Award-winning author David Almold’s evocative and expressive new picture book, The Dam, tells the story of a father and daughter’s last visit to their valley community before the arrival of the newly constructed dam’s rising waters. The duo brings forth twirling, ghostly images from the past—supplied by Levi Pinfold—as they play violin and sing in each abandoned house. As remembered souls and memories drift away, the pair leaves the houses ringing with song.

Almond sets the mood with short, almost curt sentences, creating austere poetry rife with repetition. He doesn’t linger on descriptions, instead allowing the illustrations and the reader’s imagination to flesh out the story.

Pinfold poignantly illustrates this true story of England’s Kielder Dam valley and creates his own visual opus with broad, sweeping hills and hovering fog—rendered in muted colors—that foreshadow the coming loss. With incredible detail, Pinfold also gives young readers an intimate portrayal of the various creatures that made their homes in the valley with his sepia-toned portraits.

Perhaps the most extraordinarily lovely and melancholy picture book published this year, The Dam will linger in readers’ minds. But what sticks with you after the book is closed is not desolation and defeat; it’s blue water and open skies, exuberant children, dancing stars and, of course, music.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In this wondrous meditation on the origins of life, readers see matter expand and time and space blossom. In spare free verse, Newbery Medal-winning author Marion Dane Bauer kicks off The Stuff of Stars with the “deep, deep dark.” There is only a speck in the vast blackness. But once our universe is born, the pages explode with vivid oranges, reds and blues. Caldecott Honor winner Ekua Holmes’ dazzling collage illustrations—rendered on handmade marbleized paper—feature deep, rich colors and remarkably kinetic lines. Holmes takes highly abstract concepts and makes them sing, swirl and spin on the pages. Bauer fills the text with animated, bustling verbs: After all, the creation of life itself takes great colliding, stretching, expanding and exploding.

Three spreads are devoted to the formation of Earth—a planet with “just the right tilt” to support life—where animals, including humans, eventually begin to thrive. Bauer then seamlessly weaves in the birth of a child, who also begins as a speck in the darkness. Here, the story’s second-person narration works to great effect, directly addressing the young reader: “You cried tears / that were once salty seas.”

The Stuff of Stars is out of this world.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Great news for Corduroy fans: In honor of the 50th anniversary of Don Freeman’s classic 1968 picture book, the adventurous bear stars in a new adventure, Corduroy Takes a Bow, written by legendary stage and screen actress Viola Davis.

In this new story, Corduroy heads to a Broadway show (“Mother Goose Live”) with his owner, Lisa, and her mother, and his quest to get a better view leads to an exciting on-stage conclusion. The book is a fitting tribute to Corduroy’s creator, as Freeman was a Broadway aficionado, often hanging out backstage and sketching actors.

Davis was eager to take on the project because Freeman’s book meant so much to her as a child: She remembers Corduroy as one of the few books that featured an African-American heroine. “To be able to introduce a new generation, including my daughter, to this character that was so special to me in my childhood is an incredible honor,” Davis said in a recent interview with People.

Corduroy Takes a Bow stays very much in the spirit of the original book’s prose and illustrations. Jodi Wheeler works in Freeman’s distinctive art style, filling Davis’ story with pastel-toned, old-fashioned yet lively illustrations.

This new Corduroy adventure will encourage a whole new generation of young readers to fall in love with this very special bear.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Children's Top Pick, September 2018

Grace Lin fans know that the moon is a common subject in her work. The Newbery Honor-winning author and illustrator pays tribute to this celestial sphere once again in her latest picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. In this modern folktale, wordless endpapers depict a mother and her daughter, Little Star, baking a giant mooncake—a Chinese treat usually made for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As the story opens, Mama places the Big Mooncake up into the night sky to cool and reminds her daughter not to touch it. Little Star heeds her mother and gets ready for bed, but when she wakes in the middle of the night, she only remembers the delicious Big Mooncake in the sky and not her mother’s words. Who wouldn’t want a nibble? Night after night, Little Star sneaks tiny bites, and the cake slowly disappears to mirror the phases of the moon. When Mama notices that there’s nothing left but “a trail of twinkling crumbs,” she leads Little Star into the kitchen to bake another cake.

