What's New For Kids To Do...

HEY! What are you guys doing?

We're going to metamorphosize.

Meta-WHAT-now?

Transform into butterflies.

Right. Right. I knew that...

WAIT?! You're telling me I can become a BUTTERFLY?

Yes.

With wings?

Yes.

Wait for ME!!

Ross Burach's hilarious, tongue-in-cheek exploration of metamorphosis will make you flutter with glee, while also providing real facts about how caterpillars transform into butterflies.

Rather than focusing on going to bed—and what kid wants to think about going to bed?—this book explores all of the dreamy, wonderful, strange things the next day might bring. Whimsical, witty, and hopeful, this revolutionary rewriting of a classic goodnight book from bestselling author Dave Eggers and award-winning illustrator Lane Smith is a bedtime story for tomorrow ever after.

Every story needs a problem.

But Panda doesn't have a problem.

Unless . . . Panda is the problem.

The New York Times bestselling author of Here Comes the Easter Cat and The Quiet Book loses control of the narrative in the funniest, most exuberant, most kid-delighting way in this adventurous ode to what makes a story—and what makes a story great.

A fussy eraser and a mischievous pencil spar in this picture book adventure.

In this funny and light-hearted picture book, a fussy eraser tries to keep the pages clean by erasing the scribbles of a mischievous pencil. But before long, the eraser discovers what can happen when two opposing forces come together to have fun. With humor and a keen eye for play, Max Amato crafts a delightful story that reveals the joys of collaborative imagination.

In this hilarious and clever "how-to," a little girl and a know-it-all narrator are thwarted by a cat who refuses to take a bath. The perfect read-aloud for fans of Snappsy the Alligator and Interrupting Chicken.

Step one: fill the bath

Step two: put the cat in the bath

Step three: put shampoo on the cat

Step four: rinse the cat

Step five: dry the cat

Seems simple, right? One problem: the cat has no intention of doing ANY of these things! Watch as the steps keep changing, the cat keeps escaping, the girl keeps eating cookies and the mess keeps escalating. Soon it's not just the cat who needs a bath—it's the whole house!

This spoof on an instruction manual features an increasingly bewildered human, a nonchalant cat and a know-it-all narrator . . . who really doesn't know it all. How DO you give a cat a bath? Read on to find out!

In his eagerly anticipated debut as author-illustrator, Caldecott and Coretta Scott King honoree Christian Robinson brings young readers on a playful, imaginative journey into another world.

What if you...

encountered another perspective?

Discovered another world?

Met another you?

What might you do?

In this crowd-pleasing read-aloud from the creator of the bestselling If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't!, a giraffe's self-esteem is tested during a hilarious confrontation between unlikely look-alikes!

Everybody loves Leopold the giraffe. He inspires awe and wonder. His adoring fans gaze and cheer. Best of all, they feed him lots of deeeelicious snacks! But, one day, a shiny, bobble-headed new rival comes in and ruins everything...a giraffe-shaped balloon! Just how far will Leopold go to prove that he's the hero of the zoo? Readers learn that actions speak far louder than looks in this laugh-out-loud face-off from Elise Parsley--the New York Times bestselling creator of the Magnolia Says DON'T! series.

Second grade? Pfff! No, thanks.

The comically anxious narrator in this book thought that first grade had its problems, but overall it was pretty awesome. He'll take grade one over grade two any day, thank you very much! Especially because he and Tyler, his best friend, will not be in the same class this school year. On top of that, Tyler's sisters have been feeding the boys a steady stream of rumors about the horrors of second grade. Luckily they catch on that just maybe some of those stories are not one hundred percent true.

Could it be that second grade is not so bad? Find out in this laugh-out-loud story that has more than its fair share of heart.

Everyone in the neighborhood dreams of a taste of Omu's delicious stew! One by one, they follow their noses toward the scrumptious scent. Andone by one, Omu offers a portion of her meal. Soon the pot is empty. Has she been so generous that she has nothing left for herself?

Debut author-illustrator Oge Mora brings to life a heartwarming story of sharing and community in colorful cut-paper designs as luscious as Omu's stew, with an extra serving of love. An author's note explains that "Omu" (pronounced AH-moo) means "queen" in the Igbo language of her parents, but growing up, she used it to mean "Grandma." This book was inspired by the strong female role models in Oge Mora's life.

James’s Grandpa has the best balloons because he has the best memories. He has balloons showing Dad when he was young and Grandma when they were married. Grandpa has balloons about camping and Aunt Nelle’s poor cow. Grandpa also has a silver balloon filled with the memory of a fishing trip he and James took together.

But when Grandpa’s balloons begin to float away, James is heartbroken. No matter how hard he runs, James can’t catch them. One day, Grandpa lets go of the silver balloon—and he doesn’t even notice!

Grandpa no longer has balloons of his own. But James has many more than before. It’s up to him to share those balloons, one by one.

