Four fairy tales featuring a stupid coppersmith's son, a witch unhappy in her profession, a gnome with power to change things, and a fat, bespectacled Jewish boy who hopes to marry a princess.

The classic children’s collection: four fantastical stories filled with wit and wisdom, humor and heart In this wonderful collection of fairy tales, John Gardner turns a timeless tradition into a topsy-turvy whirlwind. In the title story, a kindly simpleton unwittingly becomes sovereign of an avian race. A wicked witch seeks a new profession—and, thus, identity—in “The Witch’s Wish.” In “The Pear Tree,” a sweet young boy is rewarded for his good deeds. And “The Gnome and the Dragon” presents a realm so mixed-up not even the reader can distinguish reality from illusion. With tongue-in-cheek wit and laugh-out-loud humor, Gardner has created a world that will delight readers of all ages.

A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book From the bestselling author of A Snicker of Magic comes a heartfelt story about a girl who -- armed with her trusty, snazzy wheelchair -- refuses to let her brittle bone disease stand in the way of adventure Twelve-year-old homeschooled Olive is tired of being seen as "fragile" just because she has osteogenesis imperfecta (otherwise known as brittle bone disease) so she's thrilled when she finally convinces her parents to let her attend Macklemore Elementary. Olive can't wait to go to a traditional school and make the friends she's always longed for, until a disastrous first day dashes her hopes of ever fitting in. Then Olive hears whispers about a magical, wish-granting hummingbird that supposedly lives near Macklemore. It’ll be the solution to all her problems! If she can find the bird and prove herself worthy, the creature will make her most desperate, secret wish come true. When it becomes clear that she can't solve the mystery on her own, Olive teams up with some unlikely allies who help her learn the truth about the bird. And on the way, she just might learn that our fragile places lead us to the most wonderful magic of all...

The country's most noted writers, poets, and artists converge at a singular moment in American life, a great companion to fans of the film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson. At the close of the Civil War, the lives of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade intersected in an intricate map of friendship, family, and romance that marked a milestone in the development of American art and literature. Using the image of a flitting hummingbird as a metaphor for the gossamer strands that connect these larger-than-life personalities, Christopher Benfey re-creates the summer of 1882, the summer when Mabel Louise Todd-the protégé to the painter Heade-confesses her love for Emily Dickinson's brother, Austin, and the players suddenly find themselves caught in the crossfire between the Calvinist world of decorum, restraint, and judgment and a new, unconventional world in which nature prevails and freedom is all.

An Aztec princess describes the Spanish conquest of Mexico. She is Huitzitzlin, 82, of the court of Montezuma and she tells her tale to a priest so history will know who the Aztecs really were. By the author of The Memories of Ana Calderon.

Provides full-color photographs that chronicle the life of a hummingbird, following the story of Honey, an adult female, and her two chicks, Ray and Zen, including building a nest, laying the eggs, hatching, and their first flight.

This book is devoted solely to hummingbird gardening and is a practical guide to cultivating flowers and other plants that will attract the hummingbirds of North America to your home and garden. You will be able to grow flowers in profusion and provide nectar for these smallest of birds, which hover on fast-beating wings while they drink from flowers including pink Chinese lantern, bladderpod, woolly blue curls, scarlet sage, penstemon, columbine, long strips of fuschia, and many others. The Hummingbird Garden is packed with pertinent information, from a description of what hummingbird gardening is all about to how hummingbirds can be conserved and protected. Tekulsky explains the extraordinary way hummingbirds live and behave, the regions they inhabit throughout the year, and their migrating habits. He discusses how to start your own garden by recommending what to plant and then outlines what interesting events will take place in it. The valuable appendixes give complete information on hummingbird and plant varieties, bird and conservation organizations, and mail-order sources, as well as an extensive bibliography. Beautiful color photos throughout show many different types of hummingbirds enjoying their wonderfully active lives in gardens created expressly for them.