Little Otter Is Missing

Little Otter is having a very odd morning. Can you help him look for his den? With interactive lift-the-flap pages and gorgeous illustrations by Jedda Robaard, Join Little Sloth on his adventures as he searches for his missing den.

Pierre (Peter) Chastain (ca. 1662-1728) fled from France to Switzerland and later to England. He, along with his first wife and five children, arrived at the mouth of the James River in 1700. He had two more wives and several other children, who lived in (then) Goochland County, Virginia where he died. Descendants lived in Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana and elsewhere.

Little Otter selects a gift for Mother Otter, searches for his pine cone, and attends a coasting party with his relatives.

While traveling the world in order to write her award winning book Wild, Jay Griffiths became increasingly aware of the huge differences in how childhood is experienced in various cultures. One central riddle, in particular captured her imagination: why are so many children in Euro–American cultures unhappy – and why is it that children in traditional cultures seem happier? In A Country Called Childhood, Griffiths seeks to discover why we deny our children the freedoms of space, time and the natural world. Visiting communities as far apart as West Papua and the Arctic as well as the UK, and delving into history, philosophy, language and literature, she explores how children's affinity for nature is an essential and universal element of childhood. It is a journey deep into the heart of what it means to be a child, and it is central to all our experiences, young and old.

He wrote one of the most quintessentially English books, yet Kenneth Grahame (1859 – 1932) was a Scot. He was four years old when his mother died and his father became an alcoholic, so Kenneth grew up with his grandmother who lived on the banks of the beloved River Thames. Forced to abandon his dreams of studying at Oxford, he was accepted as a clerk at the Bank of England where he became one of the youngest men to be made company secretary. He narrowly escaped death in 1903 when he was mistaken for the Bank’s governor and shot at several times. He wrote secretly in his spare time for magazines and became a contemporary of contributors including Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw and WB Yeats. Kenneth’s first book, Pagan Papers (1893) initiated his success, followed by The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1898), which turned him into a celebrated author. Ironically, his most famous novel today was the least successful during his lifetime: The Wind in the Willows (1908) originated as letters to his disabled son, who was later found dead on a train line after a suspected suicide. Kenneth never recovered from the tragedy and died with a broken heart in earshot of the River Thames. His widow, Elspeth, dedicated the rest of her life to preserving her husband’s name and promoting his work.

Return to the Wild is an inspirational story of a rescued otter who was raised in captivity and a family’s dedication to setting him free. His release is met with many challenges and when it is discovered that Lazarus, a Cape Clawless Otter is afraid of water they must find a way to help him overcome this. Conservationist couple Brendan and Danelle assuredly tackle their task, despite the doom-laden prophecies of critics, and succeed to teach Lazzy to swim, hunt and survive on his own. The authors take the reader on this personal and heart-warming journey of discovery that leads to his freedom.

Whether used for thematic story times, program and curriculum planning, readers' advisory, or collection development, this updated edition of the well-known companion makes finding the right picture books for your library a breeze. Generations of savvy librarians and educators have relied on this detailed subject guide to children's picture books for all aspects of children's services, and this new edition does not disappoint. Covering more than 18,000 books published through 2017, it empowers users to identify current and classic titles on topics ranging from apples to zebras. Organized simply, with a subject guide that categorizes subjects by theme and topic and subject headings arranged alphabetically, this reference applies more than 1,200 intuitive (as opposed to formal catalog) subject terms to children's picture books, making it both a comprehensive and user-friendly resource that is accessible to parents and teachers as well as librarians. It can be used to identify titles to fill in gaps in library collections, to find books on particular topics for young readers, to help teachers locate titles to support lessons, or to design thematic programs and story times. Title and illustrator indexes, in addition to a bibliographic guide arranged alphabetically by author name, further extend access to titles.