Pajama Press

Open Book interview with author Wendy Orr, “Wendy Orr Explores Love, Disability, and Coming of Age in Ancient Greece in Her Captivating New Novel”

Kirkus ★ Starred Review

“Sensations noticed in the outdoors are supplemented by interesting facts about nature in a variety of settings….The detailed text and varied images immerse readers in the feeling of being outside, fully attentive and relaxed. Readers will be encouraged to explore natural settings and observe the creatures in them as well as the experiences within their own bodies. The illustrations use soft coloring, varied perspectives, and active characters to great effect, pulling observers into the worlds of plants, animals, and the people who love them.

This lovely book is more than the sum of its parts.”

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Youth Services Book Review

“Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4.5…

What did you like about the book? This is a lovely book about the joy of discovering nature in the outdoors. Whether in a yard, a city park, a playground or on the sidewalk, there are things to appreciate if you look….Friendly-feeling gouache, pencil and chalk art with collage shows a warm, accessible natural world to investigate. Children of various races and abilities are depicted. Simple descriptive labels add more information to the main text. I like that readers can just read the main text for the youngest listeners, and can add the informational details for older listeners….

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our ‘to read’ piles? Yes”
—Stephanie Tournas, Robbins Library, Arlington, MA

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Ancient History Encyclopedia: “Interview: Swallow’s Dance by Wendy Orr”

Click here to download the Duck Days teaching guide.

Click here to download the Raven, Rabbit, Deer teaching guide.

Click here to download the Raven, Rabbit, Deer colouring page

Kirkus Reviews

“Anderson tucks careful, child-friendly details into the simple compositions, rendering flora and fauna with greater realism than the bipedal, clothed felines. The fact that one of the assumed parent cats is a black cat is a nice change from the usual stereotypes around black cats….This Easter story focuses on things like springtime renewal as opposed to delving into the religious background of the holiday. Instructions for preparing decorated eggs close the book.

A simple, secular Easter story best suited for younger readers.”

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Publishers Weekly

“The creators of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round reunite for this easy-to-read secular celebration of Easter, which features a community of multicolored cats….A mellow color palette and expressive characters mark Anderson’s approachable art, done in oil-based colored pencil and mineral spirits, rounding out this simple seasonal offering. Back matter includes instructions for Easter egg dyeing.”

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Kirkus Reviews

“Told mostly from Clio’s point of view, the novel slides effortlessly between prose and poetry. It may take readers a few pages to enter the unfamiliar world, but the engaging storyline and characters make it worth their while. Most impressive is Orr’s ability to translate a worldview vastly different from our own. Memorable.”

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Kirkus Reviews

“Bedard’s fourth stand-alone novel set in the town of Caledon again focuses on a good-versus-evil plot structured around supernatural events. The place and setting are strongly developed as each clue quietly builds to a suspenseful climax, and the slow pace contributes to an old-fashioned feel. The technology in Simon’s world points to a 1980s setting: Computers, ultrasounds, TVs, and landline phones exist but not the internet or cellphones….A quiet story for patient readers.”

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School Library Journal

“Bedard’s story is an intriguing premise that doesn’t quite hit its mark….What should be a dark, exciting mystery is overshadowed with a lackluster narrative, providing an adequate but humdrum tale.”
–Emily Walker, Lisle Lib. Dist., IL

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Winnipeg Free Press

“Do you enjoy stories with a hint of dark magic, spells that threaten to trap you into a world of ancient sorcery? Then The Egyptian Mirror by acclaimed Toronto author Michael Bedard is the book for you….Bedard builds a feeling of impending disaster that threatens Simon and his friend Abbey as they watch a strange woman and an unfriendly black dog move into the old man’s home.”

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Kirkus Reviews

“Grundmann and Dupont highlight the ways in which various nonhuman animals display extraordinary sensory capabilities that human bodies lack….Small lessons in the science behind senses are interspersed amid the many short paragraphs about animals all over the planet. The text is graceful and often humorous, with an extensive vocabulary and fairly complex sentence structure….Overall, the book thoughtfully and exuberantly excites wonder in its readers. Sensational sensory stories.”

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Midwest Book Review

“Exceptionally ‘kid friendly’ in tone, commentary and presentation, When Elephants Listen With Their Feet: Discover Extraordinary Animal Senses is especially recommended for family, elementary school, middle school, and community library Wildlife picture book collections for young readers ages 8- 12.”

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CanLit for LittleCanadians interview with author Sue Farrell Holler and illustrator Jennifer Faria

Click here to download the teaching guide for The Library Bus.

