It can be difficult to find interesting materials for students who read below grade level, but these hilarious characters and goofy stories will get students reading! The small amount of text per page and strong visual cues make these stories very reader-friendly. Phonetic skills get a real workout through the repeated use of words with special vowel and letter combinations.
Kate has decided on a pirate theme for her party. She thinks that seven is going to be the best age to be. Her friend Jake is going to teach her to ride a two-wheeler. And her party is going to be fabulous. That is, until Violet starts spreading stories. Kate goes right on with her planning, but she is worried. When Violet is the only one to show up on the big day, Kate thinks that her worst fears have come true.
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.
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.
Pierre is excited about his trip to Paris for the poodle championship, and he can't wait to see the sights. But when his beloved Miss Murphy leaves him in the hotel room, Pierre takes matters into his own paws. He slips out of their room and makes his way to the top of the Eiffel Tower! When a storm erupts, Pierre catches hold of an umbrella and is swept into the sky over Paris. He lives his dream of being Pierre Le Poof-Daredevil Poodle. In true Pierre fashion, he stops at a Dumpster for a snack on the way back to his hotel. When he returns to his room, his pompoms are a mess, and the dog show is only hours away!
It's a rainy day. Wellington is down in the dumps and can't resist the smell of his master's freshly made meatloaf. While his master snoozes, Welly devours every last bite. After he hides the empty pan, he eats the contents of the garbage can too. Honey, a sneaky kitty and Wellington's archenemy, threatens to tell on him. Welly's tummy begins to churn and out comes everything he has gobbled down. What a mess! But in this lively, rhyming picturebook, things have a way of turning out better than expected for Welly, and just this once he escapes being blamed for the missing meatloaf.
Jeffrey can't think of a thing to write, so he doodles instead, only to have his doodle begin to order him about. Jeffrey struggles with the situation until he discovers that the most strong-willed doodle is powerless against a well-told tale. Jeffrey and Sloth is bound to have children rushing for their colored pencils and their pens to see who and what they can create.
It's the last week of school, and Mrs. Hartwell's class is excited to leave for summer vacation. The only problem is that the kids don't want their teacher to miss them while they're gone. Once again Julie Danneberg and Judy Love bring to life the crazy antics of Mrs. Hartwell and her class and show that teachers and students are more alike than different.
Joe Dumpty, Humpty's brother and private detective, thinks Humpty Dumpty's fall was no accident. But who would have pushed him? Was it Little Miss Muffet? Old Mother Hubbard? Chicken Little? Joe has until five o'clock to question characters and catch the culprit.
This diary records the recipes of Father Bear, who loves cooking. He spends a lot of time in the kitchen thinking up vegetable dishes that will make his son healthy and strong. But Baby Bear is fussy and goes off to school each day with his lunch box full of leftover food from breakfast. However – is he really eating it all up?
This diary reveals the secret hopes and fears of a wolf. Who would imagine that Little Red Riding Hood terrifies him? Who would guess that he sings the Bark Chorale each Tuesday with the rest of the wolf pack? And who would think that he is about to taste fame and fortune – big time!
This diary reveals the secret hopes and dreams of a rather green and warty toad. Although his life is slightly damp and dull, it is his great hope that one day he will meet a princess and that one kiss will change his life.Meanwhile there is babysitting to do, and friends to meet at ‘The Knot’, where everyone has a good croak.
This diary records the problems of a lady with lots of feet and lots of shoes. She needs fluffy slippers to wear when she curls up with a good book. She needs wellingtons to wear when she fetches lunch from the garden. And best of all, beautiful sandals to dance in at the club. But when she loses a sandal, and is forced to miss the fun, she has no idea that someone will find the shoe and change her life for ever.
In this chain story from Cuba, Rooster learns that he needs a lot of help from his friends to get cleaned up in time for Heron's party. Then the real fun begins.
In this story from China, when a woodcutter finds a magic pot that makes two of everything that he puts inside of it, he thinks all of his troubles have disappeared! Or have his troubles merely doubled?
In Puerto Rico, there are many stories about Juan Bobo, a young man with a good heart, but little common sense. In this tale, Juan Bobo's mother tells him to take care of their pig while she goes to church. When the pig won't stop grunting, Juan Bobo decides that the pig must want to go to church as well.
