Latest news with #picturebooks
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Put Your Shoes On by Polly Dunbar, Walker, £12.99Late for a party, Mummy really wants Josh to put his shoes on – but he's too lost in his imagination to hear until she shouts. Featuring a child's inner world vividly evoked by Dunbar's own sons' drawings, this tender, relatable picture book encourages patience and communication. The Tour at School (Because You're the New Kid!) by Katie Clapham, illustrated by Nadia Shireen, Walker, £12.99This irrepressibly bouncy tour of all the school essentials (including toilets, emergency meeting tree and library with possibly more than a million books) humorously distils the scariness of starting school and the thrill of making a new friend. The Summer Puppy by Jackie Morris, illustrated by Cathy Fisher, Otter-Barry, £14.99A beautiful, dreamy picture-book account of a collie puppy's first summer, exploring garden, fields and beach and bonding ever more closely with the child she loves. Farah's Nose by Humera Malik, illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, Hachette, £7.99Farah hates her 'strong' nose, until she visits a photography exhibition about South Asian heritage – and finds it filled with brilliant immigrant women. A rich, colourful, celebratory picture book for readers of 5+. Captain Danger and the Stupid Shadow by Victor Engbers, translated by David Colmer, Pushkin, £12.99One day, Captain Danger's stupid shadow flies off to Cut-it-Out Island, leaving the brave captain and Django the dog to give chase. A fantastically silly and child-pleasing 6+ adventure, with a flavour of Dav Pilkey. The Poetry World of John Agard, illustrated by Shirley Hottier, Otter-Barry, £12.99Acclaimed poet John Agard selects 80 of his liveliest, funniest and most engaging poems in this enticing illustrated collection for 6+, including No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock, and Mouth Open, Story Jump Out. The Wood Where Magic Grows by Andy Shepherd, illustrated by Ellie Snowden, Piccadilly, £7.99When Iggy and his new brother Cal move near Wildtop Wood, they hear dark stories of its danger and menace. But they soon find the wood is full of magic – a magic that needs their help … This captivating 7+ story feels like a Faraway Tree for the 21st century. Cruise Ship Kid – Thief at Sea by Emma Swan, illustrated by Katie Saunders, Usborne, £7.99Ten-year-old Silver lives on a cruise ship, and has never had a best friend who wasn't retired. This summer, she's determined to change that. But when two mega-expensive watches go missing, she may have to turn detective too, in this riotous diary-format mystery for 8+, full of jokes, quizzes and geographical trivia. When the Storm Comes by Polly Ho-Yen, Knights Of, £7.99When a terrible storm traps misfits Mali, Fara, Jonesey and Petey in the school library with their teacher Ms Devine, it's hard for them to find common ground – but as the water rises and the danger increases, they must work together to survive. An assured, gripping thriller for 9+, laced with themes of loneliness, friendship and climate activism. My Soul, a Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin, Farshore, £7.99Based on the true story of Khudadad Khan, this first world war novel for 9+ is told from four perspectives: Belgian farmgirl Lotte, teen German infantry soldier Ernst, gunner Khan, who's fighting for the British Army, and the walnut tree that watches over all three. A superbly poignant and evocative historical novel from a much-loved author. Runaways by EL Norry, Bloomsbury, £7.99In the summer holidays, Jamie and July meet for the first time at Waterloo station – two very different 11-year-olds, whose home lives are both unbearable. But running away together is a dangerous business. Will they ever find safety, calm and love? This fast-paced story of friendship and shared adventure is an unmissable 10+ read. Kickflip by LD Lapinski, illustrated by Logan Hanning, Orion, £12.99Elliot isn't like the other girls in the school netball team, but being welcomed as a boy by the skatepark crew doesn't feel right either. At a sports expo featuring netball and skating, Elliot has the chance to tell their friends about their newly realised non-binary identity – but can they be brave enough to open up? A thoughtful, compassionate 12+ graphic novel about self-discovery, courage and acceptance. Skipshock by Caroline O'Donoghue, Walker, £16.99When her train crosses into a new dimension, Margo finds herself in New Davia, where the day last just six hours and people's lives pass with frightening speed, controlled by those with the power to move between time zones. Teaming up with travelling salesman Moon, Margo fights to find her way home – but she's increasingly tempted to stay with Moon, even as her youth starts to slip away. An original, genre-blending YA novel, full of intricate world building and intoxicating romance. Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel, Guppy, £14.99Xavier didn't want to go to the cabin with his dad and pregnant stepmum. When the family wake from an artificial sleep to find themselves trapped in a dome, cut off completely from the world they knew, he gradually adapts to his new, much smaller life. But three years later, another family appears, and tensions rise as all of them grapple with the same question: is there any possibility of escape? Hugely thought-provoking, frequently frustrating, this speculative YA novel will stay in the mind long after it's finished. Rebel Hearts by Tanya Byrne, Hodder, £9.99Ren Barbosa and Pearl Newman both care deeply about the environment – and despise each other's brand of activism. When both girls find themselves in an idyllic rural commune for the summer, though, their mutual antagonism slowly melts in this passionate, addictive 14+love story about fighting for the future while living meaningfully in the present.
