Books like Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee
By Chris Van Dusen
For the kid who thinks a calm boat ride is only interesting if something goes hilariously wrong, this is the day at sea they're picturing. Bouncy, rhyming, salty-air silliness with a jolt of surprise.
Dragons love tacos more than anything, so a party planner throws them a giant taco party — but forgets that spicy salsa turns dragons into fire-breathing disasters.
A hungry frog and a clever fly face off in six short comic-style chapters, with frog always seeming to win — until fly gets the last word.
A boy welcomes a hungry moose with a muffin, but one muffin leads to jam, then a trip to the store for more mix, spinning into one favor after another.
A child gets ten minutes to get ready for bed while a growing crowd of hamster tourists pours through the front door for a wild, wordless-countdown tour of the house.
A great brown bear sleeps through winter while mouse, hare, badger, raven, and mole sneak into his cave one by one, brewing tea and popping corn without waking him — until he finally stirs.
A beachful of bare-bellied hippos celebrates the one thing they all have in common, with one tiny baby hippo whose entire vocabulary is BEE BO.
A burglar creeps down the street, climbs the wall, and slips through the window on another night of stealing — until someone burgles him right back.
A friendly little pick-up truck greets farm animals along a country road, beeping and honking hello — until he gets stuck in the muck and needs his animal friends to push him out.
A witch and her cat fly happily on a broomstick until the wind blows away her hat, bow, and wand — and the animals who return them all want a ride, leaving no room to spare when a hungry dragon attacks.
A dog who hates baths buries the scrubbing brush and runs off for a day of adventure, getting so filthy that his own family no longer recognizes him.
A man walks down the road and meets a donkey with only three legs, then keeps adding one silly detail after another until the description spirals into an entirely absurd creature.
Enormous dinosaurs head off to school just like any kid — riding the bus, reading books, and romping on the playground with classmates who happen to be the size of a Ceratosaurus.
