September 28, 2016

ANIMALS

Ingela P. Arrhenius' Animals is one of the most striking books I have ever seen. I picked it up a few weeks ago and immediately wanted to buy three copies: one for reading and two for ripping out every page (I need both sides) and framing them on my walls. Basically, this book is GORGEOUS.


September 27, 2016

Fishing for Complements

Today we're talking about complementary colors. Complementary colors are the two colors that sit across from each other on the color wheel: Red-Green, Blue-Orange, and Yellow-Purple. Being on opposite sides of the color wheel means that these duos complement each other the most: blue makes orange more orange, orange makes blue more blue. So when illustrators choose to illustrate a picture book using only complementary colors, it's almost always visually stunning.


September 25, 2016

THIS IS MY BOOK!

Picture books that break the fourth wall are common, but picture books that use the structure of the book itself to interact with the reader are definitely harder to come by. Enter This Is My Book! by Mark Pett!


September 21, 2016

URSA'S LIGHT

I don't know how I resisted Deborah Marcero's Ursa's Light for five and a half months! It's one of those magical books that has somehow magically alluded me for an embarrassingly long amount of time. So when I was in the UK the other week and I saw it in a bookstore, I knew it was finally time to get it. Best. Decision. Ever.


September 20, 2016

Let's Talk Illustrators #4: Janet Hill

Back in January at the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference, I saw Janet Hill's Miss Moon: Wise Words From a Dog Governess for the first time. I remember walking past the book, picking up a poster (finally framed it last week!!), and then eyeing the book for the rest of the day as I walked back and forth across the display floor.

I think you know where this is going...

  

September 19, 2016

TOTO'S APPLE

TOTO'S APPLE by Mathieu Lavoie is one of the cutest, most understated books I've read in a long while. Toto the worm is on the ground when he sees an apple in a tree. But he's down low and the apple is up high. It seems like such a simple story, and yet it explores the complexities of life and working to achieve goals.

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September 14, 2016

BONESVILLE

Remember Jean-Luc Fromental and Joƫlle Jolivet, the duo that brought us 365 Penguins and Oops! ? Well they're back! And they're tackling the skeletal system in their new book Bonesville. When a beast begins to terrorize the residents of Bonesville, it's up to Detective Sherlock Bonesville to solve the case

A video posted by Mel Schuit (@spiky_penelope) on

September 12, 2016

All the Wonders of MAYBE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL

This week at All the Wonders we're celebrating All the Wonders of MAYBE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, the true story of how a community rallied to revitalize their neighborhood. 



Stop by our feature page to take a look inside the book, get craft ideas, learn how you can contribute to your community, and more! 

September 11, 2016

YELLOW TIME

I'm so excited that this month's theme for #kidlitpicks is Turn, Turn, Turn, mostly because it's the perfect excuse to showcase Lauren Stringer's new picture book Yellow Time. As the season begins to change from summer to fall, it's finally yellow time, a time when yellow leaves in the trees mean large imaginations and lots of fun. Neighborhood children all come together to play in the leaves and follow the crows, the only birds who aren't too busy to enjoy the new season.


September 7, 2016

ARCHIE SNUFFLEKINS OLIVER VALENTINE CUPCAKE TIBERIUS CAT

I was so excited to take a look at Archie Snufflekins Oliver Valentine Cupcake Tiberius Cat, Katie Harnett's debut picture book. It is so sweet and so adorably illustrated--not to mention it's about a cat--that you can't help but open it right back up to read again when you're finished. There's a wandering cat who lives on Blossom Street, and every morning he visits each and every house on the street. Every house, that is, except for number 11. No one visits number 11. Until one day the cat decides to give it a shot.


September 4, 2016

CHIRRI & CHIRRA

It's hard to come by a book as precious and dreamy as Kaya Doi's Chirri & Chirra. The text is translated from the Japanese original, and you can tell from the cover that this book is special: it makes me want to pull the book jacket off and hang it on my wall.


September 3, 2016

#kidlitpicks August Round-Up: 19 Unique Friendship Picture Books

As August rolls through our lives, we find ourselves slipping into that back-to-school mentality: back-to-school means new clothes, new school supplies, and most importantly, new friends. Even as adults we get butterflies thinking about meeting new people, so it’s tough to imagine placing our kids in that position of needing to make new friends and coming out of their shells in new environments.

Friendships, of course, come in all different shapes and sizes, and there’s no better medium for exploring these unique friendships than picture books. The people we meet during our lives can be transformative and life-altering, and finding the people we want to spend our time with is always a process unique to the individual (written by me!)

Here’s the round-up of Unique Friendship stories shared throughout August (I picked the theme this month!) and quotes from individual reviews.


September 2, 2016

LITTLE KUNOICHI: THE NINJA GIRL

I can't believe it took me so long to find Little Kunoichi: The Ninja Girl by Sanae Ishida. It's such a beautiful book and has such a great message about working together and playing to our strengths. The text heavily features Japanese terminology, which is explained organically through conversation and often transliterated for pronunciation.