Timmy and Tammy's Train of Thought

Timmy and Tammy's parents promise the two train enthusiast siblings a real train ride.  What a train ride it is!  They travel all over and on many different types of trains.

Timmy and Tammy's Train of Thought by Oliver Chin & Heath McPhearson

The Gardener - Lydia

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart is a Depression Era story of a little girl, Lydia Grace who is sent to live with her Uncle Jim, and finds that through her passion for gardening she can brighten even the grayest of worlds.

How Will We Get to the Beach? - Roxanne

How Will We Get to the Beach? by Brigitte Luciani & Eve Tharlet is a guessing game story, that has the reader to answer questions about how Roxanne will get to the beach.

Mimi - Frank

Mimi by Carol Baiker-McKee, is a lovely little girl who spends her day going to the library and playing in the park, all while keeping in mind that her roly-poly bug, Frank is missing.  She does find him at the end of the day, when she feels a "monster" tickling her leg!

Josefina Javelina: A Hairy Tale

Josefina dreams of being a ballerina, so she heads to Pasadena to fulfill her dreams, but she isn't able to display her skills until her agent, White E. Lamb, turns out to be a R. Ben Coyote, who then chases her through the streets during a parade.

Josefina Javelina by Susan Lowell

Edwardo: The Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide World

After being labeled clumsiest, cruelest, noisiest, messiest, dirtiest, nastiest, rudest, and roughest boy, he becomes: Edwardo: The Horriblest Boy in the Whole Wide World!  That is until, others start recognizing the all of his good qualities and he becomes the "Nicest Boy in the Whole Wide World"

Theodore

Lucy's favorite bear, Theodore is accidentally picked up with the dirty laundry and cleaned, making him unrecognizable to her.  Luckily, through a series of dirty events, Theodore becomes nice and smudgy again!

Palazzo Inverso - Mauk

Mauk is not allowed to help with his master's drawings in Palazzo Inverso by D. B. Johnson, but when he wakes one morning and finds the world is somehow strange, it "turns" out he did indeed have a hand in making them.

Morris the Artist

Morris picks out a present for Benjamin, that he would like to keep himself.  At the party he cannot bear to part with it, but after the box grows so large it almost crushes him, Morris gives his present.  The other children are not impressed with the paint set, until Morris begins to create and paint.

Morris the Artist by Lore Segal

I'm Not Invited? - Minnie, Charles

Minnie is perplexed when she discovers she hasn't been invited to her friend, Charles' party.  In the end she discovers that she was wrong, and that it wasn't his party, but his sister's.  This book is also worth mentioning, because Minnie has a friend, Kathleen, and, well, that's my name!

I'm Not Invited? by Diana Cain Bluthenthal

Walter the Baker

Walter the Baker by Eric Carle is the story of a baker who is known for his delicious bread, until one day when his cat spills all the milk and he's forced to bake with water, instead.  The Duke orders Walter to make a bread that the sun can shine through three times, and Walter invents the pretzel.

Hooray for Spring - Mick, Mack, Mollly

Three little squirrels, Mick, Mack, and Molly, explore all the offerings of spring in Hooray for Spring! by Kazuo Iwamura.

Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian

Carlo, the giraffe, is intimidated by the librarian until he discover that she loves books as much as he does in Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian by Jessica Spanyol.

Sidney Won't Swim

The reason's why he can't possibly participate in swim class pile up in, Sidney Won't Swim by Hilde Schuurmans, until finally Sidney admits that he is just a tiny bit scared.

Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated

Because she floats, Princess Hyacinth  must wear clothes weighted with jewels so that she doesn't fly far away.  Her only friend, Boy, visits her when he goes out to fly his kite.  One day Hyacinth is able to convince a balloon man to let her float on the end of the string.  A dog frightens him, and Hyacinth is sent soaring up into the sky, where she is rescued by Boy's kite.

The Popcorn Dragon - Dexter

Dexter the dragon ends up losing all of his friends after showing off and blowing smoke in their faces.  But he finds a way to show his friends he's sorry, and that he can use his talent for something fun!

The Popcorn Dragon by Jane Thayer

Bella & Bean

While Bella & Bean may seem like mismatched friends, but their differences intertwine to help Bella write beautiful poetry.

Bella & Bean by Rebecca Kai Dotlich 

The Puddle Pail - Ernst, Sol

Ernst and Sol, two crocodile brothers, walk to the beach and notice different things, illustrating that it's okay to be different in The Puddle Pail by Elisa Kleven.

Tiny's Big Adventure - Katy

Tiny's Big Adventure by Martin Waddell follows the adventures of two field mice.  The illustrations are delightful!

The Library Dragon - Molly

The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy is the story of a school librarian who has become a bit "scaly" and doesn't allow the children to borrow books, until a little girl Molly reads a book to the other children.  The dragon disappears and the librarian returns.

Do You Still Love Me? - Dudley

Do You Still Love Me? by Charlotte Middleton is the story of Dudley the dog who feels replaced when Anna gets a chameleon as a pet.  Dudley finds that Anna has room in her heart for two animal friends.

Violet Comes to Stay

Violet is the last kitten to be adopted from her litter.  At the nursery she is too hunt mice, but she fails to remember her mother's advice about hunting and is given away to the owner of a bakery.  She fails again and is sent back to her mother.  Finally she finds her place with the owner of a bookstore.

Violet Comes to Stay by Melanie Cecka

I Love You All Day Long - Owen

Owen is worried about being apart from his mother when he is at school all day long.  She reassures him, by going over daily situations and telling him, "I Love You All Day Long."

Miss Emma's Wild Garden

Chloe learns all about plants and animals in Miss Emma's Wild Garden by Anna Grossnickle Hines

The Bake Shop Ghost - Cora Lee

Cora Lee Merriweather ran the best bake shop.  After she died, she decided to stick around and scare off all the new owners.  When Annie buys the shop, she refuses to be scared off by Cora Lee.  Cora Lee challenges Annie to bake a cake that is "so rich and so sweet, it will fill me up and bring tears to my eyes" and she does.  The Bake Shop Ghost by Jacqueline K. Ogburn

The Cat's Tale - Willow

Willow learns about the Chinese calendar and why there is no year of the cat in The Cat's Tale by Doris Orgel.

Winnie the Witch

Winnie the Witch's house and everything in it is black, which makes seeing her black cat, Wilbur, difficult.  So she changes him into a green cat and after much calamity, she changes him back and decides to change the color of her house and furnishings instead.

Such a Prince - Vera, Marvin

Such a Prince by Dan Bar-el is a humorous retelling of the fairytale, "The Three Peaches".  Great for older readers!

The Peanut-Free Cafe - Simon, Grant

Like everyone else at Nutley School, Simon loves peanut butter.  When a new boy, Grant, starts school and the kids learn he's allergic to peanuts, they decide to make a part of the cafeteria peanut free.

The Peanut-Free Cafe by Gloria Koster

Toby, Who Are You?

In Toby, Who Are You? by William Steig, Toby and his parents go on a picnic and they pretend to be a variety of different animals.

Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent

Cyrus shows that being kind is also being brave when he refuses to sink the ship the Primrose and instead guide it through dangerous situations (pirates, a storm).

Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent by Bill Peet