Mem Fox, Author, Terry Denton, Illustrator Harcourt Brace and Company $7 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-257421-5
With ``hair as wispy as cobwebs in ceilings,'' old Lily Laceby casts a wistful vote for eternal youth as she receives a gaggle of unexpected guests. Ages 3-7. (Aug.)
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Mem Fox, Author, Terry Denton, Illustrator , illus. by Terry Denton. Harcourt $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-200250-3
A read-aloud gem, this uproarious picture book contains an absurdly appropriate plot. "Every Saturday morning, a particular cow went for a particular walk. Usually, nothing particular happened," the tale begins. But one Saturday, the cow...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Laura Ljungkvist. S&S/Beach Lane, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4424-3400-4
Effervescent graphics and an engrossing hide-and-seek game make this a diverting book to share. “Yoo-hoo, Ladybug! Where are you?” calls a voice at the start of a series of puzzles. “There you are...” the voice continues, directing readers to full-pa
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Mem Fox, illus. by Jan Thomas, S&S/Beach Lane, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4424-0598-1
This animated counting book uses irreverent couplets and a screwball cast of goats for its humor. As if Thomas's goats weren't entertaining enough just to look at (and they are), Fox (Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes) pairs random and often...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Mike Austin. S&S/Beach Lane, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-9005-5
Fox (Baby Bedtime) supplies the sweetly cadenced rhymes and Austin (Fire Engine No. 9) the visual comedy as they follow an eager brown dog from home to the beach and back. After digging in the backyard and running into a baker, guitarist, and a few...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Emma Quay. S&S/Beach Lane, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4814-2097-6
Here’s a wonderful little lesson in the subjunctive from master teacher Fox (Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes). As a purple mother elephant gets her lavender baby ready for bed, she enumerates all the things she “could” do: “I could eat your...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Judy Horacek. Scholastic Press, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-338-18566-9
The team behind Where Is the Green Sheep? and other titles uses its creative alchemy to turn a simple counting story into a funny page-turner. A yellow mother duck is crossing a bridge with her five ducklings; the nicely distilled setting consists...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Mark Teague. Beach Lane, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8688-1
A game of cat, dog, and mouse proves itself a meta tale in the works in this wry and original picture book. “So there was a scary dog, right?” begins Fox (Early One Morning); the text appears on the recto as an orange tabby peers over a sofa, where...
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Mem Fox, Author, Helen Oxenbury, Illustrator , illus. by Helen Oxenbury. Harcourt $16 (40p) ISBN 978-0-15-206057-2
Put two titans of kids' books together for the first time, and what do you get (besides the urge to shout, “What took you so long?”)? The answer: an instant classic. Fox's (Time for Bed
) text works off the simplest premise:...
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Mem Fox, Author, Elivia Savadier, Illustrator Mondo Publishing $13.95 (24p) ISBN 978-1-57255-136-7
As lackluster as its title, Fox's (Time for Bed) slight story tells of a girl trying her hardest to get her parents' attention at bedtime. Because her stuffed bunny (coyly named Bed Rabbit) can't read, Polly wants Mom or Dad to read him a story....
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Mem Fox, illus. by Lauren Stringer. S&S/Beach Lane, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4169-9006-2
“There once was a boy who loved bedtime,” writes Fox (Two Little Monkeys), and within a few pages, it’s clear why: when Mommy gives “the last good night” and departs, the boy gets to snuggle up with his beloved toys to discuss their respective days.
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Mem Fox, Author, Marc Rosenthal, Illustrator Mondo Publishing $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-57255-206-7
A straight character literally learns to bend a little in this chipper fable about being true to one's self. In a fantasy world inhabited by straight lines that are distinguished only by their hats, hair or manner of dress, one rebel decides to ""jum
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Mem Fox, illus. by Judy Horacek. Scholastic/Orchard, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-545-53370-6
This is one of those sneaky stories that starts out slight and unsurprising but is over far too soon. Fox combines the power of repetition with a lead character—a cool babysitter named Skinny Doug—who acts as a Scheherazade of nursery rhymes. His...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Judy Horacek. Scholastic Press, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-338-03780-7
For times when a single bedtime story just isn’t enough, the duo behind Where Is the Green Sheep? and Good Night, Sleep Tight tease several at once in this chirpy, repetition-driven tale that hopscotches from one adventure to the next. “I’ll tell...
