First readers, skills and practice

When Little Critter wakes up on his birthday, he finds a series of notes leading him on a treasure hunt around the house, with a wonderful surprise at the end. Includes activities.

Having failed to get their applications in for the middle school summer baseball league, Robbie and Trent scramble to find a sponsor, a coach, and enough players to form their own team.

Little Critter makes Mom his famous peanut butter, pickle, potato chips, and orange juice sandwich for lunch. Includes activities.

When Little Critter and his friends clean up their favorite park, they learn the value of hard work and caring for the environment. Includes activities.

Describes the activities that go on at a country fair, from the animal exhibits, food tasting, and ox pulls to a wood chopping exhibition.

Separated from his family, Fuzzle the skunk has to make a new home and find food all alone, because the other animals run away when they see him, until he discovers a secret weapon that could make him a hero.

Since Mom is sick, Little Critter tries extra hard to help get the house ready for Grandma and Grandpa's visit.

The young hero of Emmanuel Carrere's best-selling novel is little Nicolas, whose school ski outing seems doomed from the start. First, his father (a traveling prosthesis salesman) refuses to let Nicolas take the school bus with the rest of his class because of a recent tragedy in which a number of children burned to death. Then, to make matters worse, he drops off Nicolas but forgets to take his son's suitcase out of the trunk, reducing Nicolas to begging the other children for such bare essentials as a toothbrush and pajamas (a source of particular tension since Nicolas is still accident-prone at night). Faithful to the strict logic that governs a child's mind, Carrere recounts Nicolas's feverish fantasies stoked by the lurid tales of kidnapping and organ theft he has been told by his father. The fantasies grow frighteningly real when a child from the local village disappears. Sure that the child has fallen victim to one of the organ bandits his father always warns him about, Nicolas convinces a classmate to help him investigate the matter in the best heroic school-boy style. But in this wrenching novel, the fantasy of two young boys fearlessly braving dangers to capture the bad guys gives way to a much simpler, more sinister, more devastating reality.

Despite some misadventures, Little Critter is anxious to go back to day camp.

The sky is white, the air is cold, and snowflakes are falling, tickling Bramble s back. By bedtime, Maggie and her family are ready for the storm: they ve shopped for supplies, covered Bramble s hay with a tarp, and filled the bathtub with extra water.

After Little Critter helps Little Sister fall asleep, he has trouble getting back to sleep himself.

Little Critter's morning goes from bad to worse when he wakes up late, can't find his favorite shirt, and misses the school bus, but his teacher knows just how to cheer him up. Includes activities.

Although Little Critter does not win any games at the field day at school, his friends cheer for him anyway.

When no one will play with Little Critter one day, he uses his imagination to find new friends, including a mouse, a frog, and a spider. Includes activities.

When Little Critter's friends are too busy to join him in his new tree house, he finally asks Little Sister to play with him.

Little Critter and his family observe various animals at the zoo.

Little Critter goes to Tiger's birthday party and brings a kite as a present.

When Ellen goes to the beach, she meets a young boy who shows her how to catch crabs and helps her feel more comfortable about the water.

While visiting his grandparents at their farm, Little Critter helps by gathering the eggs, feeding the goats, riding a horse, and doing other fun jobs. Includes activities.

Little Critter and his classmates come up with ideas to earn money for the fire department's new fire truck.