Deb Nance

A book that unfolds into high-contrast images designed to be shared with very young babies at playtime.

Charged by Professor Feather, Jo and Alex journey by riverboat through a beautiful forest in search of the last Rainbow Bird.

The illustrations are stunning, and the story may spark a love in children to save rare species.

The Eyebrows of Doom jump up on Dave the bear and Dave finds himself doing mean things. The eyebrows jump to a seagull named Ron and Ron starts doing ugly things. On and on, the Eyebrows of Doom go, from animal to animal, transforming nice animals into terrible ones.

A fun story told in a single word on a page, twisting animal names to make them describe the animal in a new way, and with a final, snappy ending.

Macy is lonely. She tries to find people to play with her, but no one is interested. Finally she goes off and plays by herself. It is only after she finds she can be happy alone that she is able to find a new friend to play with.

Several strategies for attempting to assuage loneliness.

Dottie wants to dance, to do ballet, but Mrs. Austere sends Dottie to obedience school. Dottie is miserable until she meets a friend in the park who teaches her ballet on the side. And when an opportunity arises at the recital, Dottie shines.

A book for all of us who'd rather dance than simply obey.

Author Haruki Murakami talks about how he came to be a writer (he just decided to write a novel one day...out of the blue), who he writes for (himself), what he does to overcome writer's block (he doesn't get writer's block), what process he used to write his first novel (he wrote it in English and then translated it into his first language, Japanese), and much more in this little book of essays.

Featured in this board book are a big variety of ways animals can move. The text is very simple. Each photo of an animal moving is complemented with a photo of a human child moving in the same way. The photos are big and the animals pictured in the photos are compelling. A child couldn't resist trying out each of the animal moves for him/herself.

Body part by body part, author and doctor Jonathan Reisman takes us through the human body. Along the way, Reisman tells stories of his around-the-world traveling adventures that relate to each body part.

It's a compelling read...yes, fascinating.

Rinker Buck builds a flatboat and, with no experience traveling on a river and with few knowledgable crewmen, heads down the Mississippi River. As Buck heads downriver, he relates stories from rivermen of the past as well.

Very satisfying river travel for me, safe in my reading chair, as Buck learns-by-doing how to traverse the mighty Mississippi.

A black man shares stories of some of his favorite black male heroes with a young black boy. It's an inspiring book for all children, with bright illustrations and fantastic role models.

Akpa, a young murre, hatches from his egg and must travel with his father far from his birthplace, though he is not yet able to fly.

A very compelling story based on factual information about murre birds.

Biblio is a little bookshelf. He wants to find a story about a bookshelf like himself, but the other bookshelves tell him that bookshelves hold stories, not have stories. Biblio is discouraged, but he continues to work to help children find good books, and he comes to have some good friends in the library. And one of them surprises Biblio by writing a story about his bookshelf life.

“Everyone has a story!” is the powerful theme of this book featuring a delightfully charming bookshelf, a delightfully charming text, and delightfully charming illustrations.

The cat wants a horse.
But the book cannot draw a horse.
The book can draw other things. The book draws other things.
The cat has many wonderful adventures.
But still the cat wants a horse.
Can the book draw a horse?

Aw, super fun story. Easy for any kid to read. And filled with illustrations any kid could draw.

And did I say that this story is super fun? It is. It is super fun.

Where do ideas come from? And what do you do if you are out of ideas?

A little girl loves creating things. But then, one day, she is without an idea. What can she do?

She tries everything. But nothing works. And just when she's about to give up—Wham!

A story that centers on creativity and making things and how to spark that, with delightful illustrations.

Mary sees an abandoned lot in her neighborhood and she takes action, working to gather others to help and clean up the lot and make the lot into a place that everyone in the neighborhood can enjoy.

A book that could inspire us to work to make our own neighborhoods better for all.

A mother shares with her daughter all the things she loves about her, comparing each quality to an aspect of Inuit life or the land in the Arctic.

A beautiful love letter from a mom to her child.

The job of a kid? Playing. Playtime for Restless Rascals celebrates playing—splashing in puddles, swinging, jumping in leaves, making angels in the snow—a kid alone and with the kid's family.

Beautiful text and I ove the art!

Sheila and Gerald and Geraldine begin to eat a book only to find the book has eaten them. They have a series of surreal adventures only to learn that the way to eat a book is to let the book eat you.

Bright illustrations and a very quirky story make this fun for kids and the parents reading the story to them.

Keiko pushes herself to be her best self. She knows others judge her harshly at times, but she discovers ways she can move past that.

Keiko is a role model for all of us.

Snail is a party animal...well, a quiet party animal.

When invitations to parties slow down and then stop, Snail decides to throw a party himself. And it turns out to be “quiet” delightful!

For those of us who tend to celebrate on the far left dial turn of loud...

Loujain wants to be able to fly. But others laugh at her...Only boys can fly, they say. Nevertheless, her father dares to teach her. And one day she flies.

A beautiful and inspiring story based on the life of activist Loujain Alhathloul.

Penny, the fourth little pig, is called to the scene of the wolf-huffed-and-puffed-damaged homes of her brothers, the Three Little Pigs. Together the four of them rig up traps for the threatened return of the Big Bad Wolf. Successful in driving off the wolf, the four design and build a home for them all.

Lesson learned: Science triumphs. And humor, especially pig puns, are highly appreciated.

A little girl and an elderly woman delight in working together to plant seeds and harvest the crops in a community garden. And then the old woman is gone, and the little girl is left with memories.

A sweet, sweet story that leaves me with a glorious bittersweet feeling.

“Who has keen-design flair,
an artist's time-to-shine flair,
a sketch-and-then-refine flair?
Create. It could be you.”

Inspiration for going after your dreams, whatever they are, written in fresh rhyme and illustrated with gorgeous colorful pictures.