Deborah Hopkinson

New author Sandra Horning didn't have to search far to find the inspiration for The Giant Hug, her first children's book. She grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, where her father spent many years working for the city post office. It's easy to imagine that Horning learned a lot from her postman dad, because her delightful book perfectly captures a child's fascination with how the post office actually works.

The tale begins when Owen's mom asks him what he'd like to send his grandmother for her birthday. Owen doesn't hesitate one bit. A GIANT hug, the young pig declares, spreading his arms wide.

Drawing a picture of a hug won't do. So Owen and his mom head to the post office, where Owen tells Mr. Nevin that he wants to send his grandmother a real hug for her birthday. Well, we don't normally send hugs, Mr. Nevin replies, but I suppose we could give it a try. Little Owen opens his arms wide and gives Mr. Nevin a giant hug, along with a request to make it just as giant when Mr. Nevin passes it on. As the story continues, Owen's hug gets passed on by animals who help speed the mail along the way, from goat to rabbit to porcupine and even to a bear named Captain Johnson, pilot of the mail airplane. At last the final delivery is in the arms of Shelly, the duck, who opens her arms wide and gives Granny a giant hug. But, wait. The story's not quite over yet. For the best part of getting a special package in the mail is, of course, sending back a reply. Young readers will be sure to giggle at Granny's response. The Giant Hug is graced by warm, humorous illustrations by Russian-born artist Valeri Gorbachev. This child-friendly book would make a great special delivery present for grandchildren and grandparents alike.

Deborah Hopkinson's most recent book, Apples to Oregon, was named to the New York Public Library's 2004 list of 100 books for reading and sharing.

Retellings of the Cinderella story abound, but if you thought it was impossible to find a fresh adaptation, you're in for a delightful surprise. Famed British children's author and illustrator Shirley Hughes has marshaled her considerable talents to create a charming and original Cinderella tale in her new picture book, Ella's Big Chance. Originally published in Great Britain, the book has already won the 2004 Kate Greenaway Medal for distinguished illustration in a children's book and is now being released in this country, where it's certain to become a favorite. The book, in fact, feels decidedly American, capturing all the style and flavor of the jazz age. Ella works with her father, Mr. Cinders, in his little dress shop, where she coaxes silks, woolens and satins into coats and dresses for their rich clientele.

With her sturdy build and short red curls, Ella is decidedly different from the traditional "Disneyesque" heroine and from the two fashionable stepsisters who soon join the family. Inevitably, while Ruby and Pearl loll around and model dresses for customers, Ella must work harder than ever, with only an old gray cat and her friend Buttons for consolation. And when the invitation to attend a grand ball in honor of the Duke of Arc arrives, Ella is, of course, left out. Ella's fairy godmother, a stylish lady with a purple umbrella, comes to the rescue, transforming Ella into a beauty in a silver gown and tiny silk hat. In the ball scenes, where Ella captures the heart of the Duke, you can almost hear the music and the light feet of the dancers. These scenes, notes Hughes, were inspired by the dance sequences in old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies; the dresses have their origins in the French designers of the 1920s, including Doucet, Poiret and Patou.

While these details may be of little interest to young readers, they are sure to be captivated by what happens when Ella returns home, leaving one glass slipper behind. Ella's choice, and her future, reminds us once again that laughter and fun are not only the province of princesses.

Deborah Hopkinson's newest book, Dear America: Hear My Sorrow, follows the life of a young garment worker in New York City in 1909.

If the legendary author Margaret Wise Brown has an heir apparent in children's books, writer-illustrator Kevin Henkes just might be it. For all the Goodnight Moon wannabes published each year, few come close to truly attaining the status of a classic. But it's a sure bet that Henkes' latest picture book, Kitten's First Full Moon, will be beloved by children and parents for a long, long time.

The premise is astonishingly simple. Rendered in gray and black, the story follows a little kitten who sees a full moon for the first time. She imagines that it is a bowl of milk in the sky a bowl of milk she instantly longs to taste.

When Kitten first sticks out her tongue, she only manages to catch a bug. Poor Kitten! Yet she does not give up, for, as the story's refrain goes: "Still, there was the little bowl of milk, just waiting." Preschoolers and adults, too, will giggle as Kitten tries to capture that elusive bowl of milk. She leaps from the steps, tumbles to the ground and chases it frantically through the garden. The suspense only grows when Kitten decides to get closer by climbing a tree. She can't reach that bowl of milk in the sky. But at her feet, reflected in the pond, what does she spy? You guessed it, another, even bigger bowl of milk! Poor Kitten, indeed, for now she's not only hungry and thirsty, but wet, tired and sad.

Readers will be glad to know that the story ends in a satisfactory and comforting way. From the endpapers with their round bowl-of-milk circles, to the exclamation on the back cover ("WHAT A NIGHT!"), Kitten's First Full Moon is a wonderful addition to children's literature. Not only will it be asked for again and again, adults won't tire of reading it. WHAT A BOOK!

Deborah Hopkinson's most recent adventure for children is Sailing for Gold: Book One of the Klondike Kid Trilogy.

Zora Neale Hurston, whose rich literary legacy includes the beloved book Their Eyes Were Watching God, was also an anthropologist who collected oral stories as she traveled throughout the South. Now some of the narratives from Every Tongue Got to Confess, her third volume of collected folktales from the 1930s, have been adapted into a picture book by award-winning author Joyce Carol Thomas. The volume is brought to life with vibrant paintings and collages by Caldecott Honor recipient Bryan Collier. In the tradition of animal fables, the stories here use the animal kingdom to illuminate human foibles and relationships. There's the tale of Buzzard, the procrastinator, who vows to build a new house when it stops raining, only to put the task off when the sun shines. And then there's the story about flies, creatures so small they have a hard time fighting for their share of food. They're forced to fly up to Heaven and complain to God: "Lord, we ain't got no weapons to fight with and no way to protect ourselves, and we can't get nothing to eat." And God fixed it so that now flies "swarm over everybody's food before they can even take the first bite."

In her introduction to this delightful collection, Thomas notes that Hurston's work is "Wise, witty, and wonderful! Zora Neale Hurston . . . has willed us a legacy of laughter." Thomas says that when she tells these stories to children, they like to get right into the action, flapping their arms like Buzzard's wings and jumping like Frog in the story titled "Why Frog Got Eyes and Mole Got Tail." It's a sure bet that What's the Hurry, Fox? will be a popular title for children and parents everywhere.

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of many children's books, including A Packet of Seeds, reviewed in this issue.

Have you noticed that holiday decorations appear in stores earlier and earlier each year? These days, it's hardly a surprise to see a Santa perched next to a Halloween cat, but don't let that spoil your mood. Just remember this: The holiday season doesn't really start until Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Paying tribute to this staple of the holiday season is a wonderful new book for young readers called Milly and the Macy's Parade. It's a story that will delight both children and adults. In this charming historical fiction picture book, the talented team of Shana Corey and Brett Helquist celebrate the origins of an American tradition, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The first Macy's parade was organized in 1924 by immigrant employees of the store. Taking that fact as her inspiration, author Shana Corey has created a fictional Polish immigrant named Milly, who loves to go to Macy's every day after school to visit her dad at his job on the loading dock. She also loves to wander through the store, sailing up the great escalator and down the grand elevator, and staring wide-eyed at all the trinkets and treasures.

But when Milly visits her father and his friends one November day, she finds them depressed and homesick for the holiday traditions they knew back home. Albert remembers caroling from house to house with big brass instruments. Herman misses family and friends. That's when Milly gets a marvelous idea. Why not create a truly American celebration, which also reflects the traditions immigrants brought with them? Milly takes her idea right to the top: Mr. Macy. And the Macy's Day Parade is born.

Using historical material from Macy's archives, Brett Helquist's charming illustrations depict scenes from the original 1924 parade, including floats, storybook characters and animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. Milly even gets to ride on an elephant! New holiday books appear every year, but few stand the test of time. Like the parade itself, Milly is sure to become a beloved American tradition for families everywhere.

If you're looking for a book to share on the night before Christmas, consider Jan Brett's newest offering, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? A popular children's book author and illustrator, Brett has previously released The Mitten, Christmas Trolls and The Trouble with Trolls. Her new book is a retelling of a Norwegian folktale that takes place in a magical setting populated by ice bears and hungry, mischievous trolls. One Christmas Eve, a boy from Finnmark sets out for Oslo with his ice bear, a giant polar bear. On the way he stops at a hut, where a girl named Kyri is making a delicious feast of sausage, buns, cakes and apple cider. Yet Kyri can't help but look anxiously out the window every time she hears a noise, for on past Christmas Eves, trolls have invaded the house. Sure enough, no sooner do Kyri and the boy from Finnmark sit down to eat porridge than they hear a menacing pounding on the door: Knockety knock, knockety knock! Before long, the hut is invaded by a swarm of hungry trolls. Everything seems lost until the littlest troll of all spies what he thinks is a cat snoozing under the stove and cries, "Have a bit of sausage, Kitty!"

Before you can say Merry Christmas, "Kitty" rears up, reveals himself to be a giant polar bear and chases every last troll away.

Jan Brett and her husband traveled to the northern province of Finnmark in Norway to research this story. And the magnificent ice bear hero is based on a polar bear named Kinapak, who lives in the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. With richly detailed, lavish illustrations, this is a holiday story perfect for those cozy winter nights.

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of several historical fiction books for children.

Kids have always been fascinated by dinosaurs. And here's a book that proves it. In their inventive and well-researched biography, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Barbara Kerley (who is, according to the back cover, "an authoress of thrilling character") and Brian Selznick ("famous artist to Her Majesty the Queen") bring to life the work of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, the Victorian artist who was the first person to build life-size models of dinosaurs, much to the astonishment and delight of an admiring public. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert commissioned dinosaur models from Hawkins in 1853 for their art and science museum, the Crystal Palace.

Although new discoveries have rendered many of Hawkins' dinosaur models inaccurate, that hardly matters. Young readers will be fascinated by the story of his determination to share his passion for the past and the ways he went about it. And, thanks to Selznick's amazing illustrations based on on-site research, readers can see exactly how Hawkins worked. In a single two-page spread Selznick shows the scale of one of Hawkins' projects, depicting the creative process from first sketch to finished dinosaur a creature made of bricks, tiles and broken stones held together by cement.

Dinosaurs is as inventive as Hawkins himself. The book's design and illustrations playfully evoke the Victorian period, including a re-creation of a dinner party (complete with menu) inside an iguanodon model that Hawkins held for the foremost scientists of his day. With elaborate historical notes and ideas for further reading, Dinosaurs is sure to bring Hawkins back from obscurity into the admiring gaze of the public, which is exactly where he belongs.

Deborah Hopkinson's latest book for children is Under the Quilt of Night (Atheneum), illustrated by James Ransome.