He hates to take baths or wash his ears, so each night when his mother reminds him to bathe, he only pretends to. One morning he wakes up to find a squash plant growing out of his ear. As the plant gets larger, Carlos has to find increasingly ingenious ways to hide it until he finally finds a genuine solution. This classic, available in several formats, can be read to a very young child, but somewhat older children too will enjoy watching this little gardener succeed. Just as with other picture books by Henkes, you ll read this one over and over and probably never tire of it.
Ping is a little boy with a green thumb.
The Emperor, who loves flowers, gives a flower seed to each child in the kingdom and proclaims that whoever grows the best flower will become the next Emperor. For some mysterious reason, Ping s flower doesn t grow, but his honesty helps him triumph in the end. Demi s beautifully illustrated retelling of a wonderful Chinese tale is a story about trying, not giving up, and succeeding by dealing honestly with a difficult situation. Each fairy is a winged child holding the flower he is named for and dressed in matching clothing. A short informative poem about each flower accompanies the illustration.