Two ten year old boys, Waino and Ivar, returned from hunting one cold winter's day and skied back to the livery stable where Ivar's father boarded horses and mules. As Waino pinged his air rifle at a fence he dreamed about the moose he could have shot. All at once there was a very sad sound. It went "Haawwnnk -- hawnk -- hawnk -- haawwnnkk!" The two boys dropped everything. "What do you think that is?" Ivar asked. "Maybe it was a moose," Waino replied softly. And it was a moose -- though it was a while before Ivar's father or Mr. Ryan, the policeman, or the Mayor or any of the townspeople believed it. But what do you do with a moose? What can you do with a moose? Honk was hungry. He ate about a ton of Ivar's father's expensive hay. Then he went to sleep. Something had to be done, but Honk was naturally such a sad moose, you couldn't help feeling sorry for him. With perfect humor and understanding -- of small boys and a problem moose -- the author and artist have created a favorite children's classic. Honk the Moose won distinction as a Newbery Honors Book in 1936, the Lewis Carol Shelf Award in 1970, and was listed in Cattermole's 100 Best Children's Books of the 20th Century.

Its hooves were supposedly a cure for epilepsy; it is the mascot of the Seattle Mariners baseball team and the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch; and its meat is a delicacy. The moose is a fascinating but elusive animal of the north, and its little-known natural history is the focus of Kevin Jackson’s engaging new book. Moose explains moose’s biological history and describes its natural environments around the world, including Canada, New England, Alaska, and Scandinavia, where the moose is the national animal of Sweden and Norway. Jackson considers why the moose is really an elk and an elk is a wapiti, and he also looks at the controversy behind the naming of the Irish Elk. Moose explores the animal’s role in human history since the Stone Age, including the “alces” in Julius Caesar’s history of the Gallic Wars and its influence on figures such as poet Ted Hughes and Theodore Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party. The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a 150-foot statue being built in Sweden, and colorful moose lore all appear in this wide-ranging study, making this an essential read for naturalists and moose lovers alike.

A roving, rhyming tale about three friends in search of the perfect new home. Giggles guaranteed! Moose, Goose, and Mouse need a new house, so they set off in search of one. But when their caboose comes loose, they're off on a wild adventure—with a perfect surprise waiting at the end. The rollicking story is a delight to read aloud, paired with boldly-colored, expressive illustrations. This zany friendship tale is sure to be a favorite. Author Mordicai Gerstein, Caldecott medalist, was a four-time New York Times best illustrated book winner. Moose, Goose, and Mouse is the culmination of the humor, wit, and joy that he brought to all of his books. A heartfelt letter from Jeff Mack, who worked with Gerstein to finish the art, celebrates the legacy of this talented artist. With fun rhymes, wordplay, and alliteration, Moose, Goose, and Mouse promotes foundational skills for young readers. Officially leveled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System, Moose Goose, and Mouse is a Level I book, perfect for late first-grade readers. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Separated from her husband in New York and between jobs, Louise Storr finds herself at the steps of her grandfather's Iowa farm. Grandpa Storr, full of years and wisdom, is a patriarch who has been the master of the Storr lands for generations. Witty and grand, he rules his homestead with a serene indifference to the petulant brood of relatives who fill the household. Grandpa Storr immediately detects in Louise the ancient Storr qualities of candor, independence and wit which have been so sadly lacking in the rest of the Storrhaven brood. While some members of the family and community look on with growing ill-will, Grandpa and Louise become very fond of one another. The young woman's marital difficulties are the subject of much gossip and when she takes to riding in the country with a married neighbor and accompanying him to dances, the family's ill-will turns to malevolence. The author has created an enormously life-like gallery of Iowans including a greedy and wasp-tongued niece by marriage, her lazy farm lawyer husband, a vague and foolish step-daughter, and a reliable farmhand fond of corn whiskey. Stong's sensitivity towards his characters and his obvious love of the farmland that sustains them, make Stranger's Return a classic well-worth rediscovery. Stranger's Return was also made into a popular movie by MGM starring Lionel Barrymore and Miriam Hopkins.

As a nine-year old city boy travels from Des Moines, Iowa by train to visit his grandfather's farm in the early 1900s, he imagines how he will impress his cousins ― with stories of skyscrapers and trolley cars, automobiles and the Union Park Zoo, Ingersoll Amusement Park, and the Capitol ― things he thinks might dazzle farm boys. However, as his cousins and his grandfather introduce him to country life, the eyes that are dazzled become his own. The Iowa Kids 1910 series is a collection of three unforgettable stories -- humorously captured and simply told. Farm Boy, High Waters, No-Sitch the Hound.

