I wanted to tell y’all about a new picture book that I absolutely LOVE, One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small.

During a visit to the aquarium, the precocious Elliot realizes that he has always wanted a pet penguin. He know that if he is to get a penguin, he must ask his father, who without much thought, says yes. We as the reader know that Elliot should have realized that when fathers say yes to getting a penguin, they usually mean a stuffed one from the gift shop. This clever story by Toni Buzzeo is absolutely adorable and David Small’s illustrations complete the hilarity of this tale. With a surprising ending that is completely unexpected, this book gets an A+ in my book.

I personally love David Small. His art is iconic and whimsical. He is also highly acclaimed. He has won a Caldecott Honor for his book The Gardener and a Caldecott Medal for So, You Want To Be President. I think he did an especially good job with this story. The simple color palette highlights the logical, if not off base Elliot when he decides that he wants a penguin–and decides to liberate a real penguin from the aquarium. This story is fun for kids and adults all the way to the unexpected ending.

All this to say, I am very happy to announce that we have a small supply of One Cool Friend signed by the author, Toni Buzzeo, AND the illustrator, David Small! I hope that y’all enjoy this book as much as I did. It is a hoot!

The Cheshire Cheese Cat is a delightful story written by Carmen Deedy and Randall Wright with beautiful illustrations by our favorite Barry Moser. Set in a London inn during the time of Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria, this story begins with the introduction of Skilley, the main character and resident mouser at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn. Skilley must make a pact with Pip the mouse to keep his guarded secret–Skilley does not eat mice. He eats cheese. There are multiple scenes of drama taking place in The Cheese, not the least of which Charles Dickens and his writer’s block. This tale contains so much fun and excitement, and the awesome illustrations of Barry Moser perfectly gel with this historical tale of mischief and friendship.

Barry Moser is a well known illustrator and even better known by those of us who work at Lemuria. A few of my favorite books that he has illustrated are The Blessing of the Beasts by Ethel Pochocki, Ring of Tricksters by Virginia Hamilton, Hogwood Steps Out by Howard Mansfield, and Hummingbird Nest by Kristina O’Connell George.

All this to say, we think Barry is the best. And to top it all off, Barry will be here in the store on Saturday, December 10th at 11:00. Barry’s books, The Cheshire Cheese Cat and Franklin and Winston: A Christmas that Changed the World, are also our Oz First Edition’s Club Picks for December!

I didn’t know about the Llama Llama books before coming to work at Lemuria, but this little guy is a staff favorite so it wasn’t long before I was familiar with all of his drama.

The Llama Llama books chronicle a little llama and his relationship with his mama. Little llama is perpetually losing his patience with Mama Llama, whether it be at the store (This one is my personal favorite and involves Llama becoming bored at the Shop-o-rama, and before you know it, he begins to throw things out of the cart in a fit. I mean, haven’t we all been there?) or at bedtime, or when he gets dropped off at school, but all it takes is a quick reprimand from his mama (Please stop all this llama drama and be patient for your mama.) and all is well again. Because, despite all of his drama, Llama really does love his mama. These stories are funny, and even when the little llama is throwing a “tizzy,” he’s still quite lovable.

These fun books are written and illustrated by Anna Dewdney (you can visit her site here), and I’m happy to announce that she will be visiting us here at Lemuria on September 19 at 4pm to sign her new book Llama Llama Home with Mama.  I hope that you’ll join us for a great event!  -Kaycie

In July I wrote about defining children’s classics, and here I am with a semi-related topic.  New books by authors that I already consider to be classic, which just adds to the conundrum of defining children’s classics.  Are they automatically given classic status?  At this point it doesn’t matter, I’m just excited that I’ve been able to preview some of them and that this fall they’ll be hitting the shelves.

And now that I’ve kept you in suspense for an entire paragraph, here’s what is in store:

1. Every Thing On It—poems and drawings by Shel Silverstein

Sadly Shel Silverstein passed away in 1999, but lucky for us, some of his work has continued to be published posthumously.  In 2005 a book of poetry titled Runny Rabbit was published and this September Every Thing On It, another new volume of poetry, will be published. Flipping through the small preview copy that we received brings back distinct memories of reading through the copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends that my grandparents kept at their home for me, my brother, and cousins to read whenever we came to visit (and which eventually found its way to a home on my younger brother’s bookshelf).

