2008 Children's Choices-Beginner Readers (Grade K-2)

Stegg, Serra, and Plod are playing soccer when they suddenly hear BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! in the distance. This can only mean one thing, of course: Tyson the Terrible is coming! With his scaly skin, horrible horns, and gigantic jaws, he's the biggest, meanest, scariest dinosaur around! These dinosaurs better run for cover before Tyson gets there . . . shouldn't they? With bold illustrations that saturate every page and a surprising pop-up ending, this is a story that begs to be read aloud.

Millie is unlike most other cows. She chews her cud and grazes in the fields with the others, but she doesn't enjoy that nearly as much as she loves scaring the mail carrier. It's too bad the mail carrier doesn't have as much fun each time Millie comes up with a new way to surprise him. Who knew delivering the mail was going to be such a difficult job?

The New York Times praised this best-selling picture book as "adorable, original, well-illustrated and fabulous." In this first book in the How-To Series (which includes How To Get Married and How to Get a Job), the know-it-all big sister narrator tells it like it is: When you're a baby you don't read books. You eat them. You don't know how old you are, or even if you're a boy or a girl. And you have to keep a special plug in your mouth to stop your scream from coming out. But one day, you won't be little anymore, and then you'll be taller and smarter, and actually quite clever. Like the narrator. And you'll be able to share memories of what it was like when you were little with your incredible Big Sister.

Duck & Goose, Goose & Duck. Feathered friends forever . . . or are they? That's what we discover in this charming and hilarious follow-up to the bestselling Duck & Goose. You see, there's a challenge to their friendship: a little whippersnapper of a duck named Thistle. Thistle's good at everything (or so she thinks), from math to holding her breath to standing on her head. Duck thinks she's fantastic. But Goose does not! And so Goose is faced with a problem close to the hearts of children everywhere: what happens when your best friend makes a new friend?

And don't miss Duck and Goose in Tad Hills's six board books, including What's Up, Duck? and Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin.

Cat, Squirrel, and Duck have a very serious problem: there are no ripe pumpkins in the garden for their favorite soup! They'll have to make something else, but while Cat and Squirrel are willing to experiment, all Duck wants is pumpkin soup. He won't even try a taste of the fish soup or mushroom soup, and the beet soup his friends make is the last straw― "I'm not eating that," he says. "It's pink!" Can Cat and Squirrel find a way to please their fussy friend?

This follow-up to the popular Pumpkin Soup and A Pipkin of Pepper is a perfect story about a picky eater, illustrated with rich, expressive paintings in which children will find much to discover―and it includes a recipe for pink soup!