Our Blog | Publisher Spotlight

Celebrate International Friendship Day with a Book—and a Friend, of Course!

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJuly 30, 2020

When the United Nations first proclaimed July 30 as International Day of Friendship, the idea was to shine a spotlight on how “friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.” Nine years on, we certainly want to celebrate friendship’s power in today’s world.

If you can visit a library or a bookstore, these are great choices to help you help a friend to celebrate. If you are in quarantine this year, start making a list of books to enjoy when you can get out and about again. In any case, we want to bring some friendship into your reading life.

In keeping with both the theme of friendship and the international aspects of the United Nations, French author Gilles Baum’s My Panda Sweater, published by Barefoot Books, is illustrated by Barroux, who has lived in France, Morocco, the United States, and Canada. The Youth Services Book Review describes this picture book: “In this sweet story, a little girl not only shares a beloved piece of clothing, but her compassion and friendship as well.”

Cassava Republic publishes in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, so Princess Arabella and the Giant Cake also arrives with international roots as well as a story about friendship in action. Dutch author illustrator Mylo Freeman’s eponymous princess and her royal friends spend this adventure in the series trying to bake the best cake for Granny’s birthday. The United Kingdom’s BookTrust calls this a “joyful, multi-ethnic tale in the Princess Arabella series, with vibrant illustrations.” Plus cake!

Series books for kids are another way of making friends inside of books. The Junior Library Guild selected Pablo Albo’s Hedgehog and Rabbit: The Scary Wind, illustrated by Gomez, and published in both Spanish and English editions by NubeOcho, of Spain. In this picture book episode, the friends have to face something fearful together. Can you guess what it might be?

Polish author illustrator Pawel Pawlak’s Oscar Seeks a Friend, published by Lantana and translated to English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, is a picture book for older as well as very young book lovers. When two lonely beings find each other, a “delightfully unique and heartwarming story about friendship” follows, as School Library Journal notes.

How about an American story of friendship retold with a stylistic twist from Asia? Dip into Manga Classics’ version of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, adapted (gently) by Crystal S. Chan and with full manga art treatment by Kuma Chan. Tom and his friends Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher get into and out of scrapes minor and major. If you haven’t visited these pals for a while yourself, the story might hold some surprises for the 21^st century reader.

Considerably older than the story of Tom Sawyer is that of the unusual friendship between a monkey and a crocodile. Tiny Owl Books has published Under the Great Plum Tree, a new adaptation of this fable from the ancient Indian Panchatantra, which dates back more than two thousand years! In this picture book version by Indian author Sufiya Ahmed, with lovely and colorful illustrations by Iranian artist Reza Dalvand, themes of friendship and trust are explored accessibly, another fine inspiration for this year’s International Day of Friendship. As eight-year-old Liam, who reviewed this one for Kids Bookbuzz notes, “The story shows what true friendship is all about.”

Wild about Wildlife

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJuly 22, 2020

July is a wildly great time to celebrate wildlife! We’ve seen lots of pictures and reports about one side effect of social lockdowns in many locations giving urban dwellers more up-close visits by wildlife who generally steer clear of busy streets. Whether you’ve seen bears, coyotes, bunnies, turkeys, deer, or other wildlife up close lately, let’s get up close with some in books!

In a board book format with high-contrast pictures and simple text, Tiger Tales’ Hello, Animals! by Smriti Prasadam-Halls with illustrations by Emily Bolam is just right for the youngest of wildlife bookworms. If you’re looking for a present for a newborn and their family, this fits the bill perfectly.

Toddlers will be eager to explore Floris Books’ Hello Animals: How Do You Sleep? by Loes Botman, especially if given the opportunity to “read it again and again” when it may be time for your own little wild one to go to sleep, too. This one works well for an outdoor nap time–billed as “just a rest,” of course.

National Geographic publishes a series of beginning reader books about the natural world and about a dozen of these have been recorded with professional voice actors by Live Oak Media. You can find each title in kit form, with a compact disc and photo-rich pictures, as well as in the new format, Wonderbook, which binds an internal audiobook player right into the print book. Start small with Ants by Melissa Stewart and narrated by Nancy Wu, and work your way through the wildlife kingdom to Pandas by Anne Schreiber and narrated by Joe Towne.

From Pajama Press, the new picture book Benjamin’s Blue Feet, written and illustrated by Sue Macartney, is receiving well-deserved press right now, so come explore the wildlife of the Galapagos with a friendly blue-footed booby. You aren’t likely to see this bird in your own neighborhood!

