Arthur Yorinks

The plot of this book, for 4-year-olds and up, involves the travails of Al, a janitor who lives in a dingy apartment on Manhattan's West Side with his dog Eddie. One day, a funny-looking bird sticks its huge head through Al's bathroom window and proposes a journey to a terrific place where there are "no worries" and "no cares." Al agrees and takes Eddie with him. What the two experience is paradise--butterflies, wildflowers, chirping birds and cool streams--but it soon gives way to the uncertainties of being away from home, and a moral: that home is where the heart is. This sharp, wry and tender story, which won the 1987 Caldecott Medal, marks Yorinks' and Egielski's fourth highly praised collaborative work.

In this scary story, a witch who desires a child of her own makes a rag doll but cannot bring it to life. In her anger, she decides if she cant have a child, no one can. Then a little girl stumbles into the witchs house and discovers the doll, and her affection for the doll brings it to life. Full color.