Oversized: Mamoko, New York, and Animalium

How about 3 huge books for little hands, all from Big Picture Press? Two are even board books!



The World of Mamoko, In the Time of Dragons will pull your totz into a story they can tell. While searching for characters, introduced right up front, they can read, reread, and tell at least 26 different tales by following their chosen beastie. From Stewart Snowt to Jasper Fuggle-Hop to Alec Ratz, the stories are just waiting to be discovered. They can also watch for hidden objects and find coins and mushrooms on every page. This would be a great book to share in a backseat for a long Thanksgiving roadtrip! The oversize board book will last and last.

OR



how about a visit to New York, by Josh Cochran. I'm headed there myself next month so this is a timely treat. Your totz can explore the city through this big book doubling as a two-sided chart. All the while, the reader can search for 80 objects nested in the cityscape. This work gets me revved up for New York City. I'm sure it will do the same for your family. The stiff pages will hold up to little hands. The graphic imagery reminds me of the seventies and maybe a little of A Yellow Submarine.

AND FINALLY,



Animalium.  Imagine a museum inside a book! Written by Jenny Broom and illustrated by Katie Scott, this is a treasure. Six galleries present everything from invertebrates to mammals. I love this intro:

"This museum is like none you've ever visited before. It's open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and its collection boasts a fascinating catalog of the world's creatures, with each exhibit in immaculate condition and presented in fantastic detail."

From the rich paper it is printed on. to the choices for illustration, to the text, this masterpiece warrants inclusion in homes, school, and libraries. Please find this labor of love and soar into it with your totz.

The World of Mamoko, In the Time of Dragons
by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski
Big Picture Press, 2014

New York
by Josh Cochran
Big Picture Press, 2014

Animalium
by Jenny Broom
illustrated by Katie Scott
Big Picture Press, 2014

Poetry Friday: Odd One Out

The Odd One Out is a retro spotting book by Britta Teckentrup. Released from Big Picture Press, it's regular-size and full of rhymes.

"Hello! Good morning!"
a flock of birds tweet.
As the sun rises,
they're ready to eat.

A yummy bird breakfast
wriggles and squirms --
but which of these birds
has caught the worm?

Enjoy spotting on this Poetry Friday!

The Odd One Out, a spotting book
by Britta Teckentrup
Big Picture Press, 2014

More, more, more: The World of Mamoko in the Year 3000

For the Big Kid in your family, there's a big board book, another entry of Mamoko, but this time the characters are in the year 3000. Your young readers will have fun with over 25 characters who begin with a plot question on the first spread. The book can be read front to back following one animal at a time. Otherwise wordless, your Big Kid becomes the storyteller as he follows the images across futuristic scenes and circumstances.

I can so see this imagery printed on material for clothing and décor. Can't you? Love it!

The World of Mamoko in the Year 3000
by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski
Big Picture Press, 2014

Big Kid Pick: Maps

As I get ready to set off for Greece, I came across this work by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski. It is GORGEOUS! I'm so happy to recommend Maps to you for this month's Big Kid Pick.

The oversize book is a visual representation of the world. Intricate, detailed, pen-line drawings and subdued colors show countries, places of interest, heroes, animals, people, traditional dress, foods and plants, languages, populations, and more, more more!

With the work translated into many languages, here's just a sample of the interior imagery:



In this time of "search and find" books, I found this work from Big Picture Press equally complex yet refreshing in what it might teach. Your Big Kids and you will fall into this book, and before you know it, you'll be making travel plans. I read it for an hour the first time I opened it. I was lost in Maps and happy for it.

Maps
by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski
Big Picture Press, 2013

Welcome to Mamoko: Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski

Okay, it's a board book, really. Yes it's huge, but the pages are stiff and even the youngest readers will be intrigued. Welcome to Mamoko is wonderful!

The opening spread introduces the characters heading to the Town Carnival that evening. A small intro is included beside each animal/alien. Then, turn the page and track the stories each one experiences. The work can be read and reread as your focus changes. What does old Mrs. Full-Wool experience, while Alexander Stripe is hurrying off to help someone. But who needs help? What does Cecily Beak see with her chick, while who is Vincent Brisk taking as his date?



Readers will be telling stories and laughing at plot lines while spotting repeated objects like cheese, apples, and a pencil. So glad this was brought to us from Poland. Find it and tell all the tales in Mamoko.

Welcome to Mamoko
by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski
Big Picture Press, 2013