life on mars

A young astronaut travels to Mars in search of life, bearing gifts (chocolate cupcakes) for whomever or whatever he meets.  Hopeful at first, he eventually becomes disheartened after traversing Mars' beautiful but barren landscape and coming up empty-handed.  Once readers discover the surprise hidden among the illustrations, they’ll be eager to follow it until the amusing ending.  Subtle and clever humor that we’ve come to know and love from one of our favorite picture book makers Jon Agee.

Life on Mars was published by Dial Books for Young Readers.

legendary routes of the world

Through phenomenal paper engineering, Legendary Routes of the World brings to life five of the most famous passages of all time—Aéropostale, the Rhum Route, the Silk Road, Route 66 and the 1969 lunar expedition.  Aéropostale, employing the celebrated pilot-writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was the first French company to deliver mail via airplane.  Consider this comparison—32 million letters were transported in the year 1931 and now during the course of an average day, people send over 200 billion email.  Click here for a peek into this impressive book.

Legendary Routes of the World was created by Sarah Tavernier and Alexander Verhille and published by Little Gestalten.

the curious case of the missing mammoth

Oscar is looking high and low for Timothy’s brother Teddy, a little wooly mammoth on the lam.  His search takes him to a museum, where Teddy has slipped in.  It’s a night of sleuthing, a few magical encounters and exploration of history, science, artwork, artifacts and oddities that Oscar won’t soon forget (and neither will readers).  Curious, clever and inviting.  Predicting that this will be widely requested to be read aloud at our house this week.

The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth was written by Ellie Hattie, illustrated by Karl James Mountford and published by Little Tiger Books.

the big blue book of beginner books

Some of the finest early reader texts in one collection for your beginning reader who’s taking off and starting to read up a storm.  The Big Blue Book of Beginner Books includes P.D. Eastman’s Go, Dog. Go!, The Best Nest and Are You My Mother?, Robert Lopshire’s Put Me in the Zoo, Mike McClintock’s A Fly Went By and Marilyn Sadler and Roger Bollen’s It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny.  There's a range in reading level amongst the texts, but the readability is mostly first grade.  Be sure to take a look at the entire series—you might find another favorite set of stories that will help build your budding reader's fluency.  Published by Random House Books for Young Readers.