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A Year in Fleurville: Recipes from balconies, rooftops, and gardens by Felicita Sala

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An ACHUKA Book of the Year 2021
ACHUKA Book of the Day 22 Nov 2021

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A much-appreciated sequel to the bestselling Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street, an ACHUKA Book of the Day in January 2019.

In each garden, someone is tending to their produce. Maria is picking asparagus, Ramon’s mum is watering the cucumbers, and a gaggle of kids are eating cherries fresh from the tree and even wearing some as earrings! Meet the many people of Fleurville, delight in their harvests, learn their recipes, and find comfort in the cycle of the seasons.

A Year in Fleurville is a cookbook, a mini guide to gardening, and a picture book rolled into one. This glorious celebration of community is filled with recipes from all over the world and with simple instructions perfect for young chefs.

Follow Felicita Sala on Instagram:

Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick

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ACHUKA Book of the Year 2021
ACHUKA Book of the Day 24 Sep 2021
Times Children’s Book of the Week 11 Sep 2021
New York Times Best Children’s Books 2021

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Amazon

“…the book feels like Covid art. Not because it deals with a virus (thankfully) but because it is suffused with longing, with isolation that can almost be breached, with bewilderment, with rage and with wonder at the fragile exquisiteness of life.” New York Times
“Don’t expect a neat ending and resolution, but perhaps wonder at how strangely refreshing this is for children’s literature. Best to let it float over you, and you might be surprised how sticky the images and ideas become.” The Times
“His most complex work to date.” KIRKUS
“Delicate pencil interstitials that resemble a kaleidoscope’s mirrored fractals connect the end of each chapter to a lush image at the beginning of the next, creating deliberate beats. Turn by turn, the book offers affecting moments of discovery and loss—like the solitary experience of peering through a kaleidoscope and watching it fracture and change.” Publishers Weekly 
“A brilliant example of the power of words and pictures, of storytelling itself.” New York Journal of Books
“Just as a kaleidoscope rearranges the same elements into different patterns through the use of mirrors and reflections, so Selznick offers twenty or so short episodes, arranged as morning, afternoon and evening, which are complete in themselves and also have a perceptible but mysterious relationship with one another.” BfK 5-star review

A ship. A garden. A library. In Kaleidoscope, the incomparable Brian Selznick presents the story of two people bound to each other through time and space, memory and dreams. At the centre of their relationship is a mystery about the nature of grief and love which will look different to each reader.

Brian Selznick’s first book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, was the winner of the esteemed Caldecott Medal, the first novel to do so, as the Caldecott Medal is primarily for picture books.

Highly recommended talk given by the author-illustrator in 2018.

 

The Lost Soul by Olga Tokarczuk tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones ill. Joanna Concejo

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ACHUKA Book of the Year 2021
ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Mar 2021

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“In a time of uncertainty, stagnation, and grief, Tokarczuk and Concejo offer consolation—that we too might stop and recognize what is enough, endure our own “peaceful winters,” and possibly let go of the craving for more than that.” World Literature Today
“it was the illustrator’s idea to personify the soul as a young girl, and to represent the growth of the man’s soul in pots full of plants, notably tumbling geraniums.” Guardian

‘Once upon a time there was a man who worked very hard and very quickly, and who had left his soul far behind him long ago. In fact his life was all right without his soul – he slept, ate, worked, drove a car and even played tennis. But sometimes he felt as if the world around him were flat, as if he were moving across a smooth page in a math book that was covered in evenly spaced squares…’

“The tender illustrations offer fine details that sink deep into the memory.” Annie Proulx
“Tokarczuk and Concejo offer their readers another way to see the velocity of days, the grace in waiting, and time itself. Turning Concejo’s pages of wonderful drawings gave me a much-needed pause, and a reassuring perspective on loss, patience, and reward.” Leanne Shapton

The Lost Soul is a deeply moving reflection on our capacity to live in peace with ourselves, to remain patient and attentive to the world. It is a story that beautifully weaves together the voice of the Nobel Prize-winning Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and the finely detailed pen-and-ink drawings of illustrator Joanna Concejo, who together create a parallel narrative universe full of secrets, evocative of another time.

Follow Joanna Concego on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannaconcejo/

Wolfboy by Andy Harkness

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ACHUKA Book of the Year 2021
ACHUKA Book of the Day 26 Feb 2021

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“Throughout, artful, expressive typography contributes to the overall success of the picture book, guiding the reader’s voice to deliver a dynamic read-aloud that matches the visual drama of the art. A read-aloud treat for hungry audiences.” KIRKUS
“Readers will feel like they have a front-row seat to a marvelously imagined and sculpted toy theater.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Visually stunning, Harkness’s illustrations, built with clay and then photographed, immerse readers in extraordinary textured, intricate, and shadowy landscapes that beg close study.” CELEBRATE PICTURE BOOKS

Wolfboy is hungry! He’s drooly and growly and fussy! As he stomps through the forest looking for rabbits, he grows hungrier and growlier by the minute. What will happen if Wolfboy can’t find those rabbits? And what will happen if he does? With bold illustrations and energetic storytelling, Wolfboy perfectly captures the big feelings that come with being very hungry! Engaging, original and perfect for reading aloud.

Andy Harkness is an art director at Disney. This short bio is taken from his website: “I attended the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio from 1991-1993 and was hired at Disney Feature Animation in 1994.  I began my career as a clean-up animator on “Pocahontas”, and after three years in clean-up, moved into the layout department.  In 2004, I was hired as an Art Director at Sony Pictures Animation on “Open Season. In 2006 I moved back to Disney and worked as an Art Director and Visual Development artist on many films.  My first children’s book, BUG ZOO was published in 2016.  I currently work as a visual development artist at Sony Pictures Animation.”

Over The Shop conceived by Jonarno Lawson ill. Qin Leng

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ACHUKA Book of the Year 2021
ACHUKA Book of the Day 20 Jan 2021

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“A wordless, singing infusion of love and energy into a home.” KIRKUS

In this bustling wordless picture book, JonArno Lawson’s touching story and Qin Leng’s gentle illustrations capture all angles of the building’s transformation, as well as the evolving perspectives of the girl and her grandparent. A wordless picture book that celebrates the power of community, the joys of new friends and the magic that happens when you open your heart, and fill your home with love and joy.

Leng uses unbordered panels, sometimes full-page, sometimes small and square, sometimes horizontal. Her ink-and-watercolor paintings are gentle and dreamy, with a real beating heart. KIRKUS

A lonely little girl and her grandparent need to fill the run-down apartment in their building. But taking over the rooms above their shop will mean major renovations for the new occupants, and none of the potential renters can envision the possibilities of the space – until one special couple shows up. With their ingenuity, the little girl’s big heart, and heaps of hard work, the desperate fixer-upper begins to change in lovely and surprising ways.

Read this interview with Qin Leng.
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qinillustrations/

 

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