In Mikko's family, when a son is ready to marry, he must chop down a tree and then search for his bride by following the direction in which the tree points. When Mikko's brother chops down his tree, it points right to where his sweetheart lives. But when it's Mikko's turn, the tree points toward the deep, dark woods. What type of sweetheart can Mikko expect to find there? Though his brother taunts that the only wife Mikko will find in the forest will be a wolf or a fox, Mikko sets off optimistically. There he meets the most unusual of sweethearts, but one who proves that with an open heart and mind, love can be rewarded in the most surprising and unexpected ways. With luminous illustrations by Leonid Gore, Aaron Shepard retells a classic Finnish folktale that will delight young readers time and time again.

A brave mouse, a covetous rat, a wishful serving girl, and a princess named Pea come together in Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Medal–winning tale. Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out. With black-and-white illustrations and a refreshed cover by Timothy Basil Ering.

The Mouse Princess is the tale of a beautiful princess named Princess Eleanor who gets magically transformed into an adorable, little mouse after a deal is made wrong with an evil sorcerer. She must find a way to transform back into a princess before the strike of midnight the next day.

Here is the story of Despereaux, a mouse small in size but great in courage. He is a mouse who loves books, his code of honor, and a princess named Pea.

The spirit of nationalism that swept over the small peoples of Europe in the early nineteenth century touched faraway Finland and started the Finns on the quest of the Finnish. There as elsewhere scholars who were also patriots found that the native tongue, lost to the educated and the well-to-do, had been preserved in the songs and stories which were current among the peasants. Elias Lönnrot spent a long and busy life collecting those ancient runos from which he succeeded in building up a national epic, the Kalevala. This is Lönnrot's great contribution to his own country and to the world. Beside the material for the Kalevala Lönnrot made important collections of lyrics, proverbs, and stories. During his time and since other patriot scholars have made faithful records of the songs and tales which the old Finnish minstrels, the runolaulajat, chanted to the strains of the kantele. The mass of such material now gathered together in the archives of the Society of Finnish Literature at Helsingfors is imposing in bulk and of great importance to the student of comparative folklore.

This engaging retelling of a folktale from Finland begins as Mikko begins his search for a bride by following the tradition of cutting down a tree and following the direction the fallen tree points. But Mikko's tree points toward the deep dark woods. Fate surprises Mikko when he meets the most unusual of sweethearts there. Full-color illustrations.

A collection of nineteen happy stories featuring the Disney princesses.