New Releases by Joanne Ryder

Fans of How to Train Your Dragon will love this whimsical tale, the first in a series, by a Newbery Honor winner, featuring charming illustrations and pet "training tips" in each chapter. Crusty dragon Miss Drake has a new pet human, precocious Winnie. Oddly enough, Winnie seems to think Miss Drake is her pet—a ridiculous notion! Unknown to most of its inhabitants, the City by the Bay is home to many mysterious and fantastic creatures, hidden beneath the parks, among the clouds, and even in plain sight. And Winnie wants to draw every new creature she encounters: the good, the bad, and the ugly. But Winnie’s sketchbook is not what it seems. Somehow, her sketchlings have been set loose on the city streets! It will take Winnie and Miss Drake’s combined efforts to put an end to the mayhem . . . before it’s too late. This refreshing debut collaboration by Laurence Yep, a two-time Newbery Honor winner and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award winner, and Joanne Ryder features illustrations by Mary GrandPré. Praise for A Dragon''s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans *“Warm humor, magical mishaps, and the main characters’ budding mutual respect and affection combine to give this opener for a planned series a special shine.” –Booklist, Starred “Aternately comical, suspenseful and sometimes sweetly emotional.” –Kirkus Reviews “With a black-and-white spot illustration opening most chapters, an engaging narrator, and a consistently fluid writing style, this title makes a fine dragon choice for readers.” –School Library Journal “In this series launch, Yep and Ryder conjure up a world where dragons and humans interact, and the results are heartwarming and quite funny.” –Publishers Weekly “A clever and amusing novel that imagines a magical world that nestles right up against our own and sometimes crosses over.” –The Bulleting of the Center for Children’s Books Praise for A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter "Yep and Ryder keep the magic coming with their whimsical fantasy, enhanced by Grandpré''s sweet drawings. The story positively vibrates with fun." —Kirkus Reviews " Lighthearted episodes of unusual school lessons and field trips, illustrated by GrandPré’s winsome spot art, are grounded by Miss Drake’s more serious encounters with the goons...a gratifying development as this buoyant, fantastical series continues."—The Horn Book Review

Tucked into bed after a long day of playing, Anna’s imagination brings her to her favorite park—enhanced with magical qualities she’s never seen before—in Joanne Ryder’s exciting bedtime tale. When the park lamps glow, Anna knows it’s time to leave the old stone lion, the pigeons, and the shy goldfish that keep her company during the daylight. As the bedtime approaches and her father shuts off her light, Anna’s imagination takes flight and brings her back to the park she loves. But in the cover of night, the park is now magical and filled with friendly crocodiles, energetic monkeys, and a lion who takes Anna to his secret waterfall. “With flattened perspectives and variegated tones, Schwartz paints, like Rousseau, a primitive world of friendly beasts and tangled vegetation.” – School Library Journal

There are many kinds of kisses to share.

School is in session! But this is no ordinary kindergarten class. Meet sixteen young giant panda cubs at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda at the Wolong Nature Preserve. The cubs are raised together from infancy in a protected setting, where they grow strong. Under the watchful eyes of the scientists and workers, the cubs learn skills that will help prepare them to be released into the wild. Follow a day in the life of the cubs with Joanne Ryder''s spare and simple text and full-color photographs by Dr. Katherine Feng, Wolong''s leading photographer. These special cubs have captured the attention of people around the globe. Thanks to dedicated staff and unique resources at Wolong, this threatened species now has a second chance. Here is the true story of their incredible journey toward hope and survival.

Rhyming text describes many different kinds of hugs.

Poems and illustrations trace the yearly life cycle of toads from tadoles in the spring to adults which hibernate in the winter.

My mother calls me from darkness to light. . . . I wrap her words around me, warm with good wishes for the day to come. Joanne Ryder''s heartwarming text and Peter Catalanotto''s glowing art celebrate the tender, everyday moments shared between a mother and daughter. In every welcome and whisper, laugh and farewell, the ever-changing tones of a mother''s voice express a gift a daughter can treasure -- her mother''s constant love.

Publisher Description

Everywhere -- even in streets and backyards -- there are wild birds. Swirling through the air, speckling the treetops, tiptoeing through the grass, wild birds are near, watching you watch them. During the bright warm days, they sometimes stay and share a place with you. And in winter, if you care for them, wild birds may flutter even nearer -- till you feel like a wild one, too. Wild Birds invites you to look and listen and to enjoy these lively flyers who share this ever-changing world with you.

A series of poems that depict the world of a field mouse from sundown to sunup.

She''s the first giant panda cub ever to survive in captivity in the United States. There are fewer than one thousand giant pandas left in the world, making Hua Mei''s birth at the World-Famous San Diego Zoo in August 1999 a cause for celebration. -- Dust Jacket.

