It’s bedtime and everyone is settling down to sleep. Little children are tucked into bed. The cows and calves are sleeping in the fields. The foals, piglets, rabbits, lambs, and birds are going to sleep, too. A cat wanders through the fields. He is not ready for bed until the last page of the book, where he finally curls up on the child’s bed. The hand-painted gouache, ink, watercolor pencil, pastel, and acrylic illustrations are beautiful and filled with secret animals curled up in their beds. mjw |
| Title: Now That Night Is Near Author: Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) Illustrator: Marit Tornqvist Publisher: Floris Books Copyright: 2020 Original Language: Swedish Translator: Polly Lawson Original Title: Alla Ska Sova Original Publisher: Raben & Sjogren Original Copyright: 2019 ISBN: 978-178250-675-1 Hardcover pages: 24 Age range: 3-6 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: Sweden Author’s ethnicity: Swedish Illustrator’s ethnicity: Swedish Illustrator’s residence: Sweden Subjects: Bedtime story, Cats, Earth, Nature, Sleep |
Now That Night Is Near
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Seventeen-year-old Sophie Spark works as an intern and babysitter in an old grand hotel known as Castle in the Clouds in the Swiss Mountains. Many interesting international guests arrive for the Christmas holidays. There are missing diamonds, possible kidnappers, spies, a famous author, a bodyguard, and two handsome boys who all liven up Sophie’s life. She plunges into a Nancy Drew type of investigation that makes her stay at the hotel everything, but boring. mjw
Victor and his twin sister Linesi have turned eight years old and now Linesi no longer goes to school with Victor. Linesi, like other girls in her village, has to make the five daily walks to the river to collect water so that their mother has more time for farming. Victor has begun learning about equality in school and sees that boys and girls are not treated equally. So Victor comes up with a plan to help. Based on a true story, this important book shows how one person can make a big difference in the lives of others. An Author’s Note tells about water availability in Malawi and provides resources where readers can learn more about water scarcity and gender equality in Malawi and other countries. Also included is a glossary of Chichewa words. Chichewa is one of the many languages spoken in Malawi. The attractive artwork was rendered in Photoshop and Procreate
Hedi and her friend Marika spend their days playing in the park with Hedi’s dog Bodri. Hedi is Jewish and Marika is Christian, but that doesn’t stop them from being friends. All is well until Adolf Hitler ’s frightening voice is heard on the radio saying that he hates Jews. His soldiers come and round up Hedi’s family and all the other Jews and put them onto a train for the camps. Bodri is left behind. Hedi dreams of Bodri for the many months that she and her sister are separated from Bodri and their parents. They are cold and hungry in the camp. Their heads are shaved and they have to wear dirty uniforms and hard shoes. The sisters survive and they are reunited with Bodri. Carefully chosen language tells this difficult story. The author, who was born in 1924, is a Holocaust survivor who experienced the horrors of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and several work camps. The illustrations, which were created with watercolor, ink, and digital media, evoke the time and place perfectly. mjw
This amazing collection of over 200 breeds of dogs is loaded with fun facts and playful illustrations. The dog breeds are grouped by category: sighthounds, scent hounds, pointers & setters, terriers, sheepdogs & cattle dogs, retrievers & water dogs, spitz & primitive breeds, dachshunds, pinschers, schnauzers, molosser breeds & Swiss mountain dogs, and companion dogs. Included are Dog Record Holders, How to Take Care of Dogs, and A Dictionary of Dog Speech. Also provided are historical stories from the Dogs’ Post Daily Newspaper. Some of these are about the hound Donnchadh who saved the King of Scotland in 1613, the dog movie hit 101 Dalmations, Nipper the RCA dog, Greyfriar’s Bobby of Edinburgh, Toto of OZ, Rin Tin Tin, Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Corgies, Husky Balto, and even composer Richard Wagner’s King Charles Spaniel named Peps. This book is so fun and engaging. mjw
Sixteen-year-old Mia Jenrow is a talented ballerina whose dream is to dance with American Ballet Theatre. She has just arrived in Paris for a competitive summer dance program. While in Paris, she searches for the history behind a family legend that states that a distant relative danced for the Paris Opera and was painted by Edgar Degas. She is so passionate for ballet and she trains for a part in Swan Lake and a very important audition. And, she falls for Louis, an endearing and cute French boy who happens to be the son of her strict ballet master. They hop on his Vespa and discover the truth about her family legend. The book provides a beautiful look at Paris – museums, gardens, bakeries, art, love, and much more. mjw
War spreads like a disease. It hears nothing, sees nothing, and feels nothing. It feeds on hate and spite. It saddens, crushes, and silences. It destroys everything in its path. This eye-opening book with sparse text reveals the many sides of war. The watercolor illustrations in black, grays, and browns are stunning and surreal. War is the perfect book for starting important discussions between children and their parents and teachers. mjw
Two young children and their parents go for a summer nighttime walk through the darkness. The world is quiet and shadowy. They walk out of their village and through the forest until they come to a lake where they stop to play with the moon. They lie down in the grass to watch the glittering sky. Finally, they climb a hillside just in time to see the dawn of a new day. The rich illustrations were hand-drawn using graphite pencils and watercolors and finished digitally. The only lights in the evocative darkness are lamps, porch lights, lights in windows, a flashlight, and the moon, until the sun rises on a double-page spread of the sun and its bright yellow light. mjw
