Europe

Materials from Europe

A Serious Thought

One night, a little boy goes to bed, but instead of sleeping, he starts thinking all kinds of thoughts. Dangerous thoughts. Admirable thoughts. Questionable thoughts. Beautiful thoughts … until a very serious thought occurs to him. If Earth is just a tiny marble floating in space, and he is but one child among many living on this marble, what does his existence matter in the grand scheme of things? Deceptively simple black-and-white drawings poignantly illustrate the boy’s journey as he considers this serious thought. This thought-provoking story by Estonian artist Jonas Taul will resonate with anyone who has ever been kept awake at night by life’s big questions.

Stars and Poppy Seeds

As the daughter of well-known mathematicians, Flora loves to count more than anything in the world. She counts all the things around her—the animals, grains of sand on the beach, and letters in her dad’s newspaper. When Dora looks at the Milky Way, she begins to wonder how to count the mesmerizing number of stars. Is it even possible? Is the night sky so full of stars that even all the numbers she knows would not be enough to count them? Dora soon learns that she needs to deal with such a complicated task by starting with the simplest of steps, and who knows, maybe one day she will achieve her dream.

The Fabled Life Of Aesop: The Extraordinary Journey and Collected Tales Of The World’s Greatest Storyteller

The Tortoise and the Hare. The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The Fox and the Crow. Each of Aesop’s stories has a lesson to tell, but Aesop’s life story is perhaps the most inspiring tale of them all. Gracefully revealing the genesis of his tales, this story of Aesop shows how fables not only liberated him from captivity but spread wisdom over a millennium. This is the only children’s book biography about him. Includes thirteen illustrated fables: The Lion and the Mouse, The Goose and the Golden Egg, The Fox and the Crow, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Dog and the Wolf, The Lion and the Statue, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The North Wind and the Sun, The Fox and the Grapes, The Dog and the Wolf, The Lion and the Boar.

Finding Narnia: The Story Of C. S. Lewis And His Brother Warnie

Before C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, he was a young boy named Jack who spent his days dreaming up stories of other worlds filled with knights, castles and talking animals. His brother, Warnie, spent his days imagining worlds filled with trains, boats and technology. One rainy day, they found a wardrobe in a little room next to the attic, and they wondered, “What if the wardrobe had no end?” Years later, Jack began to think about what could be beyond that wardrobe, and about a girl named Lucy and her siblings. This picturebook biography introduces the beloved creator of The Chronicles of Narnia to a new generation of children who see hidden magic in the world around them.

The Seventh Voyage

In this graphic adaptation of a story by Stanislaw Lem, a meteoroid damages astronaut and space traveller Ijon’s spaceship, and he finds himself caught in a time loop, contending with past and future versions of himself.

The Big Litlle Thing

It unexpectedly arrived. It brushed passed someone in the street. It weaves its way in and out of people on the street. It catches people completely unawares. But what is this It? They call It happiness! In this outstanding book, award-winning illustrator and author Beatrice Alemagna captures the pure pleasure of embracing the small things in life. Following in the footsteps of A Lion in Paris, the striking and poignant illustrations bring this sensitive story to life.

The Snowman

When his snowman comes to life, a little boy invites him into his home and in return is taken on a flight high above the countryside, in a classic wordless story with a new cover.