Kathi Appelt

On the night of the blue moon when mermaids are said to gather on a sandbar in the Gulf of Mexico, ten-year-old Keeper sets out in a small boat, with her dog BD and a seagull named Captain, determined to find her mother, a mermaid, as Keeper has always believed, who left long ago to return to the sea.

A rambunctious puppy finds a home at the Ronald McDonald House, a place that houses sick children and their families while they undergo treatment.

Meet Bingo and J'miah, raccoon brothers on a mission to save Sugar Man Swamp in this tale 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...

At an abandoned outdoor movie theater, fifty-five bats perform in a toe-tapping, wing-flapping revue--and await the grand finale.

On a midsummer's night the Marching Bat Band makes a rare appearance, its members grouped in formations that demonstrate multiplication from two times two up to ten times ten.

Young Jesse waits all summer for her watermelon to ripen.

When Mamma Pearl washes their favorite blanket it's a sad day for best friends Bubba and Beau, but it gets worse when she decides the baby boy and his puppy need baths, too.

A little cowpoke is lulled to sleep by dreams of the sights and sounds of the Western landscape at night.

A busy crow flies around town picking up all kinds of discarded items and uses them to create a beautiful Christmas tree.

A mother explains to her child all the ways her love remains even while she's away.