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The best children's books for every age group
This list of the greatest children's books is dominated by titles published before the millennium – but that's no reflection on the writers of today. Yes, we live in boom times for children's fiction, with more books being published than ever before, and in the 10 years that I've been reviewing children's literature for The Telegraph, seldom a month has gone by when I haven't been sent a picture book or debut novel that has made my heart sing. But even the most brilliant books take time to become national treasures – and future generations must decide which works by today's authors have earned their immortality. The stories here have already passed the test of time – and their messages remain as pertinent as ever. Jump to the age-range you're looking for: One-year-olds The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969) by Eric Carle The best picture books tend to be those that take an idea and spin it out in as few words as possible. Carle's masterpiece is a case in point, telling the story of a 'very hungry caterpillar' who feasts on different foods before pupating and becoming a butterfly. The book has inspired Marxist, feminist and queer interpretations, but was described by its late author simply as 'a book of hope', showing how even the most seemingly insignificant creature can grow up and unfold its talent. Buy the book Where's Spot? (1980) by Eric Hill Spot, a mischievous yellow puppy, has delighted children in 60 languages, and become one of the world's most instantly recognisable children's characters. This book was followed by eight more, involving adventures with parents and grandparents, and a conglomerate of animals including a crocodile and a hippo. Mishaps occur – a lost bone, a broken window – but the suspense is always gentle, and the 'lift-the-flap' mechanism, of which Hill was the pioneer, turns each story into a gleeful game of hide-and-seek. ('Is he in the box? Is he under the bed?… There's Spot! He's under the rug.') Buy the book Round and Round the Garden (2021) by Shirley Hughes It's part of the magic of nursery rhymes that even babies who can barely speak seem to enjoy them: every child's library needs an edition. This one, illustrated by the beloved Shirley Hughes, is a sumptuous anthology, published just a few months before the author's death and drawing on her favourite rhymes from her 1930s childhood. The old chestnuts – Humpty Dumpty; Incy Wincy Spider – need no introduction, while Hughes's instantly recognisable drawings, with her inimitable eye for domestic detail, make this collection a delight. Buy the book Two- to three-year-olds Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) by AA Milne In his 1939 memoir, It's Too Late Now, AA Milne raged at how the 'bear of very little brain' had undermined his reputation as a serious writer. For though Milne wrote seven adult novels and 34 plays, the extraordinary success of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), with line drawings by EH Shepard, eclipsed any of the Englishman's other literary efforts. They show Milne to be a brilliant observer of human behaviour, to the extent that the animals in the Hundred Acre Wood, be it pompous Owl or melancholic Eeyore, have become part of the cultural lexicon. And just as you're never too old to read Pooh, you're never too young: the books will give any inquisitive three-year-old an Arcadian first step into plot-driven stories. Buy the book Goodnight Moon (1947) by Margaret Wise Brown It was initially dismissed by critics as overly sentimental, but has gone on to become one of the most beloved bedtime stories of all time. Using a rhyming poem, Goodnight Moon describes a little bunny's ritual of bidding things 'goodnight', while watched over by a grown-up rabbit in a rocking chair. 'Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere.' There's no drama, and no surprises – yet the story has a haunting quality, complemented by the dreamy illustrations by Clement Hurd. Buy the book The Tiger Who Came to Tea (1968) by Judith Kerr This simple tale of a mother and daughter whose domestic routine is disrupted by the arrival of a stripy tiger is a masterclass in children's fiction. It has lyrical artwork, a gently anarchic plot, and a warmth that has made its author immune to the vagaries of trends. The beast of the title has been interpreted as a metaphor for the 1960s sexual revolution, or as a symbolic representation of the Gestapo, echoing Kerr's early years in Berlin. But the author summed it up more plainly: 'It was just a bedtime story I made up for my daughter when she was two.' Buy the book Four- to five-year-olds The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1901) by Beatrix Potter Beatrix Potter's stories contain all manners of horrors, from Squirrel Nutkin's tail being broken off by Old Brown the owl to Benjamin Bunny's young family being kidnapped by a hungry badger. The Tale of Peter Rabbit begins with a particularly gruesome image, as Peter's mother warns him not to go into Mr McGregor's garden: 'Your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs McGregor.' Not always a comforting read, then. But Potter's exquisite illustrations, with their teasing interplay between fantasy and realism, make for some of the most enchanting children's stories of all time. Buy the book by Rudyard Kipling Kipling long ago fell foul of the censors, and today is a byword for misogyny, anti-Semitism and imperialism. Yet his greatest collection remains a triumph of lyricism and nonsense, written with an Aesopian ear for animal behaviour. 