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For awards & reviews, free coloring sheets and activities to download, videos, and more, go to the RAINFOREST page on the left side menu or click : RAINFOREST
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For REVIEWS, free activities and coloring sheets of fun fish to print out, videos of how the book was made and a reading, and other fun stuff,
go to the DIVE IN!! page on the left menu on this site. |
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For all "Rodents Rascals" 3-starred REVIEWS (and other reviews, awards, activities, videos, and more info),
click here: RODENT RASCALS |
For FREE fun information and activities on Dive In, Rodent Rascals, Masterpiece Mix, Dinosaurs, how Ecomazes was made, Market Maze, and Slithery Snakes,
click here on name: DIVE IN, RODENT RASCALS, MASTERPIECE MIX, DINOS, EcoMAZES, MARKET MAZE, SLITHERY SNAKES
click here on name: DIVE IN, RODENT RASCALS, MASTERPIECE MIX, DINOS, EcoMAZES, MARKET MAZE, SLITHERY SNAKES
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For more "Masterpiece Mix" reviews, activities, videos, free coloring sheet, and more,
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KIRKUS Reviews:
Looking for a fresh and inviting introduction to academic painting genres such as still life, portrait, or landscape? Why not bring readers inside an artist's studio (perhaps author/illustrator Munro's own?) and actually show them the process?
Munro begins with preparations to paint: stretching and gessoing canvas, selecting the right tubes of colors, choosing brushes, palette knives, and solvents, setting up a palette for painting, and so on. It's lots of work…but the really hard part about painting is deciding just what to paint. In demonstrating her decision-making process, Munro uses 37 iconic and inspiring examples of fine art, each illustrating a genre for consideration, all drawn from the open-access collection of the National Gallery of Art and all representing an energizing variety of European and American artists, eras, media, and styles. She cleverly brings all these images together in a detailed, ambitious, culminating ink-and-acrylic cityscape. This signature image of an art-bedecked, lively metropolis also works as an art scavenger hunt. As readers discover the art embedded in a landscape, they can refer to the smart, concise, marvelously amplifying backmatter.
A handsome and satisfying companion to Market Maze (2015). (Informational picture book. 4-8)
Looking for a fresh and inviting introduction to academic painting genres such as still life, portrait, or landscape? Why not bring readers inside an artist's studio (perhaps author/illustrator Munro's own?) and actually show them the process?
Munro begins with preparations to paint: stretching and gessoing canvas, selecting the right tubes of colors, choosing brushes, palette knives, and solvents, setting up a palette for painting, and so on. It's lots of work…but the really hard part about painting is deciding just what to paint. In demonstrating her decision-making process, Munro uses 37 iconic and inspiring examples of fine art, each illustrating a genre for consideration, all drawn from the open-access collection of the National Gallery of Art and all representing an energizing variety of European and American artists, eras, media, and styles. She cleverly brings all these images together in a detailed, ambitious, culminating ink-and-acrylic cityscape. This signature image of an art-bedecked, lively metropolis also works as an art scavenger hunt. As readers discover the art embedded in a landscape, they can refer to the smart, concise, marvelously amplifying backmatter.
A handsome and satisfying companion to Market Maze (2015). (Informational picture book. 4-8)
Great early review for MASTERPIECE MIX from the Huffington Post's children's book reviewer, Vicki Cobb.
Click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-lesson-in-creativity_us_592c3adfe4b0a7b7b469cc2f
Click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-lesson-in-creativity_us_592c3adfe4b0a7b7b469cc2f
A LESSON IN CREATIVITY
One of the most often-asked question from kids of authors and illustrators is: “Where do you get your ideas?” What they really want to know is, “ ‘How can I be like you?’ ” In author/illustrator Roxie Munro’s latest book, Masterpiece Mix, she introduces her readers to a story of the process of creativity and presents them with new ways to look at art and their own environment. Like the last book I reviewed, Seagrass Dreams, this is a multi-leveled, innovative, different kind of picture book where interactivity can lead to new discoveries at every reading.
