Waiting on Wednesday
WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we share the titles of books we are eagerly anticipating.
I've been posting these a bit more regularly since I've been more organized about keeping notes when I see upcoming books around the Interwebz. I have myself a nice little list to keep me going for the next few Wednesdays. Occasionally, news of some book causes a happy dance and results in said book cutting the line, so to speak. Today, my WoW celebrates a publisher. So this entry will be a bit of a publisher preview except I didn't need to take a personal day from work and eat sandwiches while I listened to booktalks. A catalog caught my eye.
First, a word or two about catalogs. Some time ago, Betsy Bird asked librarians on the ethernet their preference regarding publisher catalogs - print or online? I posted a guilty preference for print while acknowledging that I ought to seek out the online catalogs more often. You see, with print catalogs, even though they too can get lost in a sea of print materials, the catalog takes up space, on my desk(s), on the catalog shelves, etc. At some point, I must pay it attention, if only to toss it in the recycle bin. But if there's an eye-catching cover, I will sit down with it. Same goes if it's small. Nothing screams, "No time!" like a tome of a catalog to flip through.
I so wanted to type the words, "this pretty little thing," around now because yesterday, I found two catalogs in my office mail box - a tome and a pretty little catalog from Boyds Mills Press/Calkins Creek/ Wordsong. Then I would insert a photograph of the pretty little catalog here:
Only I can't because I've already ripped it to shreds and cut out the adorable little dodo on the cover to tape to my circulation computer. I'm writing this post from home and the dodo's in school so I can't even take a picture of it taped to my circ. computer. But I did bring home the torn out pages, so here's what got me excited:
The Mystery of Darwin's Frog by Marty Crump. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins and Edel Rodriguez. 40 p. 9781590788646. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: Here, for the first time, is the strange but true story of Darwin’s frog. After Charles Darwin discovered the frog in 1834, other researchers found that one of his specimens was packed full of tadpoles. Was the frog a cannibal, or perhaps a rare species that gave birth to live young instead of laying eggs? No. He was a male, holding the tadpoles safe in his vocal sac while they morphed into froglets. And the surprises didn’t stop there. Author and frog scientist Marty Crump mines her firsthand experiences studying Darwin’s frog to tell the fascinating story for young readers. Award-winning illustrators Steve Jenkins and Edel Rodriguez lend their art to a mix of beautiful photographs. Young readers will be enthralled by this story of real science, full of strange surprises.
Face Bug by J. Patrick Lewis, Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Photography by Fred Siskind. 9781590789254. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: In this ingenious picture book, Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis invites you to visit the Face Bug Museum. There, readers can meet fourteen bugs in Lewis’s sly, humorous poems; gaze upon giant close-ups of the creatures’ faces in Siskind’s photographs; and follow the antics of two beetle friends in Kelly Murphy’s artwork. This is a trip to a museum-built by bugs, for bugs-unlike any other. It is also a poetry collection, macro-photography book, and illustrated story-all in one. Includes end notes with photographs of the entire bugs and further information about these creatures.
Grumbles for the Forest: fairy-tales voices with a twist by Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Ilustrated by Matt Mahurin. 9781590788677. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: What were all those fairy-tale characters thinking? Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich answer this question in paired poems, with sometimes startling results. The Princess claims all those mattresses kept her awake-not a silly pea-while the poor pea complains that the princess snores. One Snow White begs the witch to settle by the bay and throw that mirror away. Another boldly tells the mirror she “won’t be guided by a glass that’s so one-sided.” Grumbles from the Forest is a bewitching brew of voices-grumbling, pleading, bragging, reminiscing, confiding-that bubbles with magic and wonder. The spectacular paintings that tie the poems together are full of surprise and intrigue. This stunning collection includes end notes that briefly describe the tales and their history and an introduction that invites readers to imagine their own poems from unusual perspectives.
Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo Flood. Illustrated by Jan Sonnemair. 9781590788936. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: It's morning at the rodeo. Riders are standing by. Horses are in the chutes. "Cowboy up!" the announcer calls. Then the excitement begins. In this riveting collection, narrative poems give voice to the individual competitors, lively prose explains rodeo events, and evocative photographs show off the riders and ropers, the horses, bulls, and broncs.
Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette by Selene Castrovilla. Illustrated by Drazen Kozian. 9781590788806. April 1, 2013.
I have a soft spot for small publishing houses. This year, two of my favorite non-fiction titles came from Boyds Mills Press - The Amazing Harry Kellar and Hope and Tears: Ellis Island voices.
What are you waiting on?
Edited to add: Here are a couple of photos of the adorable cover dodo.
I've been posting these a bit more regularly since I've been more organized about keeping notes when I see upcoming books around the Interwebz. I have myself a nice little list to keep me going for the next few Wednesdays. Occasionally, news of some book causes a happy dance and results in said book cutting the line, so to speak. Today, my WoW celebrates a publisher. So this entry will be a bit of a publisher preview except I didn't need to take a personal day from work and eat sandwiches while I listened to booktalks. A catalog caught my eye.
First, a word or two about catalogs. Some time ago, Betsy Bird asked librarians on the ethernet their preference regarding publisher catalogs - print or online? I posted a guilty preference for print while acknowledging that I ought to seek out the online catalogs more often. You see, with print catalogs, even though they too can get lost in a sea of print materials, the catalog takes up space, on my desk(s), on the catalog shelves, etc. At some point, I must pay it attention, if only to toss it in the recycle bin. But if there's an eye-catching cover, I will sit down with it. Same goes if it's small. Nothing screams, "No time!" like a tome of a catalog to flip through.
I so wanted to type the words, "this pretty little thing," around now because yesterday, I found two catalogs in my office mail box - a tome and a pretty little catalog from Boyds Mills Press/Calkins Creek/ Wordsong. Then I would insert a photograph of the pretty little catalog here:
Only I can't because I've already ripped it to shreds and cut out the adorable little dodo on the cover to tape to my circulation computer. I'm writing this post from home and the dodo's in school so I can't even take a picture of it taped to my circ. computer. But I did bring home the torn out pages, so here's what got me excited:
The Mystery of Darwin's Frog by Marty Crump. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins and Edel Rodriguez. 40 p. 9781590788646. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: Here, for the first time, is the strange but true story of Darwin’s frog. After Charles Darwin discovered the frog in 1834, other researchers found that one of his specimens was packed full of tadpoles. Was the frog a cannibal, or perhaps a rare species that gave birth to live young instead of laying eggs? No. He was a male, holding the tadpoles safe in his vocal sac while they morphed into froglets. And the surprises didn’t stop there. Author and frog scientist Marty Crump mines her firsthand experiences studying Darwin’s frog to tell the fascinating story for young readers. Award-winning illustrators Steve Jenkins and Edel Rodriguez lend their art to a mix of beautiful photographs. Young readers will be enthralled by this story of real science, full of strange surprises.
Face Bug by J. Patrick Lewis, Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. Photography by Fred Siskind. 9781590789254. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: In this ingenious picture book, Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis invites you to visit the Face Bug Museum. There, readers can meet fourteen bugs in Lewis’s sly, humorous poems; gaze upon giant close-ups of the creatures’ faces in Siskind’s photographs; and follow the antics of two beetle friends in Kelly Murphy’s artwork. This is a trip to a museum-built by bugs, for bugs-unlike any other. It is also a poetry collection, macro-photography book, and illustrated story-all in one. Includes end notes with photographs of the entire bugs and further information about these creatures.
Grumbles for the Forest: fairy-tales voices with a twist by Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Ilustrated by Matt Mahurin. 9781590788677. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: What were all those fairy-tale characters thinking? Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich answer this question in paired poems, with sometimes startling results. The Princess claims all those mattresses kept her awake-not a silly pea-while the poor pea complains that the princess snores. One Snow White begs the witch to settle by the bay and throw that mirror away. Another boldly tells the mirror she “won’t be guided by a glass that’s so one-sided.” Grumbles from the Forest is a bewitching brew of voices-grumbling, pleading, bragging, reminiscing, confiding-that bubbles with magic and wonder. The spectacular paintings that tie the poems together are full of surprise and intrigue. This stunning collection includes end notes that briefly describe the tales and their history and an introduction that invites readers to imagine their own poems from unusual perspectives.
Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo Flood. Illustrated by Jan Sonnemair. 9781590788936. March 1, 2013.
Synopsis: It's morning at the rodeo. Riders are standing by. Horses are in the chutes. "Cowboy up!" the announcer calls. Then the excitement begins. In this riveting collection, narrative poems give voice to the individual competitors, lively prose explains rodeo events, and evocative photographs show off the riders and ropers, the horses, bulls, and broncs.
Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette by Selene Castrovilla. Illustrated by Drazen Kozian. 9781590788806. April 1, 2013.
I have a soft spot for small publishing houses. This year, two of my favorite non-fiction titles came from Boyds Mills Press - The Amazing Harry Kellar and Hope and Tears: Ellis Island voices.
What are you waiting on?
Edited to add: Here are a couple of photos of the adorable cover dodo.