Because she has been very ill and weak, River cannot join in the dancing at this year's tribal powwow, she can only watch from the sidelines as her sisters and cousins dance the celebration--but as the drum beats she finds the faith to believe that she will recover and dance again.

"This perennial Dickensian favorite about a miser's startling change of heart is illustrated by Italian artist Roberto Innocenti and reissued for the readers of all the Christmases Yet To Come"--

Sickly Astor Wood is sent to his grandmother's for the summer where he will, no doubt, be miserable, friendless, and bored. He unexpectedly finds a magical portal to other worlds within his granny's attic and is soon whisked away to adventure and mystery. He's faced with the choice of being a healthy, heroic universal traveler or returning to his home and family on Earth. It seems the choice is made for him when he can't find the portal back to his...

"On a cold winter's eve, deep in the woods, a mother shrew frets about her sick young son. His head is cold and his feet are hot, and there is only one thing that can cure him: wild honey from the moon. Mother Shrew does not stop to wonder how she will make such an impossible journey. Instead, she grabs her trusty red umbrella, gives her darling son a kiss, and sets out into the unknown. Along the way, Mother Shrew encounters one obstacle after another,...