David Milgrim

When Otto has trouble learning to swing on vines like his monkey friends, he decides to make his own swing set instead.

While on a Thanksgiving Day errand for her mother, a girl says thank you to all the things around her.

With help from his friend Otto the robot, Pip the mouse tries to fly.

"Do you ever feel as stubborn as a mule? Or as chicken as a chicken? Of course you do. Looks at the normal, natural feelings we all have"--

Monsters celebrate their individuality.

When Nicholas Duck, wearing a Santa hat and coat he found on his doorstep, goes looking for Santa to tell him what he wants for Christmas, all the other animals mistake him for Mr. Claus.

A dog named Lucky demonstrates opposites such as slow and fast, dry and wet, cold and warm, and here and there.

"Otto the robot and his friends contend with a storm"--

Illustrations and simple text relate how Zip, the unlucky alien magician, zaps Bip so they can play some ball, but things do not go according to plan when Bip grows so big that he flies away like a giant balloon. Includes note to parents, introduction tothe books vocabulary, and reading comprehension questions.

Every Christmas, Nicholas Duck helps Santa by collecting gift lists, but this year his little brothers and sister create havoc when they try to help, leading Nicholas to contemplate the true meaning of Christmas.