Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Kids Can Cats



I think the most desirable bags to acquire in the exhibit hall at the Texas Library Association conference the year were offered at the Kids Can Press booth.  Bags featuring Melanie Watt's Scaredy Squirrel or Chester the Cat were proudly carried as other conference attendees asked, "where did you get THOSE?"
Alas, I did not score one myself.  That's the way it is at TLA, the tale of the "one" that got away.


Chester's Masterpiece
Chester's Masterpiece
by acclaimed author CHESTER without (or with no help from or Not by) Mélanie Watt, Kids Can Press, 2010
Chester commandeers a red marker and writes his own book with absolutely no help, what-so-ever, from his creator, Mélanie.  It is possible he has had a hand in the disappearance of Mélanie's art supplies so she offers suggestions and admonishment through yellow sticky notes on the pages of Chester's book.

This is an accessible way to demonstrate how a story comes together. It needs a setting characters and hopefully, a happy ending.



Mattoo, Let's Play!Mattoo, Let's Play
writtten and illustrated by Irene Luxbacher, Kids Can Press, 2010
Ruby loves her cat Mattoo but she is so noisy and boisterous that Mattoo does not like playing with her. Her friend, Clemente leads the way in quietly imagining they are in a jungle where all kinds of wild animals appear.  Sensing a calmer and quieter Ruby, Mattoo can join in and play too.

This is a gentle message for young children about pets and how to handle and care for them.



Kitten's SpringKitten's Spring
by Eugenie Fernandes, Kids Can Press, 2010.
Fernandes is described as a 3-D illustrator.  Her characters are sculpted from Fimo-clay and added to a collage that includes painted backgrounds and natural materials.  Her sweet rhyming text focuses on the baby animals of spring, piglets, tadpoles, lambs, duckoings owlets. This is the first Fernandes book I've read.  Little ones should love this.

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

I missed out on a Chester bag at the last ALA conference I went to. Sniff. But! If you buy some books from Kids Can online, you can get a bag! Totally worth it - I am not using my bag though, just hanging it on the wall and occasionally turning it from Chester to Scaredy Squirrel. Sigh of exquisite happiness.

Camille said...

I love that. Bag as wall art. Perfect!

Tracy Heikel, Director of Marketing, Kids Can Press said...

I’m the Director of Marketing at Kids Can Press and I could not be happier to read how much you like our book bags. THANK YOU! I wish we had the budget to make enough bags for everyone who wanted them at the trade shows. But the GOOD NEWS is that you can still get a FREE Scaredy Squirrel/Chester book bag with the purchase of any Kids Can Press books totaling $39 or more. The offer is available only at www.kidscanpress.com while quantities last. But you have to remember to enter this promo code WATTBAG10 at checkout. If you forget to enter the promo code (and trust me many people have) – then sorry, but our distribution center will be shipping your books without a book bag. So to avoid disappointment, please remember to enter the code at checkout. Thanks again!