New Releases by Mary Packard

A child watches his kite fly high in the sky.

Unbelievable facts about the mysteries of history are combined with an eight-page color insert and pop quizzes to test readers'' grasp of everything bizarre. Original.

The latest Ripley''s chapter book includes a host of crazy creatures, including a rat who can lay cable wire, a seeing-eye pony, and a dog who can do math. Original.

Rollie the penguin is an expert swimmer, but what he really wants to do is fly, as he tells Santa Claus, so one Christmas Eve Santa invites him along for the ride.

Rocks and minerals tells how rocks and minerals are formed, how to identify them, and how to begin collecting.

During bath time, a little boy imagines all kinds of creatures are in the tub with him.

Rhyming tale of a first-grade girl waiting to lose her first tooth so that she will have a spacey smile just like all of her classmates.

Rags, a scarecrow, tries hard to be scary to fool the smart crows, but is not successful until he creates a blue monster mask.

Throwing a party is easy when Heather helps the grown-ups get everything ready. See how Heather pleases God by serving with a joyful heart.

The Fisher-Price( Little People introduces readers to a new interactive format that features a spinning paper wheel on the cover and on every page. Readers can turn the wheel to match the picture to the storyline, as they learn where people and animals live.

In Our Rightful Share, Aline Helg examines the issue of race in Cuban society, politics, and ideology during the island''s transition from a Spanish colony to an independent state. She challenges Cuba''s well-established myth of racial equality and shows that racism is deeply rooted in Cuban creole society. Helg argues that despite Cuba''s abolition of slavery in 1886 and its winning of independence in 1902, Afro-Cubans remained marginalized in all aspects of society. After the wars for independence, in which they fought en masse, Afro-Cubans demanded change politically by forming the first national black party in the Western Hemisphere. This challenge met with strong opposition from the white Cuban elite, culminating in the massacre of thousands of Afro-Cubans in 1912. The event effectively ended Afro-Cubans'' political organization along racial lines, and Helg stresses that although some cultural elements of African origin were integrated into official Cuban culture, true racial equality has remained elusive.

A shy scarecrow is too scared of the hungry crows to do his job, but the farmer helps him gain the courage that he needs.

Filled with curiosities and wonders from around the world.

The caveman Dron, makes a huge scary Protoceratops mask for his friend Spike, a Stegosaurus, so that he can fool the other dinosaurs and keep them from teasing him about his small face.

A big Ankylosaurus named Lozar creates an opening into the side of a mountain to protect his caveman friend, Thrax, from Tyrannosaurus.

Vroom! Vroom! While reading about each vehicle and the workers who use them, kids will have fun playing along and acting out the story with these three-dimensional die-cut board books.

Time capsule book with fill-in pages for recording information about yourself and your world.

A boy enjoys imitating his big brother and dreams of the day when he will be big as well.

Colorfully decorated like Easter eggs, and nestled in a backer, the 12 miniature books found in this story book set--that''s cleverly fashioned like a basket--are meant to be hidden on Easter morning and then, when they''re all found, to be read in sequence.

Only one of a group of trick or treaters is unaware of the surprise planned by the others who disappear one by one as they encounter scary sights.

Mickey agrees to watch his friends pet shop overnight and gets more than he bargained for in the morning.

Demonstrates words relating to karate, with related activities at the end.