An intriguing journey into the natural world -- from deep in the grass to high overhead. "There''s a worm on a string, who is swaying in space. There''s a white butterfly on a circle of lace." As a young child takes a walk in the woods, the world comes alive with creatures and treasures big and small -- from ants and lizards to moles and hawks. But the most special discovery of the day is the fawn in the grass who watches the narrator''s journey begin and end. Joanne Ryder''s lyrical text and Keiko Narahashi''s beautifully detailed illustrations capture the wonders of nature from a child''s point of view.

Celebrated the creatures of the earth, from spiders dangling in their webs to owls hooting and hunting out of sight, and asks that we respect and care for them.

Illustrations and poetic text describe the wings of an owl, a hummingbird, a butterfly, an eagle, a bat, and other creatures and their different experiences of flight.

In dynamic words and dramatic pictures, Earthdance invites young readers to become not just part of the earth, but Earth itself.

A child is transformed into a Tyrannosaurus rex for a day and discovers what it is like to be a killing machine and the largest meat-eating animal to have hunted on land.

Four furry squirrels leap and glide through the night sky, feeding and playing until the approach of daybreak.

One fall day a great white shark, hungry and alone, glides unseen, watching and waiting for someone unwary to become his meal.

In a field of lacy leaves, a small caterpillar hatches, grows, and sheds its skin, becoming a smooth, green creeper. It eats and changes some more, then in a sequence of remarkable close-ups, spins a sliken sling in which to pupate—until it finally bursts forth as a brilliant black swallowtail butterfly. Includes suggestions on how children can grow butterfiles in their own gardens.

Imagine climbing your favorite tree, speckled in sunlight and shadows, then changing...into a mighty spotted cat in a faraway rain forest. You are a jaguar hidden in a world of green. Giant trees stretch upward, where flowers bloom, birds soar, and butterflies glide above your reach. Jaguar in the Rain Forest invites you into the lush, tropical world of one of the most magnificent hunters on earth. Be a jaguar just for a day- prowling the forest floor; crossing a flowing river in search of prey; filling the darkness with your deep, grunting call; then, silent and deadly, stalking a creature that never knows you are there. In this dramatic addition to the Just for a Day series, award-winning author Joanne Ryder and nature artist Michael Rothman once again imagine the life of a wild animal in its own natural world. Meticulously researched and marvelously evocative, their book invites you to live among the creatures of the rain forest- just for a day.

Sometimes--with a gesture, a touch, a look--humans and animals can bridge the gap between their worlds in ways that reach deeper than words ever could. In a perfect partnership of poetry and color images, author Joanne Ryder and photographer Barbara Sonneborn have created a moving portrait of humans and animals together. An elephant and a human embrace, arm and trunk entwining; a giggly boy and a wiggly pig spend a playful moment together; a dolphin and a human swimmer move through the water in a joyful dance. In Ryder''s words, "each finds a way to touch, to move, to play, sharing pleasure with each other, learning how much we really are the same." This remarkable album is one that readers of all ages will return to again and again. With its compelling words and unforgettable pictures, it reinforces our precious sense of connection to all the living creatures with whom we share our planet. colour throughout

Softly realistic illustrations perfectly complement this vivid yet warmly childlike story, as a small boy imagines the wanderings and playful antics of the bears he is sure inhabit the wilderness around his home. Full color.

Slowly the morning sun lights up a graceful spring garden, warming the plants and animals that live there. Nestled on a tree branch, a tiny creature awakens. Then, stretching and spreading his wings wide, the hummingbird dances into the sunlight to begin his busy day. Together, award-winning nature author Joanne Ryder and wildlife artist Judith Lopex paint a background of charm and delicacy against which we follow the movements of the lively humming bird and his mate. Readers of all ages will be captivated by this gentle portrait and will readily appreciate the drama and beauty to be found in the lives of these tiniest of birds.

A man working in his garden finds a delicate worm, a beetle in shining armor, and a leaf-green mantis and shares these treasures with his young daughter. "Lovely double-page, impressionistic oil paintings...provide a picturesque setting for this simple, straightforward description of a special parent/child outing."--School Library Journal.

The reader imagines how it feels to be a snail.

At the end of the summer, a child revisits the special places she has enjoyed on her vacation.

While sitting in science class on a Friday afternoon, a student watches all kinds of sea creatures move about the room.

The reader imagines how it feels to be a snail.

Relates how the great white bears that live at the top of the world came to live on ice and snow.

Jenny experiences the wonder of seeing and hearing the woods fill up with humming cicadas, and seventeen years later she returns with her young son to share that experience.