Click here to download the A World of Mindfulness teaching guide.

Booklist

“This calming picture book is a collaboration between a number of Pajama Press’ editors and illustrators. Their styles differ, but all are soothing and promote thinking in the moment about one’s environment and feelings….The gentle writing and age-appropriate examples make this a useful book for little ones.”
— Miriam Aronin

Read the full review in the December 1, 2020 issue of Booklist

Publishers Weekly

“From the team behind A World of Kindness comes this picture book, which does double duty as a mindfulness guide. Fourteen artists illustrate, with a table of contents helpfully identifying the respective page numbers….The children have differing skin tones and hair textures, highlighting the universality of this effectively grounding read.”

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Kirkus Reviews

“Numerous artists illustrate words meant to ground readers in the moment….Designed to bring readers’ attention to what is occurring within and around them, the text reads like a guided meditation, beginning and ending with ‘I am here.’ Each spread features art by a different illustrator, varying in style, with bright colored-pencil drawings, soft watercolor paintings, mixed-media collage, and striking scenes in textured clay. The scenes represent the moments and experiences described in the text, and they feature children of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. With its meditative words that encourage slow reading, this book can be used as a practical introduction to mindfulness meditation, as an example of the practice, and as a guide.”

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Postmedia

“Mindfulness practice, such as meditation and yoga, can be helpful to children making them feel calm, focused and more in control….This collaborative picture book is ‘dedicated to all children struggling to navigate our uncertain world.’”

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Winnipeg Free Press

“In a year when the pandemic has turned the whole world upside down, children may need familiar and comforting things to hold on to. Pajama Press has gathered 14 exceptional Canadian artists to project the calming feelings that can be invoked by our senses: smelling fresh grass, feeling the warmth of the sun, hearing the sound of birds or experiencing the joy of creating things and more.”

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The International Educator

“A meditative text, accompanied by beautiful images demonstrates the importance for children on being quiet and reflective some times. It shows how listening to birds can help quiet the snow storm in your head and help you to let go of anger. This picture book can help to lead children to practice yoga, meditation and general peace of mind.”

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CanLit for LittleCanadians

“Our world needs more mindfulness. With all the strife and worries, we need to become aware of the present, appreciate the now and bring calm. A World of Mindfulness will help all of us, but especially children, find that.

Fourteen illustrators provide artwork to complement Pajama Press editor Erin Alladin’s words. The text is sparse but impactful…Whether trying to permeate the text with the calm resulting from mindfulness or the wish to find joy or the angst that compels a need for mindfulness, the illustrators complete the messages of enlightenment and support in their medium of choice. There are coloured-pencil drawings, cut-paper art, digital illustration and more. As diverse as the ways to attain mindfulness, the illustrators of A World of Mindfulness explore the concept with their own form of creativity.

When Pajama Press came out with its first collaboratively-created picture book, A World of Kindness, it impressed all with its poignant messages and stunning and varied artwork. It ushered readers through recognizing the need for kindness, especially when faced with unkindness, and how to be kind. A World of Mindfulness similarly takes the reader on a journey of discovery, of how to find the calm within, of focusing on moments and tasks and of immersing oneself in the experience that is. Whether for quality of life or therapy, mindfulness works and so does A World of Mindfulness.”

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Canadian Bookworm

“Particularly this year, with the lack of structure and routine, proliferation of screen time, and societal anxiety, this book can help children stop and find balance and calm in their lives.

The illustrations are beautiful and show the beauty of our world and the diversity of our peoples. Each picture has lots of things to look at and can provide an image to meditate on. They celebrate our self, our natural world, small joys of life, and the act of creation and reflection.

This is a beautiful book and an apt one for this difficult year.”

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Sal’s Fiction Addiction

“As the Pajama Press team led by Gail Winskill did in A World of Kindness, they again combine stunning artwork with sensitive text to help young children find ‘warmth, peace and hope’ in difficult times. As 2020 winds down with a fervent hope for a better new year, this is a book that will resonate with all families….

The artwork is created in a variety of media, and is beautifully rendered to bring a sense of calm and to empower readers to take note of the world that surrounds them every day. The well-chosen words offer a chance to think about self, nature, feelings, movement, and place in that world….

Read slowly. Look carefully. Feel the calm as the world moves from one year to the next, with hope for better and a plan to find joy in the small things.”

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“A Family for Faru & A Different Drummer Books” virtual launch video with author Anitha Rao-Robinson from October 7, 2020