By: bookkm,
on 3/17/2016
Teaching faith and values to pre-schoolers is not always easy. So, books like this one are helpful for extolling the wonderfulness of the world - and the Maker. And the trailer is pretty just the way it is.
By: Sally Lloyd-Jones,
on 2/26/2014
CAUTION: A fish named Doreen has taken over my twitter feed… and now my blog! I cannot be held responsible for anything.
In celebration of POOR DOREEN (swimming into stores in March) I’m doing a fantabulous giveaway!
But before we get to the giveaway, introductions are in order.
Meet Poor Doreen, the fish star of my new picture book.
Actually. Sorry. Her full name is Mrs Doreen Randolph-Potts. Ever heard of a fish with such a name? Neither had I.
And she is quite unusual. Have you ever seen a fish in a headscarf? With an umbrella? Me neither. Nevertheless here she is.
My fish’s name is ……. & I hope to win “Poor Doreen”! #PoorDoreen #unfortunatefish #fishynames @sallylloydjones
My fish looks like this.. & I’m entering to win “Poor Doreen” #FishFace #PoorDoreen #unfortunatefish @sallylloydjones (include a photo or drawing)
My fish met her end by…… #unfortunatefish #PoorDoreen @sallylloydjonesThe contest will run until the end of March and a winner will be chosen at random to receive a free book (you may enter more than once! You may enter 101 times! As much as you like.)
By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: June 7, 2012
Father’s Day is almost upon us. Why not celebrate by reading a few books about the proud papas who brighten our days? So snuggle up with your little ones and thank your lucky stars for the doting fathers in their lives.
Surfer Chick By Kristy Dempsey; illustrated by Henry Cole
This book is radical, dude. Seriously, Kristy Dempsey delivers a tidal wave of fun with this tale of a young would-be surfer chick yearning to rip the tides like her righteous dad. When she wipes out, she becomes more determined than ever. Cole’s sunny funny painted illustrations add humor yet a mellow yellow vibe.
Ages 3-7 | Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc. | May 1, 2012
Darth Vader and Son If “Luke, I am your father,” is a familiar phrase and let’s face it, who hasn’t heard it, then you’ll love this hilarious sendup to single fathers trying desperately to be nurturing dads. The book poses the question if Darth Vader had been a real pop to Luke, what might have happened? Told in a comic way with light-hearted illustrations, you’ll laugh until you cry.
All Ages | Publisher: Chronicle Books | April 18, 2012
The Night Before Father’s Day By Natasha Wing; illustrated by Amy Wummer
Wing employs “’twas the night before” as a clever convention in this rhyming story of a family working together to surprise Dad on Father’s Day. I especially appreciated the handy mom who could check the oil while leading her kids as they clean up the garage and wash the car. You should check out the other “night before” books from this bestselling series.
Ages 3-5 | Publisher: Penguin Group | May 10, 2012
The Barefoot Book of Father and Daughter Tales
By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: February 6, 2012
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and you know what that means: time to read some love stories! Below are just a few selections with which you’re sure to fall in love. So snuggle up with your favorite little reader and share a good laugh, a cuddle, and a whole lotta love.
Mr. PricklesBy Kara LaReau; illustrated by Scott Magoon
Even though Mr. Prickles may be prickly on the outside, he’s warm and fuzzy on the inside and looking for someone to see past his rough exterior. Thank goodness for Miss Pointypants who knows a thing or two about being judged on her sharp appearance. The deeper message LaReau humorously imparts is how to control one’s anger when ostracized by friends. Little kids who have been banished from the sandbox will love Mr. Prickles. (Ages 2-6. Publisher: Roaring Brook Press)
A Giant CrushBy Gennifer Choldenko; illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Ah, young love. This book is absolutely perfect for second and third graders confused by their beloved’s sudden mood swings. When a little bunny falls in love with another funny bunny, what’s a bunny to do? Leave it to a good friend to help him unravel the mysteries and agonies of a first crush. First rule of thumb: you have to speak to the one you love. (Ages 5-8. Publisher: Penguin Group (USA))
Love, SplatBy Rob Scotton
This tale about two star-crossed cats is seriously funny. Scotton’s silly illustrations of Splat the Cat reminded me just a bit of Garfield, but his story is pure fun. Splat goes to great lengths to impress his lady love, Kitten, but when Spike intervenes, it seems all is lost. Leave it to Kitten, with her feline prowess, to choose the best suitor to win her affections. (Ages 4-7. Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers)
Hedgehug By Benn Sutton; illustrated by Dan Pinto
Two books about pointy critters in one review? Yes, indeed. In this “sharp lesson in love,” Hedgehug discovers love hurts after his many failed attempts to share a hug. In Sutton’s playf
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By: Amanda,
on 6/27/2009
I have three adorable picture books to showcase this week, all surrounding the subject of PIGS!!
My first choice is by one of my all-time favorite picture book authors, Amy Krause-Rosenthal, who, together with illustrator Jen Corace, has brought another "Little" to the cute series of books. Little Oink (joining Little Pea and Little Hoot), features a pig that is entirely sick and tired of being messy. All he wants to do is be clean like all of his friends!!
Unfortunately, mom and dad won't allow Little Oink to go out and play until he properly takes part in "mess-up time." He has to mess up his room, change his clean clothes to dirty ones, unfold his clothes, etc. How mean are those parents?!
