Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Josée Bisaillon. Clarion, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-547-22300-1
“Put down the controller./ Switch off the TV./ Abandon the mouse and/ just hang out with me.” From the outset, this collection of poems makes its message clear: books are where it’s at. Salas’s polished verse demonstrates a deep love for all aspects
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Violeta Dabija. Lerner/Millbrook, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4677-0591-2
Salas and Dabija follow 2012’s A Leaf Can Be... with an equally contemplative and thought-provoking ode to the forms water takes and the functions it serves, both practical and whimsical. Once again, the author’s staccato rhymes leapfrog...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Violeta Dabija. Lerner/Millbrook, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7613-6203-6
Salas explores the many functions a leaf can serve with simple grace. “A leaf is a leaf—/ a bit of a tree./ But when cool days come chasing,/ it can also be a... Lake glider/ Wind rider/ Pile grower/ Hill glow-er/ Frost catcher/ Moth matcher.”...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Stephanie Fizer Coleman. Millbrook, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5124-2532-1
In a tender celebration of family, more than 20 baby animals describe the ways the adults in their lives care for them. A baby beaver has lived in one home for all of its life, but an orangutan infant gets a new nest each night: “I never know where...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Micha Archer. Charlesbridge, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58089-798-3
Salas posits that fully experiencing the seasons means looking through the lenses of both scientific study and art: “science + poetry = surprise!/ Science is why and how a/ flower grows. Poetry is/ looking at that flower and/ seeing a firework....
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Chiara Fedele. Bloomsbury, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5476-0350-3
Purdie Salas’s incantatory rhyming verse conveys meteorological basics in a science-led account of a snowstorm’s emergence. After a “polar freeze” from the north mingles with a “humid breeze” from the south, couplets marvel at the consequences: “Cold
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Mercè López. Millbrook, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5124-9809-7
Organized in four sections beginning with spring, Salas’s lovely haiku are written in the voices of animals and organic or inanimate objects related to the seasons. “Fire in our bellies,/ we FLICKER-FLASH in twilight—/ rich meadow of stars,” speak...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Angela Matteson. WordSong, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-62091-630-8
Toys and inanimate objects throughout a house come to life as a child slumbers. An overdue library book sneaks from hiding place to hiding place: “I’m not in your backpack./ Or under your bed./ And you HAVE to find me—/ Ms. Teabottom said!” In the...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Hiroe Nakata. Two Lions, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5420-4246-8
On opening day, a calm-loving kitten finds a lot to dislike about kittygarten: blocks clatter when they tumble, the teacher’s hand bell sounds like a gong, and another kitty’s tail invades her “purrrrrrsonal space!” Though Oliver, a kind classmate,...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Carlos Vélez Aguilera. Carolrhoda, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5415-9913-0
From its opening “Welcome!” this buoyant picture book promotes a hopeful vision of unity and camaraderie. Salas’s easy rhymes partner with Vélez Aguilera’s vibrant digital and colored pencil art, urging acceptance—of people with varying...
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Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Alice Caldarella. Capstone, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-68446-928-4
Shapes vie for a chance to guard an unspecified treasure in this alliterative introduction to geometry. An announcement sets the scene (“WANTED/ NEW TREASURE KEEPER”), prompting a variety of forms to answer the call, each exhibiting its own mode of...
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