Petra Mathers

In their tiny Mexican village, Nanita’s cobbler father works so hard that he has no time to smile, much less make Nanita a pair of new shoes. Nanita decides to take on the task herself, fashioning multicolored shoes out of leather scraps. The magic shoes lead her to the desert, but soon she is forced to become the servant of a cruel ranchero, who loves to eat flan. Nanita becomes an expert flan chef — but will she ever find her way home? An engaging addition to units on traditional Mexican foods and magical realism.

Jack Prelutsky is the undisputed master of hilarious verse for the youngest child. And Petra Mathers, has no equal when it comes to bringing anything with fur or feathers uproariously to life. Put the two of them together -and you have a modern classic. Here are poems about people and animals, set in such far-flung places as Minot, Minneapolis, Tuscaloosa, Tucumcari, and the Grand Canyon. Impossible to read only once (and memorized by the third reading), these exuberant poems and irresistible pictures will be loved by children from Miami to Seattle.