The Walrus and the Caribou by Maika Harper, illustrated by Marcus Cutler, and published by Inhabit Media, received a starred review from Booklist Magazine. Enjoy this picture book retelling of the Inuit creation story about how wildlife attributes–like tusks and antlers–might have needed some juggling to get things to look as we know them now. Follow that up with Inhabit Media’s beautiful A Children’s Guide to Arctic Butterflies by Mia Pelletier, illustrated by Danny Christopher, to discover a form of wildlife you might not have expected to live so far north.

Wildlife adapts in many ways to live in many environments where different needs and challenges may present themselves. Nose Knows: Wild Ways Animals Smell the World by Emmanuelle Figueras, illustrated by Claire De Gastold, and published by What On Earth Books, offers a snootful of information independent readers and scientifically inclined preschoolers will enjoy. Publishers Weekly starred their review of this one, a follow up to Eye Spy: Wild Ways Animals See the World, written and illustrated by Guillaume Duprat.

Ready to go exploring wildlife on your own with your young scientist? Take along Agnes & Aubrey’s Take Me Outdoors: A Nature Journal for Young Explorers by Mary Richards to record what you discover in your wildlife investigations. This is a write-in activity book with information, puzzles, plenty of suggested activities, and lots more.

Will you find moths or butterflies? Ants or hawks? Dragonflies or trout? Celebrate your local wildlife respectfully.

World Listening Day

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJuly 16, 2020

While every day is a good day to listen here are some extra ideas for July 18, which is World Listening Day.

Let’s start by exploring audiobook listening’s role in book enjoyment and literacy. You can visit the Sound Learning APA initiative’s site for a wealth of research information about the effects of listening on the brain and in literacy development. Note the study undertaken by the BookTrust that discovered how audiobooks have become even more important to kids during the current pandemic’s disruptions of social activities as well as school. Sound Learning also provides annotated lists arranged by age for recommended audiobook listening.

NetGalley, where we share forthcoming books from many of our publisher clients, has just launched an audiobook galley component. Find out how you can participate, and take note of this excellent guide to writing good audiobook reviews.

If you’re already an audiobook fan, you probably know about AudioFile Magazine’s database of over 45,000 reviews. These are reviews of the performances of fiction, nonfiction, audio dramas, books for kids, and more. In addition to visiting their website to search for reviews, you can subscribe to their weekday podcast featuring a new review daily, and check their Pinterest account for themed collections of reviews, such as the board featuring audiobooks with themes relevant to #BlackLivesMatter.

This year’s World Listening Day hosts are focusing on “The Collective Field,” and you are encouraged to take a walk and listen for the natural soundscape you find. Use your audiobook literacy skills to help you notice and identify the rich sounds of your local environment and how they change from hour to hour through the day, and as you move from place to place, even if it’s just from one point to another in a walk around your block or up and down the staircase of your building.

Listening—it’s a capacity we have that we can continue to strengthen in order to better appreciate our world.

Picnic Days

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJuly 13, 2020

Several countries, towns, and neighborhoods around the world celebrate official Picnic Days in July. Even in a year when attending a big outdoor gathering might not work well, you can still have a variety of picnic events on a smaller scale. Pack a basket or a paper bag, take a tablecloth or a towel to a park, to your own backyard or porch, or even your living room floor, and enjoy a July picnic. Besides the food, be sure to pack a good book or three to share between courses.

Readers To Eaters can guide you through the process of making and baking
sourdough. Not only can you get ready for a future picnic with the assistance of Kim Binczewski, Bethany Econopouly, and illustrator Hayelin Choi’s Bread Lab, you can enjoy the idea of breadmaking chemistry replicating a picnic scene among the microbes that help to form sourdough starter.

In a hurry to get on with your picnic? Pack along Gecko Press’s new edition of Selma, by Jutta Bauer. This is a sheep who models the joys of simplicity, tempted neither to hurry through her day nor change its activities even if offered more time, money, or other supposed attraction. Maybe after the picnic meal is eaten, you and your co-picnickers can settle into discovering how, like Selma, a gentle pace can be pleasing.

If you’ve had the opportunity to take your picnic outdoors, you may have a variety of tiny visitors, including ants and, of course, flies. If this seems a likely part of your picnic, pack along Cicada Books’ Fly Flies, by Ziggy Hanaor and Alice Bowsher, and see how many flight patterns you can find matched in your own picnic surroundings.

