First words are everywhere you look, especially in a house! This visually striking picture book catalogs an impressive array of household items, naming the delightful miscellany that comprises a life. The charming collections are creative and unexpected, providing the sweetest of visual snapshots that reinforce word recognition and understanding. In addition to the everyday kitchen, living room, and garden items, there are surprising and smart illustrated spreads featuring “everything for resting,” “everything for warming up,” and “everything that gets lost.” Plus, a seek-and-find element (a hiding cat!) offers bonus amusement. Children will savor the delicate illustrations of things they are learning to recognize, things they are discovering every day, and things they will cherish and use as they grow.
Age
Catalog sorted by age group
The Curiosity Cabinet
Ian Wallace, one of Canada’s best-known children’s book creators, invites us to look inside his cabinet of curiosities, which contains treasures from his decades of traveling the country from sea to sea to sea, sharing stories with young readers.
Only In My Hometown
The northern lights shine, women gather to eat raw caribou meat and everyone could be family in this ode to small-town life in Nunavut, written in English and Inuktitut. Sisters Angnakuluk Friesen and Ippiksaut Friesen collaborate on this story about what it’s like to grow up in an Inuit community in Nunavut. Every line about the hometown in this book will have readers thinking about what makes their own hometowns unique. With strong social studies curriculum connections, Only in My Hometown introduces young readers to life in the Canadian North, as well as the Inuit language and culture.
Trees
Trees change through the seasons — springing to life, bearing fruit, and losing their leaves before a period of sleep. They clean the air we breathe, provide seeds and homes for creatures, and extend their shade to everyone equally.
Hello, Mr. Dodo!
Martha is absolutely cuckoo for birds! She’s identified every single bird in the woods behind her house. But one day she sees a bird unlike any other. Can that really be a dodo? It turns out that dodos make very good friends (and are crazy about doughnuts!).
Under the Umbrella
The weather has never been worse. The man with the stormy heart is soaked and he’s going to be late! His mood is as black as the sky. Outside a nearby patisserie, a little boy stands under the shelter of its awning, gazing at the beautiful treats on display. When the wind snatches the man’s umbrella and drops it at the child’s feet, can this hasty curmudgeon slow down long enough for an unlikely friendship to blossom?
Bear Likes Jam
When Bear discovers jam for the time, he can’t think of anything else. Mama Duck tells him that growing bears need to eat their vegetables first but Bear can’t stand the strange green things on his plate. He only wants jam! It’s not until Bear notices the little ducks around him eating ALL of their food, that it finally clicks: Bear can have his dinner and his jam.
When the Rain Comes
It is time to plant the rice crop in Malini’s Sri Lankan community, and the little girl is both excited and nervous to help for the first time. What if she does it wrong? Will she be responsible if the crop fails? When the oxcart rumbles in loaded with seedlings, she reluctantly agrees to watch the big, imposing animal while the driver takes a break. Suddenly, the skies go dark with monsoon rain.
Bug Bear
Just as Bear is falling asleep, a small bug lands on his nose and won’t go away. Bear tries everything he can to get rid of the bug, but the pesky bug just wont leave him alone! Then Owl offers to help. Could the clever bird have the perfect solution?
Yokki and the Parno Gry
When a Traveller family experiences a run of bad luck, an imaginative boy called Yokki lifts their spirits with tales of a magical white horse.