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 It's a Book, by Lane Smith [$12.99 hardcover] – Smith (Madam President) addresses e-literacy in his irreverent style, casting a donkey in the role of digital junkie and a gorilla as a literary type. The donkey fiddles with a laptop while the gorilla holds a novel. "What do you have there?" asks the techie, whose words are printed in ice blue, sans serif letters suggestive of a chat room. "It's a book," the ape answers, in a stately orange serif font. The donkey tests the gorilla's patience: "Can it text? Tweet? Wi-Fi?" (When he asks, "Where's your mouse?" a real one pops from beneath the gorilla's porkpie hat.) After the gorilla hands over Treasure Island, the donkey gripes, "Too many letters," and converts the scene to emoticons before getting hooked on the story. "I'll charge it up when I'm done!" he promises, at which the mouse squeaks, "It's a book, jackass." This smart-aleck retort, arguably justified because the donkey is a jackass in any sense of the word, urges readers to side with the scholarly gorilla. Meanwhile, Smith has the best of both worlds: his stylish drawings, sleek typography, and kid-friendly humor combine old media and new.
 The Fish House Door, by Robert F. Baldwin, illustrated by Astrid Sheckles [$16.95 hardcover] – Shawn comes from a long line of island lobstermen. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have all hauled traps, baited pockets, painted buoys and cleaned their brushes on the door of the same fish house for decades. To Shawn, it's just a weathered old piece of wood with broken hinges. But when an art dealer comes to visit, he gives Shawn a new perspective on the fish house door, giving him a fresh look at the people and traditions that have shaped his past and will chart his future.
 Immi's Gift, by Karin Littlewood [$15.95 hardcover] – Way, way up north in a snow-covered, frozen world, a young girl breaks a hole in the ice and fishes for her supper. But instead of a fish, at the end of the line is a small, brightly painted wooden bird. She ties it onto her necklace, next to a small white bear. Day after day her fishing pole brings up more colorful surprises from the swirling sea under the frozen ice. She decorates her igloo with the colorful treasures and animals come from far and wide to visit with her and share stories of faraway lands. On the last day she visits the fishing hole she drops the small bear from her necklace into the water. Faraway, a young boy walks along a beach in the hot, hot sun. He throws something colorful into the water. Then something catches his eye. There, washed up on the beach is a small wooden bear. Karin Littlewood has crafted a simple, affecting story of how individuals around the world connect and even enrich each other s lives. Her beautiful, full-spread watercolor illustrations colorfully depict the story's shifting locations from the frozen Arctic to the tropical shoreline, and the vast and diverse world that exists below the sea. |
