The Lost Spells


Robert Macfarlane - 2020
    Now, The Lost Spells, a book kindred in spirit and tone, continues to re-wild the lives of children and adults.The Lost Spells evokes the wonder of everyday nature, conjuring up red foxes, birch trees, jackdaws, and more in poems and illustrations that flow between the pages and into readers’ minds. Robert Macfarlane’s spell-poems and Jackie Morris’s watercolour illustrations are musical and magical: these are summoning spells, words of recollection, charms of protection. To read The Lost Spells is to see anew the natural world within our grasp and to be reminded of what happens when we allow it to slip away.

Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White


Melissa Sweet - 2016
    B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. In Some Writer!, the two-time Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet mixes White’s personal letters, photos, and family ephemera with her own exquisite artwork to tell his story, from his birth in 1899 to his death in 1985. Budding young writers will be fascinated and inspired by the journalist, New Yorker contributor, and children’s book author who loved words his whole life. This authorized tribute is the first fully illustrated biography of E. B. White and includes an afterword by Martha White, E. B. White's granddaughter.

Inky the Octopus


Erin Guendelsberger - 2018
    Out of this tank, I must be free.I must explore the open sea!Inky the octopus is bored with aquarium life and wants to escape to the ocean! But just how can an octopus in a tank get to the open seas? Find out in Inky the Octopus, the only tale of the mischievous octopus to be officially endorsed by the National Aquarium of New Zealand.

The Singing Bones


Shaun Tan - 2015
    Introduced by Grimm Tales author Philip Pullman and leading fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes, The Singing Bones breathes new life into some of the world's most beloved fairy tales.

How Andrew Got His Spots


Louise Lintvelt - 2014
    He does not have any spots, you see! He keeps seeing spots wherever he goes… One spot, two spots, three spots, Four! And many, many, many more. “Where did you get your spots?” he asks. Join Andrew as he discovers how the ladybug, the leopard and the owl came to have spots and discovers that spots often appear when you are least expecting them! This is a wonderful rhyming picture book for children of all ages.

The Tapir Scientist: Saving South America's Largest Mammal


Sy Montgomery - 2013
    Most of the people who live near tapir habitat in Brazil’s vast Pantanal (“the Everglades on steroids”) haven’t seen the elusive snorkel-snouted mammal, either. In this arresting nonfiction picture book, Sibert winners Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop join a tapir-finding expedition led by the Brazilian field scientist Pati Medici. Aspiring scientists will love the immediate, often humorous “you are there” descriptions of fieldwork, and gadget lovers will revel in the high-tech science at play, from microchips to the camera traps that capture the “soap opera” of tapir life.

How to Talk to Your Dog


Jean Craighead George - 1986
    Find out what your dog is really saying -- and talk back!Jean Craighead George, Newbery Medal -- winning author of over 80 books about nature and animals, demonstrates in words and photos how to communicate with your best friend.

Big Panda & Tiny Dragon - Special Edition


James Norbury - 2020
    Special Edition:The special edition is signed by James, and includes a colour bookplate on the inside cover with the edition number as well as a dediction or note inside the book.

Don't Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies


Shel Silverstein - 1964
    Now available again after three decades, DON'T BUMP THE GLUMP! and Other Fantasies was originally published in 1964, the same year as his most famous picture book, THE GIVING TREE.

I am a Pole (And So Can You!)


Stephen Colbert - 2012
    "The sad thing is, I like it" - Maurice Sendak"The perfect gift to give a child or grandchild for their high school or college graduation.Also Father's Day.Also, other times." - Stephen Colbert

William Shakespeare's: The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare Retellings, #7)


Bruce Coville - 2007
    So begins this engaging retelling of one of William Shakespeare's last plays, a fascinating and unique combination of intensity and whimsy. When King Leontes unfairly accuses his wife of infidelity, he sets off a terrible chain of events. But this is not one of Shakespeare's tragedies. It's a romance, and one with a healthy dose of fancy and surprise. A story of redemption and the strength of friendship and true love, The Winter's Tale is perhaps also Bruce Coville's most eloquent retelling yet, complemented masterfully by illustrator LeUyen Pham, whose rich and dramatic paintings are a revelation.

A Bedtime Kiss for Chester Raccoon


Audrey Penn - 2011
    Mrs. Raccoon soothes him with a Kissing Hand, and he is able to go to sleep. This sweet and decidedly unscary board book is both a light-hearted way to calm children's fears at bedtime, along with a gentle introduction to Chester Raccoon and the Kissing Hand for the younger child. Funny illustrations will gentle the scary-looking shadows in a bedroom.

Disney Winnie-the-Pooh: The Honey Tree


Bob Totten - 1965
    Find out if Pooh gets what he’s looking for in the reissue of this wonderful Little Golden Book, originally published in 1964!

Thoreau at Walden


John Porcellino - 2008
    In this graphic masterpiece, John Porcellino uses only the words of Thoreau himself to tell the story of those two years off the beaten track. The pared-down text focuses on Thoreau's most profound ideas, and Porcellino's fresh, simple pictures bring the philosopher's sojourn at Walden to cinematic life. For readers who know Walden intimately, this graphic treatment will provide a vivid new interpretation of Thoreau's story. For those who have never read (or never completed!) the original, it presents a contemporary look at a few brave words to live by.

The Last Alchemist


Colin Thompson - 1999
    Gold! For as long as the castle had stood, alchemists had struggled to make gold from the simple elements of the earth. And for as long as the castle stood they had failed. Then comes the greedy, ambitious Spinifex, who promises the king riches and glory beyond his wildest dreams. Arthur, the alchemist's young apprentice, cannot see the point - after all gold cannot make you happy, heal the sick, or make people love you - and he watches in amazement as the experiments grow more elaborate and fantastic. As time ticks on Spinifex becomes a man obsessed, plundering the country for more gold to aid his experiments, even tearing the rings from people's fingers. Then, as the Millennium approaches, Spinifex constructs his last great experiment - a monstrous machine stretching up from the cellar through the castle to the roof. But the great gold-making machine only suceeds in destroying its creator, leaving just one tiny nugget of gold. However, gold of another kind floods the castle - glorious sunlight rains down on the kingdom, dispelling darkness and gloom forever. As for Arthur, he takes the tiny nugget and fashions a sunflower pendant for the king. One day the king loses it while out swimming, but he doesn't even notice, it is forgotten.