Spring is Here and Picture Books Are Blooming!

-
Maybe it was the month of April and the poetry every day, maybe it was all the titles from the new spring catalogs hitting the shelves, whatever the reason, there are a TON of great new picture books I want to tell you about. So many that, instead of my usual week dedicated to picture books here and there, I am going to be reviewing them throughout the month of May and maybe even into June. Mondays and Fridays will still be dedicated to chapter books, middle grade titles and young adult books, but all the other days are up for grabs!  And, keep your eye for a whole week dedicated to non-fiction - science, history, travel, cross-sections, pop-ups and more! But first, I want to do something I have never done here before...
Somehow I came across the work of artist Rachel Shalev one day while searching the internet. I immediately went to her website, carbonmade, where I found many, many more enchanting illustrations. I learned that Ms Plaut graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in 2005. While she has illustrated many children's books in her home country of Isreal, as well as other countries, she has not illustrated any books for American authors - YET! Hopefully something will be in the works soon because I am so taken with her artwork I don't even know how to describe it. The colors, the people, the places and the touch of magic here and there are spectacular. I have made her pictures my screen saver and find myself staring at it instead of my work sometimes. For more of Ms Shalev's artwork, visit her photostream at Flickr. Scroll down for details on her wordless picture book and more of her beautiful artwork.




Ms. Shalev's children's book, published in Germany is wordless, so anyone from any country can enjoy it!

Hexen Wimmelbuch can be purchased at amazon.de.




Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more