Love Can Come in Many Ways: Terry Pierce

 

How do we show love? In many ways. Terry Pierce has created A Heartfelt Book featuring flaps of felt in displays of affection. 

Nose to nose or gaze to gaze,

Love can come in many ways. 

Inside a family, safe and snug.

Within a trunk's twisty hug. 

Suzy Ultman's palette is gentle, and the line is delicate, while patterns depict creatures loving one another. On this Valentine's Day, tell your totz: "you are loved," with this snuggly board book.

Love Can Come in Many Ways

written by Terry Pierce

illustrated by Suzy Ultman

Chronicle Books, 2020 

A to Z Menagerie: Suzy Ultman

Quirky, clean illustrations bring the pull-the-tab board book, A to Z Menagerie. to life. Referred to as a gleeful gallery and a curated collection, the work will keep little eyes looking.

Among others, F includes a Ferris wheel, flour, a fez, a fern a flounder, fizz, and fireflies. The pullout tab illustrates the fox within the shape of the large cut letter. Printed in all caps, each drawn feature is identified.

Object identification, letter sounds, touch, and remembering are exercised alongside unique representations of things from our world. Here's a fresh A, B, C book for your first readers.

A to Z Menagerie
by Suzy Ultman
Chronicle Books, 2019

Tiny Town and Tiny Farm: Suzy Ultman

I really enjoy Suzy Ultman's work for first readers. Tiny Farm and Tiny Town are thick-paged, shaped board books with die cuts. There's a patterned depiction reminiscent of Scandinavian art. Or maybe needlework. The small layout is filled with illustrations and capitalized words which identify objects and animals.

It is easy to image propping these books open for further play. They would create inspiring settings for the imaginative. Muted colors offer contrast to the sparse use of neon. What delightful work!

Tiny Farm
Tiny Town
by Suzy Ultman
Chronicle Books

Masha and Her Sisters: Suzy Ultman

This book is adorable. Stacked pages flip down to introduce a family of nesting dolls. Masha and Her Sisters by Suzy Ultman is clever with beautiful, patterned folk art in subdued colors. There's Natasha the storyteller; Larisa, the performer; and Olya, the chef among the group. The bodies of each sister are illustrated, front and back, with their beloved items: books and ink, measuring cups and pots, recorders and lutes. The mechanics of the book are so smooth, it's fun to manipulate the pages.

In this age, where we avoid labeling, I'd remind totz that these are things the sisters enjoy. The sisters are more than the labels the book is illustrating. Does that make sense? One can enjoy storytelling and be a nature lover. This work can raise that conversation. Also, there are no descriptions which broaden the roles of women beyond the familiar. Yet, they do reflect the time period of the art. Another chat to be had.

When concerns are addressed with your readertotz, Masha and Her Sisters is dear.

Masha and Her Sisters
by Suzy Ultman
Chronicle Books, 2017