Publishers Weekly have announced their Best Books of 2009. The children’s list is fantastic and I think the children’s fiction section is the most outstanding group of novels. I have just finished reading When You Reach Me which is one of the loveliest and most imaginative intermediate novels I have read in a long time.
Two of our favourite picture books are listed. Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld and All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee.
You may remember that we posted this gorgeous clip of Duck! Rabbit! from Chronicle Books…
Amy K Rosenthal is one of the most creative and inspirational picture book authors. Her books are fun, they are a joy to read aloud and they are always totally unique. Duck! Rabbit! is laugh out loud funny and it challenges both children and adults to think about the way they see things.
All the World is a stunning picture book that we fell in love with and have imported from the US. Is has been an Indie bookshop favourite in the US and there is no doubting why. The text is a gentle rhyme, like a lullaby that washes over the reader. It highlights the connections that exist in the world between all of us and nature, all the big and little things that relate. The warmth and the intimacy in the illustrations match the text perfectly making this one of the most beautiful books to share with a child. The illustrator Marla Frazee has this written on her home page …
‘There’s an inherent belief in children’s publishing that if the book comes from the heart of the creator, it will speak to the heart of the child’
… I think All the World definitely lives up to that quote.
thanks for posting the Duck! Rabbit! movie. I love it! This is so appropriate for our little ones at the moment as we have been trying to teach them that it’s okay for people to have different points of view on the one topic.