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Mem Fox, Author, Steve Jenkins, Illustrator , illus. by Steve Jenkins. S&S/Beach Lane $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8513-6
Like her Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
, Fox's newest has all the marks of a lap-sit classic. In mellifluous motherese, the narrator poses a series of playful questions to a baby: “Are you a monkey with clever toes?/ Perhaps you&#
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Mem Fox, Author, Leo Dillon, Illustrator, Diane Dillon, Illustrator , illus. by Leo and Diane Dillon. S&S/Beach Lane $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8585-3
A green, sharp-clawed goblin who has exiled himself from society reveals his warm heart when he stumbles upon a farmer whose grief has overcome his will to work. The goblin waits for night, then pitches in: “He dug where digging was needed. He
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Mem Fox, Author, Kerry Argent, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $17 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201416-2
The show must go on--and the annual Nativity play is no exception. Ready to break a leg, Wombat eagerly auditions for every part in the production, only to find that he's not quite suited for any of them. When fussy director Emu brilliantly suggests
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Mem Fox, Author, Kerry Argent, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $17 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-202016-3
Mother Bear's six children are balking at bedding down for the winter, but she coaxes them under the patchwork quilt with a clever stratagem: each cub gets a personalized bedtime rhyme. Baxter Bear hears about a pirate adventure: ""Raise the skull...
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Mem Fox, Author, Kerry Argent, Illustrator , illus. by Kerry Argent. Harcourt/Voyager $6 (0p) ISBN 978-0-15-216542-0
Mother Bear's six children balk at bedding down for the winter until each cub gets a personalized rhyme. PW
said in a starred review, "With its sweetly varied scenarios, this amiable bedtime book offers a little something for everyone."
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Mem Fox, Author, Patricia Mullens, Illustrator, Patricia Mullins, Illustrator Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-02-735470-6
Hattie the Hen lives on a farm with the goose, pig, sheep, horse and cow. One day she spots something suspicious in the bushes. She warns the other animals but they are apathetic. More and more of the thing reveals itself until Hattie realizes it's...
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Mem Fox, Author, Patricia Mullins, Illustrator Orchard Books (NY) $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-531-05848-0
This talented Australian author's most recent picture books, Koala Lou and Night Noises , have both won kudos, and her latest effort is equally praiseworthy. When Jessie's grandfather notices how much she's grown, he offers to buy her some new shoes
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Mem Fox, Author, Patricia Mullins, Illustrator Aladdin Paperbacks $6.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-689-71611-9
A hen warns her apathetic colleagues of a fox; according to PW , ``Fox builds the suspense in this cumulative tale with precise pacing. Mullins uses tissue-paper collage to create an unusual effect, both fuzzy and comic.'' Ages 4-7. (Sept.)
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Mem Fox, Author, Patricia Mullins, Illustrator Orchard Books (NY) $6.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-531-07031-4
A lilting, cumulative text accompanies Mullins's vibrant torn-paper artwork in this apparel-buying spree. Ages 3-6. (Aug.)
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Mem Fox, Author, Tricia Tusa, Illustrator , illus. by Tricia Tusa. Harcourt $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201025-6
The titular topper of this rollicking, rhyming read-aloud is indeed magic: when it blows into town one day, it plops down on the head of resident after resident, instantly transforming each person into an animal. Each time the chapeau lands, Fox (Tim
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Mem Fox, Author, M. Fox, Author Mariner Books $12 (228p) ISBN 978-0-15-658676-4
Charming and candid, Australian children's book author Fox reminisces, in her mid-40s, about her eventful life. Despite the title, the book is more about Fox than her books, though fans should find it interesting. A child of Australian missionaries,
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Mem Fox, Author, Pamela Lofts, Illustrator , illus. by Pamela Lofts. Harcourt $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-216318-1
The team behind Koala Lou
here offers an oddly anticlimactic tale about an endearing bandicoot who befriends an egg. Lofts's artwork, appealing and spectacular, fills the pages with fascinating Australian desert flora and fauna. Yet the...