Kids will love the nature of this story and soon you'll be having the little ones asking if they too can make a mess like Little Oink! Very cute! A wonderful addition to the series!
Little Oink
Amy Krause-Rosenthal
36 pages
Picture Book
Chronicle Books
9780811866552
April 2009
Being a Pig is Nice: A Child's-Eye View of Manners, written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Dan Krall, is another silly book for this week. A little girl explains how kids are always being given manners to follow and goes on to tell us readers how EASY it is to be a pig, a snail, an elephant, and lots of other animals. Lots of messes are perfectly fine, muddy hands are great, being slow is normal, etc. Until she realizes that being polite and having manners might not be so bad after all.
Very cute with silly illustrations (the snails are adorable) and a nice message. Manners are given for a reason!
Being a Pig is Nice: A Child's-Eye View of Manners
Sally Lloyd-Jones
40 pages
Picture Book
Schwartz & Wade
9780375841873
May 2009
My final "pig" selection this week, is by the ever-popular Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Tim Bowers. Princess Pig is another laugh-out-loud funny book with great illustrations, making for another good read aloud selection.
When Pig wakes up from her nap with a Princess sash around her head, she is convinced she has been named a Princess, refusing to do any of her regular duties and bossing around all of her fellow farm animals. When Pig learns that Princesses don't eat slop and they certainly don't roll around in the cool mud, she begins to reconsider her position.
From beginning to end, this is a sweet, funny story, again, with fabulous illustrations. And I just LOVE Pig's crown made of a teacup. How cute is that?
Great for storytime read alouds and home shelves.
Princess Pig
Eileen Spinelli
40 pages
Picture Book
Knopf
9780375845710
June 2009
To learn more about any of these titles, or to purchase, click on the book covers above to link to Amazon.
By: Jago,
on 10/28/2008
Sarah Short from the Short Stop blog, asked to interview me last week to accompany an interview with the Jesus Storybook Bible author, Sally Lloyd-Jones.
Here's an extract, to read the rest go here.
How long did it take you to complete the illustrations in The Jesus Storybook Bible?
In total I worked on the illustrations for around 10 months pretty much full time, although I did also manage to fit in buying my first house, moving house and having a baby (with some help from my lovely wife)... There are 180 illustrations in the book and I had to produce rough drawings for each of them before moving on to the final coloured artwork. I work digitally so each of the drawings was drawn initially in pencil, then again in ink and then scanned in to my Mac. I then created the colours and textures in Photoshop. The whole book fills up about 75Gb of space (150 CD's or 16 DVD's!) and I had to keep several backups while I was working on it so that I wouldn't lose it if something catastrophic happened to my computer. Once the artwork was finished, Sally and the publishers had to approve it and suggest any changes that needed to be made.
How did you come up with the vision for the illustrations? How would you describe the style of these illustrations?
I'm often asked this and the answer is very simple, but often suprising to some people: the text. This is where the inspiration always comes from first, I simply read the page and see what pops in to my head. Then I draw it and see if what I've drawn would look better viewed from further away or closer up, or from above (like the city of Jericho in the book), or from down low (like the spread with Goliath). That's it in a nutshell, the really tricky bit is getting the pictures on the paper (or screen) to look like the pictures in my head!
By: Jago,
on 3/28/2008
Christianity Today Magazine have reviewed The Jesus Storybook Bible and they love it! They say nice things about my illustrations too, here's an excerpt: Jago's award-winning cover art is a foretaste of the whimsically insightful and richly colored drawings that await you on every one of the book's 351 pages. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book. Did you ever wonder what Jacob's face looked like the morning after his wedding night, when he woke up in bed with a different woman than the one he thought he had married — Leah instead of Rachel? Jago did, and what he imagined and drew made me laugh out loud. Jago the illustrator, and Sally Lloyd-Jones the author, are a good pair.....
The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name disproves the adage that you can't judge a book by its cover.
Read the full review here.
By: Jago,
on 10/19/2007
Bible wins Gold at the Independent Publishers Moonbeam Awards!
Very pleased that the bible I spent a long time illustrating has won an award, (click below to read more about the awards). This coincides nicely with the book's 2nd print run, which brings the total number of books in print to 61,000!
Independent Publisher Moonbeam Awards
By: Jago,
on 7/7/2007
The Jesus Storybook Bible has moved up to number 4 on the Christian Marketplace Best Sellers chart, this is great news as this is based on only the first couple of months of sales. If it keeps going at this rate we'll be at No 1 by the end of the summer (the current No 1 has however sold over 5 million copies in total so it maybe be a tough one to beat!).
By: Rebecca,
on 6/25/2007
Rebecca OUP-US
Scleroderma is a rare chronic disease that manifests in many parts of the body making treatment particuarly difficult. Below, Maureen D. Mayes, M.D., author of The Scleroderma Book: A Guide For Patients and Families advises patients on how to navigate towards health while coordinating so many doctors. June is National Scleroderma Awareness Month, to get involved visit the foundation’s website.
By: Jago,
on 6/23/2007
World Magazine has reviewed The Jesus Storybook Bible under excellent christian children's books in Noteworthy Books (Susan Olasky, June 9th). 
via Sally Lloyd-Jones
I like these three too :)