The Black Rabbit

 

Candlewick Press

Philippa Leathers

One sunny morning, Little Rabbit is startled to discover there is a large, black rabbit looming behind him. Little Rabbit shrieks at him to go away, but his aggressor only stands dark and silent, unmoving. Poor Rabbit tries a multitude of tricks, hiding behind a large tree and swimming across the river, but that scary black rabbit is always just a step behind.

Little Rabbit is so panicked, that he unthinkingly runs straight into the deep, dark woods, which  he would ordinarily be ultra careful to avoid. (So cute that the woods are marked with a large wooden entrance sign: "Welcome to the deep, dark wood.") True to their name, the woods are deep and dark .... but at least there's no sign of that big black bunny.

Just as Little Rabbit takes a seat on a tree stump and breathes a sigh of relief, he notices two slanted eyes peering at him out of the darkness. These eyes belong to someone much more threatening than the character who had been following him all day ... the Wolf! Rabbit panics and runs, with Wolf hot on his heels. But just as quickly as he appeared, Wolf disappears. Because there, standing behind Little Rabbit, in the bright sunshine, is the Black Rabbit.
 

I love all the little details of Philippa Leathers' little neurotic bunny! His stubby legs in proportion to those long ears,the high spots of color on his cheeks and those big eyes with the worried look. From the illustrations, even young readers will realize right away why the Black Rabbit is there. Super adorable book! 

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.  

Flip Flap Farm

 

Nosy Crow

Axel Scheffler 

Shurkeys, and Chows, and Mabbits, so fun! This is a really clever book that allows readers to flip the the pages around to make all sorts of interesting animals. Ever wondered how a pig would look balanced on little chicken legs? This is the book for you.  

The basic set up: there are eleven pages of actual animals. The animal is on the right, two paragraphs of information about that animal on the left, and the animal's name running vertically down the edge of the page. The fun part is that each page is split in half, which means you can flip the top or the bottom half to create 121 animal combinations. Sheep upper and squirrel lower makes a Shirrel - an animal that provides fleece for wool and scurries around burying acorns. We love the Dow: dog upper half and cow lower half. Great for herding sheep and provides milk!

Scheffler did a fantastic job sizing the animals and making them line up just right, so the new combinations look proportionate and funny as heck. There is also something about the way the eyes are drawn, so it seems as though the animal is looking directly at the reader, kind of like they are in on the joke. "I have turkey legs. What do you think about that?" We were pretty much cracking up making silly animal combinations and picturing them running around in real life. Really fun book!

Review copy provided by Nosy Crow. 

Crabtree

 

McSweeney's McMullens

Jon and Tucker Nichols 

I can see why this book is generating a lot of positive buzz. It's unusual, both in format and content. There's nothing I like better than taking a tour of someone's house. Reading this is exactly like that, although I'm pretty sure this guy has far more unusual items than the rest of us.

Alfred Crabtree has lost his false teeth. After a brief and fruitless search, he starts to organize all his belongings on the advice of his sister. Not only does Alfred has some very odd items, he also has some interesting methods of categorization. I found Alfred to be extremely compelling only five pages in, where he displays his collection of real ducks and decoys (including six spare eyeballs). And I knew we could be friends when I stumbled across his very large collection of Small Yapping Dogs.     

Page by page, we get to see this great mix (from dull to wacky to what-the-hee-haw?) of Alfred's possessions, neatly laid out and labeled. Sometimes the category is weird, other times the seemingly normal group contains odd items, or maybe the labels are terribly clever. In any case, you can find humor on every page, and  part of the fun is looking closely. I particularly liked the page with the packed boxes and his nutty labels, although I'm sad we don't get to see the contents of the Sticky Things box.      


I love how the book is oversized - fourteen inches tall. Big books feel like such a luxury to me, particularly when you can open this one up and have all these great big pages filled with fascinating items. It's exactly like pawing through someone's closet, with none of the embarrassment.  

Review copy provided by McSweeney's McMullens.
 

Pomelo's Opposites

Enchanted Lion 

Ramona Badescu; Benjamin Chaud 

We love Pomelo! I'm very pleased to see more unique perspectives from my favorite pink elephant. Ramona Badescu covers these expected basic subjects, but her versions are just so smart and clever, that they end up being anything but expected. Pomelo demonstrating opposites is as refreshing as Pomelo Explores Color.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a funny opposites book before, but now that I have, the others seem even more ordinary. This one goes way beyond the traditional in/out, over/under opposite pairings. Badescu covers the lesser known opposites, such as convex/concave, fleeting/permanent, evident/unimaginable, and heartless/kind. One was so obscure, that I actually had to look up the definition. I love a children's book that makes you think.

