Andrew Larsen

"Lovable pup Sally is looking a little shaggy, so her owners are taking her to the groomer. It smells like a garden and Sally sees brushes and bows galore. Then it's time for a bath. Once she's squeaky clean and blow-dried, Sally gets brushed, snipped and clipped. When her owners arrive--surprise--everyone has fancy new hairdos"--

A young boy wants to write a story, just like his big sister. But there's a problem, he tells her. Though he knows his letters, he doesn't know many words. His sister patiently explains, "Every story starts with a single word and every word starts with a single letter. Why don't you start there, with a letter?" So the boy tries. He writes a letter. An easy letter. The letter I. And from that one skinny letter, the story grows, and the little boy discovers...

A young boy doesn't want to go to bed. The hockey game is on! After his parents have tucked him in and turned out the light, he shines a flashlight on his prized hockey possessions around his room: the posters of his favorite players, the pennant for his favorite team, the puck.

Summer vacation is starting, and soon-to-be-sixth-grader Henry is facing two months with nothing to do. He can sadly feel himself ?being pulled by the gravitational force of nothingness.? His best friend, Max, who may not even be his best friend anymore, is going away to chess camp. And all Henry's stay-at-home father has planned for him and his toddler brother, Sam, is something called a staycation. Things start looking up, however, when he finds...

"Theo's Poppa was an explorer. He had been everywhere. He kept an old trunk packed with the pictures, postcards, maps and menus that he had collected on his adventures. Someday, Theo wants to be an explorer, too. For now, it's Poppa's birthday, and Theo has planned a special trip to the beach with him to celebrate. They plot out their course on a map they've drawn and then take the streetcar to the local beach, where they stroll in the sand, hunt...