Imagination

Take a bite out of this deliciously funny original fairy tale by a bestselling picture-book duo. While girls are sure to love a storyabout a princess's birthday party, Jack's adventures with trolls, bears, and gypsies make this an ideal read for boys, too.

When the king's priests declared Miri's village the home of the future princess, Miri, Britta, and the village's other girls attended the Princess Academy to learn how to be princesses. In the end, the prince chose Britta to be his bride.

Now Miri and five of her fellow graduates are leaving their mountain town to spend several months at the palace helping Britta prepare for the royal wedding. Miri's excited to help her friend, and to get a chance to study at the grandest school in the kingdom!

Illus. in full color. "Ringgold recounts the dream adventure of eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot, who flies above her apartment-building rooftop, the 'tar beach' of the title, looking down on 1939 Harlem. Part autobiographical, part fictional, this allegorical tale sparkles with symbolic and historical references central to African-American culture. The spectacular artwork resonates with color and texture. Children will delight in the universal dream of mastering one's world by flying over it. A practical and stunningly beautiful book."--(starred)Horn Book.

The entire book, with its unconventional page arrangement and eclectic, frenetic mix of text and picures, is a spoof on the art of book design and the art of the fairy tale. The individual tales, such as he Really Ugly Ducklingand ittle Red Running Shorts,can be extracted for telling aloud, with great success. Another masterpiece from the team that created The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! -Horn Book

From single-panel jokes to long graphic novels, comics come in endless shapes, sized, and styles. But when you think of it, they all do one thing: tell stories.