Masterpiece Mix begins traditionally enough with the autobiographical problem Munro faces when she decides to do a painting and shows how she prepares a blank canvas, and gets her tools ready. Ultimately, she must come to grips with the challenge that faces anyone who faces a blank page, screen or canvas. “What should I paint?”
For many, at this instance, their minds are as blank as what they’re looking at. So Munro offers suggestions by showing us how other painters have solved the problem with reproductions of art from museums and books. We see works by the great masters of different genres: still life, landscape, portraits, animals, figures, and the arts and even sports. The paintings are accurately rendered and the subtext is that part of the creative process is to study the craft of masters.
Then she tells us her father’s advice, “Paint what you love.” Roxie loves cityscapes and what an amazing cityscape she creates for the culmination of the book! I will tell you only that it is brilliant and that it is also a puzzle that the child and adult reader will return to again and again.
The back of the book is extremely important as it is here that she identifies all the great paintings she admires and has previously shown. And she gives the reader the key to where you can find them her own masterpiece.
A master is a person who gets inspired by a vision in his or her mind, of what they want to create because they have invested time in study, developing a craft (no small thing) and practice. If they’ve gone public with their works, they get opinions of others which can help or hurt. Bravely, they persevere. If they’re lucky, they reach the top of their game, as Roxie Munro has, where there is a seamless connection between what is in her mind and on the page—a masterpiece of its genre. Brava! Roxie!
One of the most often-asked question from kids of authors and illustrators is: “Where do you get your ideas?” What they really want to know is, “ ‘How can I be like you?’ ” In author/illustrator Roxie Munro’s latest book, Masterpiece Mix, she introduces her readers to a story of the process of creativity and presents them with new ways to look at art and their own environment. Like the last book I reviewed, Seagrass Dreams, this is a multi-leveled, innovative, different kind of picture book where interactivity can lead to new discoveries at every reading.
Masterpiece Mix begins traditionally enough with the autobiographical problem Munro faces when she decides to do a painting and shows how she prepares a blank canvas, and gets her tools ready. Ultimately, she must come to grips with the challenge that faces anyone who faces a blank page, screen or canvas. “What should I paint?”
For many, at this instance, their minds are as blank as what they’re looking at. So Munro offers suggestions by showing us how other painters have solved the problem with reproductions of art from museums and books. We see works by the great masters of different genres: still life, landscape, portraits, animals, figures, and the arts and even sports. The paintings are accurately rendered and the subtext is that part of the creative process is to study the craft of masters.
Then she tells us her father’s advice, “Paint what you love.” Roxie loves cityscapes and what an amazing cityscape she creates for the culmination of the book! I will tell you only that it is brilliant and that it is also a puzzle that the child and adult reader will return to again and again.
The back of the book is extremely important as it is here that she identifies all the great paintings she admires and has previously shown. And she gives the reader the key to where you can find them her own masterpiece.
A master is a person who gets inspired by a vision in his or her mind, of what they want to create because they have invested time in study, developing a craft (no small thing) and practice. If they’ve gone public with their works, they get opinions of others which can help or hurt. Bravely, they persevere. If they’re lucky, they reach the top of their game, as Roxie Munro has, where there is a seamless connection between what is in her mind and on the page—a masterpiece of its genre. Brava! Roxie!
School Library Journal – June 2017
MUNRO, Roxie. Masterpiece Mix. illus. by Roxie Munro.
32p. reprods. Holiday House. Aug. 2017.
Tr $16.95. ISBN 9780823436996.
PreS-Gr 3–Munro introduces children to fine art using a search-and-find game and a fun framing device. A fictional artist, possibly modeled after the author/illustrator herself, is gathering her tools and supplies and deciding what to paint. She considers still lifes, landscapes, portraits, sport scenes, and more. The illustrations integrate Munro’s colorful ink drawings of the artist’s studio and town with reproductions of famous artworks, selected from the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, by painters such as Judith Leyster, Robert S. Duncanson, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Peter Paul Rubens, and Johannes Vermeer. The ending unveils the cityscape the artist has created, which incorporates all 37 masterpieces she had previously admired. In the back matter, thumbnail descriptions of each of the masterworks yield interesting tidbits for those who delve further: Winslow Homer illustrated 13 children’s books; Mary Cassatt, famous for figure painting, was barred from life drawing classes because of her gender; and Claude Monet did more than 250 paintings of the same pond. This simple story covering the basics of painting and drawing—materials, subject matter, and art history—can be absorbed in a few minutes by preschoolers, but the searching game and the intricacy of the artwork lend themselves to more thorough investigation by older children and those with longer attention spans. VERDICT Recommended as a versatile introduction to fine art for elementary schoolers.–Suzanne LaPierre, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
MUNRO, Roxie. Masterpiece Mix. illus. by Roxie Munro.
