Showing titles in Stories in Verse

Set in 1981 Guatemala, a lyrical debut novel tells the powerful tale of a boy who must decide what it means to be a man during a time of war. Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a man and defend the village, keep everyone safe. But Mama tells him not yet - he’s still her quiet moonfaced boy. The soldiers laugh at the villagers, and before they move on, a neighbor is found dangling from a tree, a sign on his neck: Communist.

King Rubert the Tubby has a roof with a hole. But repair man old Bloggs has the flu, poor old soul. Pickles the Wizard is asking, "Save the day!" But will all be resolved and work out okay? The Leaky Roof is a fantastic short children's story written in rhyme by its author, Geoff Motley.

In a cozy country cottage... On a visit to Grandma's, Sami and Thomas learn how to be good horse-sitters and in the process make a new friend in Pascal the horse. Cleaning the stall and brushing Pascal's shiny coat are just the beginning of this Sami and Thomas horse adventure. Endearing artwork and a story written in rhythm and rhyme make this a book for horse lovers of all ages.

"I have lost my new blue socks. Did I put them in my box?" Simple rhymes - including "socks", "box", "fox, " and "ox"! - spin the tale of a small duck who waddles through the countryside, forlornly searching for his blue socks. "I'm trying not to be depressed. / Without my socks I feel undressed." Finally, a sharp-eyed peacock sees a bit of blue peeking out of duck's lace-up shoes and the mini-mystery is solved! This winsome story shares the familiar experience of not really losing something after all.

Andy and Shadow are walking along a beautiful lake when they hear very strange noises coming from a palace. Who lives in the palace? Prince Sidney Sutton, who has so many pushbutton boxes that he can play any game, be a rock star, fly to the moon. Andy sees a problem with all those boxes, but does Sidney? Can Andy explain it? On Andy's adventures, one never knows.

Torn from the pages of The Minstrel's Tale. Children of all ages will enjoy this fairy tale in rhyming verse.

As the first story in a series of tales, this volume introduces readers to Bumpen the Knight, a fearless defender of children and vanquisher of monsters large and small. We also meet Wit, a reformed monster whose fate is bound by an unforeseen turn of circumstance to that of the tiny knight's. Speaking in brilliant rhyme, Wit serves as the narrator for much of the story, explaining the history of how their unlikely partnership came to be.

Dizzy has worked all year right next to his friend, Tizzy, and heard all about his Great Adventure. The trouble is, Dizzy wants to have an adventure, too! When he sneaks aboard Santa's sleigh, he finds all the adventure he's dreamed of with two little boys, Stuart and Drake. They share a wild joy ride and plenty of fun in this third Santa's Izzy Elves story.

Blizzy, Tizzy's "favorite lass," is the only elf who notices that Tizzy is missing on Christmas morning. When she starts questioning all her friends about when they saw him last, and where Tizzy could possibly be, however, they think she is just being a "worrywart." What Blizzy REALLY is, however, is very, very clever, and she alone figures out the mystery!

Naughty Owen and Alex sneak downstairs early on Christmas morning before their parents are up and open one of their big presents from Santa. They are disappointed to find that it is a bookshelf filled with books - not the electronic games they were hoping for. Their disappointment turns to amazement and concern, however, when they find Tizzy, one of Santa's elves, who has been packed inside the bookshelf by mistake.

A story in verse for young children. In this adventure Andy and Shadow arrive at the Oasis of the Golden Half Moon. Among the people camped at the oasis is the Princess Calandra who is, people tell Andy, a very cantankerous princess. But is she really? Andy wants to know. Songs are performed by T Moody.

When Andy and Shadow find themselves shipwrecked, they swim to a nearby island. At first, Andy says that "Island life isn't all that bad." However, he soon discovers that there are Trons on the island, and the Trons are not happy at all... The songs that come along from time to time are performed by T Moody.

Andy and his dog Shadow like to go wandering. Usually, they find someone who needs help and Andy is always willing to do what he can. Sometimes that works out and sometimes it does not. In this tale, they find themselves in a beautiful orchard owned by a very large giant. When Andy agrees to watch the orchard while the giant goes to visit his sister, he has no idea how much trouble this would be. But as in all the tales, there is a common sense lesson to be learned

A story in verse about Andy's travels. When he and his dog go wandering into a city park he finds Molly crying by a tree. Why? Because everything about her is so average and boring, and she wants to be different from everybody else. Then she finds a four-leaf clover, a leprechaun appears, and Molly has three wishes to make her dreams come true. So how does that work out for her?

A fantasy tale in verse for children. Young Andy and his dog, Shadow, on this adventure come to a castle and hear why the princess in that castle spends so much time down by the well. Can Andy help? He can try.

Llama Llama has new neighbors! Nelly Gnu and her mama stop by for a play date, but Llama's not so sure it's time to share all his toys. Maybe just his blocks? It could be fun to make a castle with Nelly.... But wait - Nelly has Llama's little Fuzzy Llama! The fun turns to tears when Fuzzy Llama is ripped in two, "all because of Nelly Gnu!" Mama comes to the rescue and fixes Fuzzy, but she makes it clear: "I'll put Fuzzy on the stairs, until you're sure that you can share."

Kathryn Tucker Windham begins this montage of stories with the sounds of summer and ends with a joyful Christmas memory. The mixture of tales, from the mouth-watering description of good Southern food to the story of a governor more familiar with Tom Sawyer than Tom Jefferson, comes together to evoke the image of a happy childhood.

It's not fair! All Little Owl wants is to go to bed at a reasonable hour, like his friends do. But no . . . Mama and Papa say little owls have to stay up late and play. So Little Owl spends all night jumping on his bed, playing on the jungle gym, and doing tricks on his skateboard - but he's hooting mad about it ! Children who have a hard time going to bed will love this fun twist on the universal dilemma.

Bump and jive from one to 10 with a boisterous band of bugs in this selection, which introduces creepy crawlies and calypso instruments. After the rhyming story, there are fascinating facts about the insects and calypso bands, as well as a simple music score.

A dirty, skinny, dog shows up in Sam and Katie's neighborhood. They start to follow it, and they don't like what they see: The Wilson sisters yell at it because it goes in their garden and the Tracy twins chase it on their bikes and throw things at it. Sam and Katie want the dog to know they'll be its friends. They think it should have a name. Most of all, they want it to like them. But then they do something thoughtless, and after that, it's hard to make things right, especially because the dog now won't come near them.