Fall 2010 Picturebook Highlights: Random House

Remember back in January when I posted about ordering books that would be published this Summer 2010? Well, it's the end of April and guess what I'm doing.

If you guessed buying books for Fall/Winter 2010, you'd be correct!

Introducing the Fall 2010 Picturebook Highlights, beginning with Random House!

Camille Saint-Saens's The Carnival of the Animals
music by Camille Saint-Saens
verses by Jack Prelutsky
illustrations by Mary Grandpre
9780375864582, $19.99, Pub. Date: August 2010

You don't get more all-star cast than this, folks! The illustrations are by Mary Grandpre, the woman who first put a face to the American versions of Harry Potter. Jack Prelutsky was the first Children's Poet Laureate in 2006. Camille Saint-Saens was a famous French composer who wrote a musical suite of 14 movements, the musical accompaniment to carousing carnival animals. The music is performed and recorded by the Wurrtemberg Chamber Orchestra and Jack Prelutsky reads his poetry on the 54-minute CD is included with this delightful picturebook.

Dog Loves Books
by Louise Yates
9780375864490, $16.99, Pub. Date: September 2010

Yes, I chose to highlight this book in part because it describes my life as a bookseller so well! When you love books as much as Dog and I do, obviously opening a bookshop is the thing to do. Unlike dog, however, I can't just read when customers aren't in the shop. Dog reads all kinds of books waiting for customers to arrive, and when his shop becomes busy, he's able to put exactly the right book in their hands.

Six Crows
by Leo Lionni
9780375845505, $16.99, Pub. Date: September 2010

Originally published in 1988, this book is back in print for the first time. I love crows - I've actually been designing a crow or raven tattoo for years - so I was particularly pleased to see this one back in stock. Leo Lionni's Swimmy stole my heart as a child (9780394826202, $6.99); it was a pleasure to be introduced to this classic. Six crows watch a farmer tend his field of wheat. Though he sets up a scarecrow to protect his wheat, the clever crows make plans to outmaneuver the farmer. Like most of Lionni's books, there is a moral to this tale: compromise.

Hush, Little Horsie
by Jane Yolen
illustrated by Ruth Sanderson
9780375858536, $16.99, Pub. Date: September 2010

Two local children's book creators have teamed up to bring you this gentle masterpiece. Ruth Sanderson's dreamy illustrations perfectly compliment Jane Yolen's rhyming bedtime verses.   

The ABCs of Rock
by Melissa Duke Mooney
illustrations by Print Mafia
9781582462936, $16.99, Pub. Date: October 2010 - from Tricycle Press, distributed by Random House

This book is really for adults, I think, or maybe for the children of musicians or those really into the rock music scene. Personally, I love it, but what I'm trying to say is this book is probably not for everyone. This is what the catalogue has to say:

From one of the top rock band poster artists comes a collection of 26 evocative images of rock music's most recognized icons. Starting with AC/DC's familiar lightning bolts and ending with ZZ Top's customer Ford coupe, this alphabetical retrospective of more than four decades of rock history will inspire music lovers of all ages.