Animal Friendships

Can a stray dog change the life of a teenage boy? It looks as if Strider can. He's a dog that loves to run; because of Strider, Leigh Botts finds himself running -- well enough to join the school track team. Strider changes Leigh on the inside, too, as he finally begins to accept his parents' divorce and gets to know a redheaded girl he's been admiring. With Strider's help, Leigh finds that the future he once hated to be asked about now holds something he never expected: hope.

The late May air is filled with the rich scents of a Maine spring, and Tatum, a sweet, rust-colored rescue dog, is enjoying a trip to the hardware store with his dad when a heavy thunderstorm blows in. Frightened, Tatum scampers off to hide—and buries himself beneath a blanket on a nearby truck. When Tatum wakes, hungry and confused, he’s hours from home. The truck’s kind owner promises to get him back to his family, but that’ll be no easy feat. Tatum lost his ID tag during his travels, and with service down because of the storm, the local vet can’t scan for a chip.

An abandoned calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the achingly lonely howl of a chained up, abused hound dog deep in the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family.

When Fern hears about a photo contest with a big cash award, she decides she’ll enter and win! After all, photography is her passion (and was an interest she shared with her dad, who has recently died). She knows she can take a prize-worthy photo of a whale during one of the whale-watching tours her mom runs.

Discover the secret life of trees with this nature and science book for kids: Can You Hear the Trees Talking? shares the mysteries and magic of the forest with young listeners, revealing what trees feel, how they communicate, and the ways trees take care of their families. The author of The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben, tells kids about the forest internet, aphids who keep ants as pets, nature’s water filters, and more fascinating things that happen under the canopy.

When Henry's parents choose Mudge, the wriggling puppy has floppy ears and straight, soft fur. Mudge is tiny. But Henry knows he'll grow. Now Mudge is three feet tall, and he's the best friend Henry has ever had. Mudge trots to school with Henry, and he sleeps on Henry's bed. But one day the big dog goes for a walk by himself and gets lost. When Henry comes home from school, he is alone. Where's Mudge?

It's science-project time, which is bad news for Hank. He loves doing science experiments, but writing a whole report is another story. Finally, Hank comes up with a science project: he'll take apart the cable box and figure out how it works. But Hank wasn't counting on his sister Emily's iguana laying 18 eggs inside the cable box! How will Hank finish his project now and will he ever be able to watch TV again?

After Emily Main loses her sight, she and Garth work to forge their future in Emily’s new normal. Convincing her well-intentioned but misinformed coworkers that she’s as capable as ever is her biggest challenge…until Connor shows up at her door. Can they heal old wounds and give their fledgling marriage a fresh start? Meanwhile, tragedy strikes young Zoe, and Emily has a life-changing choice to make. Follow along as Garth and Emily step out together to meet every challenge.

Lizzie St. Claire wants to be invisible. Forced to move out of her home, she and her mom now live in a transitional housing shelter, Good Hope, until they can get back on their feet. She just wants to keep her head down at Good Hope and her new school so that she doesn’t have to admit the real reason she and her mom lost everything. But at the nearby Birchwood Stables, some new friends - along with the arrival of a frightened pony named Fire - help Lizzie to open up and accept help from those around her, even if it means she’ll have more to lose if things change again.

Marty McGuire would rather spend recess catching frogs in the pond than playing dress-up with the other girls in third grade. So when her teacher casts Marty as the princess in the class play, Marty's absolutely, positively sure that there's been a huge mistake. But after a special lesson in the art of improvisation, Marty comes up with her OWN plan to IMPROVE the play: Why use stuffed-animal frog onstage when a live one would be so much better? In the end, Marty's one-of-a-kind performance makes for an unforgettable show. Maybe a tomboy princess CAN live happily ever after, after all!

Dougie has a secret: he’s not a ground beetle. He’s a dung beetle, and he loves eating poop. Dougie knows he should be proud. Dung beetles help process waste and do other extraordinary things! But Dougie also knows that if anyone at school saw his lunch, he’d be an outcast.

Bear and Rabbit are the very best of friends. They live in their Bear-Rabbit house and cook their Bear-Rabbit meals in their Bear-Rabbit kitchen. But one day they spy a wonderful shiny thing, and they can't agree who it belongs to. Could this be the end of a very special friendship?

Peter y Pax, su leal zorro, son inseparables. No obstante, cuando sucede lo impensable y su padre tiene que partir a la guerra, Peter se ve obligado a abandonar a Pax a su suerte. Pero Peter sabe que su lugar está junto a Pax. Espoleado por una amistad inquebrantable, se lanzará a la aventura y cruzará el país en guerra para reunirse con su zorro. Pax, esperando con paciencia su regreso, tendrá que enfrentarse solo a los peligros del bosque...

Emma Lane Cake has five brothers, four dogs, and a family that can't stay put. The Cake family travels from place to place, setting up bakeries in communities that need them. Then, just when Emma feels settled in with new friends... they move again. Now the Cakes have come to Aurora County, and Emma has vowed that this time she is NOT going to get attached to ANYONE or ANYTHING. Why bother, if her father's only going to uproot her again? But fate has different plans. And so does Ruby Lavender, who is going to show Emma Lane Cake a thing or two about making friendship last.

The thing about Hank's new friend Inkling is, he's invisible. No, not imaginary. Inkling is an invisible bandapat, a creature native only to the Peruvian Woods of Mystery. (Or maybe it is the Ukrainian glaciers. Inkling hardly ever gets his stories straight.) Now Inkling has found his way to Brooklyn and into Hank's laundry basket on his quest for squash - bandapats' favorite food. But Hank has bigger problems than helping Inkling fend off maniac doggies and search for yummy pumpkins: Bruno Gillicut is a lunch-stealing dirtbug caveperson and he's got to be stopped.

Kirelle and her best friend in the whole wide world, a very wise cat named Sam, happen upon the Farm Shop on a leisurely walk. To her surprise and delight, Kirelle discovers the Farm Shop is bustling with friendly farm animals offering all sorts of unique goodies from cheese quackers to Hollywood moovies! It's so much fun to visit each stall, meet the animals, and find special gifts to take home for her friends and family.

Join C.J. & Squirrel, the mischievous little cats with hearts full of curiosity, as they embark on a series of enchanting adventures that will delight young listeners! From exploring the mysterious trailers next door to outsmarting the playful moles in the yard, every second is filled with fun, laughter, and valuable life lessons.

Little Tommy the koala bear is sad and lonely in his gumtree in the country. The doctor recommends a trip to the city to brighten him up. While Tommy is in the city, he tries lots of different activities — but those funny Zookie creatures seem to follow him everywhere! This short story was written by Dorothy Wall, the New-Zealand born Australian author who created that famous koala character, Blinky Bill.

Christmas is coming! But Bear is sleeping, and his friends don't want him to snooze through the whole holiday season. So they wake him up and give him lots to do. Bear wraps presents, bakes treats, and decorates as much as he can. And the fun is just starting, because a special visitor just might make this the best Christmas yet.

This delightful bilingual picture book is about finding just the right food—and just the right friend.