THE IMAGINARIAN
A 730-word picture book that sparks curiosity about language with word play intermixed with a childhood quest. It will appeal to readers of Rebecca Van Slyke's LEXIE THE WORD WRANGLER and Peter H. Reynold's THE WORD COLLECTOR.
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James, usually busy pretending to be an airplane making a daring landing on his mother's couch or a cheetah catching its prey from the refrigerator, is stumped when his teacher asks what he wants to be when he grows up. James dons boots, binoculars and his mother's very large straw hat to interview neighbors and family about what they do, hoping one of their jobs will be right for him. Like his neighbors and family have done before him, James will have to discover his expertise and how it could lead to a career, or face his classmates with nothing to share.
"But cheetahs don't eat picnics!" protests James.
"Maybe not, but little boys do!" calls Mom.
Smelling something delicious, he grabs his cheetah tail from the dirt and bounds towards her.
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BANDANAS ON
A 169-word picture book that demystifies and destigmatizes the use of bandanas to cover a loved one's head for medical purposes. It will appeal to caregivers as a tool to discuss one of the most visual changes children notice, in the vein of Chelsey Gomez's STICKERS ON HER BALD HEAD but without specifying a particular disease. BANDANAS ON uses simple rhymes to remove the fear of hair loss in the same way as Alicia Gleeson-Cherneski's MOM WHERE IS YOUR HAIR?
Bandanas on a team,
Bandanas of my dreams.
Bandanas flutter way up high,
Bandanas spread goodwill from the sky.
WHO WILL WIN TONIGHT?
A 698-word picture book about a father and son making the most of their limited time together. WHO WILL WIN TONIGHT? helps children find their strength when challenge arises in the same way as Gabi Garcia's I CAN DO HARD THINGS.
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Jarod's dad is away a lot for work on a new construction site. He motivates Jarod to collect animal facts to fill the time while they are apart, and so they can play a new game when next together. Just as it looks like another night without seeing his dad, Jarod gets to go on a special adventure to his dad's new work site to play an epic WHO WILL WIN TONIGHT.
That night he collected narwhal tooth power, peregrine falcon speed power and dragon scale armor power. He left all his lights on to help him stay awake, but by the time his dad got home, Jarod was flying above the clouds covered in blue-green scales, one huge tooth sticking out in front of him.
BETTER-EST
A 670-word picture book showing that the best you can be has nothing to do with others and everything to do with practice. BETTER-EST uses over twenty words ending in -est to teach vocabulary that is accessible to all. It lends itself to discussions of perseverance like Diane Alber's A LITTLE SPOT OF PERSEVERANCE: A STORY ABOUT NOT GIVING UP, and acceptance of others and oneself like Jory John and Pete Oswald's THE GOOD EGG.
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Matilda Mouse is all the wrong kinds of EST. She's the slowest, messiest, untimeliest and youngest mouse in her family. Her brothers and sisters are all the BEST at what they do: one makes the butteriest, savouriest mouse mousse pie, another is the fanciest, handiest carpenter mouse. Even her mother is the friendliest, joyfulest mouse in the forest. Matilda will have to learn to accept her skills and talents for what they are or forever feel she is not as good as others.
“Mother, I am the UNLIKELIEST mouse to be a good helper for you. I’ll mess up everything! The idea that you want my help is the ABSURDEST.”