Chris Van Dusen

After courageously swimming to shore when the ship that they are traveling on sinks and the wretched captain does nothing to rescue them, circus animals find a way to become a valued part of a coastal island community.

Publisher Annotation: When a big truck and its big load get stuck on a narrow road, traffic on the little island comes to a halt. Some cars need to go south and some have to travel north. How will Meg get to her swim meet? What about Barry’s ballet class? Luckily, the kids come up with an ingenious solution: why not just swap cars? Inspired by an incident that happened on Vinalhaven, Maine, Chris Van Dusen tells a fun tale of resourcefulness and...

Publisher Annotation: Hattie McFadden is a born explorer. Every morning she grabs her life jacket and paddles out in her canoe to discover something new on the lake, singing a little song on her way. When her singing draws up from the depths a huge mysterious beast, everyone in town is terrified ? except Hattie, who looks into the creature?s friendly, curious eyes and knows that this is no monster. So Hattie sneaks out at night to see the giant ?...

Imaginative Jack describes the kind of house he would build--one with a racetrack, a flying room, and a gigantic slide.

When haughty King Hugo tangles with a sorceress, she causes him to see himself in a more realistic light.

Stella Endicott loves her teacher, Miss Liliana, and she is thrilled when the class is assigned to write a poem. Stella crafts a beautiful poem about Mercy Watson, the pig who lives next door ? a poem complete with a metaphor and full of curiosity and courage. But Horace Broom, Stella?s irritating classmate, insists that Stella?s poem is full of lies and that pigs do not live in houses. And when Stella and Horace get into a shouting match in the classroom,...

Mercy the pig's love of buttered toast leads to the capture of a small thief who would rather be a cowboy.

Baby Lincoln wants to get away from her sister and embark on a journey.

Mr. Watson's usual Saturday drive in his Cadillac with his favorite pig, Mercy, turns into an adventure when an unexpected passenger shows up in the back seat and Mercy finds herself behind the wheel.

Fearless Francine Poulet is proud to carry on her family's legacy as Gizzford County's animal control officer. When Francine runs into a screaming raccoon that might be a ghost, she must find a way to face her fears and capture the creature before it wreaks further havoc on Deckawoo Drive.