Madlenka

Three-time Caldecott Honoree Peter Sis rides the rising tide of soccer enthusiasm to score another winner. Madlenka-that cosmopolitan little girl whose city block is a world of its own-is back and ready to play! When she dribbles her brand new soccer ball out the door and around the corner, it seems that everyone wants to get in the game-the mailbox, a dog, even a parking meter, but especially all the neighborhood cats, and there are enough of them to make a team. But they're no match for Madlenka, who scores the winning goal.

A trip around a city block is like a trip around the world! Peeking out through a die-cut window on the jacket, Madlenka invites the reader to enter her world. And what a world it is! On the surface, it looks like an ordinary city block, but as we meet Madlenka's neighbors-the French baker, the Indian news vendor, the Italian ice-cream man, the Latin American grocer, a retired opera singer from Germany, an African American school friend, and the Asian shopkeeper-and look through die-cut windows to the images and memories they have carried from old country to new, we can see that Madlenka's block is as richly varied as its inhabitants. And why is Madlenka going around the block, jumping for joy? Her tooth is loose, and she wants everyone to know!

Note to Readers: Double-tap on images with golden borders to see more! Another delightful romp around Madlenka's city block Madlenka wants a dog! She doesn't really care what kind, so long as it's a dog that she can put on a leash and walk around the block. But her mother and father say NO! What is Madlenka to do? It just takes some imagination... Madlenka's friends on the block all play along, remembering the dogs of their childhood, and in the end it seems quite possible that there's more to Madlenka's dog than we can see. With his considerable charm, Peter Sís uses lift-up flaps and peek-through windows to bring us into Madlenka's magical world where play and fantasy make wishes come true.