'In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved,' begins this mesmerising anthology, which has enlightened generations of children as to how the Leopard got his spots, and how the Elephant's Child on the banks of 'the great grey-green greasy Limpopo River' acquired a trunk. Buy the book The Magic Faraway Tree (1943) by Enid Blyton In a similar vein, Enid Blyton has never been forgiven for creating a Toytown in which golliwogs stole cars. It hasn't relaxed her stubborn hold on young imaginations: her 600-odd titles still sell at the rate of one per minute. The Magic Faraway Tree demonstrates her winning formula, using brisk prose and suspense to tell the story of three children who discover an Enchanted Wood. You'll search Blyton's work in vain for literary flourishes or grand ideas, but her magical land of Wishing Chairs and Find-Outers has attained literary immortality. Buy the book Six- to eight-year-olds The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) by CS Lewis CS Lewis's postwar fantasy has inspired more literary analysis than almost any other work of children's fiction; but it's part of the novel's magic that its subtext can be enjoyed in blissful ignorance. Countless fans have reported that they read it for the first time unaware even of its Christian allegory – let alone the academic theories that link the trees in the Narnian woods, like Kerr's hungry tiger, to the Gestapo. Lewis understood the unbridled power of a child's imagination: no eight-year-old who has followed the adventures of the Pevensie children will look on a wardrobe the same way again. Buy the book Charlotte's Web (1952) by EB White More than 70 years on, EB White's novel continues to tug on young heartstrings. On a farm in Maine, a pig named Wilbur befriends a wise spider called Charlotte, who saves him from the slaughterhouse by writing messages in her web to the farmer. White's simple, sensory prose captures the wonders of the natural world, while portraying the animals with a frankness that avoids any cloying sentimentality. 'It's true, and I have to say what is true,' Charlotte explains when Wilbur expresses disgust at her admission that she finds flies delicious. Buy the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) by Roald Dahl Many consider this novel, recounting a 10-year-old boy's adventures inside the factory of the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka, to be Dahl's masterpiece. It's a story of extraordinary invention and simple humanity, whose fantastic images – the Oompa-Loompas, the Chocolate River – have become fixtures of our literary landscape. And of all Dahl's characters, Wonka best embodies the author's anarchic spirit, with that tantalising taste for the macabre: 'Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable! But that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.' Buy the book Nine- to eleven-year-olds Black Beauty (1877) by Anna Sewell It's often seen as the precursor of the pony-club genre, but this hauntingly beautiful story, narrated by a stallion, has found few competitors. 'I learned that a kind word and gentle treatment will do more to help a horse than a whip,' Beauty says, as he tells us how his carefree early days on an English farm were followed by the hardships of life as a cab horse in London, and the heartbreaking death of his friend Ginger. Sewell said she wrote the story to 'induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses' – and the pathos of Beauty's story still leaves readers, both young and old, reeling. Buy the book The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame The poetic language in Grahame's story, which is set in a bucolic Edwardian England, might strike the modern child as old-fashioned. But they should persevere: the tale of Mole, Ratty, Badger and their trouble-prone friend Toad is a dazzling combination of enchantment and psychological acuity. As with Winnie-the-Pooh, the characters have acquired a universal quality. We may not be lucky enough to know a Ratty – but we all know a Toad: 'I have the gift of conversation. I've been told I ought to have a salon, whatever that may be.' Buy the book Goodnight Mister Tom (1981) by Michelle Magorian The Second World War has inspired a canon of superb children's novels – and 40 years after its publication, this remains one of the exemplars. In an unflinching portrait of poverty and neglect, Magorian's novel tells of an abused boy who's evacuated to the country at the outbreak of the war, where he's taken in by the kindly