New from Chronicle Books

I was recently asked about the last "adult" title I read in its entirety--my response? "It's been almost three years but In Cold Blood was wonderful, I highly recommend it."  As a children's librarian I have found myself reading too many titles to count,  largely because a good portion of my personal and professional reading revolves around picture books, readers, board books and jfiction and, let's be honest, I devour children's titles.  This being the case there are a few publishers that I've found to consistently print quality books for children.  Of these, Chronicle Books is a personal favorite for picture books.

Past Chronicle gems include Molly Idle's Flora & the Flamingo, Tullet's Press Here, Ah Ha! by Jeff Mack, Wave by Suzy Lee, Lifetime by Lola Schaefer,  Parot's Kokeshi, Kimonos and Duskey's Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site among many others.   In my constant perusal of the children's new shelf I recently found several Chronicle picture book titles that, for me, set the scene for the 2014 publication year in terms of graphic design.

Cat Says Meow and other Animalopoeia by Michael Arndt is a standout title in which the letters from each of the featured animals' sounds become integral parts of the illustrations.  You and your children will have great fun talking about the sounds letters make and finding them within each animal.  It's a great book for exploring the interaction between typography,  image and reading.

Run, Dog! by Cécile Boyer follows a ball chasing dog through interactions with his urban surroundings.  Utilizing every portion of the book, the narrative starts on the cover  and runs through the final endsheet, starting over again with the phrase "Follow that ball!" on the back cover. Told using few words and a unique increasing flap page structure this book is great for children who are learning to read or like to explore titles on their own.

In short if you're looking for a great picture book for any age Chronicle Books will have something to fit your needs.   If there are glasses on the spine chances are it's worth a look!