If you love Maynard Moose tales from the Northern Piney Woods, then be forewarned, this book might just be the funniest yet. The fourth installment in the Maynard Moose series, provides the back story for the Maynard Moose tales. In this whimsical telling of how Little Moose struggled with going to sleep each night, you'll meet Little Moose, Maynard's youngest cousin and his favorite kin, her parents Mr. and Mrs. Moose, the sheep and most important you'll learn the legend of Mother Moose and her kitchen. You'll also visit Moose Academy where young moose go to learn proper posture, Woodland Skills and counting to three over and over again. This whimsically illustrated story also includes a CD along with a Moose to English dictionary.
In this Choctaw variant of Aesop's fable "The Tortoise and the Hare," master storyteller Tim Tingle reveals some unexpected twists and expands the cast to include a wild turkey, a colony of ants, and a cheering squad of Little Bitty Turtles as well. When Rabbit boastfully challenges Turtle to a race, he gets his comeuppance and Turtle gets a little assist from his winged friend, Turkey. In the process, we learn why Turtle's shell is cracked and why you never see Rabbit racing Turtle today. The bold and vibrant illustrations capture not only the grasslands of the High Plains but also the demeanor of its animal inhabitants and the humor of the tale.
You may think you know the classic story of the Ugly Duckling, but think again. In the capable hands of his alter ego Maynard Moose, renowned storyteller Willy Claflin takes us on a wacky journey where this Uglified Ducky, a hapless young moose, "blunders away" from his home, is mistaken for a baby duck, and endures endless humiliation as he tries to learn to waddle, quack, swim, and fly. Eventually, he finds his true "fambly," who helps him discover his own beauty. In his fractured Moose English, translated in the glossary at front, Maynard relays a surprisingly tender story that echoes the original tale's theme of the struggle to belong and discover your true self. The Uglified Ducky's quest is playfully but sympathetically interpreted in James Stimson's luminous, droll gouache illustrations.
Only Maynard Moose could dream up this hilarious story that mashes up three fractured fairy tales by combining the stories of Rapunzel's golden locks with Sleeping Beauty along with Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs to create a bizarre adventure story.
This lyrical picture book of 20 clever riddles challenges young readers to use their imagination to solve the word and picture puzzles.
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.
Every night when Billy Brown's mother puts him to bed, she tells him to keep his covers on his bed but he ignores her advice, then the belly button monster steals his belly button and the fun begins.
This hilarious Maynard Moose tale as retold by master storyteller Willy Claflin takes us on another whimsical journey with the misadventures of a Bully Goat who suffers from Random Hostility Syndrome. The Bully Goat clashes with a three headed troll family and is undone by a baby girl troll when she suddenly realizes that everybody ought to mess with him! Her inspiration leads to a confrontation with the Bully Goat using only a pillow and three raggedy old bed sheets. After she cleverly outwits the Bully Goat, all of the forest animals follow her example and the threat of the bully is eliminated. Fortunately, everyone lives happily for never afterwords except for the Bully Goat since nobody likes a dubnoxious beastly. A Moose-English Glossary is included along with Hoofnotes to help guide you through the translation. This latest fractured fairy tale from the Piney Woods marks the third collaboration from the creative team who brought you the 2011Texas Bluebonnet Award winning book, The Uglified Ducky and the award winning Rapunzel & the Seven Dwarfs. James Stimson has worked his magic once again with his eclectic stylized illustrations that depict the humor of the offbeat trolls and capture the joy of the forest animals inhabiting the Piney Woods.
This story opens with "There once was a man whose house was very small," and it continues, "It was cluttered with things from wall to wall." With a tiny, cluttered house, giggling children, and a snoring wife, the poor man can't get a good night's sleep. If only, he thinks, I had a big quiet house! He throws off his covers and goes to visit the wise old woman at the edge of the village. Surely she can help him solve his problem. And she does, but not without giving him some very unusual advice. Bring a chicken into your house, she suggests. And when that doesn't work, she has him add a goat, a horse, a cow, and even a sheep. The ending of the story proves, as so many ancient folktales do, that quite often, nonsense makes the best sense of all. Susan Greenstein's bold illustrations, white pencil on black surface with watercolor - carry the reader through the warm interiors and peaceful nights of the shtetls of Eastern Europe.
