David Ezra Stein

Little Red Chicken wants Papa to read her a bedtime story, but interrupts him almost as soon as he begins each tale.

When Little Red Chicken comes home excited about what she learned in school, she explains to Papa that every story has "an elephant of surprise."

A young mouse girl named Mouserella writes a letter with pictures to her beloved grandmouse in the country, letting her know all of the things that have been going on in her life in the three days since she has seen her last.

A dog without a human companion fetches his own slippers and curls up at his own feet but cannot reach a certain itchy spot in the middle of his back, compelling him to leash a poor lonely human who will loyally offer a helpful scratch.

This is the critically acclaimed first book from author and illustrator David Ezra Stein, whose work has appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Times. Cowboy Ned's birthday is tomorrow, and he's sad because nobody is around to celebrate. To cheer him up, his good friend Andy the horse journeys into the desert to find some birthday cake. But when Andy finds a banjo-playing cowboy who is as old as the hills, he learns something very important about...

"Murray worries...about lots of things. He doesn't want to go out in the rain. He's scared of the barking dogs at the park. Fireworks make him jump. But gradually he learns that he can put on a raincoat. He can make new friends. He can be brave."--

Tired of helping others cool their drinks, Ice Boy proceeds to sneak out of the freezer and heads to the beach, where his edges begin to blur. Eventually he melts and becomes Water Boy and then he evaporates and turns into Vapor Boy. Then a big storm freezes him back into Ice Boy and sends him home--before a new adventure begins.

Emma worries that her family portrait won't be able to match the beauty of her friends' portraits, until her family wriggles and squeezes into a pose that only a worm family could do.