Books like Caleb and Kate
By William Steig
For families who love a story that turns a marriage spat into something strange and tender, this one imagines what it would take to see a loved one with completely new eyes. Whimsical, tender, a little melancholy, with a warm and hopeful undertone.
A great-grandson wanders through his grandfather's topiary garden, where hedges shaped like a farmboy, a soldier, and a chickenpox-covered kid retell a whole lifetime one memory at a time.
A girl who loves gorillas longs for her too-busy father to take her to see one, until the night before her birthday brings an extraordinary, moonlit visitor.
A poor washerwoman on the island of Martinique uses her mother's magic wand to help her beloved goddaughter Cendrillon win the heart of a rich man's son.
At the Central Park Zoo, two male penguins named Roy and Silo build a nest together, and a kindly zookeeper gives them an abandoned egg to hatch and raise as their own.
A gentle, repeating question moves through the animal world — from kangaroos to lions to dolphins — showing every baby, a joey, a cub, a calf, has a mother who loves it.
A witch famous throughout Russia for eating children is secretly a lonely old woman who longs for a grandchild, so she disguises herself as a village babushka to find one.
A gentle retelling of the Nativity story, set among barn animals who witness a quiet, extraordinary birth on a cold night.
A little critter spends a special day at the beach with his grandma, navigating sand, waves, and small mishaps while soaking up her patient company.
A young hare tries to show his father just how much he loves him, stretching his arms wide and reaching as high as he can — but Big Nutbrown Hare always finds a way to love him back more.
On a stormy night on Plum Street, a little bear cub named Sam stalls his bedtime with a story, a tucking-in, and warm milk — but something important is still missing.
A janitor and his loyal dog, cramped and weary of their crowded one-room life, accept a mysterious bird's offer of paradise on a floating island — only to discover the price of that easy life.
A young donkey finds a magic pebble that grants wishes, but a panicked wish during a scary encounter with a lion turns him into a rock — with no way to wish himself back.
