Kneeknock Rise


Book Description

From the moment young Egan arrives in Instep for the annual fair, he is entranced by the fable surrounding the misty peak of Kneeknock Rise: On stormy nights when the rain drives harsh and cold, an undiscovered creature raises its voice and moans. Nobody knows what it is—nobody has ever dared to try to find out and come back again. Before long, Egan is climbing the Rise to find an answer to the mystery. Kneeknock Rise is a 1971 Newbery Honor Book.




The Search for Delicious


Book Description

Natalie Babbit's memorable first novel, The Search for Delicious, about a boy who nearly causes a civil war in the kingdom all because of his work on the royal dictionary. Gaylen, the King's messenger, a skinny boy of twelve, is off to poll the kingdom, traveling from town to farmstead to town on his horse, Marrow. At first it is merely a question of disagreement at the royal castle over which food should stand for Delicious in the new dictionary. But soon it seems that the search for Delicious had better succeed if civil war is to be avoided. Gaylen's quest leads him to the woldweller, a wise, 900-year-old creature who lives alone at the precise center of the forest; to Canto, the minstrel who sings him an old song about a mermaid child and who gives him a peculiar good-luck charm; to the underground domain of the dwarfs; and finally to Ardis who might save the kingdom from havoc. The Search for Delicious is a 1969 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year. Featured in 4 episodes as part of the Jackanory BBC children's television series.




Barking with the Big Dogs


Book Description

In this collection of essays and speeches written over the course of four decades, beloved storyteller Natalie Babbitt explores what it was like to be a “little dog” in the literary world, continually being forced to justify her choice to write books for children—instead of doing something more serious. Babbitt offers incisive commentary on classic children’s books as well as contemporary works, and reveals colorful insights into her own personal creative life. Filled with a voice that rings with truth, wisdom, and humor across the years, the essays gathered in Barking with the Big Dogs exemplify on every page true reverence for children and an endless engagement with the challenge to write the books that shape them.




The Eyes of the Amaryllis


Book Description

Experience love and loss in this enchanting sea mystery from Natalie Babbitt, The Eyes of the Amaryllis, the basis for the 1982 movie adaption of the same name. When the brig Amaryllis was swallowed in a hurricane, the captain and all the crew were swallowed, too. For thirty years the captain's widow, Geneva Reade, has waited, certain that her husband will send her a message from the bottom of the sea. But someone else is waiting, too, and watching her, a man called Seward. Into this haunted situation comes Jenny, the widow's granddaughter. The three of them, Gran, Jenny, and Seward, are drawn into a kind of deadly game with one another and with the sea, a game that only the sea knows how to win. The Eyes of the Amaryllis is a 1977 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year.




The Devil's Storybook


Book Description

The Devil's Storybook is a 1974 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year and a 1975 National Book Award Finalist for Children's Books. An ALA Notable Book Chosen by School Library Journal as one of the Best of the Best Books




The Moon Over High Street


Book Description

The new novel by Natalie Babbitt, author of Tuck Everlasting Joe Casimir needed help with the choice he had to make. But how do you choose the person who will help you choose? Mr. Boulderwall, the millionaire, knew exactly what he wanted Joe to choose. And millionaires are experts at making choices. Well, aren't they? But Vinnie, the number-two man down at Sope Electric, didn't much approve of millionaires. He said to Joe, "Listen, kid, all of 'em act like they're the only ones with a ticket to the show!" But he didn't have any real advice to offer. Joe's Gran didn't either, as it turned out, and neither did Aunt Myra.The good advice was there, though. Right across the street. Just waiting right across the street. There are a lot of good things just waiting. You'll see.




Tuck Everlasting


Book Description

Winnie Foster is in the woods, thinking of running away from home, when she sees a boy drinking from a spring. Winnie wants a drink too, but before she can take a sip, she is kidnapped by the boy, Jesse Tuck, and his family. She learns that the Tuck family are blessed with o or doomed to o eternal life since drinking from the spring, and they wander from place to place trying to live as inconspicuously as they can. Now Winnie knows their secret. But what does immortality really mean? And can the Tucks help her understand before it's too late? A beautiful paperback edition of the unforgettable classic of children's writing about what it truly means to live forever. Featuring illustrations by Melissa Castrillon.




The Devil's Other Storybook


Book Description

The Devil is back, just as full of vanity and other human feelings as he was in Natalie Babbitt's first collection, The Devil's Storybook.




Jack Plank Tells Tales


Book Description

A young man starts out to be a pirate, but just doesn't seem to have the knack for it and seeks a new career.




Ouch!


Book Description

A lesser known Grimm tale about young Marco, who starts out as nobody special and ends up king.