Most Popular Books by Brian Floca

"Before taking shelter, two siblings experience the excitement and beauty of an island storm from its calm beginning to its powerful peak and gentle end."--Provided by publisher.

Caldecott Award winner Brian Floca gives a heartfelt thank you to the essential workers who keep their cities going during COVID-19 quarantine in this tenderly illustrated picture book. We are here at home now, watching the world through our windows. Outside we see the city we know, but not as we’ve seen it before. The once hustling and bustling streets are empty. Well, almost empty. Around the city there are still people, some, out and about. These are the people keeping us safe. Keeping us healthy. Keeping our mail and our food delivered. Keeping our grocery stores stocked. Keeping the whole city going. Brian Floca speaks for us all in this stirring homage to all the essential workers who keep the essentials operating so the rest of us can do our part by sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You may never have heard of a lightship. Once, lightships anchored on waters across America, on the oceans and in the Great Lakes, floating where lighthouses could not be built. Smaller than most ships, but more steadfast, too, they held their spots, through calm and storm, to guide sailors toward safe waters. In these pages one lightship and her crew (and cat) again hold their place. The crew goes again from bow to stern, from keel to mast, to run their engines, shine their lights, and sound their horns. They run the small ship that guides the large ships. They are the crew (and cat) that work to make the ocean safe, that hold their place, so other ships can sail. Come aboard!

Brilliantly illustrated, Moonshot tells the story of our first visit to the moon in 1969—an unforgettable story of home, seen whole, from far away. Simply told, grandly shown, here is the flight of Apollo 11. Here for a new generation of readers and explorers are the steady astronauts, clicking themselves into gloves and helmets, strapping themselves into sideways seats. Here are their great machines in all their detail and monumentality, the ROAR of rockets, and the silence of the Moon. Here is a story of adventure and discovery -- a story of leaving and returning during the summer of 1969, and a story of home, seen whole, from far away.

Trucks of different shapes and sizes share one important purpose in this classic picture book from the bestselling creator of Moonshot and Locomotive. You have hurried to be on time. You look now through a window and see five trucks. They are hurrying, too. Where are they going? Five drivers for five trucks— each has a job to do. They hurry to be on time. And then they see you! Originally published in 1999 by DK, Five Trucks features a new cover and plenty of exciting machines!

An exciting day at the races highlights the letters of the alphabet as a variety of automobiles burn fuel speeding through the curves of the track.

The Caldecott Medal Winner, Sibert Honor Book, and New York Times bestseller Locomotive is a rich and detailed sensory exploration of America’s early railroads, from the creator of the “stunning” (Booklist) Moonshot. It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America’s brand-new transcontinental railroad. These pages come alive with descriptive details of the journey: the sounds, speed, and strength of the mighty locomotives; the work that keeps them moving; and the thrill of travel from plains to mountain to ocean. Come sit inside the caboose, feel the heat of the engine, watch the landscape race by. Come ride the rails, come cross the young country!

In this fun & accessible chapter book, an irrepressible, third-grade tomboy is cast in the class play and brings her own chaotic spin to the show. Marty McGuire would rather spend recess catching frogs in the pond than playing dress-up with the other girls in third grade. So when her teacher casts Marty as the princess in the class play, Marty''s absolutely, positively sure that there''s been a huge mistake. But after a special lesson in the art of improvisation, Marty comes up with her OWN plan to IMPROVE the play: Why use stuffed-animal frog onstage when a live one would be so much better? In the end, Marty''s one-of-a-kind performance makes for an unforgettable show. Maybe Marty CAN live happily ever after, after all!

An irrepressible third grader''s school project to help the planet causes chaos instead in this funny, accessible chapter book. Marty McGuire''s third-grade class has a special assignment: Save the Earth! Even more exciting, the best project wins a special award. Marty''s pretty sure her classmates'' ideas won''t stand a chance against her plan to turn the garbage from the school cafeteria into fertilizer. All she needs is a little help from her teammate and best friend, Annie—and the worms in her grandma''s garden. But it turns out that worms are awfully SLOW eaters. And when the critters escape, the whole class starts grumbling. Can Marty save the Earth without losing her friends? Praise for Marty McGuire Digs Worms! "A quick, amusing read with an easily digestible environmental message; it is a perfect match for its young intended audience." — Kirkus Reviews

An irrepressible third grader''s charity pet-sitting business gets out of hand in this witty chapter book. Marty McGuire really has her hands full this time—with a lazy boa, a hyper hamster, and a potty-mouthed parrot! Is her pet sitting business about to go OUT of business? After visiting a sanctuary for retired lab chimpanzees, Marty wants to follow in the footsteps of her idol Jane Goodall and help with their care. But "adopting a chimp" is expensive, so Marty and her third-grade pals hatch a plan to raise money by holding a talent show at school and opening a pet-sitting business in Marty''s basement. It turns out that each pet has a personality of its own, and wrangling them is much harder than Marty expected. How will Marty keep her latest great idea from going to the dogs? Praise for Marty McGuire Has Too Many Pets! "Messner makes the most of Marty''s story with a nicely differentiated cast of empathetic characters and plenty of dramatic range. The line-and-gray-wash illustrations by Caldecott Medal–winning artist Floca capture moments of anxiety, despair, and happiness with equal grace." — Booklist

Korean edition of [Island Storm] by Brian Floca. In Caldecott Medalist Brian Floca and acclaimed illustrator Sydney Smith''s thrilling picture book, young readers will experience the sheer power of a violent thunderstorm and the calm of its aftermath. A Kirkus Prize Finalist. Korean edition translated by Ji Eun Kim.

From Automobile through to Zoom the words get us racing. Big, bold illustrations ground kids in the first days of racecars, then bring them speedily up to the present, with plenty of sound effects and visual excitement to inspire page turns. All aspects of a racetrack setting and every letter in the alphabet are covered, including our favoutite - a small "Yelp" from a (mildly) injured hero.

The story of a class trip to the Natural History Museum. The teacher tried to talk about a bird, but they were acting up too much. So she told the story of Harry Walfish, who could create a ruckus & a din that would make you all seem as quiet as these stuffed animals. He terrorized my class, when I was your age.Ó Harry''s teacher, Mrs. Grimmer, had to keep tracking Harry down, catching him in the middle of one disaster or another. Finally Mrs. Grimmer cracked & left Harry in the museum, all alone, overnight. When Mrs. Grimmer, his parents, the curator came back to get him that night, they found that Harry had been so scared by all the animals that he had shut himself inside the case where the howler monkeys belonged. This story made the class very quiet.