Carole Lexa Schaefer

As she walks to the park with her school class, a young girl finds a piece of string which her imagination turns into a dragon's tail, an acrobat, fireworks, a storm cloud, and more.

A girl describes how sometimes she sees the changing moon as thin and silver like Grandpapa's dory boat, sometimes as a half circle like Mama's knitting basket, and sometimes round and chubby like the baby's cheeks.

When their mothers announce that it is bedtime, the baby animals of the forest express their objections; but when wise old Grandma Owl hoots that it's storytime, they respond differently.

After reading a book about dragons with their teacher, inventive preschoolers decide to make their own dragon out of colored paper, yarn, feathers, and . . . themselves! Soon theyre out the door, onto the playground, and into another world-the world of imagination. Becoming a magnificent dragon, the children dance over snowy mountains, through tall forests, and into whispery meadows, before returning to school for a wonderful birthday treat.

After a hot day on the African savannah, the animals begin to move and make sounds in the cool air of evening.

A young boy enjoys drinking his cocoa from a special cup that has been passed down through several generations of his family.

"Monkey and Elephant are very good friends who have a lot in common. They both like morning time. They both like shiny rocks. And they both like to hear their own voices: "TAH. TAH. TAH." But Monkey is Monkey and Elephant is Elephant. They are not exactly the same. So when Elephant starts to sneeze--achoo!--Monkey has her own ideas of what will make him feel better. And when Monkey gets the sniffles, Elephant has his own ideas of what will make her...

When Baby and Nonna head to the park for the day, what will they see? There's a squirrel -- Ciao, Squirrel! -- and a grasshopper -- Ciao, Grasshopper! Baby scoots over to meet them and share a friendly hello. Who else might be hiding around the park? Ciao, animals! Ciao, Baby!