The title character of this inaugural volume in a new series set in Toytown exerts a great deal of visual charm. Like Paddington, Bowers's (Sometimes I Wonder If Continue reading »
According to PW, "Newbery Medalist Rylant lyrically imagines the scarecrow as a grateful 'witness to life,' while the acrylic paintings evoke a Continue reading »
Four short chapters in a format between beginning-to-read and longer chapter books describe a family's existence through the seasons. A starred PW
review Continue reading »
In a boxed review, PW
called this novel of 11-year-old Ellie Farley, living in a coal-mining town in West Virginia, "an exquisite novel, written with Continue reading »
"A rabbit family makes a ramshackle house into a comfy home in this soothing story. The book is the literary equivalent of a cup of chamomile tea at bedtime," said Continue reading »
"Adopting a silky prose style, Rylant imagines a stopping place between heaven and earth," said PW.
"Those who don't mind spirituality Continue reading »
In an oversize yet cozy-looking picture book, Rylant and Halperin explore the components of a home that could easily serve as a setting for this pair's Cobble Street Cousins series. Rylant Continue reading »
Rylant (the Little Whistle series) wisely explores a child's separation anxiety through her relationship with her doll. The author conveys the girl's bond with the doll, handmade for her Continue reading »
It's smooth sailing for Rylant's (the Henry and Mudge series) sweet, sea-inspired tale, first in a new series of early chapter book readers. Pandora the cat has weathered her share of Continue reading »
Rylant and Goode return to some of the themes of their first collaboration, When I Was Young in the Mountains, for
this evocative picture book about the simple Continue reading »
Like Hollywood movies that present God as a human being with curiosities and foibles much like our own, Rylant's imaginative series of poems about God living on earth are filled with more Continue reading »
In a gentle holiday outing, Moonlight, a black cat with a pink nose and friendly green eyes, prowls under a starlit Halloween sky. She gazes at glowing jack-o'-lanterns ("Pumpkins smile at Continue reading »
This first book in the series introduces Toytown plus the "real" guinea pig star of the title, and his toys-who-came-alive-at-night companions. PW Continue reading »
"Like the lyrics to The Sound of Music's '
My Favorite Things,' this picture-book list of what is wonderful in the world includes both Continue reading »
GOOD MORNING, SWEETIE PIE: And Other Poems for Little Children
Cynthia Rylant
"In eight poems and accompanying portraits, author and artist extol the joys of domestic life from a toddler's eye view," PW
wrote. "Every poem Continue reading »
An idealistic 17-year-old's life changes dramatically when he enlists in the service, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. According to PW
's boxed review, Continue reading »
What are the rewards of becoming the boy narrator's valentine? That depends on whom he's addressing. On the left-hand side of each spread, readers see a homemade heart-themed missive Continue reading »
Rylant's (When I Was Young in the Mountains
) lilting prose-poetry, with sometimes only a few words per page, introduces the traditional Native American name Continue reading »
The narrator of Rylant's (Missing May
) fragmented poem addresses her beloved cat, Boris, adopted from a humane shelter, along with his sister. The Continue reading »
Rylant (The Stars Will Still Rise
) again shows her versatility with this picturesque work exploring the migratory habits of a half dozen creatures. Each Continue reading »
In these poems, according to PW
, "Rylant pushes the envelope of political and theological correctness, in a wink-wink, saucy manner." Ages 12-up. Continue reading »
Produced by a winning team, this collection of six poems celebrating universal moments in a baby's life (bathtime, first steps, a ride in the carriage) turns on the “awww” factor. Continue reading »
A farmyard's worth of animals smile their way through this rhyming poem cum bedtime book about what makes each one of them happy. Rylant (Baby Face
, Continue reading »
Rylant and Stringer (previously paired for Scarecrow
) celebrate winter wonderlands in a cozy, lyrical tribute. Whether they encounter heavy snow that buries Continue reading »
McClure's (Collect Raindrops
) illustrations draw most of the attention here. Using an X-Acto knife and black paper, McClure suggests textures as varied as Continue reading »
The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths, Retold
Cynthia Rylant
Rylant (All in a Day
) hones six myths into clear, accessible stories for younger readers. Plainspoken and captivating, they draw readers into the sagas of Continue reading »
Rylant's poetic, restrained retelling of this well-loved story is a noteworthy addition to the trove of retold fairy tales; like the recent Alice in Continue reading »
A birthday party (“Cats are invited”) is the outing spotlighted in Newbery Medalist Rylant's sweet snippet of a story, first in a planned series, which introduces a happy if a bit Continue reading »
In the second book to feature Brownie and her kitty, Pearl, they?re getting dressed to the nines. Each page focuses on a different adornment Brownie and Pearl select: ?Brownie finds feathers. Pearl Continue reading »
A pigtailed little girl tells how she and her family work through the seasons on the garden. In PW's words: ""Stunningly evocative, the paintings are a remarkable combination of deep tones and Continue reading »
With a deft hand, Rylant offers readers glimpses of the lives of 12 people, whose lives are altered by their contact with animals. Ages 10-up. Continue reading »
PW praised the ``exceptionally beautiful illustrations'' of this ``remarkable picture book that sweeps the reader into the quiet, special world of a country night.'' Ages 4-7. Continue reading »
Like a cherished photograph album, this portrait of Appalachia by two natives of the region is suffused with memories made golden by time. Beginning with the dogs that are ``named Prince or King'' Continue reading »
Two tales about companionship mark the highly propitious start of a new series. The gentle, affecting first volume introduces elderly Mr. Putter, who decides that a cat will keep him from feeling Continue reading »
As in Rylant's Soda Jerk , the subjects of this extraordinary and elegantly designed volume are ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary people. Rylant, responding to Evans's famous photographs of Continue reading »
Newbery winner Rylant, who debuted as an illustrator with her Everyday board books (1993), offers paintings and text in tribute to ``Dog Heaven.'' Here there are fields to run in, soft beds (made of Continue reading »
The unlikely protagonist of this quirky and tenderhearted story is a little old lady with cat glasses and a beehive who might have stepped out of The Far Side. Lonely, she names inanimate objects-her Continue reading »
Business is booming at Martha Jane's Bookshop, because everyone in town loves Martha Jane, the owner's dog. In fact, they love her so much that when the owner gets sick and needs a dog-sitter, fights Continue reading »
Those who liked Rylant's Dog Heaven will undoubtedly welcome this companion volume, which is similar in its themes and execution. The text, this time in rhyme, has the same complement of Continue reading »
An unlikely group of animals bands together to help a squirrel in need. ""Readers will relish every moment of this impeccably paced fantasy,"" said PW in a starred review. Ages 8-12. Continue reading »
In this small gem, childlike prayers and paintings for each day of the week illuminate an understanding of God as one who nurtures, teaches, protects, comforts and blesses children and their loved Continue reading »
When I was young in the mountains, Grandfather came home in the evening covered with the black dust of the coal mine. Now, Cynthia Rylant's When I Was Young in the Mountains, illus. by Diane Continue reading »
A number of familiar characters return in beginning reader sequels. In Mr. Putter and Tabby Catch the Cold by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Arthur Howard, Mr. Putter is miserable: ""Colds aren't so Continue reading »
In The Whale, the second book in the Lighthouse Family series by Cynthia Rylant, with sepia-toned graphite illustrations by Preston McDaniels, the young mice Whistler and Lila come across a baby Continue reading »
It's not uncommon for an imaginative child who grows tired of being the same person day in and day out to take on the identity of someone-or something-else. In this whimsical tale by the team behind Continue reading »
Rylant's comparatively short career has earned the poet and author an enviable reputation. Her second collection of short stories is set in the West Virginia hills, as were the entries in A Blue-Eyed Continue reading »
""There is no night so dark, so black as night in the country.'' So begins a remarkable picture book that sweeps the reader into the quiet, special world of a country night. Exceptionally beautiful Continue reading »
Henry and Mudge in the Green Time: The Third Book of Their Adventures
Cynthia Rylant
In this third book of the series (Henry and Mudge and Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble), Rylant's portrayal of the small Henry and his affectionate large dog is even better than before. When Henry Continue reading »
The gradual friendship between a shy boy named Charlie and Gregory, a paint-splattered artist, is handsomely illustrated by newcomer Catalanotto in watercolors that are full of shadows and brilliant Continue reading »
This short novel is a study of grief--chiefly, that felt by Summer after her foster mother's sudden death, but also her sorrow at witnessing the grief of Ob, her foster father--she realizes that she Continue reading »
As poignant and vibrant as Rylant's previous works ( A Blue-Eyed Daisy ; A Fine White Dust ; Every Living Thing ), this collection of short stories examines the nature of love and its effects on Continue reading »
Newbery Medalist Rylant has always let her readers slip easily into her characters' hearts and souls. Never before, however, has she so successfully portrayed the thoughts and emotions of a character Continue reading »
In PW 's words, ``On the first five birthdays of one small girl, five different cakes are baked. Before her sixth birthday, she has learned to offer her parents gifts on their birthdays. A Continue reading »
As portrayed in Downing's comfortingly realistic pastels, Rylant's gentle celebration of a postmaster's passion for matters of mail could serve as a model employee handbook--for any trade. Ages 4-7. Continue reading »
Miracles are always in the making at the Van Gogh Cafe in Flowers, Kans.: the small restaurant, housed in a renovated theater, has ``magic enough to last forever in its walls.'' Readers will share Continue reading »
An assortment of domesticated pets and untamed creatures band together to help a friend in need in the Newbery Medalist's rollicking animal tale. At the center is Stumpy, a squirrel who gives birth Continue reading »
Rylant (Missing May) breaks new ground with this allegorical tale set on an island off the coast of British Columbia. Through the perspective of an adult narrator revisiting his pivotal 10th year, Continue reading »
""Richly, heartbreakingly human"" characters, said PW, populate this stirring Newbery Honor book about 13-year-old Pete, who yearns for religious fulfillment and seems to find it in Preacher Man, a Continue reading »
""In the blackness of the Black Sea,/ the whales are thinking today./ Thinking of those things/ that matter most to them:/ friends, family, supper./ A song they used to know."" Using language that Continue reading »
Within the walls of a small Kansas restaurant there is magic to cure all manner of ills. In PW's words, ""Newbery Medalist Rylant breaks new ground in producing this whimsical tale, dexterously Continue reading »
In three very brief biographies heralding the life and work of Margaret Wise Brown, L. Frank Baum and E. B. White, Rylant tells the kind of anecdotes that are sure to spark the interest of young Continue reading »
City pig Poppleton adjusts to small-town life in this understated and roundly appealing chapter book. In ""Neighbors,"" the polite Poppleton tries to think up a polite way to say ""no thanks"" to Continue reading »
Newbery Medalist Rylant's (Missing May) talent for bringing sparkle to the everyday world of family, pets and friends is evident in her latest offering, which has a format designed to fill the gap Continue reading »
Rylant (The Blue Hill Meadows) sounds a minor note in this paper-over-board book; nonetheless, her rhyming tale is agreeably sweet. Bear's day is chronicled from reveille on: ""He wakes in striped Continue reading »
Three creative cousins bring can-do spirit and goodhearted fun to this new chapter book series from Newbery Medalist Rylant. Nine-year-olds Lily, Rosie and Tess are bunking with their Aunt Lucy for a Continue reading »
Rylant (Missing May; Cat Heaven) and Desimini (Love Letters) take to the open road in this picture book scrapbook. A young man who has never ventured beyond his Ohio homeland buys a green Beetle and Continue reading »
A rabbit family makes a ramshackle house into a comfy home in this soothing book. Rylant's (Bear Days) rhyming text extols the pleasures of fluffy towels, teatime picnics, rocking chairs, Continue reading »
A foundling cat lives a charmed life in this companion to The Bookshop Dog. After morning kisses from the cookie bakers, the plump, ginger-colored cat visits the neighborhood shopowners and keeps the Continue reading »
Like the lyrics to The Sound of Music's ""My Favorite Things,"" Rylant's picture-book list of what is wonderful in the world includes both raindrops and roses. The sweet, rhythmic text is both cheery Continue reading »
Adopting a silky prose style, Rylant (Give Me Grace, reviewed above) imagines a stopping place between heaven and earth, a village where those who ""have taken one step into heaven and hesitated"" Continue reading »
PW's starred review said, ""Rylant breaks new ground with this allegorical tale set on an island off the coast of British Columbia."" Ages 10-up. (Nov.) Continue reading »
Four cozy stories lovingly chronicle the domestic adventures of Nigel Chipmunk and his friends, all of whom live on or around Thimbleberry Lane. Without heavy-handed moralizing, Rylant's (The Blue Continue reading »
Starring in his third volume, the titular guinea pig turns health-care practitioner and storytime savior in Little Whistle's Medicine by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Tim Bowers. Little Whistle, Continue reading »
Toytown's favorite guinea pig returns in Little Whistle's Dinner Party by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Tim Bowers, to host a midnight supper. He searches high and low for food and supplies, but when Continue reading »
Book Six in the Cobble Street Cousins series, Cynthia Rylant's Wedding Flowers, illus. by Wendy Anderson Halperin, tells of Rosie, Lily and Tess's return to Cobble Street for Aunt Lucy's wedding Continue reading »
The High-Rise Private Eyes #5: The Case of the Sleepy Sloth
Cynthia Rylant
Bunny Brown and Jack Jones help Ramon find his missing lawn chair in The Case of the Sleepy Sloth by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by G. Brian Karas, the fifth title in the High-Rise Private Eyes series. Continue reading »
In Little Whistle's Christmas by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Tim Bowers, the eponymous guinea pig helps his toy friends in Toytown when they wonder if Santa made them. Continue reading »
On the first five birthdays of one small girl, five different cakes are bakedstar cake, clown, train, robot and dinosaur cakes, respectively. There are also demands for presents, and questions as to Continue reading »
Pete is 13 the summer the Preacher Man comes to his small town, vulnerable with both adolescent yearning and the need to find religious fulfillment. His parents are lapsed church-goers, who neither Continue reading »
Six Christmas stories by the Newbery Honorwinning author converge to portray the sensitive moods of togetherness, loss, belonging, privation. Garnet Ash has lived alone in an out-of-the-way house Continue reading »
A heartbreakingly human story of a boy on the brink of self-discovery, and his mesmerizing acquaintance, the Preacher Man. A Newbery Honor book. Ages 8-12. Continue reading »
In this autobiographical essay, Rylant recounts the formative events of her childhood: the early loss of both her mother and father, who sent her to live with grandparents after their separation; Continue reading »
Chip, 15, has always lived alone with his mother; he doesn't know his father, who left when Chip was a baby. His mother, Anne, an artist, is rather vague about practical matters, and Chip is Continue reading »
A simple idea reigns in Rylant's quietly dignified picture bookthat it is possible to be take pride in and in fact relish what others may believe is the humblest of tasks. Mr. Griggs is the one-man Continue reading »
Although this unique collaboration by Rylant and Catalanotto is in the format of a 48-page picture book, it is intended for young adult readers. The 28 untitled, resonant poems are an extended Continue reading »
The titles of these five board books may be unintentionally self-descriptive; Rylant offers rather quotidian glimpses of people, things and settings familiar to very young children. The volumes Continue reading »
The inspired re-pairing of Rylant and Moser, whose previous collaborative effort yielded the evocative and deeply personal Appalachia , proves that the talented author and artist share more than Continue reading »
Together again, Rylant and Moser (Appalachia) here intertwine themes of nature and human loss into a modern-day fairy tale. Cheerless and homeless, a girl is ambling along a river when her sadness is Continue reading »
The High-Rise Private Eyes #1: The Case of the Missing Monkey
Cynthia Rylant
Rylant (Missing May; the Henry and Mudge series) delivers two snappy stories full of humor, action and tenderness in the debut titles of this beginning-reader series. From a high-rise ""deep in the Continue reading »
Teaming up for another fairy tale retelling, following Hansel and Gretel (2008), Corace and Rylant breathe life into Hans Christian Andersen's story of a one-legged tin soldier who falls in love with Continue reading »
Sixteen poems from Rylant?s God Went to Beauty School (2003) return in a new collection, accompanied by new artwork from Frazee, whose graphite-and-gouache illustrations are ideally attuned to the Continue reading »
Twenty years after Gooseberry Park, Rylant and Howard return with a companion book, and it?s well worth the wait. While an ice storm figured prominently in the previous book, a drought is now causing Continue reading »
Rylant?s illustrations for a simplified version of the Genesis creation story, adapted from the King James Bible, recall those from her Dog Heaven and Cat Heaven?wet, thickly Continue reading »
Five small penguins and their mother chill out in this playful, minimalist approach to winter. Rylant (the Mr. Putter and Tabby books) supplies only a few words per spread as the pointy-beaked Continue reading »
Rylant (Little Penguins) and Davick (Say Hello!) introduce opposites in a series of chapter-like scenarios starring two good-natured siblings and their frisky, floppy-eared Continue reading »
A piglet learns what trick-or-treating is all about in this gentle father-son story. ?Herbert was not sure about Halloween,? begins Rylant. Herbert?s father attempts to share his love of the holiday, Continue reading »
A sensitive and perceptive girl searches for balance and order in this taut, graceful novel from Rylant, set in small-town Indiana in 1972. Flora, ?who sometimes felt quite acutely the stress of Continue reading »
Onoseta’s devastatingly vulnerable debut, told nonlinearly in two teen Nigerian girls’ dual perspectives, portrays a tempestuous sisterhood amid colorism, familial trauma, and Continue reading »
Humor and heartfelt emotion reign supreme in a quirky narrative that centers the importance of family, blood or blended. Twelve-year-old Adela Ramírez, who’s of Mexican descent, Continue reading »
“Sal loved the water. He liked to imagine it moving under his feet.” With junk from his mother’s garage and pickings from local businesses, he starts building. In the family’s Continue reading »
Rick, a lumpy gray rock with googly eyes and a sweet smile, has been sitting on Room 214’s Nature Finds shelf “for as long as he can remember” while on-the-move human students, Continue reading »