A boy's heritage from his dying grandfather includes a knowledge of the ways of the Louisiana swamp and a role in protecting the alligators that live there from poachers. Includes nonfiction information about alligators and their habitat.

Presenting KEEPER MARTIN'S GUIDE TO THE FANTASTICAL BEASTS AND FAERIE PEOPLES OF RUIN MIST from Robert Stanek, the award-winning author of the #1 best-selling series The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches. Beginning with a thoughtful and informative introduction, progressing through five exhaustive sections featuring thirty fantastical beasts and faerie peoples, this long-awaited compendium to the Ruin Mist phenomenon delivers enough information to satisfy even the most demanding fantasy enthusiast. Not only will readers learn about beasts and faerie peoples featured in the #1 best-selling books, they'll also learn about many wonderful new creatures. This premium quality, full-size edition includes ninety two full-color pages with twenty nine never-before-seen two-page spreads. Also included are dozens of notes by Keeper Martin. www.ruinmistmovie.com.

“Librarians often say that every book is not for every child, but The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp is” (The New York Times). Meet Bingo and J’miah, raccoon brothers on a mission to save Sugar Man Swamp in this rollicking tale and National Book Award Finalist from Newbery Honoree Kathi Appelt. Raccoon brothers Bingo and J’miah are the newest recruits of the Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. The opportunity to serve the Sugar Man—the massive creature who delights in delicious sugar cane and magnanimously rules over the swamp—is an honor, and also a big responsibility, since the rest of the swamp critters rely heavily on the intel of these hardworking Scouts. Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn is not a member of any such organization. But he loves the swamp something fierce, and he’ll do anything to help protect it. And help is surely needed, because world-class alligator wrestler Jaeger Stitch wants to turn Sugar Man swamp into an Alligator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, and the troubles don’t end there. There is also a gang of wild feral hogs on the march, headed straight toward them all. The Scouts are ready. All they have to do is wake up the Sugar Man. Problem is, no one’s been able to wake that fellow up in a decade or four… Newbery Honoree and Kathi Appelt’s story of care and conservation has received five starred reviews, was selected as a National Book Award finalist, and is funny as all get out and ripe for reading aloud.

Aboy and his ailing grandfather pole a small boat out into the Louisiana bayou. Suddenly, they spot Boots, a female alligator the grandfather saved from poachers years ago. How will the boy face the danger in learning to take care of this wild creature? Strikingly illustrated with artwork that combines oil painting and computer imaging, Keeper of the Swamp is a scary and satisfying tale that carries a strong environmental message.

Keeper was born in the ocean, and she believes she is part mermaid. So as a ten-year-old she goes out looking for her mother—an unpredictable and uncommonly gorgeous woman who swam away when Keeper was three—and heads right for the ocean, right for the sandbar where mermaids are known to gather. But her boat is too small for the surf—and much too small for the storm that is brewing on the horizon. Kathi Appelt follows her award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel The Underneath with this stunning, mysterious, and breathtaking tale of a girl who outgrows fairy tales just a little too late—and learns in the end that there is nothing more magical and mythical than love itself.

Working in an American primitive style animated by the humor and storytelling genius for which he is renowned, Caldecott Winner artist Paul O. Zelinsky puts oils to cherry and maple for this tall-tale competition between a Tennessee woods-woman extraordinaire and a hungry, fearsome bear.Thundering Tarnation has a bottomless appetite for settler's grub. When word goes out about a competition to hunt this four-legged forest of stubble, a young woman, second to none in buckskin bravery, signs up. "How about baking a pie, Angel?" the other hunters taunt. "I aim to," says Swamp Angel. "A bear pie."What follows is as witty a round of roughhousing as ever jostled the ranks of Americana. Anne Isaacs' original text unfolds in a crackling combination of irony, exaggeration, and bold image-making. Zelinsky's paintings respond with deft yet hilarious expressions, rhythmic shapes, and a sense of monumental motion, as benefits a heroine who can wield a tornado like a lasso, drink a lake dry, and snore down a forest. In the course of these grand shenanigans, the Great Smoky Mountains are stirred up, Montana's short-grass prairie laid down, and Thundering Tarnation's fate proves to have no less a reach than the starry heavens.Swamp Angel marks the debut of a promising new storyteller and adds to the tall-tale traditions a pictorial counterpart that will entertain and endure for a long time to come.

This book's 50-plus lessons-each based on a different picture book or story-will help classroom teachers build a foundation for teaching math, science, and social studies concepts to their students. Each lesson uses children's literature to make challenging, abstract concepts relevant to children's lives, inviting them to learn these concepts while responding to a story's illustrations, theme, characters, and plot. The lessons also demonstrate how teachers can use children's literature to meet national standards in math, science, and social studies. Chapters 1 through 5 set the stage for using picture books, discussing the effective, imaginative integration of literature into the classroom. Teachers will learn to create an environment that ensures that when children and books come together, the experience is enjoyable and thought provoking. Chapters 6 through 9 provide individual lessons, by grade level, with detailed activities based on specific books.

"It was an island of evil, an old plantation ruled like a kingdom, where murder went unpunished and madness ruled unchecked ... until a stranger came on a mission of love--and vengeance!"--Back cover