Delightfully funny animal stories and beautifully detailed paintings certain to captivate children.

Delightfully funny animal stories and beautifully detailed paintings certain to captivate children.

A traditional African American tale about a tiny man who leaves home to become the biggest, loudest, meanest creature in the forest, but a wise owl shows him the foolishness of his wish.

Welcome to my inside flap. You know, most inside flaps in books try to sum up what the book's all about, and they usually have plenty of fancy terms like, "magically woven," or "packed with laughs," or "a triumph of the human spirit." And, of course, all of this is just a thinly veiled attempt to get you, the book browser, to buy the book. But not on my inside flap, no sir. I've got too many stories to tell, and I can't waste any space. So, with that in mind, here's a caption for the photograph of me on pages 58-59. I really enjoy a nice traditional Japanese steam bath. And so do my two lovely companions, Timori (left) and Masako. They're both flight attendants for a Japanese airline. And before you get any ideas, we're just friends. You know Tyra's the only one for me.

"The Man Book" is an essential life-skills handbook--a manual for everything a modern man needs to know, such as Things Never to Say During Sex, Hottest Animated Women, Fly Fishing, and much more.

What's so wrong with admiring from a distance? Mira's quirky puppy love for Chief Wenonga, a well-muscled fiberglass statue in her Minnesota small town, might be a safer love pursuit than online dating. But when the 23-foot Chief goes missing from his cement base, Mira's not the only citizen to be crushed. The town of Battle Lake is celebrating their statue's 25th anniversary and no amount of blue, sugar-soaked popcorn balls at Wenonga Days can uplift their gloomy mood. But when Mira runs into a dead body, the town has more pressing issues. Mira's second biggest crush, organic gardening god and dead ringer for Brad Pitt–Johnny Leeson–has disappeared. Her luck with men is running out, and a killer might be moving in. With something of her own to hide, Mira hopes she can avoid the police long enough to track down the object of her mega-crush–but is Mira trailing a statue-thief, a kidnapper, or a murderer? Praise: "Mira . . . is an amusing heroine in a town full of quirky characters."—Kirkus Reviews "[The] humor transcends both genders and makes for a delightful romp."—Fergus Falls Journal "Lourey's rollicking good cozy planted me in the heat of a Minnesota summer for a laugh-out-loud mystery ride."—Leann Sweeney, author of the Yellow Rose Mystery Series