But even her less outlandish pairs are far from boring. A carrot is ordinary. A carrot in a shape of an elephant is extraordinary. A dream is Pomelo with a lush head of head, while reality is bald Pomelo. She even makes in/out and real/pretend very amusing. Absolutely the very best, most enjoyable book of opposites we have found. 

Review copy provided by Enchanted Lion. 

Where's Waldo: The Totally Essential Travel Collection

 

Candlewick Press

Martin Handford 

Typically, Where's Waldo books are quite large, about 10" x 12", but thin. Certainly fun for home, but maybe not the ideal book to spread open while traveling. Now the clever people in charge of marketing have packed SEVEN volumes of classic Where's Waldo into one much smaller edition. It's genius, really.   

This is technically a soft cover, but with exceptionally strong front and back covers, and a sturdy bendable spine. This means you can crack it open and spread it out for thorough searching without fear of cracking the spine.

Each adventure includes a fold-out checklist at the beginning and end, with hundreds of more items to look for. There's really no chance of running out of items to search for, no matter how long your trip is. 

The classic Waldo books included in this travel edition:

Where’s Waldo?
Where’s Waldo Now?
Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey
Where’s Waldo? The Wonder Book
Where’s Waldo? In Hollywood
Where’s Waldo? The Great Picture Hunt!
Where’s Waldo? The Incredible Paper Chase

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.

TouchThinkLearn Books

 

Chronicle Books 

Xavier Deneux

The old toddler classic, the board book, has been re-imagined, and the results are fabulous. TouchThinkLearn books are designed for early learning with a new dimension.

These retain the sturdiness we love of board books, but with die cut shapes added to the pages for more to touch and feel. Like tiny puzzles, the raised up shapes on the left hand page fit exactly into the cut out shapes on the right side. The shapes are very simple yet thick, so toddlers can get those chubby hands right in there, but parents won't have worry about them being able to tear any pieces off.  

Obviously you need more than just sturdy to make a great board book. Deneux has a way of creating illustrations that are very simple, but incredibly adorable. The bunnies that illustrate inside/outside in the Opposites book are the cutest darn things. They are only outdone by the  white kitten turned ninja cat in the Colors book. It's very clever how the elephant demonstrating heavy fits perfectly into the pure white cloud that is light, and the submarine is the exact same shape as the whale. 

Creating a better board book with more dimension is a smart idea. Unlike books that offer flaps and pop ups, these are sturdy enough for curious toddlers. I love Colors and Opposites, and would expect the other two books in the collection, Shapes and Numbers, to be on par. Smart, cute, and fun to touch.    

Review copy provided by Chronicle Books. 

Put Me in the Story personalized books

 

Put Me in the Story 

Put Me In The Story is a new personalized children’s book site offered by Sourcebooks. What makes these personalized books so different from the others already on the market is that these are some of bestselling and award-winning books from Sourcebooks. To be honest, most of the other personalized books I've seen have been pretty blah. 

Browse the selection here to see all titles offered. I love that they included some books we already own and absolutely love, My Dad, My Hero by Ethan Long.  My Name is Not Isabella and My Name is Not Alexander, would both make ideal personalized books. We chose More Bears by Kenn Nesbitt, as he is one of our favorite authors.

Ordering is pretty painless: choose your book, supply the child's name, inscription, and three photos. The best part is that you can't move forward until all the necessary information is complete. That makes it foolproof. And believe me, this fool tested it. I didn't realize you needed three photos and tried checking out after loading just one. Best of all, you can see a preview of the entire book online complete with your information, page by page. So before you press the order button, you feel confident about how the finished product will look.

Our book arrived less than a week later and it was perfect. The photo was clear, the inscription was correct, and the personalized book made the most amazing baby gift. The entire experience was nothing but positive, and I would absolutely order again from Put Me In the Story. Actually, we'll definitely order again - because I think these personalized books would make fantastic Christmas gifts.

Review copy provided by Sourcebooks.

Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters

 

Candlewick Press

Jane Yolan, Illustrated by Kelly Murphy 

This is the perfect sequel to Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters, which was published two years ago. The two books are very similar, with fantastic illustrations, cute rhyming text, and hilarious little monster activities.

