Pajama Press

Lynn Leitch and Scot Ritchie Present Dinos Driving.

Jane Whittingham presents Bear Has a Belly.

CBC Books Interview with Michelle Kadarusman

Quill & Quire Michelle Kadarusman Author Profile

Open Book Interview with Michelle Kadarusman

Michelle Kadarusman Presents Berani:

Books + Publishing “Michelle Kadarusman on ‘Berani'”

[Angela Crocombe:] You write Berani in three voices, one of which was the voice of the orangutan, Ginger Juice. How did you research and find the voice of an orangutan to make it sound authentic?

[Michelle Kadarusman:] I’m fortunate to have a good friend, a primatologist, who studied orangutans in Borneo. The work of Leif Cocks, the founder of The Orangutan Project, was also extremely helpful. All of my research pointed to the fact that orangutans and humans are so similar that an orangutan kept in longterm captivity would display the same kind of mental, physical and emotion deterioration that you would find in humans. This is a disturbing fact considering our habit of keeping apes in captivity and one that I wanted to try and communicate by having Ginger Juice’s voice heard from her cage. It was a bit of a creative leap for me and I changed her chapters more than any others when writing the manuscript. I also worked hard with my editor to help develop the tone. Ultimately, I hope her passages would allow readers to build empathy for her plight.

Read the full interview at booksandpublishing.com.au

Publishers Weekly

“In rhyming couplets, a caregiver encourages a child…to embrace bedtime so that a crew of bunny helpmeets can begin their work tidying up the world. As a child’s caregiver turns off the light and offers a bedtime kiss, lines describe the “chores,”…being completed by toy stuffed rabbits come to life: “Comb the grass, straighten the trees,/ Place a dot on the black-eyed peas.” Other imagery draws heavily on sewing metaphors, aligning with Sato’s collaged illustrations, which rely on paper, textiles, and embroidery silk: when “the woven night of black and gray” is described as being “embroidered with a Milky Way,” the child is shown yawning beneath an inky knit blanket and a purple embroidered sky. Throughout, the textured scenes remix details from the child’s waking life into suitably snuggly dreamscapes.”

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Booklist

“Whittingham’s book for very young children has a repetitive text…Each clear, full-color photograph shows one of nine animals on the left side of the page; on the right is a smaller picture of a child revealing their corresponding body part along with the words “I do too!”…At the book’s conclusion, five simple activities, which use the text for inspiration, are suggested for playtime. This entertaining activity book will work well for one-on-one sharing and as a toddler storytime selection, since it encourages children to shout out the refrain while pointing to the body part being named. Due to the repetition, this title could also serve as a beginning reader for slightly older children.”

CM Magazine

“In Bear Has a Belly, Jane Whittingham uses beautiful side-by-side photographs of animals and children with their having something in common. Fox has a nose… do you? (Yes!) Frog has a tongue… do you? (Yes!). This wildlife themed exploration of bodies and connection will likely delight the youngest readers among us…Children can point to their own bodies, experiment with sounds, and notice other connections between the animals and the children pictured.

Overall, Bear Has a Belly is a great book with many tools for families and readers to explore on their reading journey. Highly Recommended”

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YA Books Central

“This was a darling book filled with vibrant photographs of animals and children. This book is perfect for building a vocabulary of body parts and animals for young children or English language learners…I appreciate the suggested activities at the end for how parents can extend learning after reading this story…Overall, this book was very cute and made me want to get up and move just like the book demonstrated.

Overall rating 5.0″

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Click here to download the Berani teaching guide.

Click here to download the Room for More teaching guide.

Kirkus Reviews

It was magic when Daniel made his first batch of chocolates at age 4, with his Great-Uncle Lewis—“the Cocoa King of Charlottetown”—keeping his hands steady as Daniel poured the chocolate into the mold. Four years later, the duo’s chocolate-making has become routine as they melt, pour, scrape, and mold together for “one precious hour every morning” before Daniel goes to school. A new classmate’s loneliness prompts Daniel to hide a beautifully wrapped chocolate caramel in her desk to cheer her up.

When Great-Uncle Lewis goes off to a chocolatiers’ conference for five days, Daniel frets about the “cocoa magic” fading. His classmates surprise him with their own act of kindness. Drawing inspiration from her background as a clinical social worker, Bradley crafts a story laced with empathy and kindness. Grimard’s soft, mixed-media illustrations evoke a sense of coziness as well as the historical Charlottetown setting…Endpapers mimic a box of chocolates—a delicious touch…Sweet as sugar.

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“Finding Our Place in the Universe” Bookflap dialogue between author Jen Lynn Bailey and illustrator Maggie Zeng

Kirkus Reviews

“8 + 2 becomes more than just numbers in this invitation to think outside the worksheet. Here, as she did for shapes and for sounds in her previous entries in the Big, Little Concepts series, Allenby turns arithmetic into play…The author supplies caregivers with further enrichment activities designed to stretch counting and classification skills at the end, and Zeng’s expressively posed children are having so much fun throughout that readers will jump at the chance to join in…Teachers and parents can count on an enthusiastic response from younger audiences.”

