Most Popular Books by Joanne Ryder

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.

Tucked into bed after a long day of playing, Anna’s imagination brings her to her favorite park—enhanced with magical qualities she’s never seen before—in Joanne Ryder’s exciting bedtime tale. When the park lamps glow, Anna knows it’s time to leave the old stone lion, the pigeons, and the shy goldfish that keep her company during the daylight. As the bedtime approaches and her father shuts off her light, Anna’s imagination takes flight and brings her back to the park she loves. But in the cover of night, the park is now magical and filled with friendly crocodiles, energetic monkeys, and a lion who takes Anna to his secret waterfall. “With flattened perspectives and variegated tones, Schwartz paints, like Rousseau, a primitive world of friendly beasts and tangled vegetation.” – School Library Journal

One fall day a great white shark, hungry and alone, glides unseen, watching and waiting for someone unwary to become his meal.

"A child reader [is] transformed into a sea otter and taken on an imaginative day trip....Ryder''s poetically imagistic text is powerfully partnered by Rothman''s robust...artwork, which depicts aspects of a sea otter''s day in its natural habitat....This experience is potent, informative, and transporting....Lovely for nature studies or for a flight of fantasy into the natural world."--Booklist.

The moon is full and all the bears are gathered together for a ball under the stars.

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 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.

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

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.

The reader imagines how it feels to be a snail.

"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.

Dreaming of Flying? Wishing for Wings? Then let someone help you find the wings of your fancy, the wings of your dreams. Meet Seraphina--a cat with rainbow wings. Listen as she gently guides you. Let her show you wings in all shapes, colors, and designs. Then pick the wings of your own heart''s delight. Rainbow Wings is a book for everyone who has ever dreamed of drifting free, gliding high, and soaring far.

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.

TWIN POLAR BEAR CUBS Kalluk and Tatqiq were only three months old when they were found orphaned in Alaska. Together they were brought to the World-Famous San Diego Zoo to be cared for. From the cubs'' first tentative months in the zoo''s infirmary to their home in the Polar Bear Plunge, this book chronicles the twins'' development with exclusive photographs from the zoo and Joanne Ryder''s poetic, informative text. Playful and curious, Kalluk and Tatqiq have won the hearts of more than three million people who visit the zoo each year. Whether they''re diving into the water, rolling in the dirt, or sliding down a snowdrift, these adorable bears will charm readers of all ages.

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

A kitten explores a garden and discovers its many delights.

The fog rolls in, causing anxiety to the small meadow animals now hidden from each other until the nighthawk communicates a comforting message to them all from above.

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

Relates how the great white bears that live at the top of the world came to live on ice and snow.

A collection of poems about nature and wildlife, spanning all the seasons of the year.

Mama Mouse teaches her little mouse how to tell where home is by reminding her of its special smells, sounds, and textures.

Jenny experiences the wonder of seeing and hearing the woods fill up with humming cicadas, and seventeen years later she returns with her young son to share that experience.

A young girl enjoys her day on the beach despite the rain.

Describes what it would be like to live in a little house by the sea and frolic with seals and crabs and other sea creatures.

When tiny spiders burst out of their eggs, the dance of the spider''s life cycle begins.

Although Simon loves spending the winter deep underground digging long tunnels, even a mole eventually starts anticipating spring.

A collection of poems that portray the meadow and its creatures from morning till night.

A kitten explores a garden and discovers its many delights.

Mama Skunk takes her children on a nighttime walk and shows them stars, fireflies, a stream, the moon, and other things they haven''t seen before.

During her visit to Grandma''s, Sara observes the activities of turtles, birds, and flying squirrels.