This might not be exactly right, but it seemed to me that Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters was a day in the life of monsters - a weekday, to be specific. This sequel appears to give us a look into a monster weekend. And once again, it's super fun to see their activities aren't so different from ours.

Monsters are whooping it up at the park, playing ball, taking turns on the slide, and jumping rope. Much like humans at the park, although they need less equipment, using just their freakish monster arms for the ropes. They have picnics in the park, teeter-totter and ride their bikes. Of course, they all line up for monster-sicles when the cart comes around. 
 

I think this book series is actually a great tool for helping children get over their fear of monsters. This is an easy way to show that monsters aren't creepy dudes that hide under the bed. These monsters smile, hug, and play silly games in the park. The only growling here is a little fight between siblings over the water fountain. 

Happily, there are enough monster-specific details included, so the book is also equally humorous. One large monster waits on the teeter totter while a pile of teeny monsters help each other pile on the other end. The three-headed monster on the tricycle is sporting three safety helmets. And one of the treats dispensed from the monster ice cream cart is a popsicle covered with tongues and eyeballs.  

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.

The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone

Candlewick Press 

Timothy Basil Ering 

It is the illustrations rather than the story that are so mesmerizing to me. Timothy Basil Ering has a very unique style of mixing watercolors with loose sketches, so the whole thing is all textures and shadows. It's also amazing.

There once was a stick boy who lived in a dank place called Cementland, which was filled with heaping piles of junk. The boy had one wish: to find a true treasure. After endless fruitless searching, he unearths a strange and wonderful box.The box is filled with beautiful packages and a note that instructs the finder to put the wondrous riches into the earth and enjoy.

The boy does as the note instructs, but when he comes back the next day, his plantings have been stolen. Enraged, he rummages through the junk and sets to work making a strange and loathsome creature from smelly socks, moldy pillows, and scraggly wires. Frog Belly Rat Bone is the monster who will guard over the boy's treasures, like a scarecrow for Cementland.

That very night, a rat, a rabbit, and a fruit fly are scared nearly to death when a "giant scary monster with long bony arms and wet smelly socks" leaps out. The thieves run off and the boy's treasures remain safe. The little boy and Frog Belly water the treasures and continue to guard against thieves. Soon Cementland is covered in beautiful flowers and laden with delicious fruit and vegetables. They all celebrate, even the thieves (who came back and apologized).  

This book was originally published in 2003, and has been adapted to the stage play by Rogue Artist Ensemble in Los Angeles, California. This printing celebrates the book's ten year anniversary.   

Timothy Basil Ering says this book was inspired by a visit to Descanso Gardens, a botanical garden in Pasadena, California, where there is a private garden for urban Los Angeles schoolchildren. "For as long as I can remember, I have loved to mix up words and phrases into silly little combinations that would make me laugh," he explains. "I’d make up songs while meandering down the outer beach of Cape Cod to favorite fishing spots, and ‘Frog Belly Rat Bone’ was always a favorite string of nouns. Then one day in Pasadena, I sat at a tiny picnic table in the children’s garden and began to sketch the garden’s scarecrow. I knew at that moment that Frog Belly Rat Bone had found a home." 

Timothy Basil Ering also wrote and illustrated Finn Throws a Fit, which is equally excellent.

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press. 

Maya Was Grumpy

Flashlight Press

 Courtney Pippin-Mathur

Maya is having a bad hair day. Her wild red hair reflects her mood… cantankerous and smoldering. She isn’t sure why she’s in a grumpy mood; she just is. And she wants to make sure everyone around her knows it. She mopes through the house, scowling and grumbling, trying to infect the pet cat, her brothers, and even the birds outside, to no avail. Maya’s bad mood is ignored, which only makes her grumpier.

In a last ditch effort to share her grouchiness, Maya attempts to get a rise out of her grandma. Gramma’s silly comments at first infuriate Maya, but then Maya begins to succumb and eventually resorts to giggling at Gramma’s fantastical suggestions that they spend the day swinging with the monkeys and tickling tarantulas. Gramma fixes Maya’s hair, and off they go to enjoy the day. 

I love Pippin-Mathur’s illustrations. She perfectly captures the facial expressions of an obstinate little girl who is determined to have a bad day. It’s clever how she uses Maya’s hair as a symbol of feeling out of control, and then transforms it into cute, fun pigtails as Maya’s mood improves. And all parents can learn a thing or two from Gramma, who remains cool and calm throughout.

