Tony Johnston

Illustrations and easy-to-read text reveal the secrets of letters, including their power to create words of all kinds.

A boy cares for, feeds, and helps an abused stray dog to learn to trust humans again.

Standing tall above the tree line, Sequoia stretches his ancient arms and gathers clouds to him. He watches as days, seasons, years pass by. His branches are home to owls and choirs of frogs. Beneath his broad canopy, a world grows. This is his story.

The beauty and spirit of Christmas resounds in the melodic chimes of a church bell in this lyrical picture book by well-known author Tony Johnston with breathtaking illustrations by watercolor artist Cheng-Khee Chee. On Christmas Eve, people bundle up in the cold and follow the sounds of the bell to gather in celebration. Creatures great-children, dogs, cats, and birds-and small stop to listen as a brass band marches through town. The poetry and imagery...

In 1950s Tennessee, ten-year-old David's racist father refuses to let him associate with his best friend Malcolm, an African American boy.

Living in the Bloggins School boiler room isn't glamorous, but that's life for Martha Snapdragon, daughter of the beleaguered janitor. Life only gets weirder when Martha realizes bizarre events are afoot at the school. There's the dastardly dealings of evil principal Dr. Klunk and school bully Rufus. There's the dozen dancing eggs and the misbehaving dragons, property of the mysterious science teacher. And then there's the strangest thing of all:...

A pioneer mother lovingly stitches a beautiful quilt which warms and comforts her daughter Abigail; many years later another mother mends and patches it for her little girl.

Each day, from September through November, brings glimpses of forest animals seeking food in preparation for the onset of winter, from a fox sniffing the last apple on the ground to a flock of wild turkeys that finds nothing.

The antics of ten fat turkeys on a fence illustrate counting from ten to one.

As the plum tree changes in the passing seasons so do the lives of a three-generation farm family.