Baseball-playing rhinos crack dingers out of the park, rip grass-cutting grounders across the field, and rally in the bottom of the ninth. Includes a glossary of "catch phrases."

“Laugh-out-loud fun…A winner in every way.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Funny and good-hearted.” —Publishers Weekly A boy who loves baseball must get past his hard-working immigrant parents—and the rhino in the outfield—to become a batboy in this laugh-out-loud middle grade novel in the tradition of The Sandlot. Nick wants to change his life. For twelve years, he’s done what his hard-working, immigrant parents want him to do. Now he’s looking for his own American dream and he thinks he’s found it. The local baseball team is having a batboy contest, and Nick wants to win. But the contest is on a Saturday—the day Nick has to work in his father’s shop. There’s one other tiny—well, not so tiny—problem. A 2,000-pound rhinoceros named Tank. Nick and his friends play ball in the city zoo—and Tank lives just beyond the right field fence. Nick’s experience getting the ball out of Tank’s pen has left him frozen with fear whenever a fly ball comes his way. How’s a lousy fielder going to win the contest? Nick practices every day with his best friend, Ace, and a new girl who has an impressive throwing arm! But that’s not enough—to get to the contest, Nick has to lie to his parents and blackmail his uncle. All while dodging the school bully, who’s determined to win even by playing dirty. Nick will need to keep his eye on the ball in this fast, funny story about a game that can throw you some curveballs—just like life!

With the help of four big brothers, Nicky Jones learns to play football, becomes a spectacular player, and shocks teammates with a revelation no one anticipates.

A new chapter book series from Major League Baseball's 2006 National League MVP, Ryan Howard! Every day when Little Rhino comes home from school, he finishes his homework, grabs his bat, his glove, and runs outside to meet Grandpa James. They always practice catching and hitting in the backyard. Playing baseball with grandfather is Little Rhino's favorite thing to do, especially when he pretends to be a real Major League homerun hitter.One afternoon, after a long day of second grade, Little Rhino comes home to find out that Grandpa James has signed him up for a baseball league! Little Rhino will finally be a part of a team! But Little Rhino will quickly learn that is not always so easy to a good teammate, especially when there's a bully wearing the same uniform as you.From Major League Baseball superstar Ryan Howard and his wife, Krystle Howard, a former elementary school teacher, this exciting new series is a fun read for sports and book fans alike!

Whether used for thematic story times, program and curriculum planning, readers' advisory, or collection development, this updated edition of the well-known companion makes finding the right picture books for your library a breeze. Generations of savvy librarians and educators have relied on this detailed subject guide to children's picture books for all aspects of children's services, and this new edition does not disappoint. Covering more than 18,000 books published through 2017, it empowers users to identify current and classic titles on topics ranging from apples to zebras. Organized simply, with a subject guide that categorizes subjects by theme and topic and subject headings arranged alphabetically, this reference applies more than 1,200 intuitive (as opposed to formal catalog) subject terms to children's picture books, making it both a comprehensive and user-friendly resource that is accessible to parents and teachers as well as librarians. It can be used to identify titles to fill in gaps in library collections, to find books on particular topics for young readers, to help teachers locate titles to support lessons, or to design thematic programs and story times. Title and illustrator indexes, in addition to a bibliographic guide arranged alphabetically by author name, further extend access to titles.

Use these 100 handy reproducible book lists to instantly create hand-outs for teachers and parents (as well as for older readers), to add to your newsletter, or to post on your Web site or bulletin board. Based on the most common needs of educators and librarians who work with young readers, these lists focus on new titles, as well as classics that are still in print and readily available for purchase. Fiction and nonfiction titles for ages 5-14 are covered. Bibliographic information and a brief description are given for each title. A dozen bookmarks are also included. This is a great time-saving tool and a good source for finding extended reading lists and read-alikes! Looking for folktales from China for elementary children? An informational children's book for a middle school science class? A list of books on the topic of compassion? A sampling of ABC books? These lists and more can be found in Nancy Keane's treasury of great reading lists for children. This versatile guide provides reproducible book lists based on the most common needs of educators and librarians who work with young readers. There are lists for standard curriculum areas (e.g., math, social studies, science), other areas of study such as character education and values, genres (e.g., pop-up, memoirs, ABC books), themes (e.g., animals, food, sports), and read-alikes (on bookmarks). You'll find 100 reproducible lists of fiction and nonfiction books for ages 5-14 (elementary/middle) that you can use to create hand-outs for teachers and parents (as well as for older readers), put in your newsletter, or post on your Web site or bulletin board. Focus is on new titles and classics that are still in print and readily available for purchase. On each list, titles are grouped according to grade level. Room to customize with your library logo or clipart is provided on each reproducible sheet. Bibliographic information and a brief description are given for each title. A dozen bookmarks are also included. This is a great time-saving tool and a good source for finding extended reading lists and read-alikes! Grades K-8.

Summer is over and our rhino friends have hung up their surfboards, grabbed their snowboards, and taken to the slopes. colorful watercolors from Julie Mammano capture an epic day of snowboarding for these totally aggro rhinos. They catch air, take insane gaps and charge the steeps until it's time to head home and chill in the cabin, dreaming of their next ride. Snowboarders and those who dream of boarding will love these adorably extreme rhinos and a glossary of snowboarding speak is included to boost anyone's boarding know-how.