A mysterious individual changes the glum town of Grimloch and an orphan boy’s life forever when he sculpts a series of enormous and breathtaking topiaries out of the town’s trees late at night. A truly magical story about kindness, artistry and inspiration. The Night Gardener is Canadian illustrators Terry Fan and Eric Fan’s first children’s book. Let it not be their last!
Andy, That’s My Name: another wonderful book from Tomie dePaola--this time, a play on words and a funny lesson in phonemic awareness. Completely enjoyable and a perfect book for emerging readers. This is one of Avery's recent favorites.
All in a Day is a unique and engaging book that shows the same moments in a 24-hour day, as they occur at the same time around the world. The narrator of the story, sailor Oliver Smith (aka SOS), is on an uninhabited island at noon somewhere in the South Pacific, waiting to be rescued. Zé is making kites in Brazil at 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve while Kae-Kae is celebrating New Year’s Day with firecrackers at 8 a.m. in China. Alyosha in Russia is asleep at 3 a.m., dreaming of a great feast.
The team of venerable illustrators who contributed to this unique book includes Eric Carle, Raymond Briggs, Nicolai Ye Popov, Akiko Hayashi, Gian Calvi, Leo and Diane Dillon, Zhu Chengliang, Ron Brooks and Mitsumasa Anno. Anno provided the original vision and concept for All in a Day. In reading this “day in the life,” children learn about time differences and also learn that no matter the differences in culture, geography, tradition or lifestyle, we all share so many similarities.
Changes, Changes, originally published in 1971, is one of Nate’s current favorite reads. It was illustrated by Pat Hutchins whose work you might remember in Rosie’s Walk. The funny thing is we first saw a short film made based on this story on a Scholastic video collection we bought years ago. Fast forward to me finding the book online recently and Nate delightfully discovering the “book version” of the film and reading it over and over again. The theme of the book is adapting to change and it’s executed very cleverly. The little wooden couple in the story are contently living in their wooden block abode when disaster strikes and it catches fire one day. Quickly thinking on their feet, they convert their house into a fire truck to put out the fire! But eventually all the water from their fire hose creates a small flood—what will they do next?
Here’s a link to the film version of the book, if anyone’s curious to see it!
Gravity. It’s what keeps us on the ground. Gravity is a whimsical and fantastically illustrated book by Jason Chin that makes the mysterious force of gravity accessible to children. There’s a great explanation about how gravity works at the back of the book that parents can read and discuss with their young scientists. Hear Jason Chin speak about the process he went through creating this book on Politics & Prose.