A sweet mixed-up adventure about what happens when Grandmother and Yumi decide they want to visit each other one day and things go humorously awry. Taro Gomi’s watercolors have a way of gently unfolding a story in a charming, playful way, always with a beautiful palette.
I Really Want to See You, Grandma was written and illustrated by Taro Gomi and published by Chronicle Books. It'll be out on April 3. It was originally published in Japan in 1979.
Chloe is taking a walk through her garden but little does she know that it’s a magical one and that wonderful, amazing changes happen there every day. The wind lets her in on a few fascinating secrets about the garden’s creature and plant inhabitants. A wonderful introduction to science, nature and seasons for little ones and an invitation to engage in wonder and explore the world just outside our door. Included is an author’s note about eight different natural phenomena such as why fireflies glow, why animals have bright colors and how/why spiders and birds spin and weave.
The Magic Garden: Take a Journey Through the Magical World of Nature was written and illustrated by Carme Lemniscates and published by Walter Foster Jr. It’ll be out on March 6.
Cycle City is a unique place — all of its residents are on bicycles! There’s Polar Bear on a delizioso gelato bike, the Bunny family and their super loooong box bike and Owl making rounds on her bookmobile (one of our personal favorites). We’re along for the ride as Mayor Snail helps deliver the last few invites to tonight’s event, The Starlight Parade. Scores of special details await in this delightful story and seek-and-find adventure for fans of Richard Scarry (and their kids).
Cycle City was written and illustrated by Alison Farrell and published by Chronicle Books. Cycling into town on March 20 but of course, available to pre-order now.
As someone who has people with autism in her life, I’m drawn to stories like THE OSTRICH AND OTHER LOST THINGS. It’s written from the perspective of a sister whose older brother has autism. Olivia is the (incredibly) observant type — she notices everything and everyone and no detail seems to escape her watchful eye. She’s extraordinarily good at finding things — objects and belongings that people in her life misplace. There’s one lost thing that eludes her, though — her brother Jacob’s beloved ostrich that she has not been able to find for months. She feels like it has something to do with his worsening behavior which is odd, unpredictable and more often than not embarrassing.
Olivia craves normalcy and wants to carve out a space of her own, apart from being “Jacob’s sister.” We experience her frustration, ongoing grief and her feeling of being “closed in” as she deals with her brother’s profound differences and the restrictions that they impose on her life. We learn about how love is different when you have a person with autism in your family—it’s still there, just felt and expressed in ways you wouldn’t expect. I love author Beth Hautala’s words — “We are all a little bit lost and a little bit found.” In our case, we’re glad to have found this heartfelt and meaningful story.
The Ostrich and Other Lost Things was written by Beth Hautala and published by Philomel Books.
This book is poetry—every line, every stroke, every dab of color, every word. It’s probably one of the most creative and philosophical explorations of color we’ve seen, where color is as much a character as the little girl narrating the story. They Say Blue is also about being in the world, observing, noticing, wondering. Every flip through it will likely yield something new for the reader. It’s simple but wonderfully complicated. Jillian Tamaki’s depictions of color are imbued with such depth, movement, emotion and life. Easily one of our favorite books this year.
They Say Blue was written and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers. Out on March 13 and available for pre-order now.