Barbara Joosse, illus. by Kevin M. Barry. Sleeping Bear, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5341-1272-8
Monsters that huff, claw, growl, and gnaw prowl a street at night... or do they? Joosse blends the anxiety, imagination, and mystery that can accompany a child’s experience of bedtime fears in this reassuring exploration of the nocturnal rhythms a...
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Barbara Joosse, illus. by Randy Cecil. Candlewick, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5408-5
Is Joosse (Old Robert and the Sea-Silly Cats) paying homage to a classic mid-
century children’s author, or just channeling her? Either way, this beautifully bubbly poem sounds a lot like Margaret Wise Brown at her best. “Once there was a girl,” it...
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Barbara Joosse, illus. by Randy Cecil. Candlewick, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-6882-2
The satin-gowned princess and bobble-eyed dragon from Lovabye Dragon (2012) are back with a warmhearted damsel-in-distress story. Joosse's nursery-rhyme verse enchants from the opening line: "At the wake of derry-day/ the friends decided what to...
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Barbara Joosse, illus. by Sergio Ruzzier. Random House/Schwartz, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-5936-4694-6
When Mama and Papa head out on an afternoon errand, they leave their daughters alone for the very first time on the island where the family lives. Thrilled with their autonomy, bow-wearing cat Sadie and scarved rodent Flora throw themselves a “sister
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Barbara Joosse, illus. by Eugene Yelchin. Harcourt, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-15-206690-1
In Joosse's (Friends [Mostly]) enthusiastic collection of light verse, various dogs introduce themselves as they don costumes for a parade, but it's Yelchin's (Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku) humorous gouache illustrations that provide much of...
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Barbara Joosse, Author, Jennifer Plecas, Illustrator , illus. by Jennifer Plecas. Philomel $12.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-399-25168-9
A heart-shaped cover diecut immediately demonstrates the charms of Harriet, framed in an exuberant embrace with Squeezie, her spindly-eared rabbit. Returning from Please Is a Good Word to Say
, the heroine walks readers through the complicated...
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Barbara Joosse, Author, Jan Jutte, Illustrator , illus. by Jan Jutte. Philomel $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-399-24777-4
It’s bedtime, Papa’s away, and noises threaten from the forest that opens, Wild Things
–style, from the walls of Liam’s bedroom. “What could Liam do? He was just a boy (thump thump
), too small to fight off forest...
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Barbara Joosse, Author, Jan Jutte, Illustrator Philomel 17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-399-25261-7
Jutte’s illustrations, jauntily drawn and heavily inked, provide much of the pleasure in this celebration of a joyous overnight at Gramma’s. Gramma, a wrinkled elephant, is an artist, and Jutte (who last plumbed the mythos of bedtime with Joosse in...
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