The bestselling author-illustrator and creator of publishing sensation Scaredy Squirrel presents a character you just can't say “no” to: salesman Mr. Al Foxword. Al can sell anything. You can't help but be impressed by his lineup of satisfied customers: he's sold an icebox to a penguin, an umbrella to a fish and a dirt vacuum to a mole. Al knows you're looking for a great book, and this is your lucky day. Say goodbye to books that leave you bored and uninspired. Research shows that 100 percent of Al's customers notice a dramatic increase in happiness after buying his book. Not totally convinced yet? Just when you think you're ready to close the book on this relentless salesman, he comes up with a clever tactic that you simply can't refuse. The retro design and the sheer absurdity of Foxword's powers of persuasion make for an off-the-wall picture book with major crossover appeal that pokes fun at our hard-sell society.

Popular illustrator Per-Henrik Gürth has created a playful alphabet book to showcase all the highlights and wonders in the city of Toronto. Each letter gets its own page (or two pages) and features an illustration and an explanatory sentence about a different Toronto attraction or activity. Both a capital and a lowercase letter begin the sentence, and the featured word for that page also begins with a capital letter to set it off. There are things to see: “Dd is for Dinosaur, stretching out at the Royal Ontario Museum.” There are things to do: “Pp is for Picnic, at Trinity Bellwoods Park.” And there are iconic experiences: “Mm is for Maple Leafs --- go team!” Canadian animal characters (bears, moose, foxes and the like), familiar to readers of the other titles in Gürth's popular Canada Concept Books series, are the ones doing the touring in the book. Gürth's illustration style is friendly and inviting to the youngest children, using bold outlines and bright colors that really pop. The simple drawings provide helpful connections to the vocabulary words for pre-readers being introduced to the alphabet. This book would work perfectly for teaching young children (residents or visitors) about the sights in Toronto, and could also be used as part of a social studies lesson on Canada or on cities in general. With so much going on in the artwork, it makes for a fun, interactive read with small children as well.

It's a band of animated skeletons versus daring children in this rhyming Halloween picture book tale, told in delightful nonsense language. Here the children are “tyke-tots” and the adults “tall-bigs,” while the skeletons are called “SKUL-A-MUG-MUGS.” As the story begins, the SKUL-A-MUG-MUGS descend on a small, quiet town on Halloween night. “They ring-ruckled round, enclupping the town, with quake-quiver-up and scree-scrackle down.” The SKUL-A-MUG-MUGS have a plan to keep the children from trick-or-treating. “We'll brain-frizz tall-bigs. Halloween they'll deep nix. They'll shup-clup inside nasty Noras and Nicks!” But the children decide to take matters into their own hands. “Thrickle! and thrackle! Thinder-a-thray! SKUL-A-MUG-MUGS, we'll splook you away!” What ensues is a fun, spirited fight to the finish, as naturally the children outwit and out-frighten the old SKUL-A-MUG-MUGS so the trick-or-treating can commence once again! In this one-of-a-kind book, award-winning author and children's poet Robert Heidbreder has imagined an empowering story about a chaotic world where the adults are terrified and the children take over to save the day --- and the candy, of course. The silly and spooky madness is delightfully illustrated with irresistible artwork by award-winning John Martz. This is sure to be a hands-down favorite as a read-aloud --- for all ages --- during the Halloween season or anytime fun wordplay is called for. It makes a fabulous language arts introduction to rhyming poetry that will surely inspire children to create their own made-up words and stories. Separately, it can also work for social studies discussions about cultural celebrations such as Halloween that focus on images and tales of the dead.

In this entertaining picture book by award-winning author Valerie Wyatt, “strange things happen if you change just one letter in a word.” For example, a toy could become a boy (easy, just change the t to a b). Or, a house might become a mouse and then a moose (change the h to m and then the u to o). Lewis Carroll first created this game of turning one word into another by changing only one letter at a time. Most often called word ladders, the game is introduced in this book to young children through a humorous story featuring a toy that becomes a boy and his loyal dog, who find themselves taking a walk through a funny, mixed-up town. As visual aids, the first and last words of each ladder are highlighted in the text of the story, and a vertical list of all the words in the ladder is written separately, with the one changed letter also highlighted: “Tiny may become huge. / tiny-tine-line-lone-lore-lure-luge-huge.” Wacky, high-energy illustrations by Dave Whamond bring the silliness to life. Making letters and words fun is one of the best ways to cultivate and enhance a child's enjoyment of reading. Playing word ladders can help children increase vocabulary, improve spelling, discover common letter combinations and learn about vowels and consonants. The back of the book provides background on word ladders, as well as classroom activities for children to create their own word ladders or follow an assigned ladder.

Francis the fox enjoys everything about his Saturdays at Mr. Li's Laundromat, except for Mr. Li's granddaughter, Lily. When Lily plays a dirty trick on Francis, it's up to the little fox to clean up and save the day.

