Marion Dane Bauer

"Before the universe was formed, before time and space existed, there was . . . nothing. But then . . . BANG! Stars caught fire and burned so long that they exploded, flinging stardust everywhere. And the ash of those stars turned into planets. Into our Earth. And into us. In a poetic text, Marion Dane Bauer takes readers from the trillionth of a second when our universe was born to the singularities that became each one of us, while vivid illustrations...

"For most of Ben's life, he has been a kid without a mom. He has his dad, who knows Ben doesn't like oatmeal and always hugs Ben before bed. And he has Sunshine, his loyal little dog, who is never far from his side. But his mom, who left when he was young, has just been a story, faint in his memory. Now he's about to spend a whole week with her on her remote island in the middle of the northern Minnesota wilderness. Though he's nervous about bears...

Runt, the smallest wolf cub in the litter, seeks to prove himself to his father King and the rest of the pack and to earn a new name.

At her grandmother's log cabin, nine-year-old Liz is led to make contact with children she believes may be her ancestors.

When she goes to her grandmother's house for the first time, Zoey finds a tiny china doll that comes alive in her hands and believes that she is a princess and that Zoey is her servant.

While Kaye and her parents are driving during a bad snowstorm to her grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, their car spins off the road and they take refuge in a house where Kaye meets a ghost in a green cloak.

Which is the cutest critter in the land? Real-life photographs of baby bears, wolves, raccoons, and other animals lead children to the answer.

Illustrations and simple text explain three types of clouds, stratus, cumulus, and cirrus.

Simple text and illustrations explore the wonders of snow.

Illustrations and simple text explain what rain is, how it is used by plants, birds, and people, and the importance of clean water.