If you want to plan your picnic ahead of the special day, Floris Books has a lot of picnic-worthy suggestions, including recipes for kid-friendly outdoor meals. Even if you and yours won’t be preparing these specific dishes, you’ll find inspiration for including some of your own warm weather treats in this recent blog post. You don’t need to limit your picnic time to daylight, especially when July nights can be too warm for sleep to come readily. Take a cue from the family in Floris Books’ The Night Walk, by Marie Dorléans, and bring along a snack to share before turning back home.

How about preparing a pretend picnic to share with your household’s assortment of toys? Child’s Play Books publishes a new series – “Rosa’s Workshop” by Jessica Spanyol – featuring activities that are rich in exploration and learning opportunities just right for preschoolers. In Rosa’s Big Pizza Experiment, everyone gets to discover aspects of food preparation, including lining up ingredients and creating something completely new (pizza!) from them. Right now you can download a copy of this one from NetGalley. And if you go to Child’s Play’s website, you’ll find a packet of activities to extend Rosa’s discoveries by preparing a paper pizza (and more) for local stuffed animals to enjoy in repeated picnic “outings” to different locations in your home.

Enjoy July with your own picnic and remember to feed hungry minds and imaginations as well as tummies by making room in your basket for books, too!

Father’s Day Picture Books and Books with Pictures

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJune 17, 2020

Fathers receive their special day of public (and family) recognition on the third Sunday of June. To celebrate, we’ve gone to our stacks to show off some books featuring stories (and pictures) about dads.

The Haircut, by Theo Heras and illustrated by Renné Benoit (Pajama Press) provides a toddler and daddy bonding story of a first trip to the barbershop. Pair it with this Sony’s Oscar-winning anime short, Hair Love, written by Matthew A. Cherry, to broaden the spectrum of hair-related tasks fathers take on as acts of parental affection.

Barefoot Books’ board book Baby’s First Words, by Tessa Strickland and Kate DePalma, and illustrated by Christiane Engle, has become a contemporary classic. The toddler in these pages has two dads, each of whom has his own personality, appearance, and evident household tasks. With page spreads that follow the family through a day of thematic activities, and relevant images tagged with their early vocabulary names, this offers repeated and even independent browsing opportunities by fathers and lapsitters.

For dads and kids who are ready for some activity inspiration, there’s Baking with Dad, written and illustrated by Aurora Cacciapuoti and published by Child’s Play. If the local dad in your household isn’t feeling much like taking on the wild adventures of baking with his preschooler, the publisher has provided a great assortment of other book-related activities to pursue. Click on the link here to find them.

Author Elizabeth Laird at Tiny Owl Publishing takes a Rumi tale for a spin in Grobblechops, illustrated by Jenny Lucander in a going-to-bed book that’s just right for Father’s Day. Featuring a nervous child, a loving dad, and the potential to make friends with those who bring difference as well as similarities into our world, this picture book could become a ritual read every evening between now and next Father’s Day.

Beginning readers can share Toon Books’ Luke on the Loose, by Harry Bliss, with their father, taking the lead in unfolding the story of a little boy who decides to go off roaming on his own in Central park when his father becomes absorbed in a boring adult conversation with another grownup. Follow Luke’s path up hill, down dale, around pond and over puddle, and lots more. Then dad and child reading at home can draw their own maps of neighborhood paths they might imagine taking when on the loose.

Grandfathers also merit attention in our Father’s Day book bag. From New Zealand publisher Gecko Press, The Runaways, by Swedish author Ulf Stark and illustrated by Belgian artist Kitty Crowther, translated by Julia Marshall, has appeal as international as its creators. This picture book offers a tale of adventure undertaken by a small boy and his grandfather, both of whom are in need of escaping their circumstances if even for a brief sally into the wider world. If you’re connected across generations by video chat between grandparent and child households these days, share this one so granddads and grandchildren can have a shared experience, too

A different sort of grandfather stars in a series of early chapter books published by Floris Books. David MacPhail’s humorous storytelling is paired with occasional illustrations by Laura Aviño in a series that offers detection as well as all-in-the-family companionship in Top-Secret Grandad middle grade books that are well represented by the publisher’s description:

You’d think a ghost grandad would be a great sidekick for a wannabe detective. Unfortunately, if there was a ‘being a good ghost’ exam, Jay’s grandad would fail spectacularly — he hates walking through walls, he can’t touch anything and he’s rubbish at haunting. Since his dad literally did a vanishing act (he’s a magician), Jay Patel has turned detective, and now, with the help of his grandad, he’s on the case….