but irascible widower, Tom Oakley. The book has inspired countless film and stage adaptations – but none can do full justice to the intensely moving portrait of two lost souls finding mutual solace. Buy the book Twelve-year-olds and above The Diary of Anne Frank (1947) by Anne Frank 'I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.' Thus wrote one young German girl in her diary, on her 13th birthday in 1942, marking the first entry in what would become one of the most important documents of the Second World War. At one level, this book, which was first published in 1947, two years after its author's murder in Bergen-Belsen, is the portrait of an ordinary teenager. But Anne Frank was an extraordinarily good writer, and her intense, vivid descriptions of the privations and longings of her years spent hiding in an Amsterdam annex are a literary marvel. Buy the book I Capture the Castle (1948) by Dodie Smith 'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.' So begins I Capture the Castle (1948), in which our 17-year-old narrator Cassandra Mortmain recounts the highs and lows of her bohemian family as they subsist in genteel poverty in a mouldering castle in 1930s Suffolk. Dodie Smith, who was from Lancashire, wrote the novel while living in California during the war, lending it an almost fevered air of nostalgia: 'A mist is rolling over the fields. Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?' There's plenty of comedy, but the book's true magic lies in the raw, luminous vulnerability of the heroine's narration. Buy the book Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding This story of shipwrecked English schoolboys, and how they descend into barbarism on a desert island, narrowly escaped oblivion itself. 'Absurd and uninteresting fantasy' was the verdict of one of the nine publishers who turned it down. But Golding's chilling and plainly written portrait of the human struggle between civilisation and savagery has captivated generations of young readers. For all his acclaim, including the Nobel Prize, the author insisted that the secret to his success was simple: 'What matters to me is that there shall be a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.' Buy the book
Geek Dad
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Stack Overflow: 3 Books for June
As school ends, people start focusing on Summer, and fewer books come out. July and August will have way more to offer. Nevertheless, these three are worth a read! Let's start with picture books: Becoming Boba by Joanna Ho (Author), Amber Ren (Illustrator) This is a lovely take on a trendy topic: bubble tea! Told as a parable of mixed race and the importance of new customs, it tells the story of Mindy, a new addition to Milk Tea Town. Mindy is different from the classic milk tea flavors, she shines with her green, white, and red colors. But she is worried about fitting in, and that is why she wants to know about her ancestors… and her search will lead her to uncover a story of a family that chose to defy tradition in order to be together. The best thing is the illustrations, because they are all Kawaii in their cuteness and varied enough to entertain anybody. Becoming Boba is on sale since June 03, 2025. Publisher: Orchard Books Pages: 40/ Hardback EAN/UPC: 9781339005546
Free Malaysia Today
06-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
UM lecturers use picture books to teach children about money
Lecturers Shalini Nadaswaran (left) and Vandana Saxena teach kids financial literacy through picture books. (Dinesh Kumar Maganathan @ FMT Lifestyle) PETALING JAYA : An eight-year-old boy from an orphanage sat quietly after a picture-book reading, then raised his hand. 'One day,' he said, 'I want to work, make money, and build a house. Not just for me but for my parents, my siblings, and my uncle, so we can all live together.' He wasn't just echoing the lesson of the book, in which children give their savings to their parents; he was going further. The boy envisioned financial independence not as a personal goal, but as a way of uplifting his entire family. This powerful moment unfolded during a financial literacy workshop by Universiti Malaya (UM) lecturers Shalini Nadaswaran and Vandana Saxena, who use picture books to teach seven- to nine-year-olds about saving, spending and planning. 'It's personal for both of us,' said Shalini. 'We're mothers, and we see how children today are surrounded by advertising. They know how to spend but don't necessarily understand the value of money.' Shalini, whose academic work centres on African women's literature, and Vandana, who specialises in children's and young-adult fiction, saw how picture books could bridge economic theory and lived experience. While the current materials are western picture books, Shalini and Vandana aim to curate more localised content. (Dinesh Kumar Maganathan @ FMT Lifestyle) 'When we read picture books through the lens of literary criticism, especially around economics, we started seeing connections,' Vandana, an Indian national, explained. 