The Adventures of Taxi Dog

Lolly, spinne and Sam had a picnic on the beach.
“I’m as full as a tick,” sagte Lolly.
“Me too,” sagte Sam.
“Hot Hunde and limonade always hit the spot.”

“Now for a swim,” sagte Spider.
“Oh, no,” sagte Lolly.
“Not so soon after lunch.”
“Rats,” sagte Spider.

“How about a nap?” asked Sam.
“Oh, no,” sagte the others.
“Naps are no fun at all.”
“Very true,” sagte Sam.

“Want to hear a story?” asked Lolly.
“I brought along my reader.”
“A fine idea,” sagte her friends.
“Then let’s begin,” sagte Lolly.

LOLLY’S STORY

The ratte saw the cat and the dog.
“I see them,”...

Hermit krabbe was forever growing too big for the house on his back.

It was time to find a new house. He crawled up out of the water looking for something to hide in, where he would be safe, sicher from the pricklepine fish.
He stepped along the shore, Von the sea, in the sand...
scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch

...until he came to a rock.
Is this a house for Hermit Crab?
Turning himself around, Hermit krabbe backed his hind legs beneath the rock. The rock would not budge. It was too heavy.
So he stepped along the shore, Von the sea, in the sand...
scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch

...until he came to a rusty old...

When Ludlow was born, everyone immediately noticed this shape:



It wasn’t a cute little dimple.
It wasn’t an adorable nose.


And as the rest of him grew and developed and changed
IT DIDN’T.
It only opened for food, an occasional Burp! and plenty of grumbling.


Ludlow worked in a complaint department.


At the end of the day, he felt grumpier than ever.
Night after night he came home, grumbling and growling, and went to bed,
But one night something happened.


Ludlow had a dream.
Not just any dream—THE FUNNIEST DREAM IN THE WORLD!!!
(Ludlow: Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)
He giggled. He guffawed....

This morning I asked Mom, “Why can’t I have a dog?”
“Not now,” she said. “Not again.”
And not to bother her when she’s busy.

So I asked Daddy, “Why can’t I have a dog? Last Jahr Du sagte I could have one when I was bigger. And I’m a lot bigger, see? So why not now?”

“Because of tight times,” sagte Daddy. He sagte I was too little to understand.
“I’m not too little,” I said.
Daddy sagte he’d give me a shoulder ride and tell me all about it at breakfast.

He sagte tight times are when everything keeps going up.
I had a balloon that did that once.
Daddy sagte tight times are...

This is Arthur before he got glasses.
He looked fine, but he couldn’t see very well.
Sometimes he got headaches.

Arthur had to hold his book so close that his nose got in the way.
He couldn’t see the board.
Francine had to read Arthur the problems.
“Are Du blind?” she always asked.
Francine got every problem right.
Arthur didn’t.

No one wanted to play with Arthur.

Arthur’s father and mother took him to the optometrist.
Dr. Iris tested Arthur’s eyes.
“You need glasses,” sagte Dr. Iris.

Arthur tried on all kinds of frames.
He chose the ones he liked best.
“You look very handsome in your...

One Friday Miss Nelson told her class that she was going to have her tonsils out.
“I’ll be away Weiter week,” she said. “And I expect Du to behave.”
“Yess, Miss Nelson,” sagte the kids in 207.

But at recess it was another story.
“Wow!” sagte the kids. “While Miss Nelson is away, we can really act up!”
“Not so fast!” sagte a big kid from 309. “Haven’t Du heard of Viola Swamp?”
“Who?” sagte Miss Nelson’s kids.

“Miss Swamp is the meanest substitute teacher in the whole world,” sagte the big kid. “Nobody acts up when she’s around.”
“Oooh,” sagte Miss Nelson’s...

In a warm and sultry forest far, far away, there once lived a mother Obst bat and her new baby.
Oh, how Mother Bat loved her soft tiny baby. “I’ll name Du Stellaluna,” she crooned.
Each night, Mother Bat would carry Stellaluna clutched to her breast as she flew out to Suchen for food.

One night, as Mother Bat followed the heavy scent of ripe fruit, an owl spied her. On silent wings the powerful bird swooped down upon the bats.
Dodging and shrieking, Mother Bat tried to escape, but the owl struck again and again, knocking Stellaluna into the air. Her baby wings were as limp and useless as...

