He loved music and became a musical explorer. Defying convention, he created music that made people laugh and planted images in their minds. Juan’s space-age lounge music—popular in the fifties and sixties—has found a new generation of listeners. And Duncan Tonatiuh’s fresh and quirky illustrations bring Esquivel’s spirit to life.

    But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred.The bags accumulated in ugly heaps alongside roads. Water pooled in them, bringing mosquitoes and disease. Some bags were burned, leaving behind a terrible smell. Some were buried, but they strangled gardens. They killed livestock that tried to eat them. Something had to change.Isatou Ceesay was that change. She found a way to recycle the bags and transform her community. This inspirational true story shows how one person's actions really can make a difference in our world.

    Giant ice slides meant daring drops and thrilling rides for all! But every spring, warm weather melted the snow and the slides. What could Catherine the Great do to ensure fun all year round? With some ingenuity and some royal thinking, Catherine the Great would create her greatest invention!

    Before you can say paint-by-numbers, the two artists become fierce rivals, calling each other names and ultimately building a fence between them. But when the two painters paint opposite sides of the fence that divides them, they unknowingly create a modern art masterpiece, and learn it is their friendship that is the true work of art. Nina Laden's wacky illustrations complement this funny story that non only introduces children to two of the world's most extraordinary modern artists, but teaches a very important lesson‐how to creatively resolve a conflictin a most unusual way.

    But not many people know how interesting and inspiring her life was. Following in the footsteps of her beloved artist father, Wanda led an idyllic childhood, drawing and listening to old-world fairy tales. But when her father died, it was teenage Wanda who worked hard to keep her seven younger siblings fed, clothed, and laughing. She never lost sight of her love of art, however, and her tremendous willpower won her a coveted scholarship to the Art Students League in New York City and then led to a gallery show of her artwork?where an editor of children?s books got an idea for a book. The rest, as they say, is history!

    When cries of “Revolution!” began, Christopher was determined to help General George Washington and his hungry troops. Not with muskets or cannons, but with gingerbread!     Cheerfully told by Mara Rockliff and brought to life by Vincent Kirsch’s inventive cut-paper illustrations, Gingerbread for Liberty is the story of an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War who changed the course of history one loaf at a time.

    But this solitary artist didn’t much care what they thought as he spent weeks at a time on his personal paradise, sleeping under his boat, sometimes eating whatever washed ashore, sketching and painting the natural surroundings and the animals that became his friends. Here Walter created some of his most brilliant watercolors, work he kept hidden during his lifetime. In a beautifully crafted picture book biography, writer Hester Bass and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis pay homage to an uncompromising American artist.

    This is the story of how a neglected, discarded stone became a masterpiece for all time. It is also a story about art—about an artist’s vision and process, and about the ways in which we humans see ourselves reflected in art.

    As a child, Josef Albers loved to watch his handyman father paint houses.When Josef grew up and became an artist, he reduced each image to its simplest shapes, breaking it down into blocks of color.He made an incredible discovery: he could alter the entire mood of a painting just by changing the way he combined the colors! Josef spent his entire life studying color, and what he found revolutionized the way people look at art.

    Interact with twenty-six of the world's greatest paintings in this educational, entertaining, and beautiful pairing of a classic game with timeless art.

    Now it's time for Gyo's story to be told -- a story of artistic talent that refused to be constrained by rules or expectations.Growing up quiet and lonely at the beginning of the twentieth century, Gyo learned from her relatives the ways in which both women and Japanese people lacked opportunity. Her teachers and family believed in her and sent her to art school and later Japan, where her talent flourished. But while Gyo's career grew and led her to work for Walt Disney Studios, World War II began, and with it, her family's internment. But Gyo never stopped fighting -- for herself, her vision, her family and her readers -- and later wrote and illustrated the first children's book to feature children of different races interacting together.This luminous new book beautifully and openly touches on Gyo's difficult experiences and growth. Through Julie Morstad's exquisite illustrations, alternating between striking black-and-white linework and lush colour, and Kyo Maclear's artful and accessible writing, the story of this cherished figure is told at last.

    But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean--and definitely not inside the lines--to be beautiful.

    "This book...recounts the persistence of a Frenchman, Louis Bleriot, to build a flying machine to cross the English Channel....  The text is succinct, caption-like in its directness and brevity....The paintings...add the necessary testure and tone to this marriage.  This is vintage Provensen" – School Library Journal

    Poetic in voice and elegant in design, the book introduces children to a fascinating array of seed and plant facts, making it a guide that is equally at home being read on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.

    From a young age, she painted the bunnies, mice, and other pets who populated her family home. These characters later populated her stories, which are beloved the whole world over. With beautiful scenes rich in detail, David McPhail transports us to the charming, English countryside and the wonderful world of Beatrix Potter.