Blog Post
The Night Gardener
by eapearce
Wow! The brand new children's book The Night Gardener is not only a beautiful story, but is stunningly illustrated as well. This is the first book by Canadian sibling duo The Fan Brothers (separately known as Terry and Eric). The book uses sparse language and large, intricate pictures to tell the story of a gray, gloomy town transformed by a mysterious figure known as "the night gardener." One morning, residents of Grimloch Lane wake up to find a large tree transformed into an owl topiary. The people are amazed! Who created this beautiful creature? When did he or she have time to do it? And why? Every night, more topiaries are created: elephants, rabbits, birds, and more. As the townspeople come together to admire the art each morning, their gloom starts to lift. They look forward to the day ahead, and to the people they will meet and talk to at the trees. One little boy in particular is fascinated by the topiaries, and when he stumbles upon the night gardener himself at work one night, his life is forever changed for the better.
This book--which would make a beautiful gift!--is truly one for readers of all ages, although little ones will be particularly fascinated by the wonderfully depicted transformed trees that grace nearly every page. I'm looking forward to whatever The Fan Brothers create next!
Blog Post
Who Done It?
by manz
That’s the name of a super cute new picture book! Who Done It? by Olivier Tallec does not feature a story, but a series of simple who questions and matching sets of illustrations where the reader figures out which image answers the question of who did a particular thing. It’s adorable! Some are pretty funny and kids will get a kick out of them. It’s a great book that further encourages children to use visual clues to help understand the world around them as well as gain insight into human emotion.
Blog Post
The Bear…
by manz
Benjamin Chaud has written and illustrated some lovely picture books for children! I really enjoyed The Bear’s Song, and the next adventures for bear in these new ones in the series are sweet as well.
They are large format with small nearly full-page illustrations, which is perfect for little ones to play “I Spy,” like in Where's Waldo, to follow along in the pictures while the words are read aloud to them. In The Bear’s Sea Escape Papa bear is looking for a place to hibernate and follows Baby Bear to a cruise ship, and winds up on a tropical island. In The Bear’s Surprise Little Bear searches for his father along a forest path that leads him to a mysterious cave, an exciting circus, and a family surprise.
They are all fun little adventure stories that keeps young readers entertained.
Blog Post
Explore how machines work in a new hands-on book for kids!
by eapearce
Explore the mechanics of simple machines with the help of two zoo animals in the awesome new hands-on book How Machines Work: Zoo Break!. Sloth and Sengi have spent their entire lives in their zoo enclosure and even though it’s pretty comfortable, they both long to see more of the world. So, with the help of some simple machines, they decide to break out! The coolest thing about this book is the lift-the-flap and fold-out features, which allow readers to see how machines work and move. Sloth and Sengi make use of wedges, wheels and axles, levers, inclined planes, screws and pulleys to stage their escape, and it’s fun to see their successes… and their failures. This book presents machines in simple, easy-to-understand language, and the fun storyline will pull kids in. Even the cover of this book is interactive, featuring gears that readers can actually turn to see Sloth get dipped into a pond!
For other cool books about machines, check out The Lego Technic Idea Book Simple Machines, National Geographic’s 125 Cool Inventions and The Kids’ Book of Simple Machines: cool projects & activities that make science fun.
Blog Post
The Wolf Wilder
by manz
Katherine Rundell writes beautiful youth fiction books. The imagery and feelings her buttery words evoke knock me away and surprise me every time. Her latest book, The Wolf Wilder, follows up Rooftoppers and Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, and this new one once again contains an irresistible female heroine.
In The Wolf Wilder we meet 12 year old Feodora, simply called Feo. She and her mother train domesticated wolves to go back into the wild in Russia in1917. It is a simple, wild and wonderful existence until General Rakov destroys the life she knows and loves, and it is up to Feo to be brave, save her wolves, and put her family and life back together. She meets up with a young runaway soldier from the tsar’s Imperial Army and they set off on high adventure in the cold and freezing snow, surrounded by half wild wolves and eventually other children who want to take part in Feo’s revolution.
It’s a great read if you love strong characters, adventure, historical fiction, survival stories, or animal stories.
Blog Post
This Bridge Will Not Be Gray
by manz
With story by Dave Eggers and art by Tucker Nichols, This Bridge Will Not Be Gray is a mild history of the building of San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, offering up facts about the construction of the bridge and the big debate about what color to paint it. Most involved figured the bridge would be gray. Gray was serious. Gray was safe. If that was the case, then how did it end up painted International Orange? This book answers that question in a delightful way.