Authors Jesse Unaapik Mike and Kerry McCluskey’s Families, illustrated by Lenny Lishchenko and published by Inhabit Media, can be a good choice for Father’s Day in families where there may be no father or in any configuration where a father is a family member. Not all families are the same and that is both okay and may create the need for some reassurance when the calendar points up an occasion for celebrating what many people assume all families include.

Older offspring of the dad being celebrated on Father’s Day, or looking for something for dad himself? Check out Excellence, from Image Comics, written by Brandon Thomas and with art by Khary Randolph. Another father/son themed story, this one features Black magicians, super powers, and created by people of color.

Black Lives Matter All the Time for All Children

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJune 13, 2020

At a time when many people around the world find themselves willing to focus on the material truth that Black Lives Matter, we want to make sure that all kids—regardless of identity—have plenty of access to books that show and tell the wide range of interests, appearances, languages, and concerns that everyone, including Black children, shares. Next time you’re able to visit a library or book shop, make sure to pick up a few of these:

Brand new and available in two different formats from two of our favorite publishers is Shabazz Larkin’s The Thing about Bees: A Love Letter. The picture book version was published by Readers to Eaters less than a year ago. Just publishing is Live Oak Media’s delightful audiobook version, which, of course, author and illustrator Larkin also performed, along with a small cast of family.

Also from Live Oak Media, be sure to listen to Odyssey Honor winner Trombone Shorty, the picture book autobiography by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, illustrated by Bryan Collier, and performed by Dion Graham. The trio has created a followup, too, 5 O’clock Band. For a rousing good time learning about the making of a New Orleans bandleader, their work together can’t be beat.

Tilbury House’s recent picture book, Magnificent Homespun Brown, by Samara Cole Doyon with illustrations by Kaylani Juanita, has collected starred reviews everywhere you turn. And not only is it stuffed with little Black girls of many shades and hairstyles, engaging in many activities that connect them to the natural world, the poetic text bounces, too.

Some of Tilbury House’s older picture book characters are collecting fan art depicting the Black lives they reflect. One of Worcester Public Library’s bookmobiles sports a giant reproduction of Astronaut Annie, by Suzanne Slade with illustrations by Nicole Tadgell, a picture book that might well inspire your local science explorer.

There’s a lot of Black joy and shared human experiences beyond the United States, of course. Author artist Mylo Freeman’s picture book work is available from Nigerian/British publisher Cassava Republic. Princess Arabella is a character who stars in her own series—not always eager to cede the spotlight—so finding out how she adjusts in Princess Arabella Is a Big Sister provides older siblings an instant heroine/role model. In Hair, It’s a Family Affair, Freeman offers every variation on hair texture, styling, and skin tone the extended Black family in its illustrations can sport.

Getting beyond the immediate family circle, Cassava Republic also gives young readers the opportunity to visit good times in Ilisan with Lola Shoneyin’s Mayowa and the Masquerades, illustrated by Francis Blake. This one gives kids (and adults) lots of inspiration to dance! One reviewer (linked at the title) noted that perhaps 90% of this book is smiles.

From Spanish publisher NubeOcho, and available in both Spanish and English editions, Federico and All His Families, by Mili Hernandez with illustrations by Gomez, introduces a neighborhood through the intentional visiting cycle of Federico the cat. All kinds of families live in the neighborhood and Federico finds a way to fit into each one’s day.

BAME-focused Lantana Publishing’s A Story about Afiya, by Jamaican poet James Berry with gorgeous illustrations by Anna Cunha, may be the perfect book for this pandemic summer of changed routines in readers’ own lives. Each day of her summer season, Afiya’s white dress collects the beuty of that day’s adventures.

From Brazil, Otavio Junior’s story of his favela home comes to English language readers in a colorfully illustrated edition published by Barefoot Books. From My Window, with art by Vanina Starkoff can both take kids abroad to a community they may never see in person and suggest a daily activity to pursue at home. What can they see from their windows? How does the sight make them feel? What colors do they need to paint it? We all have a lot in common and yet everywhere we look we can spot something or someone new to enjoy, consider, mourn, or find hopeful.

Listening Is Reading – and June Is Audiobook Month

Posted on May 31, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithJune 2, 2020

We’re sure you value literacy. What do you know about the connections between listening and literacy? June is a great time to explore them through audiobooks, and we have lots of new suggestions to set you on that adventure.

