Tag Archives: Arts
Fred Rex
This delightful picture book uses humor and heart to deliver a powerful message about self-discovery and staying true to yourself. The story follows Frederick Bartholomew Rex the Third, a young dinosaur who graduates from the “School of Fear” but completely fails at his family’s traditional business of scaring people. Instead of giving up after being ignored by the big city, Fred explores new interests and discovers a hidden passion for opera singing.The illustrations, rendered in Chinese ink and Procreate, feature an unfrightening, child-like art style dominated by a large green dinosaur alongside bright splashes of yellow, pink, and blue. The story will be especially appealing to dinosaur lovers.
Title: Fred Rex
Author: Joaquin Camp
Illustrator: Joaquin Camp
Publisher: Kids Can Press. Toronto
Copyright: 2026
Original Language: French
Original Title: Jean Rex
Original Publisher: Les Editions Les 400 coups
Original Copyright: 2024
ISBN: 978-1-5258-1533-6
Hardcover pages: 44
Age range: 3-7
Genre: Picture book
Author’s ethnicity: Argentine
Author’s residence: Madrid, Spain
Illustrator’s ethnicity: Argentine
Illustrator’s residence: Madrid, Spain
Subjects: Dinosaurs, Operas, Self-discovery, Singing, Voice
Click! Snap! Picture That!
This smart and quirky story focuses on how we present ourselves to the world and how we want to be seen by others. It features a series of animals sharing their grand, playful aspirations. The rock star pig imagines performing on stage alongside a wild boar. The elegant cockatoo, a highly fashionable bird, dreams of being painted by a famous artist. A high-jumping athletic frog wants to become the greatest soccer goalie ever. Gottwald uses a bright, saturated color palette that immediately captures a child’s attention and matches the book’s energetic tone. The backgrounds are kept simple and clean, which keeps the focus entirely on the animals’ highly expressive faces and comical body language. The artwork combines flat shapes with mixed-media textured layers, giving the characters a tactile, slightly retro feel. The book uses a repetitive, rhythmic structure that works perfectly for reading aloud, and it concludes with an empty frame that invites young readers to imagine how they would capture themselves in a photo.
Title: Click! Snap! Picture That!
Author: Dieter Boge
Illustrator: Benjamin Gottwald
Publisher: North South Books. New York
Copyright: 2026
Original Language: German
Translator: David Henry Wilson
Original Title: Alle wollen ein Bild: Aber nicht irgendeins
Original Publisher: Aladin in Thienemann-Esslingen Verlag
Original Copyright: 2024
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4638-8
Hardcover pages: 48
Age range: 4-8
Genre: Picture book
Author’s ethnicity: German
Author’s residence: Germany
Illustrator’s ethnicity: German
Illustrator’s residence: Hamburg, Germany
Awards: German Youth Literature Award (illustrator)
Subjects: Identity, Imagination, Pictures, Visual literacy
My Home Is In My Backpack
Inspired by real-life refugee stories from Venezuela, this powerful picture book tells the story of Clara, a young girl who becomes a refugee and must leave everything behind. The book follows her difficult journey as she and her family walk long distances each day, sometimes talking and joking, other times hiding in silence for safety. At night in their tent village, Clara connects with other displaced children who share stories about their own “special homes”—the precious memories and items that bring them comfort in the darkness. The story explores themes of forced migration, resilience, and hope through a child’s perspective, showing how refugees carry pieces of home in their hearts even when they’ve lost everything material. The sensitive illustrations are drawn with a graphite pencil on heavy watercolor paper and hand-colored using digital methods. They help young readers visualize both the hardships of displacement and the enduring power of hope and human connection. An author’s note is included. mjw
| Title: My Home Is In My Backpack Author: Eugenia Perrella Illustrator: Angela Salerno Publisher: Floris Books. Edinburgh, Scotland Copyright: 2025 Original Language: Spanish Translator: Sally Polson Original Title: Mi casa especial Original Publisher: Editorial Amanuta Limitada. Santiago, Chile Original Copyright: 2023 ISBN: 978-178250-925-7 Hardcover pages: 32 Age range: 4-7 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: Venezuela Author’s ethnicity: Argentine Author’s residence: Buenos Aires, Argentina Illustrator’s ethnicity: Argentine Illustrator’s residence: Valencia, Spain Subjects: Community, Drawings, Force migration, Journeys, Refugees |
How Do You Eat Color?
