New Releases by Ben Mantle

While Santa and Mrs. Claus eat their dinner, Santa sneakily feeds his sprouts to one of the reindeer rather than eat them himself. The result is, uh, smelly, to say the least. Now, Rudy can't seem to stop releasing windy pops from his backside as he and the other reindeer help Santa deliver presents on Christmas Eve. The rest of the reindeer are downwind from Rudy and they are not handling the sprouty wiffs so well. They laugh so heartily at Rudy's rear-end trumpet that they simply cannot fly the sleigh as usual. It's up to Rudy's super-turbo gas to get them back home.

The only thing Bobby wants for his birthday is a pet shark. So you can imagine his disappointment when his parents get him...a puppy. Everyone knows shark lovers can never become dog lovers. Or can they? Full of humor and heart, this book explores the idea that sometimes, getting exactly what you don't want turns out to be exactly what you need.

We all know that “there was an old lady” who swallowed lots of things. Now meet the old dragon who swallows pretty much an entire kingdom! Will he ever learn a little moderation?! This rollicking rhyme is full to bursting with sight gags, silly characters, and plenty of burps! Parents and kids alike will delight in Ben Mantle's precisely funny illustrations and in Penny Parker Klostermann's wacky rhymes.


In days of yore, before a certain fly's ultimately fatal encounter with an Old Lady, there was an old dragon who felt rather peckish. "There was an old dragon who swallowed a knight. / I don't know why he swallowed the knight // It's not polite!" He follows the knight with the knight's steed ("that galloped around at a terrible speed"). Then a squire, a cook, a lady, a castle, and finally a moat are each swallowed in turn. But…"With all of that water, he started to bloat. / And that's when the dragon roared, and I quote: / 'Okay, enough! I've had enough— / More than enough of this swallowing stuff!' " So realizing that eating all those things might have been "a tad impolite," the old dragon burps them all out in reverse except the knight (which is "ahhh…just right"). Klostermann's debut is a rollicking and warped Medieval take on the well-worn cumulative rhyme. Prolific British animator and illustrator Mantle's expressive and bright cartoon illustrations of the red, horned dragon (and the contents of his stomach) are a perfect match. The antics within the dragon's stomach—every image of the steed is accompanied by a little "clippity, clippity, clippity, clop" in teeny type—and his copious burping will leave 'em laughing. No matter how many swallowed-fly titles you own, this one belongs on your shelf too. KIrkus, May 1,2015


From the Hardcover edition.

Watch as the bug whizzes around the tracks in this delightful interactive book. Wind up the bug by pulling it backward, place it on the tracks and watch it wiggle around the garden.