The Audio Publishers Association’s Sound Learning initiative has updated both their visual display and the list of research articles that address the importance of listening to becoming a more literate, aware, and empathetic person. If you aren’t already an audiobook fan, you might want to start here to get a more informed sense of why and how they can enrich the lives of your kids (and yourself).

The Audio Publisher’s Association is also sponsoring a month of challenges that you and your family might enjoy as a change of pace from other focused activities you’ve undertaken in the recent weeks of pandemic-induced changes in lifestyle and access to learning and libraries.

Our own publishers have an array of audiobooks you can access both online and, in some cases, physical copy. Here are some recent award winning options for your family:

Live Oak Media is well known for developing and producing high quality read-along recordings of award winning picture books. This might be the time to explore Jon Agee’s The Wall in the Middle of the Book, narrated by Everest de Montebello and Marc Thompson, who together “provide a young knight with a youthful voice and a large ogre with a deep and gravelly voice in this examination of children’s perception.” Somewhat HORSE older listening readers can find inspiration both as poets and basketball players by tuning into the Odyssey Award winner by Christopher Myers, H.O.R.S.E., narrated in style by the illustrating author and Dion Graham. “The entire production is infused with infectious energy and good-natured competitive fun.”

This year Karadi Tales won the London Book Fair’s award as audiobook publisher of the year. You can find their audiobooks on their website and get started listening with some of your favorite print titles, too, including Shobha Viswanath’s Little Vinaya

This month also brings What On Earth and
Christopher Lloyd’s Absolutely Everything, brand new to the audiobook format and read by the author. This one has much to offer middle grade listeners who love to browse with their eyes and can now enjoy hearing the factual explanations the print book includes. Treat yourself to a clip from it here.

There’s a fantastic free audiobook program for teens underway as well. You don’t need to belong to any institution or even geographic location to take part in this whole world access opportunity to download to keep a pair of free audiobooks each week from AudioFile Magazine’s AudiobookSYNC program for ages 13 and up. Follow the directions on the site for registering, connecting with the Sora app, and then “borrowing” the offerings; we put “borrow” in quotation marks because once borrowed they are yours for over 98 years–plenty of time for listening!

Read Your Way into Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithMay 12, 2020

We’re always on the lookout for books that reflect authentic cultures and come from voices that are authentic reflections of the cultures about which they tell stories. May is a month designated for celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander roots in American cultures, so it’s a great time to explore kids’ books that reflect the vast array of experiences these cultures both bring to and have created in storytelling.

Author Ken Mochizuki performs his picture book Baseball Saved Us, illustrated by Dom Lee, for Live Oak Media’s collection of Read-along audiobooks. Listen and learn about where the author’s Japanese-American parents were forced to spend World War II, and how the all American sport helped government internees keep a semblance of normalcy in kids’ lives.

Illustrator Man One shows off his skills as a fine performer as he delivers author Jacqueline Briggs Martin’s Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix along with co-narrator June Jo Lee in another of Live Oak Media’s Read-alongs. Join the fun and explore Los Angeles’s Korean-American food scene!

From Pajama Press, the multi-award winning middle grade novel Girl of the Southern Sea gives us author Michelle Kadarusman’s experienced insights into growing up Indonesian. While set outside North America, this story connects with North American readers because of the author’s multicultural experiences and capacity to bridge different cultures. Follow it up with Kadarusman’s new Music for Tigers, which lets readers accompany a Canadian girl on her trip to Australia.

Also from Pajama Press, younger readers can delight in Japanese-Canadian author Raymond Nakamura’s fun twist on a Japanese folktale with his gender flipping version Peach Girl, illustrated by Rebecca Bender.

What a delight it is that have a seemingly endless supply of stories to discover! We hope that you find lots of ways to explore the world through books this month and every month.

Fresh Air Science Fun – and Giveaway!

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithMay 6, 2020

Springtime offers so many inviting ways to explore and celebrate nature that we’ve decided to offer the chance to teachers and librarians to win a nature exploration picture book shelf! The collection includes seven different books, one for each day of the week, and everybody can follow these links to the free web-based resources their publishers are offering. To win the collection of picture books, comment below about how you’ll use them in your classroom or library next spring. To enter to win, you need to enter your comment by May 20.

Now, every nature lover gather round and let’s go exploring!

