the backyard, he escapes. Christina's mother searches everywhere for him only to find him at the schoolyard gate waiting for Christina. Promising never to leave him alone in the backyard again, her father brings home a little Chihuahua named Chancho. Now Prince will always have a companion to play with.
Sara loves her grandmother's bakery. It's a special place-not only because of its delicious Japanese buns and pastries. She enjoys spending time with her obaachan, her grandmother. But things aren't going well for the bakery. When the bakery's lucky cat statue goes missing, Sara wonders if the bakery's luck is gone for good. But then a mysterious cat appears in the backyard one night and inspires a plan. With the help of her friend, Jake, Sara just might find the statue and restore the bakery's lost luck.
In Justine McKeen, Pooper Scooper, the third book in the Justine McKeen series, Justine gets her friends to help her clean up the dog poop in the park across from the school board's offices in an effort to get the attention of the superintendent of schools. She hopes the efforts of her crew of cheerful pooper scoopers will help get the superintendent to see that bringing their school librarian back to work is the right thing to do.
Jamie loves sharks. He reads about them. He talks about them. Sometimes he even pretends to be a shark. Too bad no one else wants to join his Shark Club. His peers and parents are quickly growing tired of his current obsession. When Jamie's teacher, Mr. Claxton, brings in a new class pet, Jamie is put in charge. But Jamie has an accident while feeding it, and everyone becomes upset with him. He needs to find a way to make things right. In the end, he comes up with a solution that pleases both his teacher and classmates, a solution that also gives Jamie an opportunity to share his newest obsession--lizards.
Seven-year-old Leland has trouble writing, but he loves drawing. He so dislikes his teacher that he conjures up Delilah, an imaginary seeing-eye dog to help him into class each day. When a neighborhood painter recognizes Leland's gifts as an artist, Leland grows more confident about the world as he uniquely sees it. And when his family's cat goes missing, it is Leland's keen observation skills that lead to finding him. Leland's newfound confidence helps him both confront and sympathize with his teacher, who only wishes Leland could be a bit more focused.
Jack loves and misses his bus-driving grandfather. When Grandpa Nod got sick, Jack's mother said eight-year-old Jack was too young to visit his grandfather in hospital. When Grandpa Nod died, Jack's mother said Jack was too young to go to the funeral. One day after school, Jack gets on the wrong bus. To his surprise he discovers Grandpa Nod is in the driver's seat of the empty bus. Grandpa Nod takes him to all the places Jack was too young to go-the hospital, the funeral home and the cemetery. By the end of the ride, Jack has had the chance to tell his grandfather how much he misses him. And with his birthday coming soon, Jack receives a very special gift-Grandpa Nod's bus schedules. So even if he does get on the wrong bus, Jack will always be able to find his way home.
Inventors invent inventions! That's what Ben and his best friend Jack like to say. So when Ben discovers that Jack's family is planning to move to another city, he decides they should put their inventions to work. The boys figure that if no one buys Jack's house, Jack won't have to move away, so all they need is a plan to scare off potential buyers! Inventors are good at coming up with plans. But when Plans A, B and C fail to bring the results the boys had hoped for, Ben discovers that not everything in life stays the same-and that while change can be hard, sometimes it isn't all bad.
Jake, Tommy and Lexie are on a ski trip. In an attempt to squeeze one last run in for the day, the kids head out on their own to ski down Easy Street. But Lexie and Jake convince Tommy to try Wildcat Run instead. Wildcat Run presents the young skiers with more than they expect, including a cougar sighting. When Lexie has a bad fall, the kids are left stranded on the hill in the fading daylight. Will they be rescued or will they have to spend the night alone on the mountain with a cougar?
