Sue Fliess

Ahoy, landlubber! Come with me.
Board me ship upon the sea!
Not a pirate? Don't know how?
Ye can learn to be one now!
Little landlubbers get to earn their sea legs on a pirate ship amidst the goofiest pirates ever. There's lingo to learn (Gangway! Blimey! Yo-ho-ho!), a pirate look to choose (Pick a parrot for your arm. Every pirate's lucky charm!), and most importantly, pirate rules to learn (No more toothpaste! Farewell,...

"Sadie Sprocket is a girl with a big dream ... to go to Mars! No one has been to Mars (yet!), so of course that's where Sadie sets her sights. She learns everything she can about the planet and space, then assembles her crew of trusty stuffed animals. Together they build a rocket and prepare for the historic journey. And then finally ... blastoff!--Amazon.com.

"Beatrice Bly isn't just a spy. She's a super spy. She knows all the rules. She sneaks. She observes. She follows the clues to find the culprit. But when the class hamster, Edgar, goes missing, will Beatrice's spy training be enough to find out what happened?"--Inside front dust jacket.

Cars line up for the Winner's Cup, and with one car smaller than the rest, they all speed down mountains, by waterfalls, through tunnels, and past landslides to the finish line.

"There are about three thousand different kinds of cicadas but only the males make the sound we know. Some cicadas appear every year but other kinds only show up every seventeen years, but no one knows why. And there can be trillions of them! Interesting facts and a rhythmic, rhyming verse combine with colorful illustrations to portray one of the most fascinating insects in the world."--

When space debris damages the International Space Station's solar panels, José and his crew learn that they must be ready for anything while living in space.

"The thump of a heartbeat, the chirp of insects, the roar of a waterfall-sound is all around! Rhyming text and atmospheric illustrations present four children encountering all sorts of sounds"--

Sam and his team of archaeologists find and study ancient objects while on a dig at Angkor Wat, and later in the lab they use dating techniques to calculate the age of the artifacts they find.

"There are about three hundred species of octopus, and they look very unlike each other. There are many different sizes--from less than one inch up to twenty feet long. There are also octopuses in lots of colors because their skin can change color to match their moods. Interesting facts and a rhythmic, rhyming verse combine with colorful illustrations to portray on of the most interesting animals in the world."--

Dear Santa: please bring us a big hairy, scary MONSTER! This hilarious parody of the traditional carol stars two siblings who want something really special for their Christmas gift. Though Mom and Dad say no, Santa says yes.