First on the shelf is Toon Books factual graphic novel for beginning readers. We’ve all come to love Kevin McCloskey’s witty, informative books about small, common creatures. Toon publishes this book as part of their aptly named series “Giggle and Learn.” To learn and enjoy more related to Snails Are Just My Speed, visit the lesson plans created by Maureen Schlosser.

Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table is Jacqueline Briggs-Martin’s children’s biography of former basketball star Will Allen’s work to make urban gardening an attractive reality. The picture book is illustrated by Eric-Shabazz Larkin, and the version we are including on our giveaway shelf is the award-winning read-along audiobook from Live Oak Media and narrated by Peter Jay. Urban and community gardening offer great ways to actively participate in nature. Want to get started? Visit these resources related to this picture book.

Taking a walk in nature becomes even more rewarding when we have some guidance about potential attractions we can spot (and hear) along the way. Two different environments for such casual walks are featured in A Walk on the Shoreline, by Rebecca Hainnu with illustrations by Qin Leng, and published by Inhabit Media, and A Walk through Nature, by Libby Walden with illustrations by Clover Robin and published by Tiger Tales. Whether the walk you can take in a nearby natural setting—a park, your back yard, or maybe another environment—shares some of the plant and wildlife features in these books can make for a great discussion itself. You can find more ideas for building on experiencing your own and a picture book nature walk by visiting our Pinterest board of At-home Fun Activities we’ve collected.

You can also receive some expert guidance in becoming a naturalist with the latest volume of Tilbury House’s “Acadia Files” factual picture book series. The Acadia Files: Book Four, Spring Science, by Katie Coppens with illustrations by Holly Hatam, gives us plenty of inspiration for applying scientific methods to exploring close at hand nature. Each chapter offers an activity that can be achieved in most home settings, with some that may need to wait until schools, libraries, and other places further afield can be reached again.

Also from Tilbury House, for younger picture book readers is the brand new Common Critters, by Pat Brisson and with humorous illustrations by Dan Tavis. Here’s a perfect guidebook to the very small animals that appear in spring, including worms and birds and even houseflies. The book also contains the author’s sharing of her poetry toolkit, another aapproach we might want to take when enjoying nature.

Finally, the seventh title on our giveaway shelf of nature books for spring is Leaf Litter Critters, by Leslie Bulion with illustrations by Robert Meganck, and published by Peachtree Publishing. Again using poetry as the narrative vehicle, this one gives readers a tour of the “brown food web” of tiny animals that are part of nature’s recycling system. The publisher has supplied a classroom-ready lesson plan that can be used at home with ease.

Let’s all find ways to enjoy spring safely this year. And enter to win this collection to support the programming and lessons you can take into next spring, too! Remember to tell us at which school or library you will be using the collection to explore nature in a future spring.

Children’s Book Week: Read All about It!

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Francisca GoldsmithMay 5, 2020

Whether you’re living in a house with a big back yard or a small apartment, this Children’s Book Week can help you expand your horizons. With so many good new books arriving, even while most of us are staying in place, there’s plenty to celebrate.

From My Window, published by Barefoot Books, is Otávio Júnior’s picture book for older readers, with gorgeously bright illustrations by Vanina Starkoff. Here’s a read that can inspire kids and adults alike to see the world beyond our window views with fresh eyes.

Over at Gecko Press, Clotilde Perrin’s newest picture book promises you may never see anyone’s house the same again! The House of Madame M is, well, let’s take a peek:

In the Sky at Nighttime, published by Inhabit Media, brings together Tamara Campeau’s lush, night-lit images with Laura Deal’s sleepy time verse for the very young.

NubeOcho Books has just published a free picture book for all of us unable to get out into the world right now! Download Jose Fragoso’s I Will Be Patient… right here.

Older readers in your household can take a staycation with Manga Classics, dipping into the terrors Edgar Allan Poe could evoke or going on endless adventures with Tom Sawyer. Bookworms will delight in having a whole shelf of retold classics including tales from Shakespeare and romance from Charlotte Bronte! There’s plenty here to make time at home pass quickly.

Floris Books has both picture books and novels for older readers that are great ways to mark Children’s Book Week, too. Author Theresa Breslin’s An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Castle Legends may be just the thing to browse if you’re feeling housebound. The large, detailed color illustrations by Kate Leiper will feed your imagination and maybe inspire some mural painting inside your own castle.

No matter where you’re spending this Children’s Book Week, there’s lots of companionship to be found in stories old and new. So stretch out, dig in, and read away the hours.