Everyday, John Patrick sets off along the road to school, andalthough he hurries, strange and improbable happenings repeatedlymake him late. To make things worse, his teacher never believes hisstory. The author has also written "Would You Rather", "Mr Grumpy'sOuting" and "Granpa".

The nasty Swish Train drivers have challenged Duffy and Jackto a race and when the flag goes down, the Swish Train speeds outof sight!

Mice, a rottweiler, an arachnid and a few other assorted critters make sturdy reappearances in five board book versions of picture books. In Ellen Stoll Walsh's Mouse Paint, "three white mice on a white piece of paper" enjoy a colorful romp, while in Walsh's Mouse Count a similar gaggle narrowly escapes being served for dinner (Harcourt/Red Wagon, $6 each, 28p, ages 1-3 ISBN 0-15-200265-0; -200266-9 Sept.). Yet another mouse searches the animal kingdom for companionship?and finds an unexpected respondent?in Eric Carle's Do You Want to Be My Friend? (HarperFestival, $6.95, 32p, ages 2-6, ISBN 0-694-00709-9 Sept.). The rewards of industriousness are celebrated in a second Carle title, The Very Busy Spider; its embossed web brings a tactile dimension to his familiar collage artwork (Philomel, $9.95, 26p, ages 2-up ISBN 0-399-22919-1 Aug.). Finally, the canine in question is Alexandra Day's beloved Carl, who takes charge of a crew of toddlers in Carl Goes to Day Care (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $5.95, ages 1-3 ISBN

When Little Bear's shadow gets in the way of his catching afish, he decides to get rid of it. No matter what he does though,it won't go away! Bear tries everything he can think of to get ridof his shadow.

This rollicking story-in-verse is about a determined young pigwho absolutely refuses to leave her mud puddle--much to the dismayof her family! Charlotte Pomerantz's tongue-twisting nonsenseverse--made even more exuberantly hilarious by James Marshall'sillustrations--is sure to delight both children and adults.

Children love the bright, busy pages of the Little Red Trainseries. When Duffy the driver is told to keep going until the lightschange, that’s exactly what he does -- and he doesn’t even noticethat he’s driven Little Red Train right under the sea toFrance!

When two children climb over the garden wall of the big house,they embark on a voyage of discovery. For this uncharted territoryreveals a topiary ship, complete with a wheelhouse that looksrather like a garden shed. It isn't long before the shipowner comesacross the stowaways, but their communal sense of adventure isdestined to see them all through the eye of the storm!

Walker Books Ltd

A magical book whose dreamy artwork perfectly captures the twilightworld of a small child, determined not to go to sleep.