New Releases by Joanne Ryder

For fans of How to Train Your Dragon comes a new tale about dragon Miss Drake and her human pet Winnie, by a two-time Newbery Honor winner, featuring illustrations by Caldecott Honor winner Mary GrandPré. Three-thousand-year-old Miss Drake has arranged to send her dear pet Winnie to The Spriggs Academy, an extraordinary school for humans and magicals alike. Winnie is particularly excited about magic class and having Sir Isaac Newton for science. She’s also making new friends—and frenemies. . . . When a plot to snatch Winnie from her San Francisco home is uncovered, Miss Drake is ready to use all her cunning and magic to thwart it. Not that feisty Winnie needs the help. . . . As a team, the intrepid duo you first met in A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans is unstoppable! With equal doses of whimsy and humor, Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder have crafted an enchanting story about true friendship. Praise for A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter • "Yep and Ryder keep the magic coming with their whimsical fantasy, enhanced by Grandpré''s sweet drawings. The story positively vibrates with fun." —Kirkus Reviews • " Lighthearted episodes of unusual school lessons and field trips, illustrated by GrandPré’s winsome spot art, are grounded by Miss Drake’s more serious encounters with the goons...a gratifying development as this buoyant, fantastical series continues."—The Horn Book Review Praise for A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans • *“Warm humor, magical mishaps, and the main characters’ budding mutual respect and affection combine to give this opener for a planned series a special shine that will draw readers and leave them impatient for sequels.” —Booklist, Starred • “The tale is alternately comical, suspenseful and sometimes sweetly emotional.” —Kirkus Reviews • “Miss Drake’s arch narration and the sharp back-and-forth between the characters create an enchanting story, accented by GrandPré’s whimsical black-and-white spot illustrations.” —Publishers Weekly • “With a black-and-white spot illustration opening most chapters, an engaging narrator, and a consistently fluid writing style, this title makes a fine dragon choice for readers.” —School Library Journal

There are many kinds of kisses to share.

Rhyming text describes many different kinds of hugs. On board pages.

Poems and illustrations trace the yearly life cycle of toads from tadoles in the spring to adults which hibernate in the winter.

The animals get ready for the annual barnyard party and dancing at Farmer Snow''s.

My mother calls me from darkness to light. . . . I wrap her words around me, warm with good wishes for the day to come. Joanne Ryder''s heartwarming text and Peter Catalanotto''s glowing art celebrate the tender, everyday moments shared between a mother and daughter. In every welcome and whisper, laugh and farewell, the ever-changing tones of a mother''s voice express a gift a daughter can treasure -- her mother''s constant love.

The children in Mrs. Lee''s first grade class make cards, cookies, and paper animals for Valentine''s Day. Includes step-by-step instructions for making an origami bunny.

Meet Hua Mei With fewer than one thousand giant pandas left in the world, the birth of Hua Mei at the San Diego Zoo in 1999 was a cause for celebration. Little Panda chronicles the adorable panda''s first year, as she grows from a four-ounce newborn to a curious, playful cub. Award-winning writer Joanne Ryder''s appealing, simple yet scientifically accurate text and irresistible, exclusive photographs from the World-Famous San Diego Zoo combine to make Little Panda a treasure for animal lovers of all ages.

In a lyrical tale, the young narrator visits the cabin that her grandfather built to rediscover the familiar woodland haunts they used to explore together, and even though she now wanders alone, she feels a comforting sense of oneness with the forest. Reprint.

A series of poems that depict the world of a field mouse from sundown to sunup.

An intriguing journey into the natural world -- from deep in the grass to high overhead. "There''s a worm on a string, who is swaying in space. There''s a white butterfly on a circle of lace." As a young child takes a walk in the woods, the world comes alive with creatures and treasures big and small -- from ants and lizards to moles and hawks. But the most special discovery of the day is the fawn in the grass who watches the narrator''s journey begin and end. Joanne Ryder''s lyrical text and Keiko Narahashi''s beautifully detailed illustrations capture the wonders of nature from a child''s point of view.

In dynamic words and dramatic pictures, Earthdance invites young readers to become not just part of the earth, but Earth itself.

A child is transformed into a Tyrannosaurus rex for a day and discovers what it is like to be a killing machine and the largest meat-eating animal to have hunted on land.

Four furry squirrels leap and glide through the night sky, feeding and playing until the approach of daybreak.

This newest title in the popular series invites readers into the world of the endangered great white shark for better insight into this mighty predator of the sea.

Because they never give up hope and always want to change the present into something better, Fox and Lemming annually trick Winter into trading snow for sun.

A poetic look at the animals living in or around a pond, including water striders, turtles, and carp.

Imagine climbing your favorite tree, speckled in sunlight and shadows, then changing...into a mighty spotted cat in a faraway rain forest. You are a jaguar hidden in a world of green. Giant trees stretch upward, where flowers bloom, birds soar, and butterflies glide above your reach. Jaguar in the Rain Forest invites you into the lush, tropical world of one of the most magnificent hunters on earth. Be a jaguar just for a day- prowling the forest floor; crossing a flowing river in search of prey; filling the darkness with your deep, grunting call; then, silent and deadly, stalking a creature that never knows you are there. In this dramatic addition to the Just for a Day series, award-winning author Joanne Ryder and nature artist Michael Rothman once again imagine the life of a wild animal in its own natural world. Meticulously researched and marvelously evocative, their book invites you to live among the creatures of the rain forest- just for a day.

Softly realistic illustrations perfectly complement this vivid yet warmly childlike story, as a small boy imagines the wanderings and playful antics of the bears he is sure inhabit the wilderness around his home. Full color.

Sometimes--with a gesture, a touch, a look--humans and animals can bridge the gap between their worlds in ways that reach deeper than words ever could. In a perfect partnership of poetry and color images, author Joanne Ryder and photographer Barbara Sonneborn have created a moving portrait of humans and animals together. An elephant and a human embrace, arm and trunk entwining; a giggly boy and a wiggly pig spend a playful moment together; a dolphin and a human swimmer move through the water in a joyful dance. In Ryder''s words, "each finds a way to touch, to move, to play, sharing pleasure with each other, learning how much we really are the same." This remarkable album is one that readers of all ages will return to again and again. With its compelling words and unforgettable pictures, it reinforces our precious sense of connection to all the living creatures with whom we share our planet. colour throughout

Follows the activities of a hummingbird and his mate in a garden on a sunny day.

A man working in his garden finds a delicate worm, a beetle in shining armor, and a leaf-green mantis and shares these treasures with his young daughter. "Lovely double-page, impressionistic oil paintings...provide a picturesque setting for this simple, straightforward description of a special parent/child outing."--School Library Journal.

"Ryder again takes readers'' imaginations into the body of another species....A boy awakens and, touched by the sun, changes into a green anole....With its precise, poetic language and well-composed illustrations, this is another successful picture book in a consciousness-expanding series."--Booklist.

To celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, the students in Mrs. Lee''s first grade class act as secret elves, doing good deeds for one another.

Transformed into a bird for a day, a child joins a flock of wild geese in glorious flight.

Bambi''s forest home and its animal residents grow and adapt to the ever-changing seasons

Mrs. Lee''s first grade class plants a vegetable and flower garden. Includes instructions for making an indoor garden.

This book tells the story of Bambi and the other forest animals from the day Bambi is born to the birth of his twin fawns.

The reader imagines how it feels to be a snail.

Transformed into a humpback whale, a child experiences life in the ocean among other whales.