Showing posts with label new releases. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new releases. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
So many kinds of green...
Green
A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan/Spring 2012
(from inside flap)
How many kinds of green are there?
There’s the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea.
In her newest book, Caldecott and Geisel Honor Book author Laura Vaccaro Seeger fashions an homage to a single color and, in doing so, creates a book that will delight and, quite possibly, astonish you.
A CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB selection
“Perfectly paced and visually exciting… it represents picture book making at its very best.“
-starred review/Kirkus Reviews
“Lovely, inventive, engrossing and interactive…”
-starred review/Horn Book
“With a color as politically weighted as this one, what could have been a hit-‘em-over-the-head message is instead left open-ended, allowing the book to work for very young children (for whom the “never green” red stop sign could be taken at face value) or for an older audience willing to speculate on ecological issues and sustainability… A triumph of artistic problem-solving…”
-starred review/Publishers Weekly
“Seeger’s skill at creating simple yet wonderfully effective concept books, as well as her mastery of die-cuts that delight in unexpected and ingenious ways, are in full evidence in this salute to the color green.”
-starred review/Booklist
“ Beguiling… beautifully designed… lush… Seeger could have pushed her greens onto a predictable ecological pathway, she doesn’t force an environmental message, letting the richness of the natural world speak for itself… This is a book for turning pages, pointing, looking, talking— fun!”
-New York Times Book Review
“Luxurious… Deceptively simple… Gorgeous…”
-Wall Street Journal
“ Subtle cutouts on each richly painted page create an almost mystical sense of continuity …”
“Gorgeous… Lush… Artful… Playful… Transformative…”“ Subtle cutouts on each richly painted page create an almost mystical sense of continuity …”
-recommended/CCBC
Just arrived! Huff & Puff
HUFF & PUFF
HUFF & PUFF (reviewed on February 1, 2012)
Can You Blow Down the Houses of the Three Little Pigs?
HUFF & PUFF (reviewed on February 1, 2012)
This sweet little bare-bones version of “The Three Pigs” places readers in an active role.
The opening spread looks plain and ordinary: “First pig building a house,” says the text, as a pig builds a modest thatched hut. Black pen lines give shading and texture to pale watercolors, surrounded by calming white space. Soon the pig’s inside the hut, gazing happily out the window. But spread three brings an invitation. The left-hand page says, merely, “One wolf huffing and puffing,” and the book’s subtitle is the key here—for there’s no wolf to be seen. The right-hand page says “HUFF & PUFF” in lined block letters, and the ampersand’s lower circle is a cut-out hole. When the reader blows through the hole, the reward is a sad and perturbed pig with loose straw floating down through the air. The reader/wolf blew down the hut! The second pig suffers the same fate. Tradition prevails as the third house, made of brick, is too strong to succumb to air. Does the reader/wolf end up defeated? Nope—Rueda introduces a new result of blowing, one familiar to many toddlers and connected to gustatory joy all around.
A good chance for youngsters to relish enacting the wicked role while still getting a (not particularly logical, but who cares) friendly reconciliation at the end. (Picture book. 1-3)
The opening spread looks plain and ordinary: “First pig building a house,” says the text, as a pig builds a modest thatched hut. Black pen lines give shading and texture to pale watercolors, surrounded by calming white space. Soon the pig’s inside the hut, gazing happily out the window. But spread three brings an invitation. The left-hand page says, merely, “One wolf huffing and puffing,” and the book’s subtitle is the key here—for there’s no wolf to be seen. The right-hand page says “HUFF & PUFF” in lined block letters, and the ampersand’s lower circle is a cut-out hole. When the reader blows through the hole, the reward is a sad and perturbed pig with loose straw floating down through the air. The reader/wolf blew down the hut! The second pig suffers the same fate. Tradition prevails as the third house, made of brick, is too strong to succumb to air. Does the reader/wolf end up defeated? Nope—Rueda introduces a new result of blowing, one familiar to many toddlers and connected to gustatory joy all around.
A good chance for youngsters to relish enacting the wicked role while still getting a (not particularly logical, but who cares) friendly reconciliation at the end. (Picture book. 1-3)
Monday, August 15, 2011
Along a Long Road by Frank Viva --- anxiously awaited!!
Follow that road!
Speed off on an eventful bicycle ride along the bold yellow road that cuts through town, by the sea, and through the country. Ride up and around, along and through, out and down.
Frank's striking graphic style is executed in just five joyous colors, and his spare, rhythmic language is infectious.
Hit a bump?
Get back on track!
Reach the end?
Start again!
Speed off on an eventful bicycle ride along the bold yellow road that cuts through town, by the sea, and through the country. Ride up and around, along and through, out and down.
Frank's striking graphic style is executed in just five joyous colors, and his spare, rhythmic language is infectious.
Hit a bump?
Get back on track!
Reach the end?
Start again!
Frank Viva is an illustrator and graphic designer who has won more than 300 awards. His illustrations have appeared in Time, Esquire, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and on the cover of the New Yorker. A past president of The Advertising & Design Club of Canada, he is passionate about cooking, wine, and his daily bike ride to the office. This is his first children's picture book.
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