2. The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss

This collection of seven short stories (accompanied by the sort of illustrations we know and love from the Dr. Seuss collection) were all originally published in magazines between the years of 1948 and 1959 . In his introduction of this collection, Seuss scholar Dr. Charles D. Cohen likens these stories to buried treasure and claims that they “were hiding in places that could be found without a treasure map,” and I, for one, am so grateful to Dr. Cohen for tracking them down.  I read through this collection and am happy to report that they are precisely what we love in the already classic Seuss stories.  I often giggled at Hop on Pop as a child and today The Cat in the Hat is still a popular story-time choice for the little girl I babysit.  Be on the lookout for The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories this September.

3. Bumble-Ardy by Maurice Sendak

In my last blog on children’s classics, I mentioned that Where the Wild Things Are was (and still is so far as my recommendations to customers) one of my favorites.  So I’m quite glad to see that Sendak is still at it with this new book about a little pig and his misfortunes with birthday parties.  This book is full of Sendak’s usual quirky creatures who are up to some sort of mischief.  A fun book with great illustrations, Bumble-Ardy will be for sale this September!

So keep these classic authors’ newest work in your mind this fall when you begin your Christmas shopping because quite frankly, you just can’t give child a better gift than a wonderful book from one of these beloved authors.  And before these books come out, perhaps you can refresh yourself on some of your old favorites from Silverstein, Sendak and Seuss.  -Kaycie

I’ve been working back in OZ lately, mostly with the classics section, and I’ve realized how much of a conundrum this section really presents.  What actually constitutes a children’s classic?  Is it the number of years it has stayed in print?  Is it based on fads (for example, will the Harry Potter series eventually be considered classics? Or is fantasy just in vogue right now but likely to fall by the wayside in fifty years)?  What gives a children’s book staying power?

It’s different from adult classics, which are often just an accepted part of the Western canon and appear again and again on high school and college reading lists to teach us about certain cultural and historical perspectives.  And that’s not to say that some children’s classics are not also on the academic list for important literary analysis, because they certainly are, but what makes them stay on the shelves just for a child’s enjoyment?

For example, a book that I am always eager to show children and their parents is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  I had a hardcover copy of this book when I was a child and distinctly remember my parents reading it to me quite often.  And though I consider this book a classic, it’s not as if it’s very old.  Maurice Sendak is still alive, and Where the Wild Things Are was first published in 1963.  That’s not so long ago.  Not like, say, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden which was first published in 1910 and lives in children’s classics along with Sendak’s work.

Philip Pullman’s (author of His Dark Materials) publisher David Fickling (in a 2007 Times article )”says that his definition of a classic is ‘rereadability.’ ‘Plenty of books are enjoyable to read once, but with a classic, the more you reread, the more comes out. It’s the same for all ages; there is that tone, that care with words, that control from the big picture down to individual sentences.'”

And I have to agree with Mr. Fickling on that, but I have to wonder if there’s not more to it than “rereadability.”  What about books that I read and loved as a child that would never be on the Western canon, but that I would certainly buy for my child to read for fun–books like The Baby Sitters Club series, R.L. Stine’s creepy collection of child-appropriate horror stories, and Bunnicula. Everyone in my elementary school enjoyed those books, and no one buys them now.  But who is to say that when my generation starts having children that they won’t come back in style?  I mean, I wouldn’t want my future child to miss out on vampire bunnies! That just wouldn’t be fair.

So what do you think makes a children’s classic?  What kid’s books have staying power with you? Or with your kids?

Just to start the conversation, I will say that some of my favorites are The Witches by Roald Dahl (1983), The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865 and 1871 respectively), The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961),  I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1949) and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937).  -Kaycie

So, I know I’ve blogged already on my love of illustrators, specifically Carson Ellis, but I just wanted to tell you that I’ve found a new favorite.  Her name is Julie Morstad, she’s Canadian, and her artwork is wonderful.  I first saw her work on the  cover of my advanced reader copy of  Kevin Wilson’s new novel The Family Fang (coming out this August), but then Emily showed me some children’s books illustrated by Morstad, When You Were Small by Sara O’Leary and Singing Away the Dark by Caroline Woodward.  Both of them are lovely and I may or may not have bought both of them as birthday presents to me, from me.

Drawn and Quarterly described one collection of Morstad’s illustrations as “fairy tales infused with dreamlike innocence and a touch of the macabre.”  I mean, honestly, who wouldn’t want to look at something that warranted that description?

I like to think of illustrated books as  little reminders that sometimes books are beautiful not only for their words and stories, but also for the words and stories that they have the possibility of evoking (like this trés eloquent blog post, perhaps? I kid). So, Julie Morstad, I want to thank you for creating these beautiful images. My hope is that  they inspire everyone who sees them to write dreamlike fairy tales with macabre touches so that you may illustrate more books that I, in turn, can covet and love.  -Kaycie

Check out Julie’s website here.