Up, Down & Other Opposites with Ellsworth Kelly

As far as early concept books go, this one has a unique perspective.  It’s a visual journey through Ellsworth Kelly’s artwork exploring pairs of opposites such huge/tiny, empty/full, top/bottom and apart/together.  The antonym pairs are presented clearly and succinctly with a good measure of playfulness and humor.  Smart, well done and not your ordinary book about basic concepts.  Quite the opposite, in fact.

Up, Down & Other Opposites with Ellsworth Kelly was written and created in partnership with the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation and is the fifth title in the First Concepts with Fine Artists series published by Phaidon.  Head over to this Instagram post and scroll right for another preview of the interior.

The Immigrant Cookbook

Food has always brought us together and our families’ culinary heritage is a part of who we are.  Food memories are some of our most salient memories.  Almost everyone has a handful that bring them back to a warm kitchen with one or more family members bent over a boiling pot on the stove and hurriedly chopping a pungent something or another on the butcher block.  In The Immigrant Cookbook, the contributing chefs share their families’ stories, their food and their hearts.  It’s a celebration of diversity and who we are as a country.

The recipes in The Immigrant Cookbook were collected and edited by Leyla Moushabeck and published by Interlink Books.

food truck fest

Things are abuzz for a delicious event.  Cooks prepare for a day of food trucking in their “kitchens on wheels” as a young family gets ready to leave on an excursion to a grand food truck festival. 

Reading this brings back memories of two-year-old Avery tagging along at local food truck gatherings on warm fall nights.  She would sit in her stroller clutching a coconut with a straw poked into it, sipping fresh coconut water while we waited for our orders.  So many good memories are food memories.  No doubt this story will happily remind you of some, hungrily scarfing an al fresco dinner—delicious morsels in little paper trays—surrounded by your favorite people.  The jaunty rhymes and illustrations in Food Truck Fest capture the energy, excitement and conviviality of gathering together to share meals and the community that simple act creates.  A fantastic book!

Food Truck Fest was written by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Mike Dutton and published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers.  Out soon on March 13.

los angeles is...

A board book with a clever rhyming narrative that captures LA’s sensibilities, sunny climate, culture, history, iconic locales and the unique attributes that make it the city that it is.  Its palette is like a summer day (which LA gets a lot of) and exudes a beautiful warmth.  Its mellow salmons, corals and blues paired with stylized shapes and lines exude a modern, laid-back Los Angeles.  It’s a stylish new classic about the City of Angels.  We love this one, and we love LA.  

Los Angeles Is… was written by Elisa Parhad, illustrated by Alexander Vidal and published by Cameron Books.  Out on April 24 and a great idea to pre-order now as gifts for late spring/summer baby showers or birthdays.

Journeys: Tales of Travel and Trailblazers

As humans, we’ve been traveling since the dawn of time, “wandering and wondering are way around the planet.”  “People from all nations and generations have had the urge to travel, and our great explorers and voyagers have come from every culture on  Earth.”  JOURNEYS documents many of these epic expeditions, from land to sea, through rivers, ice and snow, and up into space.  We’re still making our way through this fantastic book, but a few journeys that we’re really enjoying are Shackleton’s harrowing polar expedition, The Great Race from Peking to Paris and Thomas Stevens’ trip around the world on a penny farthing.

“This is a book of dreamers and doers, and of the wonderful stories they have brought back from faraway lands.”

Journeys: Tales of Travel and Trailblazers was written by Jonathan Litton, illustrated by Chris Chalik, Dave Shephard, Jon Davis, Leo Hartas and published by 360 Degrees.