Bert was nine years old and really needed a dog. So along came No-Sitch. He was a dog that mooed and galloped, loped, singlefooted, paced or cantered and often tried to do them all at once. As a puppy he stood about two-feet-six in his bare feet and was about three cats long. Afterward he grew. Probably the most unusual, endearing dog ever to grace the pages of a book, No-Sitch is a one-of-a-kind dog in a one-of-a-kind story. The Iowa Kids 1910 series is a collection of three unforgettable stories -- humorously captured and simply told. Farm Boy, High Waters, No-Sitch the Hound.

It’s Halloween in the meadow, and the beloved, classic, and New York Times bestselling feathered friends Duck & Goose go trick-or-treating! Now an animated series, available to stream on Apple TV+! Duck is going as a spooky ghost. Goose is going as a brave superhero. And Thistle’s costume . . . well, that's a secret. But what will Duck and Goose do when they hear a very scary swamp monster is looking for them? Praise for the Duck & Goose series: “Duck and Goose have taken their places alongside Frog and Toad and George and Martha as fine examples of friendship, curiosity and problem-solving.” —Kirkus Reviews “Charming, funny, simple, and surprising. . . . Hills is master of the light comic touch.” —The Boston Globe

When a case of measles closes the grade school in Pittsville, Iowa during a raw and cold March winter, the excitement over a few days away from school is suddenly overshadowed by the flooding of the Des Moines River. During the summer, the river was a quiet drifting stream in which boys waded and dug for clams -- in winter, however, the river could turn into a torrent which loaded the bridge piers with the dead trunks of trees. As the people of the small town of Four Corners scramble for safety, three boys embark on an adventure of their own -- the rescue of a small brown and white burro named Mexico. The Iowa Kids 1910 series is a collection of three unforgettable stories -- humorously captured and simply told. Farm Boy, High Waters, No-Sitch the Hound.

Edgar's crew was made up of five people: the hoghead, the hothead, the front snake, the back snake and the conductor -- the fathead, or swellhead. But, much to Edgar's disgust, his crew argued all the time. Argue. Argue. Argue. Chaw. Chaw. Chaw. In fact they argued so much that they couldn't get the train to Pittsville on time (because that's what people expected and why do things differently?). Their story would have continued in the same old way, except for one thing. Edgar started to talk. What does one do about THAT the crew argued? Trains are supposed to be QUIET! But Edgar was soon to prove that he had a mind of his own. Time to do something different, Edgar told them (and then snorted twice through his smokestack). Time to learn a new way! Edgar, as it turned out, could make his own track. He could go up or down or sideways and spin around the world in the most remarkable way. Together he and his crew visited new places: Paris, Madagascar, Tokyo, Berlin, and Moscow. They even met James Wickleberry Britannica (if you can believe THAT). "I'm the smartest engine in the world," said Edgar. "I can go anywhere a steamboat can, or an airplane can, or a train can, and a lot of places they can't. I'm the finest traveling machine in creation ... " And most readers will agree that indeed he is. A unique children's book of the 1930s by a famed Iowa author, complete with drawings by award-winning children's illustrator, Lois Lenski.

Once a year, a tent city springs up overnight around the exhibition halls in Des Moines as farmers and their families pour in from across Iowa to attend the State Fair. After months of hard and often lonely work, farm families are given the chance to step out of their rural routines — picnic and gossip, sing and dance, take a chance at the hoopla stands, and strut their stuff in stiff competition for ribbons and prizes. When the close-knit Frake family set out from Brunswick, Iowa, Abel's hog, Blue Boy rode proudly in the back of the truck — manicured, curried and rubbed to enameled perfection — ready to compete and win the sweepstakes, the highest honor which any hog could attain. Melissa, Abel's wife, had her hopes set on beating the competition with the prize-winning quality of her pickles. Their teenage children, Wayne and Margy, found themselves faced with a pickle of another kind. Although committed to sweethearts in their hometown, brother and sister are each seized by a new love that sweeps them along, secretly and illicitly, somewhere between the sweet taste of cotton candy and the breathtaking plunge of a roller coaster ride. State fairs were a subject that Phil Stong knew well. For several years his grandfather had been superintendent of the swine division at the Iowa State Fair and, as a reporter for the Des Moines Register, Stong was assigned to cover the evening stock shows at the fair. Iowa held its first state fair in 1854, and for some time fairs were held at various locations around the state before permanently settling in Des Moines. State Fair is very much an Iowa book, filled with incidents and details from the author's own life. Although State Fair suggests a deep satisfaction and fondness for rural life, it shocked some readers in 1932 and was banned in the city library of Keosauqua, Iowa (Stong's hometown) for twenty-five years after it was published. However, judging from the success of the book and the enthusiasm shown for the movies that followed, most readers were captivated by the Frakes' down-home talk and whimsical humor and commended the author's portrayal of rural America.