Kate Banks

At the end of the day a little boy falls asleep as his mama reads about a bear hibernating.

A boy provides instructions as he searches high and low for an elephant, which the reader can find in the illustrations.

When Max cuts out words from magazines and newspapers, collecting them the way his brothers collect stamps and coins, they all learn about words, sentences, and storytelling.

Max and his brothers drive to Shapeville and Count Town searching for problems, and are able to use their skills in arithmetic and sleuthing to help get things ready for a rocket launch.

"Lester has just moved to Cape Cod and is starting in a new school, and George is missing his best friend who has moved away, but the two develop a friendship and learn about scientific experimentation when they start working on a school science project, testing psychic ability in dogs, based on an experiment developed by Dr. Rupert Sheldrake." --

A baby fox anticipates the time when he can go out alone, but first his parents must teach him the ways of the wilderness.

Alex wants to be a "night worker" like his father who goes to work at a construction site after Alex goes to bed.

"The wood mouse and the rabbit find a rag doll in the woods. Nothing about it is familiar: it doesn't smell like the fresh air of spring or feel like the rough bark of a tree. As the group of animals grows and searches for a clue to where the doll came from, they encounter more mysteries--and discover the one thing their hearts know to be true"--

When its owners leave, a summer house comes alive with the sounds of a mouse nibbling crumbs in the fall, a cat taking shelter in the winter, and rain falling on the roof in the spring.

"While his family readies his townhouse for an approaching storm, boarding up windows and laying in groceries, Noah heads to the back garden, where beetles are burrowing deeper into the bark and mice are stuffing their hole with moss. Quickly and efficiently, Noah sets to work building an ark for them and other backyard creatures - salamanders and toads, snakes and spiders, even brightly colored hummingbirds. Setting out fistfuls of nuts and leaves,...