Picture Book

Africans Thought of It

The ingenuity of African peoples from ancient times to today. Did you know that aloe vera — now found in countless products, including sunscreens and soaps — was first used by Africans? They ground it into powder and used it to treat burns and other skin conditions, and hunters used it to disguise their scent from animals. They also used the nutritious oil from the fruit of the oil palm tree in everything from cooking to medicines to wine. And the marimba, better known to us as the xylophone, is believed to have originated 700 years ago in Mali. Other unique African innovations include the technique of banana leaf art and using horns — and hairdos! — to communicate important messages. Africans Thought of It features descriptive photos and information-packed text that is divided into sections, including: Agriculture Food Medicine Music Architecture Games and Sports. This fourth book in Annick’s We Thought of It series takes readers on a fascinating journey across the world’s second largest continent to discover how aspects of its culture have spread around the globe.

Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto

This is the only biography for children about the remarkable Holocaust heroine Irena Sendler, who smuggled over 400 children out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Terezin

Through inmates’ own voices and artwork, Terezin explores the lives of Jewish people in one of the most infamous of the Nazi transit camps. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany turned the small town of Terezin, Czechoslovakia, into a ghetto, and then into a transit camp for thousands of Jewish people. It was a “show” camp, where inmates were forced to use their artistic talents to fool the world about the truth of gas chambers and horrific living conditions for imprisoned Jews. Here is their story, told through the firsthand accounts of those who were there. In this accessible, meticulously researched book, Ruth Thomson allows the inmates to speak for themselves through secret diary entries, artwork, and excerpts from memoirs and recordings narrated after the war. Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust is a moving portrait that shows the strength of the human will to endure, to create, and to survive.

Lost and Found

A collection of three jaw-dropping stories: THE RED TREE, THE LOST THING, and THE RABBITS, by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Shaun Tan. A girl finds a bright spot in a dark world. A boy leads a strange, lost creature home. And a group of peaceful creatures loses their home to cruel invaders. Three stories about how we lose and find what matters most to us. Never widely available in the U.S., these tales are presented in their entirety with new artwork and author’s notes.

The Rain Train

All aboard! Take a train ride through a storm at night in a rhythmic readaloud chugging with sound words and full of striking illustrations. A pitter-pat-pat, a pitter-pat-pat, A pittery-pittery-pittery-pat. When it’s thundering down on the roof, in the lane, From the storm comes the call . . . “All aboard the Rain Train!” What child wouldn’t like to hop on a train, hand over his ticket, and set off on an exciting ride through a rainy night? Safe from the elements, a young boy listens and watches in his seat, in the dining car, and snug in his sleeper as his train whooshes past city lights, over rivers, through tunnels, and straight on to morning.

Fickle Barbara

Ballerina Bear Barbara, who lives in a child’s room in Paris, discovers that while it is nice to make new friends, old friends should never be forgotten.