Kevin Henkes

Returning to the beach cottage-a cottage named Scallop-where she has always celebrated her birthday is a special occasion for Alice Rice. Who will see the first dolphin this time? The first pelican? What will have changed? Stayed the same? And will this be the year she finally finds a junonia shell? Alice's friends are all returning, too. And she's certain her parents have the best party planned for her. Alice can't wait. If Alice is lucky, everything...

"Bees buzz, birds sing, and children roll in the grass and feel the heat of the summer sun. With striking verbal imagery, repetition, and alliteration, Kevin Henkes introduces basic concepts of language and the summer season. Laura Dronzek's glowing paintings beautifully illustrate the wonders of summer" --Amazon. Illustrations and easy-to-read text introduce the colors, songs, and activities of summer.

Blaze Werla is having a typical summer. He lives in the country with his father and grandmother. He spends his days alone, wandering around the hill beside his home. Then the message appears on the side of the hill. And Blaze's summer suddenly takes a turn toward the mysterious. By the time Blaze meets Joselle Stark, the unexpected seems almost normal.

When Whitaker writes a letter to Frogman, a TV super hero, his family laughs, but they stop laughing and start wondering when he receives an answer.

Relates several short episodes of Margaret and her brother Taylor, all pertaining to Grandpa's surprise birthday party.

"Two of the things Benjamin Hunter received for his twelfth birthday took him completely by surprise: A room and a letter. The room was from his parents. The letter was from his uncle. "Ben was just two years old when he and his uncle, Ian, were last together, so Ben didn't remember him. And no one in Ben's family ever talked about the man. Thenthe letter arrived, changing Ben's life, and changing his family in unexpected ways. And there was the birthday...