Desert Queen
The Wolves Of Greycoat Hall: Boris In Switzerland
Boris Greycoat is a friendly, sophisticated young wolf who likes to meet people and try new foods. In this sequel to The Wolves of Greycoat Hall (also on OmniLibros.com), he attends the Institute of International Excellence, a fancy Swiss boarding school, while his parents visit his great aunt. He makes human friends, rides horses, enjoys delicious cakes, and learns to snowboard. But something suspicious at the school leads to an entertaining art mystery to solve. The book is a quick, fun read about wolves and humans living in harmony. The book includes a table of contents; a detailed map of the Institute of Excellence in Switzerland; humorous, illustrated sidebar comments on wolfish behavior and culture; and reproductions of paintings by Degas, Picasso, Munch, Monet, Cezanne, Braque, and Klee alongside their comical wolf counterparts. The brilliant, amusing, crisp pen and ink drawings add to the fun. Lucinda Gifford’s author website offers fun activities to go with the book. mjw |
| Title: The Wolves Of Greycoat Hall: Boris In Switzerland Author: Lucinda Gifford Illustrator: Lucinda Gifford Publisher: Kane Miller, A division of EDC Publishing Copyright: 2023 Original Language: English Original Publisher: Walker Books Limited, London Original Copyright: 2023 ISBN: 978-1-68464-720-0 Paperback pages: 232 Age range: 7-10 Genre: Fiction, Humor, Fantasy Book setting: Switzerland Author’s ethnicity: English Author’s residence: Melbourne, Australia Illustrator’s ethnicity: English Illustrator’s residence: Melbourne, Australia Subjects: Art, Art forgeries, Boarding schools, Cakes, Ghosts, Heroes, Horses, Mystery, Skiing, Snowboarding, Swiss cuisine, Villains, Wolves |
Ayo’s Adventure Across The African Diaspora From Afro To Zulu
Ayo drifts off to sleep and dreams ( in ABC order) about the cultures, celebrations, and places of the African diaspora. He starts with A is for Afro and B is for braids, continues with H is for Hip-Hop and K is for Kente, and finishes with Y is for Yoruba and Z is for Zulu. Country labels, inset boxes, and pronunciation guides appear throughout the book. Backmatter includes a map, information about the diaspora, and extensive fascinating facts about the Black history and culture entries in the story, The brilliant, joyous illustrations were prepared digitally. mjw |
| Title: Ayo’s Adventure Across The African Diaspora From Afro To Zulu Author: Ain Heath Drew Illustrator: Erin K. Robinson Publisher: Barefoot Books. Concord, Massachusetts Copyright: 2024 Original Language: English ISBN: 979-8-88859-211-3 Hardcover pages: 56 Age range: 5-10 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: Africa and the Americas Author’s residence: Atlanta, Georgia, USA Illustrator’s residence: Nairobi, Kenya and New York City, USA Subjects: African American, Alphabet Book. Celebrations, Culture, Dance, Diaspora, Diversity, Heritage, Music, Revolutions, Traditions |
Frank’s Red Hat
My Saree
Divya adores her mother’s lovely sarees. Each one is unique. There are Kancheevaram silks, Bengali cottons, Banarasi brocades, and Rajasthani chiffons. They are parrot green, peacock blue, turmeric yellow, and lotus pink. Divya watches her amma (mother) carefully drape and fold the cloth into a beautiful saree. Divya dreams of the day when she can wear her own saree. Then, at Heritage Night at her school, students are to wear something that celebrates their culture and heritage. Divya is so excited, but her amma says that she has to be older to wear a saree and that she should wear the red silk skirt that her grandmother sent her for her birthday. She is heartbroken, but when Heritage Night arrives, Amma surprises her with a green and blue saree decorated with peacocks that she sewed just for Divya. The vibrant illustrations were created with pencil on paper with digital coloring. An author’s note, an illustrator’s note, and a glossary (with pronunciations) appear as back matter in this gorgeous picture book. mjw |
| Title: My Saree Author: Gita Varadarajan Illustrator: Archana Sreenivasan Publisher: Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. Copyright: 2024 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-1-338-83414-7 Hardcover pages: 40 Age range: 4-8 Genre: Picture Book Author’s ethnicity: Indian Author’s residence: Princeton, New Jersey Illustrator’s ethnicity: Indian Illustrator’s residence: Bangalore, India Subjects: Culture, Dress, Fabrics, Heritage, Sarees, Self-discovery |
The Beautiful Layers Of Me
Once Upon A Diwali
Riya loves Diwali for the tasty treats called ladoos, but not for the dark night and the very loud fireworks. Mama says that Diwali is more than treats. She goes on to explain that it’s about the celebration of light over darkness and good over evil. Riya’s Papa decorates the house with lights and candles. Her sister makes rangoli, which are decorations of patterns made with powdered rice and colorful sand or flowers. Riya helps her. But she still is afraid of the darkness and the spooky, loud fireworks. So Mama tells the legend of why lights are used on Diwali. Riya listens and learns about Ram, the crown prince, who, with his wife and brother, was banished from his kingdom. There was a terrible battle. Ram won and returned to his kingdom on a path with glittering diyas (oil lamps) and glowing lights. Riya understands, becomes a bit braver, and asks to bring her own lantern to the celebration, just in case. Brightly colored cartoon-style artwork further distinguishes the storytelling. An author’s note, an illustrated glossary, a recipe for ladoos, and instructions for a Diwali paper diya craft are included as back matter. mjw |
| Title: Once Upon A Diwali Author: Anita Mishra Illustrator: Diah Chakraborty Publisher: Soaring Kite Books, LLC. Washington D.C. Copyright: 2024 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-958372-44-9 Hardcover pages: 32 Age range: 4-8 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: India Author’s ethnicity: Indian Author’s residence: El Paso, Texas Illustrator’s ethnicity: Indian Illustrator’s residence: Assam, India Subjects: Celebrations, Differences, Diversity, Fireworks, Folktales, Holidays. Religions, Sweets |