Here's how it works: if you can avoid getting to the end of this book, you can avoid bedtime, simple as that. (It's a pretty sweet deal, actually.) But each time you blink, you have to turn a page. Those are just the rules. So whatever you do, DON'T BLINK!

From New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Amy Krouse Rosenthal and David Roberts comes a playful, super-duper interactive bedtime story, narrated by a cheeky stuffed owl. Kids love a challenge, and you can bet they'll do their darndest to rise to the one set out in Don't Blink!...especially when bedtime is on the line!

Basil, where did you go? The Superfairies have to rescue the little bear cub before the arrival of the Copper Fairy and her masked dance!

No, Basil, don’t play near the river on your own! Superfairies Rose, Silk, Berry and Star rush to help a bear cub in danger.

Andrea is excited for another winning volleyball season. But there’s a problem—the new coach is bringing the team back to basics, and now Andrea is unhappy and feeling frustrated in her new position. Will the coach’s strategy pay off, and will the Pumas ever be ready for competition?

Jenny has always loved swimming, so this year she’s finally decided to join the swim team. Jenny cruises through the pool during practice, but when she sees the crowd of spectators at her first meet, she freezes up. Can Jenny overcome her fears and help lead her team to victory? This fast-paced sports story is a winning read for any young athlete!

Earth is under attack by a billion Braniacs! The evil android and his cold and calculating clones have tricked Superman into straying far from Earth’s orbit, leaving the planet ripe for the picking. Only Supergirl stands a chance of slowing down the super-villain's army. But will the Man of Steel return in time to aid his younger cousin?

It's a dark and stormy day at Hound Hotel, and twins Alfie and Alfreeda both feeling a little nervous. Even worse, every boom ofthunder makes their guest, Freddie the beagle, howl like crazy. Not only are his howls annoying, he's scaring the other dogs! Which twin can act brave enough to calm down Freddie?

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great—the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of one of America's icons in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. At the back are an excellent timeline and photos. This volume tells the story of Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon.

Carlos Santana grew up surrounded by music. His father, a beloved mariachi performer, teaches his son how to play the violin when he is only six years old. But when Carlos discovers American blues, he is captivated by the raw honesty of the music. Unable to think of anything else, he loses all interest in the violin. When Carlos finally receives his first guitar, his whole life begins to change.

From his early exposure to mariachi to his successful fusing of rock, blues, jazz, and Latin influences, here is the childhood story of a legendary musician.

You hear a long whistle in the distance. Then the ground seems to shake a bit. Here comes a freight train! Freight trains carry cargo from one place to another. Learn more about these exciting vehicles in Freight Trains in Action.

A bus rolls to a stop on a busy street. People shuffle on and off the huge vehicle. Buses are a common sight in cities everywhere. But city streets are but one place you’ll find them. Learn about the unique features of buses, how they help save energy, and much more in Buses in Action.

Did you know that a young girl once saved an entire beach community from a devastating tsunami thanks to something she learned in her fourth-grade geography lesson? Or that there is a person alive today who generates her own magnetic field? Or how about the fact that Benjamin Franklin once challenged the Royal Academy of Brussels to devise a way to make farts smell good?

Welcome to Two Truths and a Lie: Histories and Mysteries! You know the game: Every story in this book is strange and astounding, but one out of every three is an outright lie.

Can you guess which stories are the facts and which are the fakes? It’s not going to be easy. Some false stories are based on truth, and some of the true stories are just plain unbelievable! Don’t be fooled by the photos that accompany each story—it’s going to take all your smarts and some clever research to root out the alternative facts.

From a train that transported dead people to antique photos of real fairies to a dog who was elected mayor, the stories in this book will amaze you! Just don’t believe everything you read. . . .

Hey, dolphin fin-atics! Get ready to dive into the world of your favorite fabulous marine mammals in this action-packed book chock-full of awesome facts, photos, and fun! Join National Geographic explorer and dolphin expert Justine Jackson-Ricketts to get the latest, most up-to-date dolphin intel straight from the field, plus fun facts, in-depth info, and awesome trivia about every kind of dolphin under the sun (and beneath the waves). It's the ultimate book to help YOU become an absolute expert on one of your favorite topics.

On a camping trip with the Junior Rangers, Jay feels like the odd one out. He’s determined to get a photo of Bigfoot—but none of his friends believe Bigfoot exists. But if there’s no such thing as Bigfoot, why is there a giant footprint? And who is stealing all the snacks?

Meanwhile, Sass the Sasquatch and her curious forest friends are playing practical jokes on the campers. On the last day of camp, disaster strikes when Jay falls into a rushing river. Sass comes out of the woodwork—despite her parents’ warnings to stay away from humans!—just in time to save his life. Soon after, Jay and Sass become fast friends, proving that nothing is impossible when it comes to friendship.

Clay is a quarterback's dream. When he zips across the field, arms outstretched, waiting for the ball to sail into his hands, there's no denying him the catch. Like most Texans, Clay is never more at home than when playing football. And his coach, a former star player for the Dallas Cowboys, is just like a second father.