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YA Books Central

“The author uses easy, simple words that are easy for young children to understand, but not so simple that it is a chore for a parent to read aloud. The illustrations are cute and vivid, and they provide that necessary step for visual learners. I enjoyed that the author included fun activities for kids at the end of the book, perfect for kinesthetic learners. Let’s Add Up! would be a great addition to any beginner reading/counter library – whether at home or a school setting.

Good Points: Easy To Read, Vivid illustrations, Educational

Overall Rating: 5”

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Click here to download The U-nique Lou Fox teaching guide.

Click here to download the Whistling for Angela teaching guide.

Publishers Weekly

“Dinosaurs hit the road as Leitch and Ritchie pair eight species with their ideal vehicles… Set against white backgrounds, Ritchie’s cartoonlike pencil, ink, and digital art presents the subjects’ personalities with an anthropomorphized stylishness befitting their vehicle of choice: Velociraptors sit easily in a minicar, while Diplodocus less comfortably occupies a yellow school bus… a playfully tender concluding scene should fuel driving daydreams. Back matter includes facts and discussion prompts.”

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Booklist

“In a (mostly) four wheeled flight of “What If…” Leitch pairs prehistoric motorists to preferred motor vehicles and Ritchie puts pedal to the metal with windswept views of full sized dinos atop, usually, hilariously tiny cars, motorcycles, or (in the case of T. Rex) a monster truck…Sporting loud, unnatural, vigorously brushed colors the eight drivers prance on foot across a closing spread alongside identifying labels and facts, and the author tacks on a set of extension activities”

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Youth Services Book Review

“Cute and cuddly dinosaurs drive a variety of vehicles, with each illustration loosely tied to an attribute of the extinct animal…The very attractive pen-and-ink drawings filled with digital color look like watercolor and the bold, irregular font changes color to match both the dinosaurs and the vehicles. I definitely liked the clean, spare, and stylish look of the book, with its boldly colored illustrations on mostly white pages. A short afterward shows pictures of the creatures and clarifies the attribute that led to their vehicle assignment. Also included: a list of interactive questions for adult readers to use with their children.”

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YA Books Central 

“Each page introduces a species of dinosaurs, such as velociraptor or brachiosaurus, and states what kind of car they would drive…I recommend this book to parents or teachers of young children in the age 3-8 range who enjoy dinosaurs and are beginning to explore repetitive beginner books with increasing independence. Overall rating 4.5″

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CM Magazine

“Scot Ritchie…has contributed his signature illustrations to bolster this…picture book written by first-time author Lynn Leitch. Spread by spread, one brightly-coloured dinosaur after another can be seen steering some kind of motor vehicle across the viewer’s horizon…The author has ended the book with a page directed at parents and care-givers with ideas for expanding on the use of the book through discussion and activities. Ritchie’s illustrations are definitely the star here. Dinos Driving would be an entertaining addition to picture book collections for young ones interested in both dinosaurs and things that go. Recommended”

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Storytime with Stephanie

“I love the opportunity for critical and creative thinking involved in Dinos Driving…Lynn Leitch pairs a few different dinosaurs with their ideal vehicles…It’s a really cute story that dinosaur enthusiasts will love.

Throughout the book, readers have an opportunity to look at each dinosaur and their chosen preferred vehicle and make inferences as to why each dinosaur had chosen each particular vehicle. This allows readers to use their critical thinking skills and also provides the opportunity to extend the thinking to other dinosaurs not included in the book…There is also a handy parent’s guide at the end to help extend the story beyond the preschool years…Scot Ritchie’s illustrations are whimsical and fun. I love the movement on each page, signaling which dinosaurs like to go fast and which prefer a slower pace. Children will have a good laugh seeing how the different dinosaurs navigate driving their vehicles.”

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Kids Book Buzz

“I like that I can read the book by myself, and I like looking at the pictures on each page because they are bright and colorful. The book is silly because we know that most dinosaurs couldn’t even fit into cars, but fun to read about anyways! This story would be a good one for little kids to enjoy or people of any age who really like dinosaurs!

Reviewed By: Lydia – age 8”

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Storywraps

“Velociraptor, Iguanodon, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bradchiourus ( and more )  all weigh in the kind of vehicle that they want to drive.  The illustrations animate the text and tickle kid’s imaginations.  The book is enriched with preschool- friendly facts and activities.  Eight dino-mite dinosaurs will take you on a ride of your life.  I love the whole exciting vibe of the book and I highly recommend it.”

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Click here to download The Egyptian Mirror teaching guide.