New Toddler Tales- December 2008 |
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Fast Food by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann When you see piles of veggies lying sedately around the corner store, you'd never guess all that produce really wants to go, go, GO! But Saxton Freymann did, and he's transformed those basking berries and lazy legumes into vehicles of every size and speed. Kids everywhere will thrill over the array of transportation methods on display, from enormous rockets and grand ocean liners to the simplest mechanism of all: your feet. And as always, Freymann's clever vegetable sculptures delight the eye and tickle the funny bone. Hurry up and grab some Fast Food! |
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Sea Wishing Day by Robert Heidbreder Ahoy, mateys! Let's hop a ship and sail away! On a hot summer day, a wish transforms an urban backyard into a place of breezy high-seas adventure. As our bold Captain and Skipper ride the salty waves, they encounter a beastly sea monster, buried treasure, a scurvy pirate crew, lovely mermaids and more. The creative pair who brought you the acclaimed I Wished for a Unicorn offer up another celebration of the boundless distances a childhood wish can travel. With rich, spirited illustrations and sparkling rhymes that beg to be repeated, A Sea-Wishing Day is a spellbinding voyage into the imagination. Anchors aweigh! |
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Pink by Nan Gregory Vivi is dizzy with wanting pink — the kind the rich girls have, beyond the budget of her beloved truck driver dad. One day in the window of a fancy toy store she sees something that’s just right — a bride doll in a dress of perfect glistening pink. Vivi wants it more than anything. She saves and saves for it, walking the neighbors’ dog and running errands for them. However when she takes her parents to show them the precious doll, something surprising happens. Nan Gregory's touching story about what’s really important features vibrant images by illustrator Luc Melanson. |
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Once Upon A Cloud by Rob D. Walker "What are clouds made of, and why do they float? Are skies the water and clouds the boat?" From cotton candy that melts in your mouth to comfy cushions where birds take their naps, clouds take on many shapes in our imaginations. This whimsical picture book by newcomer Robert Walker and acclaimed illustrator Matt Mahurin takes young readers on a fantastic journey through the skies, leading them eventually to sleep: "I know what they are, I've figured it out. Clouds are just dreams that wander about . . ." |
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Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard Bird wakes up feeling grumpy. Too grumpy to eat or play -- too grumpy even to fly. "Looks like I'm walking today," says Bird. He walks past Sheep, who offers to keep him company. He walks past Rabbit, who also could use a walk. Raccoon, Beaver, and Fox join in, too. |
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I Spy Shapes in Art by Lucy Micklethwait Each of the fourteen magnificent paintings in this book contains a different shape for you to find. Some are easy to spot, and others are more challenging. But take a closer look -- after you think you've found them all, there are even more shapes to look at and discover. I Spy Shapes in Art features a remarkable variety of artists from around the world, including Georgia O'Keeffe, Henri Matisse, and M.C. Escher. This picture book pairs a classic game with timeless art, making it the perfect way to introduce fine art to children.
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The Painted Circus by Wallace Edwards The weird and wonderful artistry of award-winner Wallace Edwards brings you The Painted Circus, a showstopper of a book where the eye is tricked, bamboozled, hoodwinked and flimflammed ... but finally rewarded when all mysteries are revealed after the grand finale! P.T. Vermin, ringmouse extraordinaire, ushers patrons into the Big Top to behold 22 astonishing stunts, including Norwegian Marching Ducks, the Spectral Sphere and the Flying Fishtastics, each featuring an eye-opening optical illusion. It's all here -- fabulous phenomena, impossible objects, moving patterns, visual distortions and topsy-turvy geometric illusions! Each page encourages kids to get into the act by solving the visual puzzles in every image -- and they will delight in spinning, flipping, tilting and making funny faces at the book as they do so. Entertainment for the whole family, Wallace Edwards's tour de force is a work of art that will leave readers spellbound by the power of perception and the magic of imagination. |
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Lickety-Split by Robert Heidbreder Hippity-hop on board for a read-aloud adventure that will make heads spin and tongues trip faster than a speeding snowball.Lickety-Split is a side-splitting smorgasbord of sights and sounds unlike any other book. Tag along as our hero trips the rhyme fantastic and spins a tongue-twisting tall tale for his heroine. He ziggity-zags, clickity-clacks, skippity-skips and zippity-zooms from one adventure to the next. Will he defeat the Viking warrior? Tame the dragon? Knock one out of the park? Will our heroinebelieve him if he does?This verbal and visual feast is a celebration of language and imagination that will have kids thumpity-thumping for more. |
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Marja's Skis by Jean E. Pendziwol and Jirina Marton Marja admires her brave, strong father as he goes off into the woods and brings back a sleigh full of logs. She also looks up her older sister and can’t wait to join her in skiing to school. When Marja turns seven, she’s finally ready. Her father tells her, “When you are strong inside, you can do anything,” and despite her mother’s fears, she skis off to school on her own. Then a shocking event turns Marja’s world upside down. How will she cope? Evocative prose and beautiful illustrations bring this moving tale, set in a 19th-century Canadian logging town, to life |
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Chester by Mélanie Watt Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators. Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie's cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off.Melanie and her mouse won't take Chester's antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead? Is it a one-way ticket to Chesterville, or will Melanie get her mouse production off the ground? |