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This gorgeous book by Clare Beaton will be reluctantly returned to our library soon. My son loves finding the tiny bit of a lion hiding on each spread, the refrain of "Shhhh, listen", and giant ROAR at the end. There is so much love and attention to detail in Clare's illustrations. I love the marriage of stitching, buttons, patterned fabrics and solid color. Can you believe you can commission her to create an Alphabet Animal, and for a very reasonable price? Wow.
Which leads me to Bow-Wow. Short story - I bought this because I needed another naptime book for my son, not looking too carefully at it but liking the look and counting premise. My son loves this, and laughs at things that seem beyond him. There are angry penguins, sausages, and fish - common objects around here. But Bow-Wow is just so fierce and loveable. I had no clue about the author/illustrator so I was surprised to find out the author is a legendary cartoonist and party responsible for my childhood addiction to Garbage Pail Kids (gasp, I still have mine in the basement!). You need to go to Mark Newgarden's Wikipedia page or website. It's a life too big to blog briefly. You also need to check out the Bow-Wow website. Holy-moley! It's super fun, with games and printouts for the kiddies, and information about all the Bow-Wow books (and creators) for the adults. We'll definitely be getting more of this series.
I realize March goes out like a lamb but quite frankly, all our 'lamb' references are a bit tired. Lambs/Sheep puzzle pieces are in my son's fists constantly and I'm in the middle of felting this little guy for his easter basket. So... baaaa!
OOOOH yes,Claire Beaton was my muse for many years. So captivated by her work. Ex Pbj buddy, Janee Trasler got me an autographed copy of one of her books at a conference that I still treasure.
I may have to order a letter for myself, I didn't know she was taking commissions now. Awesome!