"It is almost Friday night. Outside, the dark is getting darker," and here and there around the city ninety-two men and thirteen women are getting dressed to go to work. First they bathe and put on their underwear. Then they don special black-and-white apparel. Then when the one hundred and five people are completely ready, each takes a musical instrument and travels to midtown. There, at 8:30 tonight, they will work together: playing. In these pages Karla Kuskin and Marc Simont combine their talents to give us a delightful and unusual inside view of one way an orchestra prepares. Nominee, 1983 American Book Award Notable Children's Books of 1983 (ALA) 1983 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book) Outstanding Children's Books of 1982 (NYT) A Reading Rainbow Selection 1983 Teachers' Choices (NCTE) Children's Books of 1982 (Library of Congress)

“While books on sibling rivalry abound, [Dear Sister] brings freshness to the topic with McGhee's gentle humor and poignant scenarios…Dear indeed.” —Kirkus Reviews “A meaningful look at…siblinghood and all its foibles.” —Publishers Weekly What do you do when you have an incredibly annoying little sister? Write her letters telling her so, of course! From New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee comes a wickedly funny, illustrated, heartwarming, and searingly honest collection of letters from an older brother to his little sister. Whininess, annoyingness, afraid of the darkness, refusal to eat lima beans, and pulling brother’s hair. These are the criteria on which little sisters are graded. Inspired by the notes Alison McGhee’s own kids would write each other, this heavily illustrated collection of letters and messages from an older brother to his little sister reveal the special love—or, at the very least, tolerance—siblings have for each other.

E. B. White Read-Aloud winner Mac Barnett celebrates individuality in a story told with tenderness and subtlety. It’s John’s big day at school today—a performance for Sharing Gifts time. His bag is carefully packed and prepared, his classmates are ready, and the curtain is waiting to open. John is nervous, looking out at all the other children staring back at him. But he takes a big breath and begins. Mac Barnett’s compassionate text and Kate Berube’s understated and expressive art tell the story of a kid who finds the courage to show others his talent for dancing.

Winter is here and it's time to put on your gloves and mittens and scarf and hat and... Only award-winning poet Karla Kuskin and illustrator Fumi Kosaka could make bundling up for the snow so much fun!

Rhyming text presents the behavior and noises of animals such as the lion, snake, and kangaroo.

A joy-inducing illustrated book about New York City in the ingenious style of William Steig's classic CDB! Just as there are few cities as storied and replete with life as New York City, there are few illustrators or writers who have charmed as many generations as William Steig. To Molly Young and Joana Avillez, a connection between the two seemed obvious, and so D C-T! ("The City!") was born. Using a playful phonetic language first invented by Steig in his now classic 1968 book CDB!--but which in today's world of text message and internet shorthand feels uncannily contemporary--Young and Avillez tell a different story on each page of this collection of illustrations stuffed to brim with humor and cleverness: "S L-I-F!" (It's alive!) A boy shouts gleefully at a pile of rubbish seething with rats "I M B-Z" (I'm busy) Declares the phone-wielding businesswoman to the would-be mugger "R U I?" (Are you high?) Asks the clerk at a bodega to the blissed out shopper Brought to life in Avillez's distinctively ebullient and droll style are precocious pets and pet-owners, iconic architecture, and startlingly intrepid anthropomorphic rats. At once recognizable, and imagined like never before, are the surprising, intoxicating, and not-always-entirely-welcome sights, sounds, and smells of New York City. Full of wit, romance, and sheer delight, D C-T! is both an affectionate portrait of the visual cornucopia that is New York City and a gracious love letter to the great William Steig, sure to enchant readers young and old alike just as his work has for half a century.

What would you be if you were green? Or red? Or blue? Or yellow? Would you still be you?

A collection of poems deals with such topics as pets, bugs, seasons, food, and senses.

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