Katie

Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals

6 August 2012 by Katie · 1 Comment

We are freshly back from our magical three weeks in France with Rowan (6) and Mira (4 months). One of the highlights of our stay in Paris was a visit to the Jardins des Plantes which is home to the National Museum of Natural History and also the Museum of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy. Walking up the stairs into the Grande Galerie d’Evolution feels like something straight out of Noah’s Ark – it is breath-taking.

The displays in this museum are beautifully conceived – somehow the exhibits manage to evoke the taxidermy museums of old, while combining this with a cutting edge style and a strong conservationist message.

Down an avenue of trees at the other end of the park sits the Museum of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy.

As you can see every available space is taken up with ancient bones. Rowan and I followed the lead of some French kids and sat down in the Museum of Paleontology to do some sketches…

With the memories of these museums strong in our minds, it was so serendipitous that Rowan received this book for his sixth birthday soon after our return home.

Published for the first time in English this year, by Gecko Press, Small and Tall Tales of Extinct Animals was originally a French production by Helene Rajcak and Damien Laverdunt (whose collaboration is celebrated on their gorgeous blog, Les Tigres Gauchers). The scientific advisers on the project were from the Paris National History Museum, and wrote a beautiful and touching foreword to the book:

“Long before setting foot on the Moon, humans evolved on planet Earth – one continent, one ocean, one island at a time. Humans were enthralled by the world around them. To feed their fascination, they collected pictures and momentos of bones, feathers, herbariums, casts and fossils… But natural history museums – that once so proudly displayed the first examples of newly discovered species – now face the unenviable task of exhibiting their remains: the last skeleton, the last skin, the last paw print, the last photograph.”

The book is a collection of 27 of the world’s extinct species, and is a beautiful production. A double-page spread is devoted to each species – the left hand page consists of a cartoon strip, often a retelling of a legend or anecdote associated with the extinction or discovery story. The right-hand page includes a large illustration of the animal or bird, a description of the extinction and some facts, and most fascinatingly to Rowan, a diagram showing its size in relation to a man. The illustration style is naive and the colours and fonts retro and the overall impression is very approachable and appealing.

This is the perfect book for Rowan, whose obsession with David Attenborough documentaries show no sign of abating. But it would no doubt interest many kids from age 6 up – it’s a great example of a picture book pitched perfectly at older kids. Museums and galleries are doing some wonderful publishing collaborations – do you have any favourites at your house?

Filed Under: Age 6+, Animals, Environment

Pom Pom and Paris

17 May 2012 by Katie · 1 Comment

One of the reasons we’ve been offline for so long is this little poppet…

This is our little girl, Mira, 7 weeks old. I can’t wait to share another wonderful reading journey with her, as I have with her two big brothers.

Among her many beautiful gifts have been a couple of lovely books. One of them is this book, Pom Pom Where Are You? written by Natalie Jane Prior and illustrated by Cheryl Orsini.

The perfect book for anyone who loves Paris, this is a romp through the iconic sites of my favourite city through a dogs-eye view. Pom Pom lives in Paris and longs for adventure, which is exactly what he gets one day when he loses his owner while out on their daily walk. The premise reminds me a little of Harry the Dirty Dog, except that where Harry collects dirt, Pom Pom collects new friends and experiences – a restaurant lunch, a trip on a bateau mouche, a visit to Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens – and at every place he finds a new friend.

Like all good picture books, the illustrations in this story are much more than a straightforward expression of the text – and Cheryl Orsini’s artwork offers a rich and comical sub-text. Characters from one illustration and carried through to the next, and if you look very carefully you find that Pom Pom’s loving owner is really not that far behind him…

And there are so many authentic details included, making this wonderful Penguin Australia production feel very, very French. You can read more about what author Natalie Jane Prior thinks of the book here, and of naming Pom Pom’s owner, Henriette, after her own grandmother… Cheryl Orsini also has a beautiful website and blog.

This book was even more perfectly appropriate for Mira than my dear friend who chose it even knew. For not only does her mama love all things French, but lucky little Mira will herself get the chance to visit Paris later this year. And so this book will be doubly special in our house – as an intro to our travels it will be well read by her brothers before we go and as a wonderful keepsake for Mira to celebrate her first travel experience!

Filed Under: Australian, Picture books, the We Heart Books family

It’s good to be back!

9 May 2012 by Katie · 5 Comments

It has been a long time between posts for us but we are really HAPPY to say that we are back. We have had a little hiatus from blogging while having more bubbas and all the other happenings that life throws at you. We are so passionate about our blog and we really want to start sharing with you all again the books that we love and our multiplying children love!

As you can see, we have a brand new header design – by the awesome Rebekka Seale. More on that later.

We can’t wait to get blogging again and to hear from you all again. Did you know we are also on Facebook? We post lots of fun stuff there, so please Like us, do!

Filed Under: the We Heart Books family

New eBay loot

9 June 2011 by Katie · 1 Comment

I just received some lovely new-to-me Golden Books of eBay. ABC Rhymes I’ve seen before, but I’d never come across Play Street or The Little Golden Book of Mother Goose.

When I saw the cover of Play Street, I was immediately reminded of the illustrations of Eloise Wilkin – author and illustrator of many Little Golden Books, including A Child’s Garden of Verses, We Like Kindergarten and Prayers for Children. Jane Werner Watson, who edited and wrote hundreds of Golden Books, called Eloise Wilkin “the soul of Little Golden Books”.

But Play Street was written by Esther Wilkin and illustrated by Joan Esley. A little research into these two revealed some interesting collaboration. Esther Wilkin was the sister of Eloise, who were born Eloise and Esther Burns, and they married two brothers Wilkins. Eloise was friends with Joan Esley and they opened a studio together and later moved to New York city together. I love the thought of the shared careers of these three, working together, helping each other in an era when few women were working, let along making names for themselves as leaders in their careers.

This is a gorgeous story, if you don’t already know it – how’s this for a classic 50s opener?

It was all very quiet on on Butternut Lane. The mothers were busy with their housework and the babies were taking their mid-morning naps. Bobby was riding his tricycle.

Against a backdrop of a classic US streetscape, is a tale of make believe – each of the littlies of Butternut Lane rides his or her trike imaging they are driving a vehicle. Until the roving policeman stops them as they are starting to make so much noise!