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Mem Fox, Author, Pamela Lofts, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-200502-3
Fox's two new books join Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge as perfect examples of why the Australian writer has become one of today's top authors of children's books. Koala Lou is loved by everyone, but it is her mother who loves her most of all....
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Mem Fox, Author, Vladimir Radunsky, Illustrator , illus. by Vladimir Radunsky. Harcourt $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-205785-5
Complex visual clues may send readers for repeat rounds of Fox’s (Time for Bed
) lilting bedtime rhyme, and even then children will not exhaust the mystery with which Radunsky (The Mighty Asparagus
) cloaks his subjects. “This is where...
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Mem Fox, Author, Kathryn Brown, Illustrator Voyager Paperbacks $7 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201891-7
Boris the pirate is as mean, greedy and scary as they come. But when his parrot dies, he mourns like anyone else. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
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Mem Fox, Author, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Illustrator Voyager Paperbacks $7 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201598-5
PW found this story of life cycles in an African American family ""eloquent in its simplicity."" Ages 3-8. (Sept.)
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Mem Fox, Author, Charles Fox, Author, Judy Horacek, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) $28 (176p) ISBN 978-0-15-100624-3
Two books for adults pay tribute to children's books and to the artists and writers who create them. In Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever, bestselling picture book author Mem Fox extols the benefits...
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Mem Fox, Author, Charles Fox, Author, Candace Whitman, Illustrator Mondo Publishing $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-57255-010-0
When Flora goes to the zoo with her father, the animals watch her as carefully as she watches them: ""She looked at the penguin/ and the penguin looked back [and] she looked at the monkey/ as its baby got a smack."" The pattern continues: various...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Jill Barton. S&S/Beach Lane, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8687-4
Aping the format of the classic nursery rhyme “Two Little Dickie Birds,” Fox’s variation features two small monkeys “playing near a tree,/ one named Cheeky,/ one named Chee.” The monkeys escape from a prowling animal by climbing up the tree to...
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Mem Fox, Author, Leslie Staub, Author, Leslie Staub, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-200787-4
With a gentle and knowing calm, Fox (Time for Bed) provides a compelling exploration of the differences between children that make them unique as well as the common humanity that unites them. In Fox's picture book, divisions of culture, race and...
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Mem Fox, Author, Leslie Staub, Illustrator , illus. by Leslie Staub. Harcourt/Voyager $6 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-216406-5
PW
wrote, "With a gentle and knowing calm, Fox provides a compelling exploration of the differences between children that make them unique as well as the common humanity that unites them." Ages 3-7.(Aug.)
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Mem Fox, Author, Marla Frazee, Author, Marla Frazee, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201977-8
Harriet is what grown-ups refer to as a handful. Through the course of a day, the youngster, perhaps accidentally, knocks over her juice, drips paint from her picture onto the carpet and slides off her chair at lunchtime, taking the tablecloth with...
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Mem Fox, Author, Marla Frazee, Author, Marla Frazee, Illustrator , illus. by Marla Frazee. Harcourt/Voyager $6 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-204598-2
"Harriet is what grown-ups refer to as a handful, and her mother handles each incident with good-humored restraint," wrote PW. "Visually, the book never strikes a false note." Ages 3-7. (May)
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Mem Fox, Author, Deborah Halverson, Editor, Nicholas Wilson, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) $7 (36p) ISBN 978-0-15-202365-2
PW said of this allegorical tale of war between swans and peacocks, ""The text's pointed poetry will sink directly into children's hearts, while the mysteries [depicted in] the sophisticated acrylics offer possibilities for contemplation and...
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Mem Fox, Author, Nicholas Wilton, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $16 (36p) ISBN 978-0-15-200473-6
This powerful allegory portrays the dire reactions of a ""pride of magnificent peacocks"" and a ""flock of elegant swans"" who cannot see beyond their differences. Upon noticing that the swans can fly and swim, the proud but insecure peacocks are...