Graphic designer Katty Maurey has illustrated a number of books for children, including Kyo Maclear's The Specific Ocean and Andrew Larsen's The Man Who Loved Libraries, and has been nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for Illustration. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.

As this hilarious and virtually wordless graphic novel begins, Hocus Pocus, a rabbit who lives inside a magician's hat, is about to board a train when he's surprised to spy another rabbit nearby. Though he's disappointed when he realizes it's actually only a stuffed rabbit (which clever young readers will know all along!), Hocus Pocus soon comes to understand it's a treasured toy that has been accidentally left behind by a small child, and he quickly jumps into action to try and reunite the two. Unfortunately, what should be an easy mission for the speedy rabbit turns out to be anything but, as his menacing nemesis, the magician's dog, attempts to thwart the would-be hero at every turn. Can Hocus Pocus's wits and perseverance prevail against the dog's superior size and strength and ultimately save the day? Award-winning author Sylvie Desrosiers has crafted a fun adventure for the endearing and energetic Hocus Pocus. And with no words (even the thought bubbles contain illustrations), the retro, animation-style images by comic artist Rémy Simard tell the whole action-packed tale. Reminiscent of classic cartoons, there are mini cliffhangers on each spread, keeping the story briskly moving along at a perfect pace for young children. This book will have huge appeal for pre-readers or reluctant readers, who will love being able to “read” it all the way through on their own, just by looking at the pictures. This visually entertaining no-words story provides an excellent first step toward reading.

In this deceptively simple wordless picture book, a small girl finds the end of a long black line and picks it up. She wiggles the line, slides down it and spins inside circles made from it. In her hands, the line transforms into bubbles to blow, a jungle vine to swing from and a tightrope to balance on. The girl is having such a good time! Until suddenly, the line turns into a big, hungry monster! Oh, no! Will the little girl be eaten, or will another surprise twist to the line save her from the frightening creature? Young children will become instantly involved in this story, curious to see what's next for the magical line that is transformed again and again, and delighted by the surprise on the last page, where the drawer of the line is revealed. Award-winning illustrator Paula Bossio has created a fresh way to tell an original story full of play and creativity. It offers young children an easy-to-understand yet powerful message about imagination and the nearly limitless ways to have fun. This book makes a perfect story starter for early-elementary children as they begin to explore narrative, either by using one of the girl's creations in the story or by coming up with their own way of turning the line into a plaything. The art concept could also be extended by having children draw their ideas. This book makes a great choice for working on visual literacy with pre-readers.

Loula has had ENOUGH of her TERRIBLE triplet brothers. She's leaving home and going to Africa! Though her quirky parents are too distracted to pay much attention to her plans, Loula has a good friend in the family chauffeur, Gilbert, who gently inquires, “Mademoiselle, may I ask, why Africa?” “Because!” Loula explains. “Africa is far away, very far away, the farthest away I can get from my MEAN, HORRIBLE, STINKY brothers. Plus they are scared of snakes. And if they come, piranhas will eat them.” “Well then,” says Gilbert, “I think Africa is the best destination.” So together, with the help of their imaginations, Loula and Gilbert travel over the sand, through the air and across the water to reach their own special island of Africa. Which, Loula happily discovers at the end of the day, is “not so far away” from home. Award-winning Anne Villeneuve has created a lovable and memorable character in the irrepressible Loula, who enchants and inspires with her spunk and the unique way she approaches the challenges in her life. Villeneuve's artwork, loosely drawn and painted warmly with watercolors, is both witty and charming, just like her character. This is a wonderful story about independence and adventure that also offers a heartwarming example of the important role a caring adult can play in a child's life. It provides a terrific opportunity to discuss dealing with feelings and how to be resourceful when faced with things that are out of your control.

Mr. King, a lion in a gold crown, “lives on top of a BIG hill. He wants to build himself a BIG castle. Mr. King likes BIG things.” But in order to make such a big castle, Mr. King needs lots of material. So he decides to use blocks he chops up with abandon from all over his hill, not noticing the giant holes he's leaving behind. Once he's done, Mr. King is proud of his enormous new castle. But when his animal friends begin to wonder what happened to their favorite places, Mr. King realizes the harm he has done to the once-beautiful hill. “Everyone is staring at Mr. King, and suddenly he feels very small.” Is there anything Mr. King can do to feel big again? This picture book is part of an environmentally themed series created by award-winning author-illustrator Geneviève Côté. With gentle humor, it offers an age-appropriate message to young children about how each of us needs to tread lightly on the earth. It makes a wonderful book for a primary science lesson on environmental stewardship. It also works well for discussions about friendship and could be used for a character education lesson about fairness, responsibility or cooperation. For a hands-on experience, there are visual puzzles in which the pieces chopped out of the hill can be matched directly to the pieces that make up the castle.