Best Children's European Folk Tales

A once-famous Italian juggler, now old and a beggar, gives one final performance before a statue of Our Lady and the Holy Child. He's been published for over 40 years and has written and/or illustrated nearly 250 books, including Strega Nona, 26 Fairmount Avenue,The Art Lesson, and Christmas Remembered.

The old witch Bony-legs captures Sasha and prepares to eat her, until three unlikely characters--a creaking gate, a skinny dog, and a melancholy cat--come to her rescue.

Maria Carlson’s translation and Charles Mikolaycak’s soft, inviting illustrations make for a fine update of Sergei Prokofiev’s beloved story. In the opening scene, instead of simply meeting Peter as he opens the garden gate early one morning, readers weave their way through "the great forest... just outside town" to an "apple tree on the bank of a pond [where] one of the tree's sturdy branches hung above the fence and over a garden."

Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration Caledcott Honor Reading Rainbow Book Boston Globe-Horn Book. When the king decided to take a wife and invited "The Most Worthy and Beautiful Daughters in the Land" to appear before him, Mufaro declared proudly that only the king could choose between Nyasha and Manyara.

Heather and Picket are extraordinary rabbits with ordinary lives until calamitous events overtake them, spilling them into a cauldron of misadventures. A captivating story with sword-bearing rabbits, daring quests, and moments of poignant beauty, The Green Ember is a tale that will delight and inspire young readers to courage and creativity. I don't usually tell people that there is a book they absolutely-must-no-questions-HAVE-TO-without-a-doubt read. --Sarah Mackenzie, Author of Teaching From Rest, Host of The Read-Aloud Revival Podcast.

The complete Dark Is Rising Sequence is now available as one keepsake collection. One of the most celebrated fantasy sequences of all time, The Dark Is Rising is a searing, epic rendering of the eternal conflict between good and evil. She is also the author of Victory , a Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth book and a Washington Post Top Ten for Children novel; King of Shadows , a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor book; The Boggart ; Seaward ; Ghost Hawk ; and many other acclaimed novels for young readers and listeners.

Have a tea party undersea and practice counting with Three Little Mermaids , a sparkling interactive novelty concept book by bestselling creator Mara Van Fleet! Mara Van Fleet has worked in children’s publishing for more than twenty years.

Bursting with color and spirit, this collection of Latin-American songs is a tribute to Latino culture. Fiesta-bright folk art accompanies songs from locales ranging from Argentina to the Dominican Republic.

Jack and Annie are whisked back in time to the Age of Dinosaurs, a medieval castle, ancient pyramids, and treasure-seeking pirates. Books in this set include: Dinosaurs Before Dark (#1), The Knight at Dawn (#2), Mummies in the Morning (#3), and Pirates Past Noon (#4). MARY POPE OSBORNE is the author of the New York Times number one bestselling Magic Tree House series as well as coauthor of the Magic Tree House Fact Tracker series, along with her husband, Will, and her sister Natalie Pope Boyce.

From every sale of the Hogwarts Library , Scholastic will donate twenty percent of the retail sales price less taxes of this boxed set to two charities selected by the author J.K. Rowling: Lumos, a charity founded by J.K. Rowling which works to end the institutionalization of children (wearelumos.org), and Comic Relief, a UK-based charity that strives to create a just world free from poverty (www.comicrelief.com). J.K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories and translated into 79 languages, and have been turned into eight blockbuster films by Warner Bros. She has written three companion volumes to the series in aid of charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in aid of Comic Relief; and The Tales of Beedle the Bard in aid of her children's charity Lumos.

All five books in the blockbuster Percy Jackson and the Olympians series in paperback have been collected in a boxed set fit for demigods Now with glorious new cover art and packaged with a special poster this value priced set includes the best selling The Lightning Thief The Sea of Monsters The Titan s Curse The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian Whether it is for readers who are experiencing Percy s thrilling adventures with Greek gods and monsters for the first time or for fans who want to devour the saga again this gift will be prized by young and old Now with glorious new cover art by Rocco and packaged with a special poster this special boxed set contains paperback editions of Riordan s New York Times bestsellers The Lightning Thief The Sea of Monsters The Titan s Curse The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian Consumable.

This stunning fantasy inspired by Chinese folklore is a companion novel to Starry River of the Sky and the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award finalist When the Sea Turned to Silver. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless story reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz and Kelly Barnhill's The Girl Who Drank the Moon . After her mother ridicules what she believes to be a foolish purchase, Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon, who, it is told, may impart the true secret to good fortune. Stories, drawn from a rich history of Chinese folktales, weave throughout her narrative, deepening the sense of both the characters and the setting and smoothly furthering the plot.

Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision. I thought I knew Norse mythology, but now that I've read the gripping and hilarious Sword of Summer , I'll never see Thor the same way again. "Should pacing and wit continue unabated into the third volume, whose foretold European setting promises further freshness, fans will eagerly await numbers four and five." "Adventure fans will relish the action as their heroes confront formidable foes, while readers who have come to love the characters will enjoy following the different individuals as they take the stage in scenes that are usually dramatic, often witty, and occasionally surprising. "Riordan masterfully orchestrates the huge cast of characters and manages a coherent, powerful tale at once exciting, philosophical and tear-jerking. "The novel's winning combination of high-voltage adventure and crackling wit is balanced with scenes in which human needs, fears, and ethical choices take center stage."

In this elegantly designed volume, more than sixty of Aesop's timeless fables have been carefully selected, humorously retold, and brought gloriously to life by four-time Caldecott Honor-winner Jerry Pinkney. Aesop's wisdom spills across the pages as freely as Pinkney's glorious watercolors, alight with the many creatures who people the tales, from fiddling grasshoppers and diligent ants to wily foxes, clever crows, brave mice and grateful lions.

Featuring the wonderful illustrations of Tim Jonke, this best-selling children’s book tells the Easter story from a new and unusual point of view. Angela Elwell Hunt is the author of numerous books, including If I Had Long, Long Hair (winner of the Lorna Baslian Prize for children's books), Nat the Brat, Mom and Dad don't Live together Anymore .

The third book in the Heroes of Olympus series will unite them with Jason, Piper, and Leo. With old friends and new friends joining forces, a marvelous ship, fearsome foes, and an exotic setting, The Mark of Athena promises to be another unforgettable adventure by master storyteller Rick Riordan. Representing both Greek and Roman camps, the seven companions undertake a mission to prevent the imminent destruction of Rome, the awakening of Gaea, and the end of the world. --Carolyn Phelan Terrifying dreams and enigmatic prophecies mean danger for seven teen demigods, but also good times for fans of The Heroes of Olympus series. Representing both Greek and Roman camps, the seven companions undertake a mission to prevent the imminent destruction of Rome, the awakening of Gaea, and the end of the world. With his now-trademark zero-to-60 acceleration, the author engineers a ghostly possession to set Greeks and Romans at odds and initiates the Prophecy of the Seven, hurtling Annabeth, Percy, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank and Jason into a pell-mell flight on the magical trireme Argo II. As the trireme crosses the country, the pace drags while the demigods sort out relationships and work to figure out both cryptic prophecy and nightmare visions. A Luddite god rails against what he calls the "b-book," which displaced the far superior scroll technology; Annabeth gets a crash course in the cult of Mithros far below the streets of Rome.