Henry Cole

A young boy's flight to freedom is shown from the animal's point of view in darkly hued, evocative illustrations. The animals reveal what the boy needs to know along the way – frogs point to fresh water, a mouse shows edible berries – until he emerges and is shown walking toward a safe house on the Underground Railroad. Text and illustration impart a taut, nocturnal journey.

The basics of the events that led up to the Boston Tea Party in 1773 are revealed gradually, building through the familiar cadence of "The House That Jack Built." Rhyming text and realistic illustrations successfully introduce the event that preceded the Revolutionary War. Small Colonial and English mice appear on each page, adding humor and a touch of information to this otherwise straightforward, clearly illustrated historical book.

The rhyming conversation between a boy and his dad begins when a naughty chicken follows them home. As the father reads his newspaper, the boy asks, "You know what?" "What?" A turn of the page reveals the rhyming response. Rollicking good kid humor abounds in both the dialogue and the comic illustrations.

The rascally child introduced in Chicken Butt returns. Here, he gets his poor mom to say all kinds of rhyming words as he plays with homophones (think: but, butt; bare, bear). Cartoon illustrations add to the humor of the mother-son conversation.

In this rendition of the classic fairy tale, the Cinderella role is played by – you guessed it – a dinosaur! Her Fairydactyl comes to the rescue and dresses our heroine, a big fuchsia dinosaur, in a prom gown. And while you're reading about how Dinorella dazzles the Duke at the Dinosaur Dance, children will be learning about the sound /d/ makes.

When Mimi the Swan sees ballet practice from the window of the Paris Opera House, she becomes obsessed with ballet. Though she tries to attend a performance, she is not allowed into the opera house. She finally follows a tardy dancer into the theater and gets her big break: Mimi becomes the star in none other than "Swan Lake!" The wry humor is conveyed in both text and witty illustrations in this appealing, comical story.

A wee piggy escapes his boy at the fair for a very colorful adventure around the fair. The naughty pig "wallowed in white to go with the red…" but "It's not polite to wallow in white…" The boy catches up just in time to see his pig win a blue ribbon. Funny, animated illustrations accompany the rhyming tale inspired by "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly."

When Nelly May takes a job as housekeeper for Lord Ignasius Pinkwinkle, she must learn a new vocabulary. Lord Pinkwinkle becomes "Most Excellent of All Masters," his bed a "restful slumberific" and so on — until she must put it all together to save the Master and his home. Jauntily illustrated, a fresh version of an old English tale is sure to engage children.

Can Tracker, Fritz, Sheena, and Jake find Rosie before the dogcatcher finds them all? The quest starts when Rosie heads back to the city to find her former owner. Each puppy has his or her distinct personality; each lives with loving humans in Buxton, a small town where Rosie comes to live, too. The canine sleuths are captivating in this and other books in the series. Black and white sketches throughout enhance the dogs' individuality.

A prairie chicken named Mary McBlinken, "heard a rumbling and a grumbling and a tumbling" fearing that "a stampede's a comin'!" Others join her to alert Cowboy Stan and Red Dog Dan to the impending danger. Almost sidetracked by a tricky coyote, Stan and Dan save the day and stop the rumbling of Mary's tummy. A take-off of "Chicken Little" is made even more humorous by rib-tickling illustrations.