Starred Review for Lights on Broadway!

School Library Journal gave Lights on Broadway a starred review!

"A love letter to Broadway written with genuine warmth and professional-theater knowledge, this alphabet book features crisp, retro-style cartoon characters confidently racing about onstage and behind the scenes. Pleasantly busy pages capture the excitement of live theater and offer multiple entries for each letter. For example, 'A' is for 'audition,' 'actor,' 'audience,' and 'applause.' 'S' stands for 'stage,' 'scenery,' 'set,' and 'script.' Multiple sidebars offer further kid-friendly definitions. Plenty of star power is lent with quotes from luminaries such as Whoopi Goldberg, Liza Minelli, Steven Sondheim, Bernadette Peters, Carol Channing, and Kevin Kline. A CD single written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty performed by Mitchell is also included. A must for all collections, this book will be treasured by theater aficionados for years to come."

Alphabeasties Wins Silver Parents' Choice Honor

Parents' Choice - "since 1978 the only nonprofit consumer guide to children's books/video/toys/audio/software/magazines" - has just declared Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types "A Parents' Choice 2009 Silver Honor Award Winner." We're honored!

By the Light of the Harvest Moon in PW

We just received a great review in Publishers Weekly for By the Light of the Harvest Moon:

"After their winter-themed Snow Party, Ziefert and Jones return to fete the joys of autumn. The story’s backdrop is Apple Hill Farm, where a wind comes up and 'orange, yellow, and crimson leaves swirl and twirl and dance in the sky' until they coalesce into pumpkin-headed 'leaf people.' During the rambunctious harvest party that ensues, these cheery humanoids introduce young readers to autumn traditions like bobbing for apples, pumpkin stacking and stringing popcorn necklaces, while a leafy grandma succinctly explains the autumnal equinox: 'The hours of daylight and darkness are equal and fall begins. Fruits, vegetables, and grains are harvested, leaves turn the color of jewels.' Luminous pastels capture the vivid colors of the season, from New England–bright foliage to atmospheric details like a cow’s profile softly outlined by harvest moon glow. Eventually the partiers are swept away when 'the wind awakens from its slumber and delivers gusty blasts of air.' But thanks to Ziefert’s apple-crisp descriptions and the high energy of Jones’s jubilant creatures, readers may be tempted outside to make some autumn magic of their own."

Fabulous Long Tail Kitty review in PW

Long Tail Kitty just got a great review in Publishers Weekly!

Long Tail Kitty Lark Pien. Blue Apple (Chronicle, dist.), $14.99 (64p) ISBN 978-1-934706-44-2

Newcomer Pien's aptly named protagonist, who debuted in comics Pien created starting in 2001, now appears in a full-color collection of five original stories, rich in friendly, blissfully unironic conversations. Mischievous but goodhearted Long Tail Kitty ice-skates with his new friend Good Tall Mouse, fixes supper with said mouse as well as Bernice the dog and has a playdate with some friendly aliens. By the time readers hit the foldout page with nearly 70 fun games Long Tail Kitty has planned to do with the aliens—which range from “Office Jobs!” to “Crazy Tornado!”—they'll be converts. The panels are resolutely low-tech; Long Tail Kitty and friends are drawn with a few deft brushstrokes, while watercolors soften but draw little attention to themselves. Pien embraces ideals of compassion but doesn't hit readers over the head with them. After a bee stings him, Long Tail Kitty bridles at the bee's request to return his stinger, but when he imagines life without his own tail (“There would be nothing to keep my stripe up! My bellybutton would show!”), he relents. More, please! Ages 4–up. (Nov.)

Amazing Accolades

It's been a WHILE since we've been able to post some news, that's just how busy we've been. But in the interim, we've received some amazing awards and reviews.

The folks over at Oppenheim Toy Portfolio have just bestowed a Platinum Best Book Award upon Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types, and Gold Awards were given to Colors and 1-2-3, both by Simms Taback, How to Win Friends and Influence Creatures by Deborah Zemke, and DwellStudio's Look.

Also, Alphabeasties has received a STARRED review in Publishers Weekly! Here it is:

★ "No ordinary abecedarian, this typographical trip will wow design fans and suggest creative projects with letterforms. The book's introduction speaks affectionately of typefaces—“just like people, they look different and have different personalities”—before embarking on a thrilling spin through the alphabet. The first spread presents an alligator's silhouette, made up of capital and lowercase As, as the repeated word “algae” forms green strands around it. A bat shaped from gothic Bs holds vampire connotations; tall, skinny Gs evoke the height of a giraffe that hides behind leafy, vertical folds; and breathless italic Rs make a rabbit seem poised to leap. Werner and Forss, a debuting team of graphic designers, devote page borders to extra wordplay: a C becomes the curved back and tail of a cat, a K's extended foot kicks a soccer ball, a cursive L is a lasso and rounded Ps nestle in a pod. Innovations arrive several to a page, rewarding repeat visits and encouraging readers to muse on the power of type and all that letters and words can imply or insinuate."

More to come!

Blue Apple Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival

Blue Apple Books will have a booth at the Brooklyn Book Festival from 10am to 6pm Sunday, September 13th, in the Plaza by Brooklyn Borough Hall. Mark Jones and Yukiko Kido will be stopping by around noon to sign books, stop by if you can! For more information: http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/

An Illustrated View of the World

Blue Apple author/illustrator Roger DeMuth (Dinner for Eight, Please Don't Eat Me) got a wonderful write-up in his local paper, The Utica Observer-Dispatch - read it here.

How to Win Friends and Influence Creatures in PW!

We received a very nice review of How to Win Friends and Influence Creatures in Publishers Weekly!

"The lessons about life and friendship that the quirky, cartoon animals learn in this diminutive book are both practical and fun. A blue creature peeks out above a white fence as the text reads, 'Stand up straight...'Opening the gate reveals a snake—and the rest of the sentence: 'unless you have no legs to stand on.' On another spread, one elephant stands apart from the noisy herd: 'When everyone else is talking... learn to listen' (the elephant is then shown with a mouse in his trunk and its ears perked up). The information—and the humorous touches in the art—lend it both kid and adult appeal. Wishes for You is also available. Ages 4–8."