Eric Carle Decorative Prints

28 April 2009 by · 2 Comments

carle-decrotive-prints

I found these in a lovely indie bookshop near me. A collection of 12 of Eric Carle’s most famous and popular images in full colour posters. These would look gorgeous in a classroom or framed in a nursery. Published by Chronicle Books I think they were up around $50 but well worth it for 12 prints.

If they are too big we also think the Eric Carle Flash Cards also published by Chronicle would make a lovely frieze or wall art in a nursery.

caterpillar-pop-up

Also very much looking forward to seeing the pop-up version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar due be released next month in Aus. You can see some lovely pictures on Eric Carle’s blog. Also see the book used on this great blog as the centre of a Hungry Caterpillar party theme.

Filed Under: Age 0+, book related cool stuff, Classics, Illustrators, Picture books, Pop Up, We Heart Books Store

We Heart Books Store News

3 March 2009 by · Leave a Comment

At We Heart Books we love the idea of making art accessible to children through books – even from a very young age. One of our most popular blog posts was on books about sharing museum art with children. So we couldn’t resist the beautiful range of Charley Harper books from Ammo for the store.

Charley Harper (1922-2007) always loved nature and animals. He grew up on a farm and discovered that he enjoyed drawing and painting picture of wildlife. For over 60 years Charley painted bold, colourful, and sometimes whimsical interpretations of nature, animals and the woodland world around him. Renowned New York based designer Todd Oldham rediscovered Charley’s work in 2001, and collaborated closely with him, combing through his extensive archive to edit and design this series.

When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. – Charley Harper

 

The Charley Harper board books – 123′s and ABC’s would make a stunning gift for a baby, especially for funky parents and bubs. The books are beautiful to hold with lovely matt pages and the vibrant colours jump off the page. The simple yet gorgeously descriptive text would make a lovely read-alound for a little one.

Charley Harper’s Flash Cards are also in our store. These sturdy cards, one for each letter of the alphabet, are gorgeous in so many ways. Beautiful for babies to look at and hold, educational for toddlers, and as a child grows, they can be used to create two different puzzles using the images on the reverse. We also think that the cards would make lovely wall art or a frieze in a nursery or child’s bedroom.

While you’re at the store, have a look at our Eric Carle softies – now on sale for the fantastic price of $10.95 (were $14.95).

||Charley Harper 123′s $19.95 at the We Heart Books store||

||Charley Harper ABC’s $19.95 at the We Heart Books store||

||Charley Harper Flash Cards $32.95 at the We Heart Books store||

Filed Under: Age 0+, Animals, Art, Board Books, We Heart Books Store

The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters

8 February 2009 by · 2 Comments

jolly-postman-cover

I have never met anyone, child or adult, that hasn’t adored The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters. First published in 1986, Janet and Allan Ahlberg created one of the best known and most popular children’s books ever. Together they created the concept of combining text with real letters to be opened and read within a picture book. 

Once upon a bicycle, So they say,

A Jolly Postman came one day, From the hills And far away..

With a letter for the Three Bears.

The story follows the lovely ‘jolly’ postman as he delivers letters to familiar fairytale characters. Mr and Mrs Bear receive a sincere apology letter from Goldilocks, Cinderella gets a sample from the Royal Publisher of the book they have created to celebrate her marriage to the Prince and the wolf dressed as ‘grandma’ gets a letter from Little Red Riding-Hood’s solicitors demanding a cease in harassment. The humor in this book is fantastic and it works for so many age levels – little ones like the gorgeous illustrations and the familiarity of the characters and older children and adults can enjoy the very clever puns.

jolly-postman1

In an article in the Guardian in 2006, Allan Ahlberg explained that the concept had been born from his 2-year-old daughter Jessie’s fascination for opening their mail. I can really relate to this at the moment because Ned just loves posting letters as well as opening them. As it was his birthday recently I really noticed the excitement that he had from opening birthday cards and he was just as excited about the cards as he was about the presents.

Actually does the excitement of receiving mail ever go away? Well maybe not getting bills! I LOVE coming home to find a parcel, a magazine, a pretty catalogue or a postcard in the mail!

This week I came across a simply beautiful post on the blog Oh, hello friend that mentioned author Danni’s love for the Postman books. This week she had created her own envelope book for her partner, here are some gorgeous photos…

envelope-book-11

envelope-3

Have a look at Danni’s post for more photos and read about her memories of the Postman books.

I was thinking about how lovely it would be to create a book like this for or with a child.

||The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters available online from Readings||

Filed Under: Age 0+, Ned, Picture books

Foodie Babies Wear Bibs

15 January 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Whether or not you approve of the rise of the ‘babyccino’ in cafes around the globe,  I think urban babies are here to stay.

Urban Babies Wear Black series

Michelle Sinclair Colman started a lovely series of books chronicling new age babies, when she wrote Urban Babies Wear Black in 2005. With stylish and stylised illustrations by Nathalie Dion, the books were a success, and a series was born. I love the concept: as board books, these are meant to be read to babies, and it’s the babies who are the focus of the illustrations (the adults’ faces are never visible). But the text and illustrations are pitched firmly at the adult reader, poking fun at us parents of the ‘noughties’ and cleverly playing with double-meanings.

