Best Selling Books by Margot Zemach

Once again, Margot Zemach brings new life to a traditional story: the tale of the three wishes granted to those who are kind and compassionate. In Zemach''s interpretation, a poor woodcutter and his wife are working in the forest when they hear a faint voice calling: "Help, someone help me!" They promptly rescue an imp whose tail is caught under a fallen tree, and in return he rewards them with three wishes. "Wish wisely, my friends," the imp says in parting. Prophetic words indeed. It soon looks as if this windfall will be nothing but trouble for the woodcutter and his wife. The legendary dilemma they face--which involves a long string of sausages--is subtly dramatized in Zemach''s simple text and wry yet heartfelt pictures. She takes particular joy in showing how, in the end, the woodcutter and his wife get just what they wanted all along. Margot Zemach won the Caldecott Medal for "Duffy and the Devil" and was the United States nominee for the 1980 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration.

This much beloved story has inspired a visual interpretation that has the look of a classic.

A charming book of children''s rhymes by the Caldecott Medalist. I''m the king of the castle, Get down, you dirty rascal! There she goes, There she goes, All dressed up in her Sunday clothes. When I make a book for children, I draw it the same as I would for grownups. I draw for people of any age. —Margot Zemach Margot Zemach was a visionary artist whose contribution to twentieth-century children''s literature is one of the most significant and innovative ever. Farrar Straus Giroux is proud to be publishing her final book, a collection of timeless verses paired with Zemach''s glorious watercolors. From the familiar "This Little Pig Went to Market" to the lesser-known "Brave News Is Come to Town" to the enduringly popular "Bingo," these twenty-seven rhymes and songs — many of them favorites from Zemach''s youth — are lovingly presented for readers of all ages. Completing the volume is a brief scrapbook of Zemach''s childhood artwork, family photographs, and autobiographical writings and sketches, assembled by her daughter Kaethe Zemach-Bersin. It is a unique personal glimpse into Margot Zemach''s life for those encountering her work for the first time, as well as for those who have long admired her.

The legendary, lovable little red hen, famous for her industriousness and independent spirit, returns with more verve than ever in Margot Zemach''s interpretation of the classic story. Though small in stature, the little red hen comes through loud and clear when she asks her friends the goose, the cat, and the pig: "Who will plant this wheat?" When they reply "Not I!" our sturdy heroine, assisted by her brood of chicks, sets about planting the wheat herself. At each step along the way--harvesting, threshing, taking the grain to the mill--the little red hen''s lazy friends refuse to lift hoof, paw, or wing to help. But when her efforts yield a warm, fragrant loaf of bread, the little red hen is glad to say: "Now I''m going to eat it myself!"

The fisherman''s greedy wife is never satisfied with the wishes granted to them by an enchanted fish.

A baby is promised a strange assortment of things from a mocking bird to a horse and cart--all for not crying.

The exuberance of a man and his mule newly arrived in heaven causes so much furor that God gives them one last chance before He throws them out.

A retelling of the classic folktale follows the adventures of the three little pigs as they struggle to outwit their enemy, the wolf

Traditional Chinese edition of It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale, a 1978 Caldecott Honor book. This is a amusing lesson of learning to count your blessings with what you have. In Traditional Chinese. Annotation copyright Tsai Fong Books, Inc. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

The Caldecott Honor book, now in a paperback Spanish edition

Once upon a time a poor unfortunate man lived with his mother, his wife, and his six children in a one-room hut. Because they were so crowded, the children often fought and the man and his wife argued. When the poor man was unable to stand it any longer, he ran to the Rabbi for help. As he follows the Rabbi''s unlikely advice, the poor man''s life goes from bad to worse, with increasingly uproarious results. In his little hut, silly calamity follows foolish catastrophe, all memorably depicted in full-color illustrations that are both funnier and lovelier than any this distinguished artist has done in the past.

When Hilda and Rose get fed up with their older sister''s bossiness, they get revenge by threatening to have her for dinner.

Retelling of the traditional tale of the three pigs and the fox who ends up in a pot of soup.

A very poor woodsman who is granted three wishes by an imp is urged by his wife to wish for riches.

Retells the tale of the teeny tiny woman who found a teeny tiny bone in the forest and put it away in her cupboard before she went to sleep.

Hilda''s father gives her a medal for being so helpful. Her sister is jealous.