In my various travels

today, I stopped in at the thriftstore to drop off some donations, and afterwards looked through the children's book section. A good idea, or a bad one, depending on your point of view, as I came away with nine books.
   I decided to share some of the joy. So, a quote from each book. The only problem is; I chose most of these books due in large part to their wonderful illustrations and that's rather, shall we say, limited on here. Oh well. I guess you'll just have to borrow them from the library.



"Harry was a white dog with black spots who liked everything, except... getting a bath. So one day when he heard the water running in the tub, he took the scrubbing brush... and buried it in the back yard. Then he ran away from home."
  
    -Harry, the Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham





"Brian found a salamander in the woods. It was a little orange salamander that crawled through the dried leaves of the forest floor.
   The salamander was warm and cozy in the boy's hand. 'Come live with me,' Brian said.
   He took the salamander home.
'Where will he sleep?' his mother asked.
'I will make him a salamander bed to sleep in. I will cover him with leaves that are fresh and green, and bring moss that looks like little stars to be a pillow for his head. I will bring crickets to sing him to sleep and bullfrogs to tell him good-night stories.'"
   
      -the Salamander Room, by Anne Mazer and illustrated by Steve Johnson







"'If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air," said the bunny, 'I will become a little boy and run into a house.
  'If you become a little boy and run into a house,' said the mother bunny, 'I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you.'
  'Shucks,' said the bunny, 'I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.'
  And so he did.
  'Have a carrot,' said the mother bunny."

     -The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd







"You can knit a kitten mittens
And perhaps that cat would purr.
You could fit a fox with socks
That exactly match his fur.

You could make a goat a coat
With a collar trimmed in mink;
Or give a pig a wig
In a dainty shade of pink.

But never tease a weasel;
This is very good advice.
A weasel will not like it
And teasing isn't nice!"

      -Never Tease a Weasel, by Jean Conder Soule and illustrated by Denman Hampson







"Often in the winter, when the wind drove with a roar over the prairies and came thundering up the creek, making the tepees shudder and strain, Little Wolf would listen to the wind and think it was the stampede of the buffaloes. Then he would snuggle warmly under the buffalo robe that was his blanket and would be thankful for the shelter of his home. And sometimes he would go very far down the shadow ways of sleep and would meet the buffaloes as they came up from the lake, with the water shining on their shaggy coats and their black horns gleaming in the moon. And the buffaloes would begin by being very terrible, shaking their great heads at him as if they intended to kill him there and then. But later they would come up close, and smell him, and change their minds, and be friendly after all.
   Little Wolf was only ten years old, but he could run faster than any of his friends. And the wildest pony was not too wild for him to catch and ride. But the great thing about him was that he had no fear. He knew that if an angry bull bison or a pack of prairie wolves ran him down, there would be nothing left of him but his bones. And he was well aware that if he fell into the hands of his people's enemies, the Assiniboins, he would be killed and scalped as neatly as could be. Yet none of these things terrified him. Only, being wise for his age, he had a clear understanding that, for the present, it was better to keep out of their way.
   But of all the thoughts that ran this way and that in his quick brain, the one that galloped the hardest was the thought of the great lake to the south where the buffaloes began. And as the days lengthened and he could smell springtime on the warm blowing air, the thought grew bigger and bigger in Little Wolf's mind. At last it was so very big that Little Wolf could not bear it any longer; and so, one morning, very early, before the village was awake, he crept out of the tepee and stole along below the junipers and tall firs till he came to the spot where the ponies were hobbled."

    -Where the Buffaloes Begin, by Olaf Baker and illustrated (beautifully) by Stephen Gammell







"'It's a submarine from another planet!' bellowed the coach.
'Call the police! Call the Navy!'
'No! It's a tadpole!' cried Louis. 'He's my pet!'
   The coach was upset and confused.
'You have until tomorrow,' he cried, 'to get that creature out of the pool!'

   -The Mysterious Tadpole, by Steven Kellogg and illustrated by same






"And the next morning someone had put up a sign that read:

NO DESSERTS EVER
UNLESS PUPPIES NEVER
DIG HOLES UNDER THIS
FENCE AGAIN!"

   -The Poky Little Puppy, by Janette Sebring Lowrey and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren







"'Henry,' shouted his mother as she got up off the ground. 'You learned to play dead!'
   'No, Ma,' cried Henry. 'I learned to play the flute. Listen.'
He stood up, took a deep breath, and played as he had never played before. Hearing the music the animals slowly returned to the clearing, and as they listened to Henry's concert, each added his own voice to the melody."

   -Henry Possum, by Harold Berson and illustrated by same







"'I think I'll have a bit of a soak,' Elliot's father announced.
'Wait!' Elliot said. 'I left my penguin in there.'
'I'll set him on the hamper and do my best not to splash.'


'ELLIOT!"


Elliot rushed to the door.
'Young man, where did this penguin come from?' Elliot's father demanded.
'The southern tip of Argentina,' Elliot said."

   -One Cool Friend, by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by David Small