But as the football season kicks off, Clay begins to notice some odd behavior from his coach—lapses in his memory and strange mood swings. The conclusion is painful, but obvious: Coach Cooper is showing side effects of the many concussions he sustained during his playing days. As Clay's season wears on, it becomes clear that the real victory will be to help his coach walk onto that famous star logo in the middle of Cowboys Field one last time—during a Thanksgiving day ceremony honoring him and his former Super Bowl-winning teammates.

Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard.

An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.

Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground haven for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin and, eventually, Benny.

But will anyone believe him?

Ben and his friends, the Core Four Plus One, are so excited to play in their town's All-Star Baseball league. But in the first game of the season Ben gets hit by a pitch. It's never happened to him before and it shakes him up.

Another player on Ben's team, Justin, is acting really weirdly. Ben's known Justin for a while and they're friendly but he's not one of Ben's closest "boys." Justin is the team's best hitter but his behavior on and off the field is erratic.

Ben discovers that Justin's parents are getting a divorce and Justin is thinking about quitting the team. Like good teammates do, Justin helps Ben deal with his issues at bat while Ben is there for his friend while his family is struggling.

It was supposed to an exciting, yet normal trip to the circus.

Dangerous stunts, flying acrobats, and even the clowns Uncle Doug hated so much—Owen is itching to see all of it. But when his little sister Zoe, a self-proclaimed animal whisperer, accuses the ringmaster of mistreating the circus animals, the last thing Owen has time to do is to watch the show! With the help of some magical animal crackers that can transform him into a bear, a hippo, or even a hamster, Owen sets out to rescue his kidnapped uncle and sister from the hands of the scheming ringmaster and his circus lackeys.

Victor Spoil comes from a long line of famous supervillains and he's fully expected to join their ranks one day. But to his family's utter disappointment, Victor doesn't have a single bad-guy bone in his body. He won't run with scissors, he always finishes his peas, and he can't stand to be messy. Hopeless!

As a last-ditch effort before they give up and let him be a--gasp!--civilian, Victor's exasperated parents send him to apprentice under a disgraced supervillain called The Smear. This matchup starts off as a complete disaster, but Victor and The Smear eventually find that they have a lot to learn from each other. When the stakes get high as Victor is forced to choose between his mentor and his family morals (or lack thereof)...what will the world's nicest bad guy do?

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known to his schoolmates as Pelé, grew up in poverty in the Sao Paulo region of Brazil. He was too poor to afford a real soccer ball, so he played with a ball of newspaper tied together with string. Yet he dominated the youth leagues and signed his first professional soccer contract at the age of fifteen. Within two years he was celebrated internationally, when he led Brazil to victory at the world cup. Known by his fans as "O Rei" (The King), Pelé is widely regarded as the greatest soccer player of all time. But he's more than just an athlete: he also traveled the world as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Pelé is the living symbol of a sport he dubbed "the beautiful game"—a game that brings people together regardless of race or nationality.

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.

Patina, or Patty, runs like a flash. She runs for many reasons—to escape the taunts from the kids at the fancy-schmancy new school she’s been sent to ever since she and her little sister had to stop living with their mom. She runs from the reason WHY she’s not able to live with her “real” mom any more: her mom has The Sugar, and Patty is terrified that the disease that took her mom’s legs will one day take her away forever. And so Patty’s also running for her mom, who can’t. But can you ever really run away from any of this? As the stress builds, it’s building up a pretty bad attitude as well. Coach won’t tolerate bad attitude. No day, no way. And now he wants Patty to run relay…where you have to depend on other people? How’s she going to do THAT?

Hidden in Saint Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Theater are the world’s tiniest ballet fans: the Mariinsky mice, including Esmeralda, a rising dancer in the Russian Mouse Ballet Company. Despite being unable to control her tail, Esmeralda has just been assigned the lead role of Clara in a ballet debuting at Christmas: The Nutcracker. But when she learns that the new ballet features mice as villains, her excitement turns to horror: the mice of Saint Petersburg will never come to see such a production. Meanwhile, nine-year-old Irina is convinced that the mice she’s seen in the Mariinsky — the mice her father, the custodian, is supposed to exterminate — are not only fans of the ballet, but dancers themselves. No one will believe her, so it falls to Irina to help save the mice everyone else considers vermin . . . and perhaps to help Esmeralda ensure the future of the mouse company. Sweet and inventive, Kristin Kladstrup’s ballet fantasy features artwork by beloved illustrator Brett Helquist, old-fashioned drama, and just a touch of holiday magic.

For three ten-year-old girls, their once simple worlds are starting to feel too big.

Painfully shy Grace dreads starting fifth grade now that her best friend has moved away. Jada hopes she’ll stop feeling so alone if she finds the mother who left years ago. And Malia fears the arrival of her new baby sister will forever change the family she loves.

When the girls each find a mysterious treasure box in their library and begin to fill the box with their own precious things, they start to feel less alone. But it’s up to Grace, Jada, and Malia to take the treasures and turn them into something more: true friendship.