The book backs the idea that standing up for yourself and your ideas is worth something! Even if the idea is bold and courageous and unusual and even strange.
Published by McSweeney’s it has that bit of wit you know and love, as well as whimsical and colorful paper cut-outs as design. Eggers is known for his books for adults, such as Pulitzer finalist A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and is the founder McSweeney’s and co-founder 826 Valencia (which lead to 826michigan!).
Blog Post
The Seventh Most Important Thing
by manz
The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall received a lot of Newbery buzz in 2015, and while it didn’t win the award, it’s still a winner.
"On a bitter November day in Washington, D.C., when everything felt metallic – when the sky was gray and the wind stung and the dry leaves were making death-rattle sounds in the alleys – thirteen-year-old Arthur Owens picked up a brick from the corner of a crumbling building and threw it at an old man's head."
It didn’t hit the man’s head, it hit his arm. Arthur is then sent to juvie and ultimately assigned community service working for the old man – who they called the Junk Man, since he’s often spotted wheeling a shopping cart and digging through garbage throughout the neighborhood. Was Arthur really supposed to pick through trash collecting things for the crazy old man who stole his dead father’s hat?
Arthur is tasked with rummaging for what the Junk Man, AKA James Hampton, AKA St. James, calls the seven most important things: light bulbs, foil, mirrors, pieces of wood, glass bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard. His father has died, his sister is a pest, he has no friends, he gets bullied at school, he spent time in juvie and is now known as a "bad kid," and now he has to work for the Junk Man collecting weird stuff. Eventually Arthur comes to realize the importance of what the trash will become, and this bit of community service ends up being a life-changing experience for all involved.
The book is set in 1960s but you can barely tell. The character of Hampton is based on real-life American folk artist James Hampton who spent over a decade creating his vision of heaven from scraps. While Hampton is based on a real man the rest of the characters and story are fictitious. If you're not familiar with Hampton's art, read the book before you dig for details!
It’s a lovely youth novel, great for middle grade readers and for fans of Gary Schmidt’s books.
Blog Post
Peekaboo, I See You!
by krayla
What's that peeking out from inside the library? It's a bunch of great new seek-and-find picture books! Check out these titles to see what YOU can find!
Fish on a Dish! by Jack Tickle features Pip and Pickle, two adorable, hungry penguins. Follow them deep into the vibrantly-illustrated ocean as they chase a fish. Peek through holes in the page to the other side and lift the flaps to see where they go...but that fish has a trick or two up its sleeve!
Hold This! written by Carolyn Cory Scoppettone and illustrated by Priscilla Alpaugh tells the story of Mika and her dad going for a walk in the park. Mika finds all kinds of amazing things along the way and even builds a fairy house! Frequent visitors of the Nichols Arboretum will appreciate this cheerful story with soft watercolor illustrations.
The Find it Book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Lisa Sheehan is a fun-filled journey through popular fairy tales! Readers will pore over the thoughtful and humorous illustrations to find each character mentioned. This exciting read also invites an introduction to traditional rhymes, songs, and idioms.
Blog Post
Magazine Shelf: Anorak
by manz
Anorak: The Happy Mag for Kids is one beautiful magazine, with its lush illustrations and thick pages! It began in 2006 and is published in London four times a year, and is aimed at children age 6 and up. Each issue has a theme – such as magic, cats and dogs, history, writing, adventure, to name a few. Topics in the issues include books, travel, film, stories and comics to read, games and more.
The magazine also has a cute website with a blog and other fun! Would also be great for adults who are into pretty magazines.
Blog Post
"Keep On Keepin' On" Jazz Trumpeter/Educator Clark Terry
by iralax
Lovers of jazz and people who rise above adversity to challenge the status quo will find great pleasure in the documentary Keep On Keepin’ On, about the friendship of trumpeter Clark Terry (1920-2015) with jazz superstar Quincy Jones and the young piano prodigy, Justin Kauflin. Kauflin is blind and Clark Terry is losing his sight due to lifelong complications from diabetes. The film depicts Terry’s early days growing up poor in St. Louis, where he fashioned his first horn out of old tubing and pipe he found. Then it covers his early career with the Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras, followed by years playing with other jazz luminaries. He became the first African-American to play with the NBC Tonight Show Band (1962-72) and eventually played on over 900 recordings! But just as important to him was his time spent educating budding musicians, including the young Quincy Jones (his first student) and Justin Kauflin (his last student), which forms the main thread of this fascinating film.