'We wanted to bring this into real communities – especially with children from vulnerable backgrounds.' Their 1.5-hour workshop began with a simple question: what would you do with RM100? 'Some wanted cars, jewellery, designer clothes. Others said ice cream. And some, especially from more vulnerable backgrounds, had no idea how money is earned,' Shalini recalled. Then came the read-aloud session – 'The Berenstain Bears' Let's Talk About Money'. The story follows two bear siblings who spend recklessly, and learn to earn and save. But it's what happened after the story that really matters. The same RM100 question was posed again – and this time, there was a shift. 'One girl who initially wanted to buy jewellery suddenly said she would make her own and sell it,' Shalini shared. 'Another boy said he'd now save his money in a bank – because otherwise, he might lose it.' By the end of each session, participants show a new understanding of money. (Shalini Nadaswaran pic) The children begin to grasp not just the idea of money, but the principles of earning and saving. 'You could see the wheels turning in their minds. They were beginning to think about money in ways they hadn't before.' So far, Shalini and Vandana have conducted just two workshops – one at a school and another at an orphanage – since they started early this year. A recurring challenge, they pointed out, is the lack of locally relevant picture books. 'There are certain things that are very Asian, like charity and giving to the poor,' Vandana explained. 'We do not see these in the books we use, even though these are different kinds of value systems we need to pay attention to.' So, they're laying the groundwork to write and curate their own content – 'something more localised for children so that, when they read the books, the setting is familiar and the understanding becomes easier'. But why teach children about money at all? 'It's an everyday reality,' Vandana noted. 'We need to mould them to have an understanding of money. Our children can't be stooges of capitalism.' Shalini and Vandana believe financial literacy should start at home. (Dinesh Kumar Maganathan @ FMT Lifestyle) This is where storytelling becomes key: it's not just about understanding money – it's about the experience of listening, and of imagining different choices. 'The children were spellbound when we read out loud,' Shalini said. 'You get kids with different levels of understanding. So, you must meet everyone's needs.' They hope to scale the project to more schools, orphanages, NGOs, and Orang Asli communities. Acknowledging their limits, Shalini and Vandana are creating free digital resources – lesson plans, story-based activities, and teacher guides – so others can run the programme even without them. Both lecturers ultimately believe financial literacy starts at home. 'Be open. Talk about spending, saving, earning. Children understand more than we give them credit for,' said Shalini. But this openness doesn't mean saying 'yes' to everything. 'Even simple lines like 'that's expensive, let's revisit this later' can build habits. It moves children away from instant gratification.'
Geek Dad
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Stack Overflow: 6 Books for May
On this roundup list, we celebrate my usual favorites: board books, books in translation, migrant stories, and even an early reader graphic novel that I enjoyed a bit too much. Let's start with picture books: Cristina Plays by Micaela Chirif (Author), Paula Ortiz (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator) Micaela Chirif is an award-winning Peruvian author of children's books and poetry, and I am glad that we are finally giving some space to widely recognized authors like her (it has taken far too long). In this book, Cristina is playing with a doll house that has a rabbit doll. Cristina will soon exchange her place in the doll's house with her doll, in a vivid dream that displays her imagination, dwelling in a poetic way on what children feel when involved in representational play. Cristina Plays is on sale since April 15, 2025. Publisher: Orca Book Publishers Pages: 36/ Hardback EAN/UPC: 9781459841178 Up next, the idea behind the book gives voice to dads: Love, Dad: Inspiring Notes from Fathers to Kids by Andrew Gardner (Author), Joel Warsh (Author), David Cooper (Illustrator) This illustrated take on parents' wishes is nice because it portrays a wide array of loving dads, something we don't get enough of: When you grow up, I hope you… …let your smile change the world …feel you are loved, in every cell of your body …learn how to help those who need a hand Eighteen fathers are asked to finish the sentence above, and the eighteen wishes have lot in common. They all wish for their offspring to do well, to be brave and kind, and to learn to help others. As parents, we wish the best for our kids, always, but we rarely get to say it, we are busy barking orders, giving advice, and trying to survive. This letter anthology helps parents go past that. Love, Dad is on sale since April 08, 2025. Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pages: 40/ Hardback ISBN: 9780593572160 Up next, an early reader graphic novel (I didn't know those even existed!). Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown! by Jenny Alvarado (Author) This is the second adventure of a pencil and eraser BFFs. I have to say that the first one, Pencil & Eraser: We Have a Dull-Emma! was hilarious, especially if you are very young, first starting in the world of comics (the page layout is early reader friendly) and love corny jokes. If you are not into corny jokes, this book is definitely not for you. The joke breaks that happen sporadically in the book are fabulously corny: What is a ninja's favorite juice? Fruit Punch! (You get the idea…). In the first novel, Pencil is dull and convinces Eraser to go on a sharpener-hunt throughout the school, having loads of adventures in the process. In the second book, they fall out of their owner's bag on their way to karate, and have to navigate the town to get there, with a fun stop in the Arcade! These two friends are fun, relatable, and you have to admit that eraser is the practical one of the pair, but she loves her partner's goofiness very much. Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown! is on sale since May 06, 2025. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers Hardback | Pages: 80 ISBN: 9780593699812 Now for a beautiful book about solidarity: New Shoes for Leo by Lauren Agra Deedy (Author), Susan Gal (Illustrator) Susan Gal has made something beautiful for this book, rendering it in a soft light that warms everything it touches. And it is a warm story. A young Cuban American boy must help fill a box for relatives on the island, an endeavor migrant families do for every country in the world: they send clothes, medicine, and knickknacks to poorer relatives on their country of origin, sometimes monthly, to help those who are having a harder time than them. William's Mami and his Tía Ana ask him to help on a task for a young boy just about his age: find shoes for him to be shipped to Cuba. Cousin Leo, he will soon discover, has a lot in common with him. He also has freckles, loves baseball, and is loved very much by his close-knit family. But no one has the right size for him! What can William do to fulfill his task? William is about to learn a very important lesson about love and solidarity, just by fulfilling this apparently simple task. New Shoes for Leo is on sale since March 04, 2025. Published by Scholastic Press Hardback | Pages: 40 ISBN: 9781338770216 Now for a recently translated book: Newborns. How Baby Animals Come Into the World by Paulina Jara (Author), Mercè Galí (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator) On this lengthy nonfiction book, there are 25 diverse ways to come into this world, from little tiny kangaroos that crawl to their mother's pouch being the size of a pea, and continue to grow there, to baby tadpoles, tiny newborn spiders and cougars, all of them unique and a testimony to the marvel of evolution. Some gestation periods are days; some are years. Some babies are born ready to fend for themselves, while others rely on their parents for months. The only thing I did not like where the illustrations. I feel that a quirkier, more detailed look at animal expressions and baby faces would have made the book more relatable to young readers. Newborns is on sale since March 11, 2025 Publisher: Orca Book Publishers Hardback | Pages: 64 ISBN: 9781459840348 Finally, this book inspired Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki: The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba (Author), Miho Satake (Illustrator), Avery Fischer Udagawa (Translator) This book, which inspired a famous Miyazaki movie, has little in common with the story portrayed in the film. As a fan of Kashibawa's work, I would be doing her a disservice if I said that the story was not magical on itself, it truly is! She has an ability for magical tales as strong as Dianne Wayne Jones'. When a young Lina is sent all by herself to a place called Misty Valley, she is in for an adventure. The village is connected to different places and times, the town is not on any map, and the headmistress of the house looks like the witch in Spirited Away , but the adventures are very different. There is a magical bookstore that is in itself a gateway to all magical bookstores in the world, there is a Pastry Chef that deals with enchanted desserts, and there are centaurs, gnomes, and other types of quirky characters roaming about. Misty Valley is a place where you go when you need to learn something, and you would not be able to find it if you were not going to change by experiencing it. After 50 years of being a beloved classic in Japan, I truly celebrate its translation into English. The Village Beyond the Mist is available since May 27, 2025. Publisher: Yonder 160 Pages/ Hardback EAN/UPC 9781632063922 Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon! Ken Denmead Editor-in-Chief Matt Blum Managing Editor Z Associate Editors/GeekMom Partners Jenny Bristol Senior Editors Jonathan H. 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