Blaze and the Castle Cake for Bertha Daye


Book Description

Claude Ponti’s nimble wordplay and punning, combined with his phantasmagorical and joyful illustrations, create an endearing gem of a book, bound to be a bedtime story favorite. From one of the world’s most beloved children’s book authors comes a story of a high-spirited flock of friends building an unusual birthday cake. A rabble of soft, golden “chicklets” are awoken one morning to a startling proclamation: they only have ten short days to prepare for their best friend Bertha Daye’s party. It’s time to get to work building a larger-than-life castle cake to house and feed the revelers. Made of chocolate scooped out of chocolate mines, “finer than fairy dust” flour from the hillsides, and fruit carried down twigs and stems in the forest, this will be the best—and kookiest—cake of all time. Oodles of distinctive chicklets fill every page, scurrying, fluttering, napping, tumbling, helping, and getting up to no good. When the party day arrives, guests pour into the pastry palace, many of them unmistakable characters from iconic stories’ past, offering a marvelous who’s-who of story-book history.




Blaze and the Castle Cake for Bertha Daye


Book Description

Claude Ponti’s nimble wordplay and punning, combined with his phantasmagorical and joyful illustrations, create an endearing gem of a book, bound to be a bedtime story favorite. From one of the world’s most beloved children’s book authors comes a story of a high-spirited flock of friends building an unusual birthday cake. A rabble of soft, golden “chicklets” are awoken one morning to a startling proclamation: they only have ten short days to prepare for their best friend Bertha Daye’s party. It’s time to get to work building a larger-than-life castle cake to house and feed the revelers. Made of chocolate scooped out of chocolate mines, “finer than fairy dust” flour from the hillsides, and fruit carried down twigs and stems in the forest, this will be the best—and kookiest—cake of all time. Oodles of distinctive chicklets fill every page, scurrying, fluttering, napping, tumbling, helping, and getting up to no good. When the party day arrives, guests pour into the pastry palace, many of them unmistakable characters from iconic stories’ past, offering a marvelous who’s-who of story-book history.




My Valley


Book Description

In My Valley, Claude Ponti leads us on a journey through an enchanted world inhabited by "Touims" (tiny, adorable, monkey-like creatures), secret tree dwellings, flying buildings, and sad giants. Clever language and beautifully detailed maps of imaginary landscapes will delight children and adults alike. Ponti himself has said, "My stories are like fairytales, always situated in the marvelous, speaking to the interior life and emotions of children. That way each child can get what they want out of the images: the characters and dreams are their own."




The Happy Owls


Book Description

Follows the efforts of a flock of chickens, ducks, and geese to discover the secret of their neighboring owls' happiness, which is credited to the beauty and wonder of the natural world.




Juan Hormiga


Book Description

A whimsical tale in which family lore inspires newfound daring, told by Argentina's sleepiest ant Juan Hormiga, the greatest storyteller of his entire anthill, loves to recount his fearless grandfather's adventures. When Juan and his fellow ants gather around for storytime, he hypnotizes all with tales of his grandfather's many exploits - including his escape from an eagle's talons and the time he leapt from a tree with just a leaf for a parachute. When he's through telling these tales, Juan loves to cozy up for a nice long nap. He's such a serious napper that he takes up to ten siestas every day! Though well loved by his ant friends, Juan decides telling tales and sleeping aren't quite enough for him - it's time to set off on his own adventure. With whimsical, irresistible illustrations, Juan Hormiga affirms the joys of sharing stories, and of creating your own out in the world.




A Piece of Black Cake for Santa


Book Description

Femi and her friends planned to leave some traditional Caribbean treats out for Santa, including Black Cake. The children shared warm wishes for their favourite dishes while enjoying winter activities at the Christmas fair.







Come Hither


Book Description

A collection of rhymes and poems for the young of all ages.







The Tiger Prince


Book Description

A magnificently illustrated Chinese folklore tale about a tigress, a seer, a King, and the prince, who must leave his family and learn the ways of the tigers so that the war between man and animal can end. Deep in the Great Forest, a tigress is mourning the death of her tiger babies who have been killed by hunters. Seeking revenge, she attacks the villages, destroying houses and prompting the king to gather his army. But a seer named Lao Lao warns the king that if he angers the tigress further she will destroy the kingdom. Lao Lao counsels the king to give his own son to the tigress and promises that no harm will come to the boy. The next morning, the king brings the prince to the edge of the Great Forest and tells him, “Now you must go on alone.” To end the war between man and animal, the prince must forget his human ways and begin to learn what tigers know. The Tiger Prince was inspired by The Tigress, a late Shang dynasty bronze vessel in the Cernuschi Museum in Paris depicting a scene from the Chinese folktale of a baby raised by a tigress.