Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Beautifully Illustrated, Educational Picture Books from Prestel Junior for Ages 2-7+

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Here is a selection of gorgeously illustrated and interactive children's books from Prestel Junior to share with your children and students as they head back to school this Fall! These beautifully Illustrated, Educational Picture Books from Prestel Junior for Ages 2-7+ Discuss Emotion, Poetry, Weather, Microbes and more.


At the Height of the Moon edited by Alison Baverstock
, Matt Cunningham, and Annette Roeder (September 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7480-2; Hardcover $24.95; Ages 5+; 160 pages)

Drawing from centuries of artistic and literary traditions from around the world, this gorgeous bedtime book pairs works of art with poems and short fiction. Divided into eight thematic sections it features dozens of double-paged spreads that families will turn to again and again as part of their bedtime routine. The carefully chosen, diverse selection of images includes works by John Singer Sargent, Georgia O’Keeffe, Utagawa Hiroshige and Henri Le Sidoner among many others, beautifully reproduced in luminous color. Accompanying these artworks are poems, mediations and short fiction that range from lighthearted verse to eerie folktales. Together these words and pictures create meaningful impressions that children will treasure and remember as they drift off to sleep—and hold onto for the rest of their lives


The Weather Pop-Up Book by Maike Biederstaedt (September 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7393-5; Hardcover $25; Ages 5+; 15 pages)

In her hugely successful books Creatures of the Deep and What’s in the Egg?, as well as her enormously popular series of greeting cards for the Museum of Modern Art, Maike Biederstaedt has established herself as one of the preeminent paper artists working today. Now Biederstaedt takes book engineering to new heights as she immerses readers in five electrifying weather scenarios. As each spread unfolds, a meticulously designed landscape emerges—a freighter balances like a nutshell between high waves in the sea; a tornado takes terrifying aim at a truck trying to outrun it; a rain-spewing storm cloud towers like a skyscraper over a farm house. Nature’s delicate beauty emerges in the intricate shapes of a snowflake and in the luminous arc of a rainbow. Each page features an informative description of its weather event and the book closes with sobering commentary on the effects of climate change. A wondrous introduction to weather for budding climatologists, this is also an artistic tour de force that collectors will treasure.


When I See Red by Britta Teckentrup (September 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7494-9; Hardcover $14.95; Ages 4+; 40 pages)

The heroine of this beautifully illustrated story feels her anger like a storm in a dark forest. It sweeps her away, and she thunders and howls. She pours down her emotions like sheets of rain; rage surges like a wind whipping angry waves. Her anger takes her on a wild ride.

Appropriate for a wide variety of ages, this book illustrates many aspects of anger that are often hard to articulate— how overwhelming it is, how isolating, even scary. But it also shows anger to be a source of power and an agent for change. Teckentrup’s impactful, boldly colored paintings skillfully evoke the way intense anger can take us on an emotional journey, one that can be both exhausting and affirming. This beautiful tribute to one girl’s experience of anger offers readers the opportunity to make sense of, and talk about their own feelings of rage in a time when that kind of understanding is more important than ever.


I Saw a Beautiful Woodpecker by Michał Skibiński and illustrated by Ala Bankroft (October 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7486-4; Hardcover: $16.95; Ages 6+; 128 pages)

It is the summer of 1939 in Warsaw, Poland and Michal is an eight- year-old boy just finishing his school year. In order to improve his handwriting, Michal’s teacher gives him a simple assignment: keep a journal, writing one sentence a day. Eighty years later, Michal’s diary has been gorgeously illustrated with beautifully atmospheric paintings. Eloquent in its simplicity, the journal is a remarkable artifact that captures the innocence of childhood and the trauma of war. The journal starts out with a typical boy’s observations: “July 15: I went to a stream with my brother and teacher.” “July 23: I found a caterpillar.” However over the course of weeks, menacing details emerge. “July 27: A plane was circling over Anin.” “September 1: The war has begun.” “September 3: I hid from planes.” “September 14: Warsaw is bravely defending itself.” These haunting entries are interspersed with visits from relatives, a soccer game, a trip to a park, an ice cream cone. Photographs of pages from Michal’s diary enhance the poignancy of this simple record—an ordinary holiday interrupted by war; a life changed forever by an extraordinary moment in history.

MICHAŁ SKIBIŃSKI was 8 years old and a schoolboy at Warsaw Primary school when he wrote this diary in the summer 1939. Today he lives in a retirement house for elderly priests. ALA BANKROFT is a painter, photographer and film animator living in Warsaw, Poland.


The Day Time Stopped by Flavia Ruotolo (October 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7489-5; Hardcover $14.95; Ages 5+; 48 pages)

One afternoon in Italy, a little girl is about to take a bite of her delicious popsicle when time . . . stops. At that very moment, across the planet, people and animals are frozen in action— captured by this book’s warm, quirky illustrations and clever, time-stamped captions. A penguin hatches in South Georgia; a little girl gets a haircut in Brazil; a family sits down to breakfast in California; a tiger falls asleep in Bangladesh; a boy’s football ball gets stuck in a tree in Cape Verde. The sheer enormity of planet Earth can be impossible for young kids to grasp. Here, in this playful introduction to time zones, hemispheres, and life in different climates, kids will identify with all the ordinary things going on at the same time in our extraordinary world.


Where is Everyone? by Tom Schamp (September 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7450-5; Hardcover $14.95; Ages 2+; 14 pages)

A toaster, a refrigerator, a sink, a bed, a car. Most kids can recognize these and other things that are part of their everyday lives. Leave it to Tom Schamp to imagine a different way of seeing them. As kids pore over these brightly colored and highly detailed pictures they’ll be delighted to discover a monkey on a surfboard and an elephant in a bowler hat— all inhabiting the same shapes they recognize in their homes. Each whimsical illustration offers a chance to explore, discuss, and giggle at the unexpected. Every page will encourage kids to think creatively and differently about the world around them and the possibilities that lie hidden in the things we see every day.


Is There Life on Your Nose? by Christian Bortslap (September 2021; ISBN: 978-3-7913-7497-0; Hardcover $17.95; Ages 6+; 56 pages)

Germs, microbes, bacteria—these days those words are fraught with fear and uncertainty. But they’re not all bad. In fact, most of them make life and nature possible. Christian Borstlap’s playful, boldly colored illustrations and cheerful text will help kids understand that microbes are everywhere—in our noses and tummies, in the food we eat, in the air we breathe. From the world’s largest organism in Oregon’s Blue Mountains, to the bacteria that started life on earth; from microbes that help recycle plastic, to yeast that makes bread taste good—this book shows the incredible diversity of these tiny beings and how they affect every aspect of our lives. Borstlap uses both science and humor to demystify a potentially scary subject, and closes with double-page spreads that are packed with information to satisfy the most curious readers.

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15 comments:

  1. Wow! These covers are gorgeous! All beautifully illustrated indeed!

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  2. I love the pop up book. Those are so super cool. Great illustrations on these

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  3. The illustrations are beautiful in At the Height of the Moon. My nieces love to read and would enjoy several of these books.

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  4. The artwork for At the Height of the Moon is extraordinary. I would read it without my child around :)

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  5. These look like great children's books. I have always loved to read.

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  6. These books would make such wonderful gifts for my youngest grandchildren

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  7. The kids in the family would so love these books they look amazing.
    heather hgtempaddy

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  8. These books would be great for my cousins.

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  9. Beautiful books. I like the weather one best.

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  10. These look like great reads for the kids

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  11. Great selection of books. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. I do like every book, thanks for sharing.

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