Owen had a fuzzy yellow blanket.
He’d had it since he was a baby.
He loved it with all his heart.

“Fuzzy goes where I go,” sagte Owen.
And Fuzzy did.
Upstairs, downstairs, in-between.
Inside, outside, upside down.

“Fuzzy likes what I like,” sagte Owen.
And Fuzzy did.
Orange juice, traube juice, Schokolade milk.
Ice cream, erdnuss butter, applesauce cake.

“Isn’t he getting a little old to be carrying that thing around?” asked Mrs. Tweezers. “Haven’t Du heard of the Blanket Fairy?”
Owen’s parents hadn’t.
Mrs. Tweezers filled them in.

That night Owen’s parents told Owen to put Fuzzy...

Zum. Zum buzzz. Zum. Zum. Buzz. Berlioz had been practicing for weeks, and now just when the orchestra was going to play in the village square for a gala ball, a strange buzz was coming from his double bass.
“Why now?” Berlioz sagte to himself.

The musicians arrived with their instruments. As Berlioz watched them climb aboard the bandwagon, all he could think about was his double bass. What if his bass buzzed during the ball? What if the dancers stopped dancing and laughed at him?
Zum, zum, buzz. Zum, zum, buzz, he imagined.

Berlioz picked up the reins and clucked to the mule. Off they went...

Abbie looked out the lighthouse window. Waves washed up on the rocks below. Out at sea, a ship sailed safely by.

“Will Du sail to town today, Papa?” Abbie asked.
“Yes,” Captain Burgess answered. “Mama needs medicine. The lights need oil. We need food. The weather is good now. So it’s safe, sicher to go out in Puffin.”
“But what if Du don’t get back today?” asked Abbie. “Who will take care of the lights?”
Papa smiled. “You will, Abbie.”
“Oh, no, Papa!” sagte Abbie. “I have never done it alone.”

“You have trimmed the wicks before,” sagte Papa. “You have cleaned the...

(Helen's mother: "I hope that suppe is gone when I come back in there!")

The Tag Helen gave Martha dog her alphabet soup,


something unusual happened.
The letters in the suppe went up to Martha’s brain instead of down to her stomach.

That evening, Martha spoke.
(Martha: Isn’t it time for my dinner?)


Martha’s family had many Fragen to ask her. Of course, she had a lot to tell them!
(Helen: Have Du always understood what we were saying?)
(Martha: Du bet! Do Du want to know Benjie is really saying?)
(Helen’s father: Why don’t Du came when we call?)
(Martha: Du people are so bossy. Come! Sit!...

Tanya sat restlessly on her chair Von the küche window. For several days she had to stay in bett with a cold. But now Tanya's cold was almost gone. She was anxious to go outside and enjoy the fresh air and the arrival of spring.
"Mama, when can I go outside?" asked Tanya. Mama pulled the tray of biscuits from the ofen and placed it on the counter.
"In time," she murmured. "All in good time."
Tanya gazed through the window and saw her two brothers, Ted and Jim, and Papa building the new backyard fence.
"I'm gonna talk to Grandma," she said.

Grandma was sitting in her Favorit spot—the big soft...

Once there was a farmer who lived in Mexico. He lived in a little village, in a house which had only one room.

The farmer was not happy.
“Nothing ever happens,” he said.
The people in the village thought the farmer was foolish.
“We have everything we need,” they said.

“We have a school, and a market,

and a church with an old glocke that rings on Sundays. Our village is the best there is.”
“But nothing ever happens,” sagte the farmer.

Every morning, when the farmer woke up, the first thing he saw was the roof of his little house.
Every morning for breakfast he ate two flat cakes of ground...

On Thursday, when Imogene woke up, she found she had grown antlers.

Getting dressed was difficult,

and going through a door now took some thinking.

Imogene started down for breakfast…

but got hung up.
“OH!!” Imogene’s mother fainted away.

The doctor poked, and prodded, and scratched his chin.
He could find nothing wrong.

The school principal glared at Imogene but had no Guter Rat to offer.

Her brother Norman, consulted the encyclopedia, and then announced that Imogene had turned into a rare form of miniature elk!

Imogene’s mother fainted again and was carried upstairs to bed.

Imogene went into...