Books like Petra
By Marianna Coppo
For the kid who turns every cardboard box into a spaceship, Petra is proof that imagination doesn't need permission to be big. Playful, philosophical, gently funny — like a pep talk disguised as a rock's daydream.
A big-imagination girl tells her class about her circus trip, where every performer called in sick — so she became the whole show herself, from unicyclist to lion tamer to trapeze star.
Two kids stuck inside on a rainy day get an uninvited visitor — a tall cat in a striped hat who promises fun and games while their mother is away.
A determined bunny stacks cardboard boxes into an imaginary city, insisting on doing it solo — until building alone starts to feel like something's missing.
A small girl with big fashion opinions insists on wearing her own wild, colorful outfit — polka dots, stripes, and all — despite everyone in her family telling her to dress differently.
A little red chicken just can't sit still through bedtime stories, jumping into Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood to save the characters herself, much to her patient papa's dismay.
A newly out-of-work princess sets out to win a prince's hand by passing a queen's tricky tests — but the real question is whether a crown is even the prize she wants.
A bored little girl meets a talking potato who claims kids are the truly boring ones, so she sets out to prove him wrong with cartwheels, jokes, and wild imagination.
A Siamese cat who imagines he's a bold Chihuahua bounces into his closet and lands in a snowy make-believe forest, where the seven Chimichangos dare him to kiss a frozen princess awake.
A boy named Marvin K. Mooney is told, again and again, that it's time to leave — by lion's tail, by mail, by stilts, by Crunk-Car, by Zumble-Zay — will he ever take the hint?
A student gets stuck with a science curse after his teacher claims poetry is everywhere in science, and suddenly every rhyme in his head turns into a poem about amoebas, black holes, or the food chain.
A little girl wakes up one Thursday with a full set of antlers growing out of her head, and while the doctor and school principal panic, the cook and kitchen maid find surprising uses for them.
When evening falls, a crowd of bats flutters from the rafters to fill a moonlit stadium, watching their own all-stars play a topsy-turvy game of baseball.
