Andrew Larsen

A young boy wants to write a story, just like his big sister. But there's a problem, he tells her. Though he knows his letters, he doesn't know many words. His sister patiently explains, "Every story starts with a single word and every word starts with a single letter. Why don't you start there, with a letter?" So the boy tries. He writes a letter. An easy letter. The letter I. And from that one skinny letter, the story grows, and the little boy discovers...

"Lovable pup Sally is looking a little shaggy, so her owners are taking her to the groomer. It smells like a garden and Sally sees brushes and bows galore. Then it's time for a bath. Once she's squeaky clean and blow-dried, Sally gets brushed, snipped and clipped. When her owners arrive--surprise--everyone has fancy new hairdos"--

In this wondrous picture book bursting with mixed-media art, an imaginary garden is the center of a special relationship between a girl and her grandfather.

"Lenny loves baseball. And not just playing baseball -- he loves reading about it, too. Lenny thinks the more he knows, the better he'll play ... and he needs all the help he can get! But it's not until he comes across some interesting information in his Big Book of Baseball Facts -- Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, two of the best hitters in baseball history, failed most of the time! -- that Lenny realizes his odds are pretty good! With renewed determination...

"The story itself is simple. Boy gets up, boy goes to school, boy comes home from school, boy goes to bed. Boy seems a bit grumpy, until the end of the day when he comes home to his cat, who he clearly loves. The boys story is told in a traditional picture book style--in the meantime, the cat's story is told in graphic panels. Throughout the entire book, the boy tells the reader how much he dislikes stories, all kinds of stories inspired by his surroundings...

What if everywhere you looked, you saw something to make? Instead of seeing something broken, you saw something to fix? Instead of seeing something to throw out, you saw something to give away? This is how Nelson Molina sees the world. A former employee for the New York City sanitation department, Nelson saved over 45,000 objects from the garbage to fix and show his community through his museum, Treasures in the Trash. Explore the hidden potential...