Board Books in Bloom

All aboard! Concepts come at their most appealing for smallest hands. Gaspard and Lisa's Ready for School Words by Anne Gutman, illus. by Georg Hallensleben helps teach everyday words, from toothbrushes and "potty" to pivotal moments at school. Gaspard's tardiness makes him miss story hour, but he joins Lisa for milk and cookies at snack time; it's a busy day for the winsome canines. (Knopf, $6.99 22p ages 6 mos.-4 yrs. ISBN 0-375-82890-7; June)

Two Tom Arma titles pose a bevy of babies in various costumes. Fruity Cutie Colors shows the tykes in fruit costumes to teach colors ("Limes are green. Fruity cutie green!"), while Kiddens shows its subjects in kittycat attire using the litterbox ("Kidden has a potty. Tinkle-tinkle-tinkle!"), etc. (Abrams, $6.95 each 10p ages 6 mos.-2 yrs. ISBN 0-8109-5022-7; ISBN 0-8109-5021-9; July)

Just right for a board book, Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab takes his tale of a crustacean in search of a new shell home to youngest readers. PW wrote, "Carle's underwater neighborhood is snug, dynamic and full of possibilities." (Little Simon, $7.99 32p ages 5-8 ISBN 0-689-87064-7; July)

Welcome Back!

Old favorites find their way back into print. Leo Leonni's The Alphabet Tree was first published in 1968, during America's involvement in Vietnam. In this simple allegory, a fierce wind keeps a tree filled with timid letters at bay. A word-bug and a caterpillar instruct them to form words that say something important (the message they form: "Peace on earth and goodwill toward all men") and then the letters head for the White House. (Knopf, $15.95 40p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-394-81016-3; June)

Otters, snails and three girls eat, sing and frolic on a "perfectly bimulous" night in When the Sky Is Like Lace (1975) by Elinor Lander Horwitz, illus. by Barbara Cooney. The trio of girls shares a magical evening as the eucalyptus trees sway and the grass smells of gooseberry jam. Cooney's enchanting renderings of the "strange-splendid and plum-purple" scenes manifest the magic of both the twilight hour and the text. (Viking, $16.99 32p ages 3-up ISBN 0-670-05909-9; June)

The Sendak brothers' first children's book collaboration, The Happy Rain (1956) by Jack Sendak, illus. by Maurice Sendak, centers on the fictitious town of Troekan where it rains day and night ("No other village could boast of such fine, glorious rain"). When it stops one day, the villagers seek answers—from a wise old man, a scientist, a philosopher and the mayor. But it is the ingenuity of two children that brings back the joyous, rainy weather. (HarperCollins, $13.95 48p all ages ISBN 0-06-028785-3; June)

Originally released in the U.S. as a tiny paperback, Ladybird, Ladybird by Vivian French, illus. by Selina Young, returns in hardcover. After making breakfast for her five little ladybugs, Mrs. Ladybird rushes out to market, forgetting her purse. Her littlest child chases after her, purse in hand, and soon all five are in pursuit. They catch up with their mother just as she reaches the cash register, and all go home happy. (Orion [Trafalgar Sq., dist.], $6.95 32p ages 2-4 ISBN 1-84255-055-1; May)

Two historical novels by Hoosier authors make their re-entry on the scene. The Bad Man Ballad by Scott Russell Sanders, originally published by Bradbury Press in 1986, begins with the discovery of a murdered dwarf in 1813 in the Ohio Valley, and becomes a quest for a lawyer and a teenage boy to find the "giant" responsible, in this unflinching portrait of mob mentality and fear of the "other." In The Dark Didn't Catch Me by Crystal Thrasher, first published by Atheneum in 1975, a family tries to pull together during the Depression in rural Indiana as 11-year-old Seely describes her schooling, her abusive father and other challenges. (Indiana University Press [800-842-6796], $32.95 each 256p ISBN 0-253-34414-X; ISBN 0-253-34408-5; paper $14.95 each ISBN 0-253-21688-5; ISBN 0-253-21685-0; June)

Adventures in Reality

Nonfiction entries explore the arts, sciences and traditions. The inaugural title in the Art Explorers series, Imagine That!: Activities and Adventures in Surrealism by Joyce Raimondo examines six Surrealist artists (René Magritte, Max Ernst and Frida Kahlo, among others) and offers creative ideas for children using variations of the artists' methods. Accessibly designed pages teem with blocks of boldly colored prompts and observations, alongside reproductions of the artists' works and those done by children loosely emulating their techniques. (Watson-Guptill, $12.95 48p ages 5-12 ISBN 0-8230-2502-0; June)

Based on the acclaimed documentary film of the same name, the beautifully designed, oversize Winged Migration: The Junior Edition by Stéphane Durand and Guillaume Poyet examines 15 kinds of migratory birds, paired with an audio CD of each bird's calls. An elegant design presents a bounty of full-page full-bleed photographs alongside lyrical text, with brief sidebars containing additional facts. The birds' majesty shines through the stunning photos and the stories rooted in either historical fiction or told from the birds' viewpoints. (Chronicle/Seuil, $19.95 48p ages 8-up ISBN 2-02-063350-7; June)

In cartoon panels and economical text, four fictional characters describe aspects of the progress of Building Liberty: A Statue Is Born by Serge Hochain. Beginning with young Léo's metalworking apprenticeship in France with Frédéric-Auguste Bertholdi and Gustave Eiffel, the book follows the Statue of Liberty's progress across the Atlantic aboard a French naval ship through the eyes of young François, and young Ben describes fundraising efforts to pay for the statue in the States. The fourth perspective comes from Angus, an Irish immigrant who helps construct the statue in New York harbor. (National Geographic, $18.95 48p ages 8-10 ISBN 0-7922-6765-6; June)

Stories of Teen Life

Compilations of short stories and actual interviews lay bare teenage trials. Sharon G. Flake (The Skin I'm In) offers 10 portraits of teens and their romantic struggles in Who Am I Without Him? A girl gets a surprise response when she writes to a magazine advice column in "Wanted: A Thug," while a boy robs a house to be able to afford to take a girl to the prom in "Don't Be Disrespecting Me." The often-painful stories paint believable pictures of urban teens from a variety of backgrounds. (Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, $15.99 160p ages 12-up ISBN 0-7868-0693-1; May)

In a dozen short stories, writers ponder What a Song Can Do: 12 Riffs on the Power of Music, edited by Jennifer Armstrong. In Ron Koertge's "Variations on a Theme," nine high school band members (writing as "percussion," "clarinet," etc.) tell their own stories bound by their role in the ensemble. The titular story by David Levithan focuses on a young guitarist struggling to cope with his parents and his boyfriend while music consumes his thoughts. Other authors include Dian Curtis Regan, Gail Giles and Joseph Bruchac. (Knopf, $15.95 224p ages 10-up ISBN 0-375-82499-5; June)

Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis collects 20 heart-wrenching interviews with children, from her travels through Israel and Palestine in the winter of 2002. After opening with the names of the 429 children killed in this conflict between September 2000 and March 2003, the book moves on to the words of such children as Gul, a 12-year-old Israeli boy, who says, "I don't like it that I will have to join the army in a few years, but I don't have a choice.... I've never played soldiers.... Some kids like that sort of thing, but I don't. I prefer basketball." (Groundwood [PGW, dist.], $16.95 144p ages 11-up ISBN 0-88899-608-X; July)