Books like Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale from a Little Cave
By Drew Beckmeyer
For the kid obsessed with dinosaurs, deep time, and asking what was here before us, this book turns a single cave into the whole history of the world. Deadpan, patient, and quietly funny — epic in scope but small and cozy in feeling.
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.
An elephant named Horace turns eleven and throws a costume party for his exotically dressed animal friends, but when it's time for the feast, someone has already eaten it all.
A cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig, and a tiny mouse — good friends all — climb into a boat for a row in the bay, and the boat tips more precariously with each one who climbs aboard.
A young spider records his everyday life in diary entries — spinning sticky webs, scaling walls, taking wind-catching lessons, and surviving the occasional run-in with a vacuum cleaner.
Warned to fear the Big Bad Mouse, the Gruffalo's curious child sneaks into the deep dark wood to hunt him down — only to spot the mouse and a mysterious giant shadow looming close behind.
The messiest monster in Booville and her fussiest, cleanest neighbor argue constantly — until Harry Beastie's wild Halloween party throws these two feuding creatures together.
A small boy is invited to tea at the palace and always asks the same question — may he bring a friend? — and each time, a surprising animal guest shows up beautifully behaved.
Three friends creep through the woods to catch a beautiful bird with their nets, shushing a fourth companion who has a much gentler idea in mind.
A gentle troll sets off through the woods to bring his mother milk, but the simple errand turns into a winding adventure when he meets Mymble, who has lost her sister Little My.
A little girl gives a pig a pancake, and one request leads to another — syrup, then a bubble bath — spinning into a chain of demands that circles right back to where it started.
A boy named Ned races a thousand miles to a surprise party, and every stroke of good luck — a borrowed airplane, a handy parachute — flips into disaster and back again.
Three dust bunnies named Ed, Ned, and Ted love rhyming games — bug, rug, mug, hug — but a fourth named Bob keeps breaking the pattern, trying to warn them about a broom-wielding danger heading their way.
