Squeaking of mice, I’m simply head over tails in love with THE TINY MOUSE (Lemniscaat,2013), veteran singer-songwriter Janis Ian’s jaunty, whimsical song-turned-picture book masterfully illustrated by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert.
Janis’s rollicking tale of adventure on the high seas is packed with whisker twitching, nose itching suspense, salty humor, and many a well-turned phrase set to a catchy tune that’ll have readers of all ages joyfully singing along in seconds flat.
There was a tiny mouse
who lived in a tiny house
full of drafts and doubts, and incredible things
But this dapper little fellow soon grows bored with the high life, so decides one day to go to sea so he can drink grog and sniff “occasional snuff.”
Suffering from a little “Downton Abbey” withdrawal? No need to get your knickers in a twist. Now you can nibble on this new gouda picture book until Series 4 debuts in the U.S. on January 5, 2014.
Whether you be man or mouse, Mouseton Abbey: The Missing Diamond by Joanna Bicknell, Nick Page and Tim Hutchinson (Make Believe Ideas, 2013), is sure to get your whiskers twitching with its veddy British tongue-in-cheese humor.
Resident family at Mouseton AbbeyThe staff
Whoever said, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play,” knew only half the story. Not only are there mice in this house, they own the place, which is not too shabby considering it dates back to the 13th century and now has over 300 rooms.
She believes food should be healthy, tasty and fun. Most of the breakfast plates featured in her book take between 5-15 minutes to prepare, require simple equipment and available ingredients, and all are meant to be eaten. What started on a whim one morning has turned into a great food adventure (100,000+ followers, international media coverage, columns in newspapers and magazines, special projects).
I love that her first ever creations were a bear and a fox. She also includes a few tips and recipes for pancakes, hot cereal, granola, scones, and nut butter. Check out her blog for behind-the-scenes pics and background on her Instagram features. Fun for all ages!
BIG APPETITES: Tiny People in a World of Big Food by Christopher Boffoli (Workman Publishing, 2013). This is a collection of Boffoli’s internationally-known series of photographs featuring tiny people posing in real food environments. Amusing, outlandish, snarky, and handily skewing our sense of perspective, Boffoli’s photos tease the imagination, whet the appetite for worlds beyond our own, and enable us to see common food items as never before — for their beauty, intense color, and wonderful textures. Readers of all ages will be drawn to these fascinating scenes, but the tongue-in-cheek captions will likely go over the heads of most kids. Have you ever dreamed of playing golf on a split papaya, mowing an orange peel, bathing in blue Jell-O? Feast your eyes!
#48 in an ongoing series of posts celebrating the alphabet
Look what just zoomed in — a spiffy convoy of hardworking trucks all featured in a brand new picture book by Samantha R. Vamos and Ryan O’Rourke!
Start the engines.
Lift and load.
Shift the gears and
hit the road.
Vroom! Rumble! Zoom! Alphabet Trucks.
Maybe you’re already wondering: could there actually be a different kind of truck for each letter of the alphabet? What about Q, V, X, and Z? We all know how much they love to cause trouble.
Relax. Clever Samantha has got those rascals covered, and along with the familiar pickup truck, tow truck, and cement mixer, she throws in quite a few less commonly known vehicles to keep things interesting: knuckle-boom truck, lowboy, winch truck.
A is for apple truck,
carting produce to the store.
B is for box truck,
with a rolling rear door.
They’re all described in jaunty rhyming couplets that explain each truck’s job, while O’Rourke’s crackerjack retro-style illustrations show the trucks in action, two per double page spread. Young readers will enjoy studying each scene, especially because the upper and lower case letters take on a life of their own — sitting in apple trees, bouncing along the street, being picked up by a crane or carried by movers one by one.
I had my eye on it well before its official release date back in August, marveling like everyone else when it proceeded to rack up *starred review* after *starred review* (Booklist, PW, SLJ, Kirkus), my excitement steadily building until I finally held a copy in my hands and devoured every word. Oh my, oh yes! No wonder! Every accolade this book has received is so well deserved.
One bright fall day, Sophie chose a squash at the farmers’ market.
Her parents planned to serve it for supper, but Sophie had other ideas.
These ideas included naming her squash Bernice, holding her, bouncing her on her knee, tucking her into bed and taking her everywhere. Ever the steadfast friend, Sophie refuses her mother’s gentle prodding to cook Bernice and rejects her father’s attempts to pacify her with a new toy to take Bernice’s place.
But as time goes on, Bernice develops splotchy “freckles,” so Sophie decides to act on a farmer’s advice to keep Bernice healthy. She tucks her into “a bed of soft soil”, then waits out a wistful winter, hoping Bernice is okay. Come Spring, with all the snow melted, Bernice magically re-emerges, soon gifting Sophie with two wonderful surprises, as only the best of friends can do.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 