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Mem Fox, Author, Judy Horacek, Author , illus. by Judy Horacek. Harcourt $15 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-204907-2
The hunt is on for a sheep that's green all over. But before its undisclosed location is revealed, Fox and first-time picture book illustrator Horacek (previously teamed with Fox for the resource book Reading Magic
) introduce children to a host
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Mem Fox, Author, Vivienne Goodman, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-200452-1
Just as actors are occasionally miscast, so too can authors and illustrators be mismatched by the powers that be in publishing: Fox's latest picture book is a classic example. Her bare-bones storyline, in which she poses and answers a series of...
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Mem Fox, Author, Aminah Brenda, Illustrator, Aminah B. Robinson, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $15 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-277160-7
In this cyclical tale, Grandpa welcomes infant Sophie into the world; much later, Sophie is saddened when ``there was no Grandpa.'' The birth of Sophie's own child completes the circle. Fox's (Time for Bed) rhythmic, sparsely worded text (``Grandpa...
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Mem Fox, Author, Jane Dyer, Illustrator Red Wagon Books $11.99 (28p) ISBN 978-0-15-205349-9
""Dyer's commanding yet gentle, large-scale watercolors are the key to the appeal of this bedtime lullaby,"" wrote PW of the hardcover edition of Time for Bed by Mem Fox, now available in an oversize board book edition. A host of parents nudge their
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Mem Fox, Author, Jane Dyer, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $15.95 (28p) ISBN 978-0-15-216228-3
A board book edition of Mem Fox's Time for Bed, illus. by Jane Dyer, is included in the Time for Bed Gift Set. As the baby animals settle down for a good night's sleep, youngsters will be lulled by the soothing, repetitive text, and the sturdy, ...
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Mem Fox, Author, Jane Dyer, Illustrator Gulliver Books $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-288183-2
Filling each spread, Dyer's (illustrator of the Piggins books and of Baby Bear's Bedtime Book ) commanding yet gentle, large-scale watercolors are the key to the appeal of this bedtime lullaby. Fox ( Possum Magic ; Guess What? ) offers sweet but...
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Mem Fox, Author, Gary Lippincott, Illustrator Abingdon Press $12.95 (29p) ISBN 978-0-687-45863-9
The elderly Mrs. Cavallaro always shops early for the presents for her family, lovingly wrapping each one, writing ``With love, at Christmas'' on each tag and tucking them into a special trunk. But this year, Mrs. Cavallaro keeps hearing about...
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Fox, Author, Mem Fox, Author, Kerry Argent, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) $7 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-202096-5
Wombat tries out for the annual Nativity play and wins the role of Jesus. In a starred review of this playful story, PW said, ""Its pleasures are infectious."" Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
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Mem Fox, illus. by Ronojoy Ghosh. Beach Lane, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5344-3602-2
This celebration of immigration, titled I’m an Australian in its country of origin, offers American readers a fresh perspective on both Australia, the home country of Fox (Time for Bed), and on issues of citizenship and diversity that are dominating
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Mem Fox, illus. by Christine Davenier. Beach Lane, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4814-0139-5
It’s morning on the farm, and a copper-haired, pale-skinned boy in bright blue overalls leaves his house “in search of a couple of things for his breakfast.” A white hen with a bright red comb and wattle is shocked when the boy takes his quest...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Freya Blackwood. Knopf, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-30401-3
This meditation by Fox (Cat Dog) and Blackwood (The Feather) starts with a miracle: “Once upon a time, although this happens all the time, a tiny star fell to earth,” Fox begins engagingly, “and turned into a baby!” The brown-skinned infant,...
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Mem Fox, illus. by Jane Dyer, photos by Jeanne Birdsall. Beach Lane, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4814-4556-6
In this sprightly offering from the team behind Time for Bed, Roly Poly the polar bear thinks life is “grand”—until the morning he learns that the wee bear sharing his bed is his new brother, Monty: “But I never asked for a baby brother, and I don’t
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Mem Fox, illus. by Linda Davick. Beach Lane, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5344-5333-3
The proud human parents of a new baby dragon soon discover that settling into life with their little one is all about putting out fires—literally. When the tiny green dragon breathes flames, the caretakers, portrayed with light skin, calmly tidy up...
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