Quentin Blake Bookplates

Books make the best gifts. And what better way to add a little personalization than adhering an adorable book plate on that front page? I'm sure everyone will already recognize the distinctive illustrations of Quentin Blake. Particularly nice about these is that there are rendered in black and white, which makes them open to even more personalization. Spread out the colored pencils and put the little artists to work.

How lovely to be able to download all three of Quentin's designs for free. Follow his simple instructions "Click the picture you want. When it appears in a new window, choose your computer's Print command. Then cut out and stick into your favourite books!" It doesn't get any easier than that!

15 Minutes Outside

Sourcebooks 

Rebecca P. Cohen

After realizing she was not giving her family the rich experience of enjoying the great outdoors, Rebecca Cohen made an important resolution for herself and her family: to get outside for a few minutes every single day. On the surface, that seems like a pretty easy resolution, after all, it's only fifteen minutes. Until you to get to the Every. Single. Day. part of that resolution. That's a lot of cold, wet and snowy days, not to mention lazy mom days.     

When it comes to getting outside, I'm full of good intentions, and poor follow through. Warm, summer days are easy, but in the winter I am easily sidetracked by cups of coffee and board games spread out on the rug in front of the fire. It's just too easy to stay indoors and the minimal effort it takes to remain on the couch. But this book fights back by making it fun and easy to get your bums outdoors with a minimum of fuss or thought. 

I give Rebecca a lot of credit for sticking with her resolution and getting out there - and then writing this to give everyone else a hand! To help on harried days, she composed a list of fifty easy outdoor activities and posted it by their back door. The activities in this book are designed to be simple and low cost. You won't need fancy equipment or special clothing. I like that the book is divided into months of the year, with a weather appropriate outdoor suggestion for every single day in that month, for a total of 365 outdoor ideas. That organization makes it simple to pick up book, flip to the appropriate month and select an activity to try. Cool, huh?

But she doesn't just list thirty items in a boring column. Each one is a small paragraph explaining why the activity is worth doing or how her family had fun with it. For May, some of the suggestions are to invite birds into your garden with bird feeders, host an informal garden tea party, play kickball with the whole family, or check on your seedlings in the garden. One of my favorites was setting up a clear bag with dirt, worms and table scraps, then watching the compost break down. 

Of course, I thought some of her ideas were better than others, but that is to be expected in a book of this nature. Overall, I loved the concept, her enthusiasm and the outdoor activities she provided. We will be putting this book to good use - starting this month! 

Review copy provided by Sourcebooks. 

Press Here

Chronicle Kids

Herve Tullet

Some of the simplest of ideas can be the most engaging. I had initially thought this book would be best for younger children - maybe three or four year olds. Wrong. My six year old is absolutely taken with this book. I think it must be the interactive quality that has him hooked, or the fact that he thinks he's controlling the dots' outcome. It's probably a combination of the two that makes this book irresistible.

The first page has the single yellow smudgey dot from the cover with the directions "Press here and turn the page." Similarly, each page has a number of dots with a single direction. As you follow the directions, your actions will make more dots appear, change colors and fly about the pages. Soon you will be clapping your hands, rubbing the dots, standing the book up straight and shaking it around - whatever you need to do to make those dots move. I love that you need to rely on your imagination to really be taken in by the book. Just let go and do what the book tells you to do and it feels like magic!
 
I think this is one of those books that is so simple, it make you think "Why didn't I come up with this?" and really marvel at the person who thought to put it together. So let's all take a moment a marvel at the ingeniousness that is Herve Tullet. He has been creating children's books for 15 years and has come up with some amazing things. It makes me a feel a bit better to find he's no one-hit wonder.  




Review copy provided by Chronicle Kids.

Miko Monkey

 

House of Ingri

Since the day it arrived, Me! Me! ABC has been the undisputed king of our alphabet book collection. Quirky, adorable little guys present a request/demand for each letter of the alphabet: Admire me, Buckle me, Call me, and so on. As a result of the book's popularity at our house, I can darn near recite those adjectives by memory alone.

I could not have been more excited to learn that Ingri Von Bergen is back in business as House of Ingri making her signature dolls! Of the eight characters featured in the book, five are available now and the other three will be coming later in the year. We really wrestled with our decision, but chose Miko Monkey over Moki Monkey, Picco Panda, Francis Love Bunny, and Marty. It was a tough choice as each character has his/her own personality and are so weirdly cute in their own way. I love the eyes and sweet heart on Francis, Marty's vivid scarlet body and Picco's little panda likeness. But Miko has his his own unique features that won us over. 

I was pleasantly surprised when Miko arrived for two reasons. He was quite a bit bigger than I was expecting him to be (even though the dimensions are clearly stated - I'm not too good at visualization) and the quality was amazing. Miko's body is made from soft, no-pill fleece - the good fleece, not the cheap stuff. His face and eyes and bum are done in a brushed faux suede, serged onto the body with a solid zig-zag stitch - no chance of these accidentally coming loose. His hands and feet are weighted with beans, a necessity considering his oversized noggin.

Those are the technical details. The overall result is - he's awesome! Just the right size for hugging and as soft as can be. Predictably, my six year old loves him every bit as much as the alphabet book. I should mention that Miko's most prominent asset is actually his butt. That tan faux suede really stands out against the blue fleece, doesn't? We're not lacking for any monkey butt jokes at our house. 

Pig-Pig Piggy Pig, Tito Turtle, and Lilac the Grumpy Gorilla will be released in time for the 2011 holiday season, as well as ... dun, dun, dun, dun .... a second book. House of Ingri has done an amazing job of bringing these characters to life. I'm more than a little excited to see their next batch of products emerge.

Review product provided by House of Ingri. 

Cars Galore

Candlewick Press

 Peter Stein; Illustrated by Bob Staake

Bob Staake illustrations are certainly recognizable, aren't they? I don't mean that in a ho, hum, it's Bob Staake again way. More like ... whee! Bob's back! He has a way of interjecting humor into his illustrations that makes them so appealing.

The writing reminds me of One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Suess, but on a vehicular level. Rusty, dusty, hunk-of-junk car. Stinky, yucky, smells-like-a-skunk car. A big part of the fun is matching up the cars with their descriptions. Of course, the Noah's Ark car was easy to pick out (the elephants gave it away) but we had to take a closer look to distinguish the jazz car and the song car from the sing-along car.  

We loved this book because of the great variety. There isn't an ordinary vehicle in the bunch. Shiny black streets swoop and stretch across the pages, dotted with brightly colored cars, trucks and vans. We noted one large skyscraper car, a yellow finned car with a grinning crocodile behind the wheel, an electric car dragging along the plug, and a bed car with the driver snoozing away.  The drivers (various animals and people of all shapes, sizes and temperaments), contents, and scenery are every bit as captivating as the cars. 

Once we finished reading this through once, we had the best time flipping back through the pages and choosing our favorites. Clever, cute, and colorful .... this is the car book to have.      

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.