Cowlick!
By Christin Ditchfield
Random House Children’s Books
$14.99, ages 2-5
Who doesn’t love those adorable morning hairdos on children? Using playful imagery and inviting prose, this wonderful picture book provides a fresh explanation for kids’ daily “bedhead” afflictions – cows of course! Those sweet bovine friends clip-clop into our homes each night and give cow kisses to our heads. This far-fetched, hilarious tale will grab children’s imagination.
The Girls and Boys of Mother Goose
By Barbara Benson Keith
Brownian Bee Press
$7.99, ages 4 and up
St. Paul author and illustrator Barbara Benson Keith has done a wonderful job of compiling a variety of classic Mother Goose tales. While these stories offer children a rich glimpse into the world of Mother Goose, it is Benson Keith’s illustrations – rich tiled mosaics – that truly capture the elements of each tale.
Anatole
By Eve Titus
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
$14.95, ages 5-9
It’s a rare treat when classic tales that delighted readers of previous generations are reissued. This is certainly the case with Anatole. Originally published in 1969, this Caldecott Honor-winning picture book features a very trustworthy mouse who is eager to gain his meals in the most honest fashion – by earning them. So he begins to work anonymously as a taste tester in a local cheese factory, helping the factory make the best cheese in all of Paris.
Water Street
By Patricia Reilly Giff
Random House Children’s Books
$15.95, ages 9-12
Patricia Reilly Giff once again creates a sensational book for middle school readers. Part historical fiction, part memoir, this book follows the young daughter of Irish immigrants and her neighbor, the orphan Thomas Neary, who lives alone in the same apartment building. Poignantly written, this book brings the struggles of living in Brooklyn during the 1870s to life for young readers.
