NCW Libraries

"The story of the Sawtelle family and the remarkable dogs that carry the Sawtelle name. It is spring 1919, and John Sawtelle's imagination has gotten him into trouble, again. Now John and his newlywed wife, Mary, along with their two best friends and their three dogs, are setting off for Wisconsin's Northwoods, where they hope to make a fresh start, and, with a little luck, discover what it takes to live a life of meaning, purpose and adventure. But...

"It is wartime in German-occupied Poland. A mother hides with her five-year-old daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives. The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings. He sings whatever the girl composes in her head: high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of contrabassoon. Music helps the flowers bloom. When the daisies grow abundant, the bird weaves a garland for the girl to wear...

After helping her mother weed, water, and chase the rabbits from their garden, a young girl imagines her dream garden complete with jellybean bushes, chocolate rabbits, and tomatoes the size of beach balls.

Buddy and Earl meet their new neighbors, Mister the bulldog and Snowflake the cat, while playing superheroes and when Snowflake gets in some trouble, Wonder Buddy and Super Earl come to the rescue.

Whimsical thoughts, bringing colorful and happy images to the reader. Imagine a day when your swing swings you higher than the highest treetops. Imagine a day when you can ride your bike up a path of falling leaves into the very tree they are falling from. Imagine a day when you release a handful of blue balloons into a cloudy, gray sky to create a postcard-perfect day. Imagine a day when the ordinary becomes the extraordinary...a day when anything...

As a child approaches the diving board at a pool, she dreams about all the amazing things she might do when she is older.

When Leo's mother announces there will be a surprise at dinner, Leo and his brother are desperate to find out what it is, and their imaginations run wild.

A little boy makes his bedtime an exciting adventure, as he imagines Batman preparing to fight crime in Gotham City.

In a book without words, a child finds a book on a crowded city sidewalk and is transported beyond the repetitive sameness of an urban skyscape into an untamed natural world.

"Silly prompts show how the joy of a simple question can entertain the mind and spirit, in a story that shows children how to ask questions that help them see the world in a different way."--(Publisher).