"Shut up in a trunk by a taciturn old sea captain with a secret, five friends--a king, a wolf, a girl, a boy, and an owl--bicker, boast, and comfort one another in the dark. Individually, they dream of song and light, freedom and flight, purpose and glory, but they all agree they are part of a larger story, bound each to each by chance, bonded by the heart's mysteries. When at last their shared fate arrives, landing them on a mantel in a blue room...

Gerald the elephant tells his best friend Piggie a long, crazy story about how he broke his trunk.

At the Hotel Balzaar, Marta's mother rises before the sun, puts on her uniform, and instructs Marta to roam as she will but quietly, invisibly like a little mouse. While her mother cleans rooms, Marta slips down the back staircase to the grand lobby to chat with the bellman, study the painting of an angel's wing over the fireplace, and watch a cat chase a mouse around the face of the grandfather clock, all the while dreaming of the return of her soldier...

"When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives. The tiger offers Lily a deal--if Lily will open her grandmother's star jars and return what she stole, the tiger will heal her grandmother. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice . . . and the courage to face a tiger"--Provided by...

Little Red Chicken shares with her Papa what she learned in school--that every good story must have an elephant of surprise. Papa laughs and explains that the word is element. Papa and Chicken go through story after story and discover surprises together.

A most unusual new student who loves to be the center of attention entertains her teacher and fellow second graders by telling absolutely true stories about herself, including how she got her name.

"Milo's mother is too busy to read him a story so she sends him outside to play in the snow where he discovers a story of his own"-- Provided by publisher.

In rhyming text, Mother mouse tells her child stories at bedtime.

A narrator's story is disrupted by the main character (Panda) who refuses to play the part.

Designed to encourage children to read original stories on their own. Includes ancient and modern stories from around the world.