Europe

Materials from Europe

The Night Box

When a little boy opens the Night Box, darkness swoops out, a fox uncurls, and a thousand stars sparkle and shine. Night flows freely then, cavorting and exploring, caring for all its creatures until morning comes, and it’s time for Night to rest again. With its soothing cadences and air of quiet wonder, The Night Box is sure to charm any sleepy listener who wonders what happens between sunset and sunrise.

The Visitor

Elise was frightened—of spiders, people, even trees. So she never went out, night or day. One day a strange thing flies in through the window and lands at her feet. And then there comes a knock at the door. Elise has a visitor who will change everything. The Visitor is a story about friendship and shyness that plays out in a mini theatre, as a child unwittingly brings light and color—literally—into a lonely person’s life. The unique artwork has a doll’s house appeal. Damm creates a diorama from cardboard and photographs the scenes, giving the illustrations a special luminosity and depth.

The Poesy Ring

When a young woman with tears in her eyes throws a gold ring into the wind in 1830, the ring settles in a meadow, and there it stays as the seasons pass — and then the years. But the ring’s journey is just beginning, and as more years go by, it moves at the mercy of the natural world: caught in the hoof of a young deer and flung across a meadow, tilled into the field of an unknowing farmer, dropped from the mouth of a magpie into the sea where countless tides wash over it. Will the ring, inscribed with the words love never dies, end its journey at the bottom of the ocean? Or does it have a greater destiny? Ever the master of weaving exquisite stories from the most unexpected threads, Bob Graham gives readers yet another collection of quiet moments that together form a transcendent, heartfelt tale.

Polonius the Pit Pony

When Polonius the pit pony escapes from the coal mine he’s worked in all his life, he joins a family of Travelers. Although he enjoys the freedom and the fresh air that their lifestyle offers, he wishes he could give something back to the family in return. When the chance arrives for him to do something to help, he rises to the challenge and uses his intelligence and skills to save the day. Based on true events and retold by a master of the oral tradition, this story bears witness to the Traveler values of independence, initiative, courage and hard work.

Cook’s Cook: The Cook Who Cooked for Captain Cook

Cook’s Cook follows the 1768 journey of James Cook’s H.M.S. Endeavour with his ship’s cook, the one-handed John Thompson, as story teller. Through real recipes from the ship’s galley, events on board and the places the ship traveled on its way to the Pacific, the book tells multiple stories. Here are stories of social class, hierarchy and race; stories of explorers and the people of the land; the story of one of the world’s most famous explorers told through a fresh new lens. This beautiful book is full of information drawn from extensive research alongside evocative illustrations, released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour’s journey.

Under the Same Sky

Endearing animal artwork and lyrical text combine in a peek-through picture book celebration of emotions that describes how everyone lives under the same sky and shares many of the same hopes and dreams.

The Fox on the Swing

Learn about family, happiness, and friendship in this hope-filled children’s book. Our story starts with a boy named Paul, who lives in a cozy treehouse in a big city with his family. And then something unexpected happens―Paul befriends a wise, friendly fox on a walk home from the bakery. The fox gives Paul a space to think about what makes him happy and what friendship means―all in the pages of a bright and quirky storybook. Join Paul and the fox while helping young readers decide what makes them happy. Illustrated in color throughout.

Featured in WOW Review Volume XI, Issue 3.