growing up

The Pocket Mommy

Saying goodbye to Mom at the kindergarten door can be tough. Samuel hates it and wishes he could have a tiny, pocket-sized mommy to carry around with him all day. His mom slips a pretend mommy into his pocket, and when she comes to life, Samuel is delighted . . . at first. But he soon discovers that having a mom along in kindergarten isn’t as much fun as he thought it would be. Sure, she helps him remember the words to songs and keeps him company. But she also rearranges the bookshelf, corrects his artwork, and tries to clean out the guinea pig cage–all with disastrous (and comic) results. An energetic romp with a sweet core, The Pocket Mommy follows one little boy as he navigates the age-old conflict between the comfort of the familiar and the joy of letting go.

Jane The Fox & Me

Hélène has been inexplicably ostracized by the girls who were once her friends. Her school life is full of whispers and lies — Hélène weighs 216; she smells like BO. Her loving mother is too tired to be any help. Fortunately, Hélène has one consolation, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Hélène identifies strongly with Jane’s tribulations, and when she is lost in the pages of this wonderful book, she is able to ignore her tormentors. But when Hélène is humiliated on a class trip in front of her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to allow her to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.

Friends

Happy was an international hit that showed off Mies van Hout’s uncanny ability to convey feelings with her vibrant illustrations.

With Friends she goes one step further and shows emotional interactions. Just as she made the fish of Happy uniquely hers, here she uses monsters to show different situations–they cuddle, laugh, play, but they also fight, tease and more–making the images recognizable for little monsters of all ages.

There, There

“There, there” — one of the most soothing expressions in the English language. In this story, Little Hansie Bear loves to pretend, but walking like a duck can be hazardous, especially when he falls into a deep- down ditch and has to be helped out by his dad. With a “There, there” and a hug, Hansie is soon off to play again. So when Dad hurts his foot, Hansie knows just what to do — a “There, there,” a big hug, and everything is all right again.

Grandfather Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson tells the story of how his grandfather taught him to turn darkness into light in this uniquely personal and vibrantly illustrated tale that carries a message of peace.

How could he—a Gandhi—be so easy to anger?

One thick, hot day, Arun Gandhi travels with his family to Grandfather Gandhi’s village.

Silence fills the air—but peace feels far away for young Arun. When an older boy pushes him on the soccer field, his anger fills him in a way that surely a true Gandhi could never imagine. Can Arun ever live up to the Mahatma? Will he ever make his grandfather proud?

Jitterbug Jam (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))

What does this monster have under his bed? Bobo is a young monster who’s afraid to sleep in his own bed. He is sure there is a boy hiding beneath it – a boy with “pink skin and orange fur on his head where his horns should be.” Bobo’s older brother thinks he’s a fraidy-cat, but his grandpa, Boo-Dad, knows all about these fearful creatures. And Boo-Dad knows exactly what to do to scare them away. But after being afraid for so long, Bobo might just want to take matters into his own paws and find out if the creature under his bed really is as bad as he thinks. This rambunctious story of a youngster overcoming anxiety and limitations is set in a captivating otherworld that springs to life in pictures full of enchantment and surprise.