Maxi the taxi dog and his partner Jim, first introduced in The Adventures of Taxi Dog, once again make a virtuoso appearance in Mark Buehner's brilliant and joyous paintings depicting the warm and affectionate relationship between two best friends. How Maxi catches a purse snatcher and is proclaimed a hero makes this a rousing tale for all young readers. 28 full-color illustrations.

A loveable, homeless mutt recounts his adventures riding in his new owner's taxi.

Side characters can be heroes too in this charming and fast-paced adventure that is The Land of Stories meets The Phantom Tollbooth! Indira has been a character-in-waiting her entire life. So she can't believe her luck when she's finally chosen to travel to Fable and study at the renowned Protagonist Preparatory, a school known for producing the best heroes. But Indira's dreams of achieving hero status don't exactly go as planned. A failed audition lands her in the school's side-character track, and her best efforts to prove advisors--famous characters like Alice from Wonderland and Professor Darcy--wrong are constantly sabotaged. Indira is starting to feel like an evil antagonist might be to blame. As the danger spreads, Indira discovers all of Fable is under siege. With her friends Maxi and Phoenix by her side, she pieces together clues that will reveal who is behind the dark magic threatening them all. But the more Indira uncovers, the more doubt she feels about her place in this world of stories. After all, can a side character really save the day?

He's little! He's cute! But he's getting all dirty! This warm, charming story perfectly captures all the ups and downs of a busy little taxi's first day on the job! It's Maxi the Taxi's first day of work. What fun it is to zip and zoom all around the town!SPLASH go the mud puddles!PLIPPITY-PLOP drips the ice cream and mustard from sticky little fingers!Soon Maxi becomes so grimy and gooey that no one wants to ride with him.Who will help this dirty little taxi discover what he needs most? It's a smart little boy who takes Maxi for a noisy, tickly bath in the car wash!

From Zero to Hero by Damaja Le From Zero to Hero is not a confessional in the true sense of the word; it’s not about people telling secrets or outing dirty little antics that went on in a club or concert parking lot or hotel room with a Monica Lewinsky nightcap, as I expected. It’s more of a two-part contention, a story of courage fueled by the determination to succeed, however long it took. It’s about a man suffering with alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployment, and a rapidly failing marriage. He wanted to move his family some place where they could start over, where nobody knew them. Somehow finding the courage and strength of conviction, something he had learned and developed while in the Marine Corps, he knew he could overcome any situation with the right motivation, funding and staffing. Sounds kind of crazy when put in those terms, but I relate to what he was saying, having had similar experiences. It was deeply personal as well as tragic. This is also an up close glimpse into shadowy deals and tiny print promises that can either make or break a trust. I’ve known and respected Damaja for many years and I’m honored he asked for my opinion. HAHA, seriously, get the book – it’s pretty entertaining. -Ron Dhanifu, Broadcaster and on air personality for radio station 88.3 FM K.S.D.S San Diego, California Damaja Le, a Viet-Nam Vet and four time Purple Heart recipient, arrived in San Diego on February 22 in a 1976 Bi-Centennial Greyhound bus with 79 cents in his pocket trying to kick a hundred-dollar-a-day heroin habit along with trying to dry out from alcoholism by dropping tabs of orange sunshine acid. Could I help? I wasn’t a rehab councilor, but a mutual friend thought I could at least point him a positive direction. Through our many conversations, he told me after leaving the military. He tried to assimilate into a regular home life by getting a job, getting married, and having kids, even going back to school on the G. I. Bill. As hard as he tried, he just didn’t get it. Everything must change. I would come to ask Damaja if he would do anything different and he smiled and said, “Nothing different just more of it.” Great reading couldn’t put it down. -Michael R. Pritchard, Chief Interviewer and Detective for the indigent and displaced in Harvur Buns, Oregon

Make every day in September a special day in your classroom with the creative ideas in this book. For every special day in the month, the author provides fun activity ideas to be plugged into your regular curriculum: language arts, social studies, writing, math, science and health, music and drama, physical fitness, art, etc. Special days include: Lunch Box Day, Native American Day, National Good Neighbor Day and Roald Dahl's Birthday. Your students will look forward to every day of the school year when you make it a constant celebration. And they'll learn while they have fun! Included are fun patterns for writing and art assignments as well as lists of correlated books, recipes and bulletin board ideas.

Whether used for thematic story times, program and curriculum planning, readers' advisory, or collection development, this updated edition of the well-known companion makes finding the right picture books for your library a breeze. Generations of savvy librarians and educators have relied on this detailed subject guide to children's picture books for all aspects of children's services, and this new edition does not disappoint. Covering more than 18,000 books published through 2017, it empowers users to identify current and classic titles on topics ranging from apples to zebras. Organized simply, with a subject guide that categorizes subjects by theme and topic and subject headings arranged alphabetically, this reference applies more than 1,200 intuitive (as opposed to formal catalog) subject terms to children's picture books, making it both a comprehensive and user-friendly resource that is accessible to parents and teachers as well as librarians. It can be used to identify titles to fill in gaps in library collections, to find books on particular topics for young readers, to help teachers locate titles to support lessons, or to design thematic programs and story times. Title and illustrator indexes, in addition to a bibliographic guide arranged alphabetically by author name, further extend access to titles.

This is an adventure story for children with lots of great, challenging and imaginary twists and turns. The story includes a bit of magic and mystery of the unknown. Because Maxi has a pure heart and good intentions he is accepted, protected and welcomed everywhere he goes. During his journey he comes across a magical forest. He crosses many difficult, dangerous and tricky paths. Maxi meets many different creatures and beings, including animals both good and bad. Then he sees a giant’s Kingdom, whose Queen, after he earned, it made him a citizen of her Kingdom. Without his knowledge she and the giants prepared him for the continuance of his quest. Maxi started his adventure when he was only sixteen years old, he was still quite young for such a journey. As this adventure takes a long period of time. Maxi is growing up and maturing quickly. He experiences lots of fascinating events during his quest. Maxi made friends very easily because he was a very hardworking, honest and fearsome young man. He tried to help everyone as he could on the way to complete his journey. He reached a Kingdom which was draped in black. The King’s daughter was kidnapped by a big dragon. Maxi takes the challenge on and goes after the princess, to rescue her. He brings her back to her father, he succeeds in his quest. This is when Maxi realizes his urgency for the calling of this journey. After being Knighted, Maxi is rewarded by the King by allowing Maxi to wed his daughter, Princess Goldie. Maxi is now a very handsome mature young man. He goes to pick up his father as he promised and then visits the giants Queen’s castle. He then returns home to the King’s castle. He became very thrilled with his new life and the future of his new family, including his father in the King’s and Princesses’ and his Kingdom.

Get books moving off the library shelves and into the hands of children with this integrated package for thematic instruction. Sixteen chapters, based on such lively themes as Risky Reading (adventure stories), Horrendous Fun (monster stories), and Book, Line, and Sinker (ocean world) contain introductions to the themes, introductory activities, booktalks, annotated bibliographies, and reproducible activity pages that extend learning across the curriculum. Activities are coded by grade level. A valuable tool for cooperative planning between librarians and teachers, this book helps librarians choose, present, and promote book titles appropriate to specific themes. It also helps teachers plan corresponding activities. Grades K-3..