Eco Babies Wear Green

When you’re the parent of a baby, a book that provides a bit of entertainment for you is much appreciated.

Beach babies dig their daddies

The next two books in the series were released in 2007, Winter Babies Wear Layers and Beach Babies Wear Shades. And hot off the press are two more, Eco Babies Wear Green and Foodie Babies Wear Bibs.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia, we have a copy of each of the Urban Babies books to giveaway. To enter, jump to our Win! page.

||Urban Babies Wear Black series available from Readings||

||Urban Babies Wear Black series website||

Filed Under: Age 0+, Board Books

Who’s Driving?

25 November 2008 by · 3 Comments

Ned is currently transport-mad, as are most of his mates. It has intrigued me how he has just picked up this absolute obsession.

Who’s Driving? by Belgian author/illustrator Leo Timmers is a spectacular book with numerous forms of transport. and it’s pleasing even for us (mum and dad). The book’s simple text, punctuated with vehicle ‘noises’, creates great excitement in our house.

Who’s driving the fire engine?

Elephant! He is driving to the fire station. Wheeooh wheeooh wheeooh!

As the jacket picture illustrates, all the animals that are driving the vehicles have a real crazy, almost unhinged look in their eyes that just make me laugh every time I read the book. And the colours Timmers uses are just so vibrant and rich that it is an incredible technicolur explosion.

Our other favorite is Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo and illustrated by Alex Ayliffe. Whenever we see a truck, a tractor or even just a road work ahead sign, Ned yells “Dig Dig”. We have the touch-and-feel, board book version of the picture book (which is also available as a paperback). Once again the colours used by Ayliffe are really vibrant with an emphasis on yellow and red – the colours of most diggers and trucks I guess!

The text has a nice jogging rhyme to it that exaggerates the noises and the movements the vehicles make.

‘Big red digger dig, dig, digging. Scooping up the earth, lifting and tipping’

The touch and feel element is small but adds a nice dimension to the book and means that the book can be loved from babies right up to 2+. The team of Mayo and Ayliffe have also written Emergency and Choo Choo Clickety Clack – which will be under the tree for Ned this year.

In August we had a guest post by mum Lisa, in which she also gave some great suggestions on transport books for ‘busy boys’.

||Who’s Driving? available online from the We Heart Books Store||

||Dig Dig Digging available online from Amazon||

Filed Under: Age 0+

Haiku Baby

19 November 2008 by · Leave a Comment

Recently I was discussing the books I loved as a child with my mum, getting some inspiration for When We Were Little Sunday, when she told me that when I was a baby she actually borrowed books of Haiku poetry from the library to read to me.

I thought this was really lovely and then I found this little board book called Haiku Baby by Betsy Snyder and I have fallen in love with it. 

Flower

In tickly-toe grass,
a buttercup offers up
yellow nose kisses

The little blue bird on the jacket flits across the pages of this sweet book visiting his animal friends. Each gorgeous illustration is accompanied by a haiku celebrating an element of nature.

When I read this book I realised what a perfect form haiku is for reading to a baby; it is simple but melodic and soothing. I just find it really nice to find something different to all the other board books available and to find a book that has been so lovingly produced.

I am looking forward to sharing this gorgeous book with my new baby niece or nephew next year.

The author/illustrator Betsy Snyder is a blogger herself and recently mentioned we heart books on her blog, along with another of our favorite books Around the World With Mouk. The book Haiku Baby also has a really spectacular website, which even sings to you, it’s really worth a look.

||Haiku Baby available online from the we heart books/store||

||Betsy Snyder’s Blog||

||The Adventures of Mouk available online from the we heart books/store||

 

 

Filed Under: Age 0+, Animals, Bedtime, Board Books

When We Were Little…

2 November 2008 by · 2 Comments

This was my favorite of all the Miffy books when I was little. When our family went to the beach, we would all yell ‘I see the sea’, excitedly, just like Miffy.

I love the Dick Bruna website where Miffy is described as ‘uncomplicated and innocent’, don’t we all need more of those qualities these days! Dick Bruna is the master of creating beautiful simple characters that yet have so much personality. I was interested to find out that he has always used the same colours through all his work and never varying. His trademark  use of solid blocks of colour and his use of white as well as strong black lines are instantly recognisable.

On the Bruna website I discovered that it is only when he has finished the pictures for a book that he starts the text, ‘For Bruna is first a painter and illustrator and second an author’.

Even the text in his books is clean and simple, they are perfect to read aloud to children and they may even read them back to you before long.

Recently Madman in Australia have released the original Miffy animation series onto DVD. The packaging they have chosen is gorgeous, it’s cardboard and has been designed to look like a book.

Have a look at this sweet little clip, it’s in Japanese and so cute!

The Japanese have really embraced Miffy because she is so kawaii. They have Miffy licensed product galore, like on this site.

Filed Under: Age 0+, Classics, Illustrators, Japan, When we were little...
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »