Allan Ahlberg, Author Random House (NY) $3.95 (28p) ISBN 978-0-394-87190-5
Those two British funny men outdo themselves at inventing visual and verbal nonsense in their series, Red Nose Readers. Screaming-loud colors suit the furious actions described in the minimal texts of three stories. A boy (identified by a tag on his
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Allan Ahlberg, illus. by Bruce Ingman. Candlewick, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-6311-7
Ingman and Ahlberg (The Goldilocks Variations) team up again to celebrate a single loaf of bread, following it as it comes out of the oven and feeds the baker’s family, slice by slice. Ingman draws comfortable sepia-ink lines overlaid with freely...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Bruce Ingman, Illustrator , illus. by Bruce Ingman. Candlewick $15.99 (63p) ISBN 978-0-7636-4682-0
These picture books say it in verse.
Everybody Was a Baby Once and Other Poems
Allan Ahlberg
, illus. by Bruce Ingman. Candlewick
, $15.99 (64p) ISBN 978-0-7636-4682-0
From the creators of The Pencil
, these 19 poems cover whimsical territory and...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Bruce Ingman, Illustrator , illus. by Bruce Ingman. Candlewick $16.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3894-8
Both clever and suspenseful, this surefire delight tells the story of a pencil who must deal with the consequences of his inventions. The pencil begins by drawing a boy (Banjo from Ahlberg and Ingman's The Runaway Dinner
), a dog and a cat—
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Bruce Ingman, Illustrator , illus. by Bruce Ingman. Candlewick $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3142-0
With a plot timed faster than fast food and illustrations that keep pace, this picture book about a dinner that literally runs away is a comic treat. Like a cowboy spinning a fireside tall tale as if it were true, Ahlberg's (The Jolly Postman
)...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Gillian Tyler, Illustrator , illus. by Gillian Tyler. Candlewick $14.99 (24p) ISBN 978-0-7636-1542-0
The team behind The Snail House
present a pigtailed toddler named Tilly who loves treasure hunts, and whose parents are only too happy to oblige. "Each morning Tilly's mom hides Tilly's breakfast banana somewhere in the kitchen. And...
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Tyler's (The Good Little Christmas Tree) paneled, watercolor and pen-and-ink pictures in miniature play a pivotal role in revealing the engaging action in this creatively designed, horizontal volume. Small-scaled, wispy and finely detailed, her
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Raymond Briggs, Joint Author Farrar Straus Giroux $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-32489-6
Collaborators on The Adventures of Bert, Allan Ahlberg and Raymond Briggs team up for a second round of silliness in A Bit More Bert. Cheeky chapters introduce absurd scenarios (in ""Bert's Dog,"" Bert takes his dog, also named Bert, for a walk;
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, John Lawrence, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $17.99 (64p) ISBN 978-0-7636-0352-6
Sprinkled with Lawrence's breezy watercolor-and-ink spot art (adult readers may recognize the style from Watership Down), this fetching, if steeply priced, slender volume treats Ahlberg's (The Jolly Postman) fans to an entirely unpredictable roundup
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Jessica Ahlberg, Illustrator , illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. Candlewick $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2373-9
Jessica Ahlberg makes a high-spirited debut in this higgledy-piggledy book written by her father, who collaborated with his late wife on The Jolly Postman
and many other titles. Rendered in watercolor, colored pencil and ink, her pictures call to...
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Allan Ahlberg, illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. Candlewick, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7636-6268-4
Retellings of Goldilocks are many, and this father-daughter team increases the tally by seven in this well-designed and very funny offering. Allan Ahlberg opens with a concise traditional version of the story before diving into increasingly chaotic...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Peter Bailey, Illustrator , illus. by Peter Bailey. Delacorte $9.95 (107p) ISBN 978-0-385-73186-7
Davy, the narrator of Ahlberg's (Each Peach Pear Plum
) curious, dark tale tells of an event that occurred when he was 12, "something crazy—impossible—horrific." He describes how his father, mother and sister become "besot
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Andre Amstutz, Illustrator , illus. by André Amstutz. Candlewick $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3958-7
Ahlberg and Amstutz (previously paired for The Shopping Expedition
) overlook few opportunities for humor in this tall tale (even the copyright includes jokes), which gains extra punch from the narrator's repeated insistence that the story is a
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Andre Amstutz, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2586-3
What if a routine trip to the store turned into a peril-fraught adventure-a supreme test of endurance, ingenuity, and courage? Now, that would be something to tell Dad. At first, the shopping party-which consists of the girl narrator, her baby...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Andre Amstutz, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $8.99 (24p) ISBN 978-0-7636-1870-4
In Meow! A Lift the Cat-Flap Book by Allan Ahlberg, illus. by Andre Anstutz, a girl waits for her pet to return through the cat door; he does, but not before a porcupine, Teddy bear, robot and more greet readers who open the cat door (lift the...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Andre Amstutz, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-0466-0
One spunky monkey scampers through this lighthearted book, in which impeccably paired collaborators Ahlberg and Amstutz (The Ghost Train; Mystery Tour) prove uproariously true the adage ""monkey see, monkey do."" This perceptive little primate...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Andre Amstutz, Illustrator Greenwillow Books $12.95 (24p) ISBN 978-0-688-09903-9
In The Black Cat a little skeleton loses a leg while sledding. Since a white leg is nearly impossible to locate in the snow, the big skeleton takes the little one to the boneyard for a new appendage. While the two are sledding the next night, their...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Andre Amstutz, Illustrator Puffin Books $3.99 (96p) ISBN 978-0-14-032531-7
When a girl finds various storybook characters in her bed on successive nights, she discovers that the only way to get rid of them is to relate amusingly twisted versions of their tales. Ages 7-11. (Apr.)
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Katharine McEwen, Illustrator , illus. by Katharine McEwen. Candlewick $12.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-7636-1432-4
An appealingly madcap plot, dialogue that verges on slapstick and sprightly pictures keep this early chapter book rolling along at a snappy clip. Ahlberg (The Snail House) introduces Mr. and Mrs. Gaskitt and their nine-year-old twins, Gus and Gloria.
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Katharine McEwen, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $14.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-7636-1721-9
Mrs. Gaskitt, the taxi-driving mother first met in The Man Who Wore All His Clothes, experiences a streak of good luck, while her children put up with a thieving substitute teacher (guess who comes to the rescue again?) in The Woman Who Won...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Katharine McEwen, Illustrator, Allan Ahlberg, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $15.99 (96p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2073-8
Wacky multiple mysteries swirl around the family feline in Allan Ahlberg and Katharine McEwen's The Cat Who Got Carried Away, the third Gaskitt adventure (after The Man Who Wore All His Clothes and The Woman Who Won Things). Copious spot art,...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Janet Ahlberg, Author Heinemann Educational Books $9.94 (0p) ISBN 978-0-434-92515-5
This British import is great fun, sure to entertain children and parents alike. The Jolly Postman goes from home to home in a fairy-tale kingdom, delivering letters to such familiar addresses as ""Mr. and Mrs. Bear, Three Bears Cottage, The Woods.''
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Fritz Wegner, Illustrator Puffin Books $4.5 (112p) ISBN 978-0-14-039000-1
Finding their lives dull, the Browns, a family of storybook characters, demand something more exciting from the Writer. In a starred review, PW noted, ""Inventive borrowings from classic and contemporary literature add further dimension to this...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Fritz Wegner, Illustrator Viking Children's Books $14.99 (112p) ISBN 978-0-670-85894-1
Seated around the breakfast table one May morning, the Brown family makes a blissful portrait indeed. Or do they? Suddenly Brian, Betsy and their parents let loose a torrent of complaints about their seemingly ideal but ultimately boring lives, and...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Fritz Wegner, Illustrator , illus. by Fritz Wegner. Dial $10.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3012-0
Radiating timeless charm, this hand-size book by the creators of The Giant Baby
ushers children into a "topsy-turvy time in the middle of a long hot winter" as a man and a woman who want a baby visit the Baby Shop ("which was how it was
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Paul Howard, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $14.99 (24p) ISBN 978-0-7636-0439-4
In Ahlberg's (the Jolly Postman books) warm variation on the traditional ""Hush, Little Baby"" lullaby, an entire family tries to please its youngest member. Here the gifts that turn out to be lemons--mockingbird, pedal truck, Rover (no diamond ring
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Paul Howard, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-0783-8
The creators of Mockingbird here serve up an appetizing series of ""Once upon a time..."" short takes that lead whimsically into one another. The title character offers a disparaging commentary on the initial entries (""What's going on?""; ""This is
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Raymond Briggs, Illustrator , illus. by Raymond Briggs. FSG $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-30092-0
Ahlberg (The Jolly Postman) and Briggs (The Snowman) create a dialogue of words and images in these tales of a clumsy Englishman—or, rather, an overgrown English boy. In Chapter One, Bert wakes up: "Meet Bert. This is him. Say hallo to...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Janet Ahlberg, Illustrator Viking Books $13.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-670-85159-1
Meticulously meshing words and pictures, the Ahlbergs ( The Jolly Postman ) present an unusually witty yarn-within-a-yarn. Dozing while tending his family's goats, eight-year-old Antonio is kidnapped by a band of brigands and their bored chief, who...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Janet Ahlberg, Illustrator, Janet Ahlberg, Author Viking Children's Books $15 (144p) ISBN 978-0-670-83982-7
This fanciful work traces the life and times of a teddy bear, from the factory assembly line through a succession of largely indifferent owners to, finally, a four-year-old who gives him the love (and a name) he has come to crave. The book...
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Allan Ahlberg, Author, Janet Ahlberg, Illustrator, Janet Ahlberg, Author Viking Children's Books $11.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-670-82175-4
In what amounts to both a primer and a catalogue of a schoolchild's ``firsts,'' the Alhbergs have combined a pleasing design with salient bits of information, driven home by a band of roly-poly children. The level of schooling is not referred to, so
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Allan Ahlberg, illus. by Bruce Ingman. Thames & Hudson, $16.95 (64p) ISBN 978-0-500-65090-5
Ahlberg and Ingman (Hooray for Bread) continue their comic streak with a memoir of sorts about bookmaking gone wrong. Addressing readers as if they’re right there with him, Ahlberg lays out the catastrophe. While his story about a crocodile pleases...
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