Lin’s vibrant gouache paintings are a stellar fit for this story. The luminous mooncake and the stars from the girl and her mother’s matching star pajamas glow against the book’s black background. As in many of her previous picture books, Lin offers clever visual treats: a clock adorned with small phases of the moon; a tipped bottle of milk spilling its contents in a spiral pattern; and Little Star’s bedtime book, which readers will recognize as one of Lin’s previous folktale retellings.

Whether you’re celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival or putting little ones to bed, this is a gentle, beautiful book for all.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Deceptively simple at first glance, Cori Doerrfeld’s Good Dog is more than your average dog-finds-a-home story. When a little girl passes by the park on the back of her mother’s bike, one small stray dog sees her and suddenly knows exactly where he belongs—if only he can find her again. Readers will cheer as this plucky, determined pup dashes, dodges and digs himself home.

Narrated with only 27 words, Doerrfeld’s images imbue this story with heartfelt and earnest sentiment. Gentle, muted colors create a world that is kind and welcoming and populated with the most endearing expressions—both human and animal—and the soft, thick lines are distinctly kid-friendly. 

However, Good Dog isn’t an exercise in saccharine sloppiness. While there is plenty of sweetness, Doerrfeld also fills her pages with people of many backgrounds and families of all kinds, creating a strong sense of community and purpose. And Doerrfeld doesn’t ignore the canine population either; seeing-eye dogs, a pup with a wheelchair, working breeds and lap dogs frolic through the story. 

An overwhelming sense of belonging and contentment makes Good Dog a perfect bedtime story and will become a favorite with young readers. But whether you read with your two-legged little ones or your four-legged furry ones, Good Dog has a worthwhile lesson for all of us: When friendship and love rolls by, chase after it.

British children’s book illustrator Russell Ayto charms in his debut as both author and illustrator in Henry and the Yeti.

Young Henry is more than fond of yetis. He loves yetis. But do yetis even exist? No one knows for sure, not even Henry’s father.

So Henry decides to go on an expedition to find a yeti. He asks the school principal for permission to make the trip, and the principal—a yeti skeptic—approves Henry's plan, but tells him to bring back evidence. When the principal announces Henry's plan to the rest of his schoolmates, they laugh and mock him.

Undaunted, Henry packs his compass, telescope, hammock and climbing rope and sets off.

Henry begins his long journey by following a sign pointing to the mountains and peaks where the yetis live. All the while, he follows his father’s one admonition, “No staying up late.” For days, Henry scales one mountain after another but finds nothing. Not a single suspicious footprint.

Having seen no signs or tracks, Henry begins to have doubts. He considers heading home.

Luckily, at last, Henry stumbles upon his yeti, who is much bigger and friendlier than expected. All goes well until Henry realizes he has left his camera behind. But Henry's new yeti friend might just help him save face with the skeptics back at school.

With Henry and the Yeti, Ayto’s spare text and clever drawings take young readers on an epic romp across the world in search of something to believe in.

We all need a little make-believe sometimes, and in Cat Wishes, author Calista Brill teams up with artist Kenard Pak to create a fairy tale fit for feline lovers everywhere.

The story begins with a hungry cat who wishes for something to eat. The cat soon finds a tasty-looking snake who offers the cat three wishes in exchange for sparing his life. “No such thing as a wish,” declares the cat. “Sure of that, are you?” asks the snake. And so the skeptical cat finds himself making wishes anyway. He would certainly love a fish. And then, when it begins to rain, a house with “a roasty, toasty fireplace” would be very nice. And most of all, in the lonely, shadowy night, a friend would certainly come in handy. All of these wishes are fulfilled.

There’s a sweet twist to Brill’s tale. The cat discovers he’s not the only creature who has benefited from the snake’s three wishes. Just as the cat wishes for a friend, a girl appears, claiming that she made a wish for a friend, too.

Cat is an endearing hero whose adventures are never too scary for young readers. With Pak’s gentle pastel illustrations and Brill’s simple message, Cat Wishes is a lovely bedtime story that will also delight toddlers exploring the magic of friendship.

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.