Green

May has somehow slipped by me.  It has been filled with recovering from a tonsillectomy (my daughter's), travel, gardening, and not nearly enough reading.  But I did get my hands on a copy of Laura Vaccaro Seeger's latest book Green.  And while I have spent a vast amount of time transplanting green hostas and planting green vegetable plants, that is not what drew me to this book: the artwork is amazing.

The book is simple in concept - it explores all shades of green - lime green, forest green, glow green and wacky green, to name a few.  But it is the beautiful acrylic artwork that tells the story of green: of catching fireflies and reading under the shade of a green tree, of sea green turtles swimming in the sea and the tiger hiding in the green leaves.  The texture of the painting nearly pops off of the page.  An added dimension of interest in the book are the die cuts - a leaf on one page turns to a fish on the next, a lime on another becomes a spoon.  Children will love studying the art work and following the changing die cuts.  

This is one of my favorite books so far in 2012 and I think it is Caldecott discussion worthy.  Pick it up and read it under your favorite apple tree or at dusk just at the first firefly emerges.  It is fabulous.

Where the Wild Things Are

Here's to Maurice Sendak and always taking our imaginations to where the wild things are . . .

A Home for Bird

A little over a month ago Philip and Erin Stead visited our quaint local children's library.  At the end of the visit, while signing copies of current books, we asked about what books they had forthcoming.  Philip told of his upcoming book - A Home for Bird.  Someone there had an ARC so Phillip flipped through the book while telling us the highlights of the story.  His excitement for this book was evident and in listening to him tell about it, I wanted to rush right out and grab a copy off of the shelves before they were all gone.

I have only seen the ARC flipped through quickly, but I can tell you this is a charming story of a toad, Vernon, and his friend, a suspiciously silent blue bird, and their search for a home for Bird.  It is not released until June but I am posting today because you really must head over to the fabulous blog Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for her latest post - an interview (of sorts) with Philip about A Home for Bird.

Really, it is the electronic version of sitting with Philip in a quaint library while he flips through an ARC  - only with more pictures and even greater backstory.  You don't want to miss this post and you will not want to miss A Home for Bird coming June 5th to a store near you . . .