father christmas

"Blooming Christmas here again!"  A grumpy but faithful Father Christmas makes preparations for his yearly worldwide delivery and gets the job done as usual.  Exhausted from flying through endless snow, sleet, hail, rain and fog and squeezing down some impossibly narrow soot-spewing chimneys and other unconventional entrances, he almost falls asleep at the reins on the way home.  After he sits down to a "good drop of ale" and some "lovely grub," he has his own presents to open from relatives—amongst them, "a blooming awful tie from Aunty Elsie" and "horrible socks from cousin Violet!"  Probably one of our favorite new-to-us holiday books acquired this year, previous generations have been enjoying Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas for over forty years.  Published by Puffin Books.

pantone sticker book and penguins love colors

A couple of gift ideas for toddlers or preschoolers learning their colors.

Penguins Love Colors, Sarah Aspinall’s debut picture book, tells the story of six little penguins who decide to paint a surprise for their mother one day.  A sweet and vibrant story.

We look to Pantone for all things color and now your little ones can, too, when they create their own color stories with this Pantone Sticker Book.  We're intrigued by all the shades of purple.

madeline in america and other holiday tales

A collection of three holiday tales started by Ludwig Bemelmans and finished by his grandson John Bemelmans Marciano when he found the manuscripts and sketches for them amongst his grandfather's work.

In Madeline in America and Other Holiday Tales, a big surprise about Madeline is revealed, we tag along with her and her eleven classmates on a trip to Texas and…we finally learn her last name.  The Count and the Cobbler is about a cobbler who's so poor that he can't afford to make shoes for his own (numerous) children, until his youngest, a brilliant baby, intervenes.  Sunshine tells the tale of a music teacher whose grouchy landlord attempts to evict her on Christmas Eve.  It might have something to do with the fact that she conducts music classes in her apartment.  Also included is a piece on Christmas memories from the Bemelmans family.  Madeline in America and Other Holiday Tales is out of print and is a little hard to find, but there are still a few copies floating around out there if anyone's interested in a cozy addition to their December reads.

children's picturebooks: the art of visual storytelling


In Children's Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles take us into the world of the picture book, discussing its history, art, visual literacy, how children respond to picture books, the interplay between word and image, various types of printing processes and the publishing industry.  It features quite a collection of picture book covers, page spreads and rough sketches.  Much more than a reference—and a thoroughly researched one at that—Children’s Picturebooks is immersive, insightful and inspiring.  If you’ve fallen in love with #kidlit, this book is requisite reading and deserves a place on your shelves.

Written by Martin Salisbury, Morag Styles with cover art by Beatrice Alemagna.  Published by Laurence King.