Maya Was Grumpy is Pippin-Mathur’s first picture book. It’s an entertaining read for young children, and is sure to bring forth smiles from parents as well. I hope a few Maya sequels are in the works.

Reviewed by Leslie. Review copy provided by Flashlight Press. 

This is Not My Hat

 

Candlewick Press

Jon Klassen 

Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back won the New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year, and was named an honor book of the 2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. Clearly I wasn't the only who loved the story about a bear who was trying to track down his misplaced (stolen!) hat, with a fantastic sardonic ending.

This one is about a small fish who nicks a hat from a much larger fish, and his attempted getaway. I like how this book is quite similar to I Want My Hat Back, but written from the complete opposite point of view. Before we were identifying with the victim and now we're seeing the captor's point of view (who also turns out to be a victim).  

After the hat swiping, the little thief is quite smug as he darts away, sure that the big fish was dead to the world. Even if he did wake to notice the empty space on his head, he wouldn't have the faintest idea who the thief could be. Should he be suspected, the little fish is confident that he's smart and quick enough to make it to the thick plants, where he will hide and never ever be found.  

Many of the pages look similar, but the book isn't a bit boring. I love the four pages of the big fish, right in a row. All four illustrations are nearly identical, except for the way his big fish eye conveys his reaction to the story. Even better, his reaction is a direct contradiction to the text printed on that page. It's so cleverly done.

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.

Winner Bakes All: The Cupcake Club

Sourcebooks

Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk

In this third installment of The Cupcake Club series, the mother and daughter writing team of Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk focus on fifth grader, Sadie Harris. Sadie has a lot on her plate, and not just cupcakes!

Not only is Sadie failing math and trying to take the girls basketball team to the next level, she’s also worried that her parents are headed for divorce. On top of it all, she and her friends are vying for a spot on the hit show Battle of the Bakers. As a result of the struggling economy, their cupcake business has hit a snafu and orders are dwindling. PLC (Peace, Love, and Cupcakes) needs a boost, and winning TV’s ultimate cupcake competition is just the ticket.

In this fast-paced chapter book, we follow Sadie and her friends through the many highs and lows of being business owners. As if being an adolescent girl isn’t hard enough! As they support and learn from each other, they discover that it’s not all about winning. It’s about putting forth the effort and giving it your all.

This book is a sweet treat for middle school girls. As a mom, I would highly recommend it as a wholesome and heartwarming read. My first grader was drawn in by the cover art and title, and quite jealous that I was reading the book without her.

As the book closes, we are left feeling satisfied yet wanting more… and what better way to get more than to turn the page and find three delicious PLC cupcake recipes. But now I’m torn: Snowball Coconut, Golden Caramel, or Chocolate Chili? I may just have to bake them all.

Reviewed by Leslie. Review copy provided by Sourcebooks. 

No Bears

Candlewick Press 

Meg McKinlay; Illustrated by Leila Rudge 

"Every time you read a book, it's just BEARS BEARS BEARS - horrible furry bears slurping honey in awful little caves." That's how fed up Ella is with bears hogging all the storybooks. She needs a break from all the bears. The obvious solution is to take matters into her own hands and create a storybook that has, you guessed it, no bears. No bears in her castle, no bears in her forest, no bears putting their grimy little paws in her book, period. 

Instead of bears crowding up the joint, Ella's book has a tutorial for making your own paper crown, fairies with shimmering wings, a map of faraway places, and a terrible monster. This monster is also terribly (hilariously) dressed, replete in a pair of yellow and coral striped tights and an offbeat patterned mask. Ella's story has action, adventure, and like all good storybooks, a happy ending. 

I like how Ella includes classic storybook elements in a seemingly random way. When she introduces the monster to the story, a little girl in a red cape and hood runs past with a basket while a wolf looks on. The monster crosses the river in a bathtub with an owl and a pussycat, later passing by a trio of pigs in one house, and a girl with a suspiciously long braid in another.

There may be no bears allowed in, but one lurks (unknown to the bear banning author) right at the edges of the book, with a paw reaching in on several pages. Could it be that a bear is having a huge effect on Ella's book on the sly?

Leila Rudge does a great job tempering all the colors and activity in Ella's book against the pure white background. There are so many little details to take note of, but it's not the least bit overwhelming. There is action and adventure on every page, paired with adorable little patterned clothing (Ella's pink patterned shirt is my favorite) and clever little jokes tucked in everywhere.

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.

Bear Despair

Enchanted Lion 

Gaëtan Dorémus

Another wordless treasure from Enchanted Lion, who seems to be the king of finding the really great ones. 

 
Bear is peacefully snoozing away with his teddy tucked under his arm, when Wolf happens past. And wouldn't it be a funny joke to pluck out that teddy bear and fling it away as far as he can? Not to Bear. Turns out to be not so funny for Wolf either, after Bear gobbles him up as penance. With a scowl on his face, and Wolf safely tucked away in his belly, Bear starts to hunt for his teddy. He smiles when he sees that Lion has picked up the toy. Apparently Lion shares Wolf's sense of humor, because instead of returning the stuffed animal, he mocks Bear and tosses his toy over a steep cliff. For that, Lion gets gobbled up and finds himself right next to Wolf.  

The really brilliant part of this book is that Dorémus allows us to see the goings on inside of Bear's tummy. In no time at all, Wolf and Lion are joined by a pair of eggs (soon to hatch) gulped down as retribution from a teddy snatching bird. By the time an elephant find his way inside, Bear is quite large, his head balancing atop his mammoth body like a tiny pea. Possibly it is his fearsome size that persuades the Octopus to return his teddy. As soon as Bear is pacified, those who were eaten are now released and Bear returns to his nap.  

This is indeed clever, and deftly proves you don't always need to have words to understand the story being told. Just how brilliant are these illustrations? Brilliant enough to have won a spot on the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2012.

Review copy provided by Enchanted Lion. 

Where's Waldo? The Wow Collection!

 

Candlewick Press

Martin Handford

So they certainly named this collection appropriately. When I opened it, I literally whispered "Wow." out loud without even thinking. Martin Handford may not be illustrating new books, but they are doing a bang up job of repackaging the ones that have already been released.

The collection includes six paperback books and an eighty piece jigsaw puzzle - all packaged inside a fancy little slipcase to keep things tidy. Not to mention, it's cheaper than if you bought all six of those paperbacks individually.  

The six titles included are: Where’s Waldo?
Where’s Waldo Now?
Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey
Where’s Waldo? In Hollywood
Where’s Waldo? The Wonder Book
Where’s Waldo? The Great Picture Hunt

I don't think I need to point out that this would make a great gift, but I will anyway. Excellent gift! Even better if you can find a newish, small person who has not yet been introduced to the wonderful world of Waldo.     

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.  

Black Dog

Templar Books

Levi Pinfold 

I read another review where the observation was made that Levi Pinfold could probably write a book about anything at all and his amazing artwork would carry it along. I could not agree more with that assessment. I would totally plunk down my money for The Big Book of Lint if Levi had illustrated it.

For starters, this is one of the very few children's books I have seen where the dust jacket is not identical to the hardback cover, but both are equally stunning. Readers can expect all the image they find inside to be every bit as amazing.

One day, a black dog appears in the Hope family's yard. Mr. Hope spots him first and announces him to be the size of a tiger, but the dog increases in size with each family member's sighting. By the time Maurice gets a glimpse, the black dog is reportedly larger than their three storied house. All the Hopes huddle together under the covers, except for one. It is the youngest member of the family, called Small, who dons her coat and steps outside alone to face the beast.

Although the dog appears quite large and very black, Small is not afraid. As she leads him on a merry chase through the trees, across the frozen pond, and through the playground, the black dog following her every step of the way seems to be shrinking. By the time they reach the Hope house, he is small enough to crawl through the cat flap like Small does. When the rest of the family is faced with the reality of sees the dog, they realize he isn't frightening at all,  through thought about how much courage Small had shown. The way the entire family is staring at the black dog while he licks a plate clean, and the very last image of  Small cuddling with him in front of the fire leads me to believe that I just read the story of how the Hope family adopted their dog.

I do like the story, but it is most definitely the illustrations that make the book. They are extremely well done, but just a bit quirky, with odd little bits tucked in every cluttered room. I love every page and hope you will too. 

Review copy provided by Templar Books.   

A Birthday for Bear

Candlewick Press
Bonny Becker; Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton 

Although I really enjoyed A Birthday for Bear was it was first published, I wished it had gotten the large picture book format, rather than the smaller early reader size. Happy day, now we can watch the birthday negotiations plays out between the grumpy bear and tenacious mouse on full size pages. 

Mouse is delighted to help celebrate his friend's birthday, but Bear is much less enthusiastic - downright rude actually. When Mouse turns up bearing a nicely decorated card, Bear lies about it being his birthday. He tells Mouse in no uncertain terms that he does not like birthdays, he does not like birthday cards and he most certainly will NOT be having a birthday party! Then he unceremoniously sweeps him from the house. Bear thinks he has made himself quite clear, but we know how Mouse can be. 

Sure enough, Mouse returns wearing his trademark grin, masquerading as a balloon bearing deliveryman, a posting with a birthday greeting and finally as Santa Claus carrying a very large package. Each time Bear is wise to his tricks, seeing through each disguise to boot Mouse from the house.

Bear is getting just a tiny bit worn down by Mouse's antics and begins to wonder what sort of present could be in that large box. Just then the doorbell rings, revealing one large chocolate cake. Bear glares and peeks into the bushes, but there is no Mouse in sight. As Bear swipes one sweet pawful of chocolate cake - TA-DA - Mouse erupts from the cake. Just as he sweet talked his way into this friendship in the first book, he persuades Bear to celebrate his birthday with a cake, balloons and a wonderful gift.

Mouse is very persistent and Bear is very resistant. The fun is what happens when they meet in the middle. I love watching these two face off - you can practically see the wheels turning in Mouse's head and the waves of frustration coming from Bear. This unlikely pair combine to become a huge hit which will have readers giggling out loud.

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press. 

Larf

Kids Can Press

Ashley Spires 

I love unusual children's books. The cover on this one makes it very apparent this is a winner. Even before we opened the book, we had a good laugh at the name Larf. Then we made up some rhymes, because Larf obviously rhymes with some other funny words. Only then did we settle down to read the book. 

Larf is a hairy, seven foot tall sasquatch. As the general public tends to be alarmed by sasquatches, he has wisely chosen to live a quiet life in the woods with his little bug-eyed bunny, Eric. For the most part, he's happy with his solitary life, but sometimes he longs to meet someone who understands him.

One morning, Larf is shocked to read in the newspaper that another sasquatch is scheduled to make an appearance in a city near him. After some careful deliberation, he decides he cannot pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One thin disguise (short pants, a red scarf, and a beret) later, Larf is on his way. En route, he imagines what this fellow sasquatch might be like, alternating between being apprehensive and excited. 

To Larf's utter disappointment, the other sasquatch is just a regular sized dude in a fur suit. A big fat faker. Larf resigns himself to returning to his quiet life when he looks up to the surprise of a lifetime. And this time she's the real deal - no zipper in her fur suit, and her feet rival Larf's in size. Sigh. And that is the story of how Larf met Shurl, and probably went on to lead a slightly less quiet life.

There are tons of very funny, unusual details in the illustrations, but my very favorite is how Larf straps Eric the bunny into a carrier on his chest for the trip, a la Bunny Bjorn. Eric is free to look around, but his little arms and legs dangle down helplessly. Ha! Ashley Spires previously wrote Small Saul, which was also delightfully quirky.

Review copy provided by Kids Can Press. 

The Velveteen Rabbit

Enchanted Lion 

Komako Sakai, based on the story of Margery Williams 

The Velveteen Rabbit written by Margery Williams is a touching story and widely considered a children's classic. She wrote twenty-nine books that followed this, but none were as well loved or achieved such great noteriety. The Velveteen Rabbit has been republished and retold many times over since Margery's original in 1922, but this is a particularly beautiful copy from one of the most popular author-illustrators in Japan. 

This version is a little bit more condensed than the original. Sakai's illustrations were created using acrylic paint and oil pencils, which gives them an old world, dreamy feel. The slightly reduced text is barely noticeable, as the illustrations tell such a huge part of the story. Although all of them are gorgeous, my favorites are where the velveteen rabbit interacts with the real rabbits in the yard. It's fascinating how she was able to make the velveteen rabbit look like an old fashioned stuffed animal, while the others look as alive as can be.
 

Kudos to Enchanted Lion for choosing this classic, and for writing that they thought long and hard before deciding in favor of publishing a retelling of this classic, only because they wanted to give due consideration to the original. This book does not diminish the original at all, and only serves to introduce the tale to a whole new generation.

Review copy provided by Enchanted Lion.