A hardcover picture book (with audio CD) about Josiah: a bad rat, but a good kid and a talented artist. He and his friends escape a world without color by rekindling their professor¿s imagination and his belief in the value of creativity. Beautiful soft expressive illustrations by James Muscarello gradually gain in color as the characters commit to expressing themselves through their creativity. The companion ¿Book-on-CD¿ comes with each book and will transport young readers into Josiah¿s world with sound effects and wonderful performances by children and adults. The dramatic storytelling is narrated by the author and features his young nephew, Eli Drachman, among other delightful voices! (Audible page turns help children follow along as they learn to read.)

A fast, fun, friendship read from the Newbery-award winning author of , Maniac Magee. Fourth graders are tough. They aren't afraid of spiders. They say no to their moms. They push first graders off the swings. And they never, ever cry.Suds knows that now that he's in fourth grade, he's supposed to be a rat. But whenever he tries to act like one, something goes wrong. Can Suds's friend Joey teach him to toughen up...or will Suds remain a fourth grade wimp?

Nobody likes a rat. And we're not talking about a snitch here. We're talking about those disgusting bald-tailed rodents that scurry around alleys and in the subway. But, hold on . . . are rats really so bad? There are hundreds of rat species all around the world that defy common stereotypes. Rats help predators survive, allow plants to spread their seeds, and even contribute to medical research that helps humans stay healthy. Simple, clear text introduces many of the rats that crawl on the earth today, where they live, what they eat, and how they survive. Next time you see a rat, take a second look.

Fresh from his adventures in Wild Ride, Marcus is back and helping his cousin, Bounce, learn to skate. Between learning how to ollie and do a 50-50 grind, Bounce and his friends also have to avoid the skate-park goons and take on the outlaw bikers who are terrorizing the small town. Excitement, action and some radical skating tips. Hang on for another wild ride!

The Cricket in Times Square meets Finding Nemo—a subway rat must cross New York City to bring his lost little brother home. Raffie Lipton lives a rat’s dream life. In his family’s subway station home, he has all the food he can forage from the treasure chests humans call trash cans, and the perfect shoebox bed for telling his brother his famous adventure stories. But when one of those stories goes awry and his little brother is taken from their Brooklyn subway station, Raffie must set out on an adventure across the city to find him. Along the way, he meets other urban animals—a street-wise pigeon, a pampered show dog, a genteel cockroach—and he faces hungry cats, greedy squirrels, and sewer rat kings. In Raffie on the Run, Jaqueline Resnick crafts a tale of friendship and adventure, where a little rat with a big imagination must embark on his own real-life story, and find the inner hero he isn’t sure he has.

Some extraordinary rats come to the aid of a mouse family in this Newbery Medal Award–winning classic by notable children’s author Robert C. O’Brien. Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.

An astonishing variety of voices-male, female, young old-narrate the 20 diverse stories in this, Lauren B. Davis's first collection, though which alcohol flows like an unholy river of destruction and despair. In locales such as Halifax, Spain and rural Ontario, thanks to Davis's clear focus this sharp, exploratory mix goes beyond the margins of kitchen sink realism. Recognized as the work of an important new writer, this is where Lauren B. Davis's career began. The Globe and Mail called it audacious and extraordinary - an amalgam of deep intuitive perception, sly wit and candor that could strip paint.