Max, a dancing bear with the Moscow Circus, teaches his friend Boris how to dance.

Boris receives dancing lessons from his friend Max, a dancing bear with the Moscow Circus.

"Having learned from the father he admires so much that the world is filled with things too special for any one person to own, a boy is upset to hear that he and his father are owned by the man in the big house where they work."--Publisher's description.

A wild bear escapes capture and returns to his beloved home in the mountains, where he enjoys dancing to the sounds of nature.

A peasant's song comparing himself to the Tsar brings him an audience with the ruler.

Fresh as the first daffodil of spring, this story about finding a new home and new friends is filled with stunning folk-art illustrations of the natural world, giving it a look as cozy as the frog house itself. Full color.

A child's delight in a new pair of shoes is the same all over the world, whether the shoes are patent-leather sandals, straw alpargatas, deerskin moccasins, or wooden clogs. For Mako, a little Japanese girl, the new shoes were clogs painted with red lacquer that shone beautifully. This is the story of what happened after she cracked the new clogs playing the weather-telling game and so longed for a bright, shiny new pair to replace them that she almost did a dishonest thing. The warmth and quiet understanding of the grandmother who, remembering her own temptations as a little girl, recalls this story for her granddaughter, makes A Pair of Red Clogs especially moving. Kazue Mizumura's charming illustrations are as delicate and graceful as the story itself.