32p. reprods. Holiday House. Aug. 2017.
Tr $16.95. ISBN 9780823436996.
PreS-Gr 3–Munro introduces children to fine art using a search-and-find game and a fun framing device. A fictional artist, possibly modeled after the author/illustrator herself, is gathering her tools and supplies and deciding what to paint. She considers still lifes, landscapes, portraits, sport scenes, and more. The illustrations integrate Munro’s colorful ink drawings of the artist’s studio and town with reproductions of famous artworks, selected from the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, by painters such as Judith Leyster, Robert S. Duncanson, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Peter Paul Rubens, and Johannes Vermeer. The ending unveils the cityscape the artist has created, which incorporates all 37 masterpieces she had previously admired. In the back matter, thumbnail descriptions of each of the masterworks yield interesting tidbits for those who delve further: Winslow Homer illustrated 13 children’s books; Mary Cassatt, famous for figure painting, was barred from life drawing classes because of her gender; and Claude Monet did more than 250 paintings of the same pond. This simple story covering the basics of painting and drawing—materials, subject matter, and art history—can be absorbed in a few minutes by preschoolers, but the searching game and the intricacy of the artwork lend themselves to more thorough investigation by older children and those with longer attention spans. VERDICT Recommended as a versatile introduction to fine art for elementary schoolers.–Suzanne LaPierre, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Booklist July 12, 2017
Masterpiece Mix.
Munro, Roxie (Author) , Munro, Roxie (Illustrator)
Aug 2017. 32 p. Holiday, hardcover, $16.95. (9780823436996). Holiday, e-book, $16.95.
(9780823439126). 751.
Munro shares her artistic process in this eye-catching picture book about creativity and inspiration. After
building her canvas and gathering her tools, she’s ready to go, but a big questions looms: “what should I
paint?” She then searches for inspiration among some of her favorite pieces of art, and reproductions of
paintings or sculptures appear in the scene. Sometimes it’s a poster or print; other times it’s a page in a
calendar, image on a mug or tote bag, or an illustration in an open book. Fueled by the great masters,
Munro looks at the city outside her window and lands on the perfect idea for her own painting, but the
resulting artwork has some familiar images cleverly concealed within. This genial picture book does
double duty: it introduces famous artworks while emphasizing the importance of looking at both great art
and one’s surroundings for inspiration. Munro’s ultimate painting is filled with teensy details, which will
be fun to hunt for, and an answer key identifies each inspiring artwork in more detail. Aspiring artists will
be captivated.
— Anita Lock
Masterpiece Mix.
Munro, Roxie (Author) , Munro, Roxie (Illustrator)
Aug 2017. 32 p. Holiday, hardcover, $16.95. (9780823436996). Holiday, e-book, $16.95.
(9780823439126). 751.
Munro shares her artistic process in this eye-catching picture book about creativity and inspiration. After
building her canvas and gathering her tools, she’s ready to go, but a big questions looms: “what should I
paint?” She then searches for inspiration among some of her favorite pieces of art, and reproductions of
paintings or sculptures appear in the scene. Sometimes it’s a poster or print; other times it’s a page in a
calendar, image on a mug or tote bag, or an illustration in an open book. Fueled by the great masters,
Munro looks at the city outside her window and lands on the perfect idea for her own painting, but the
resulting artwork has some familiar images cleverly concealed within. This genial picture book does
double duty: it introduces famous artworks while emphasizing the importance of looking at both great art
and one’s surroundings for inspiration. Munro’s ultimate painting is filled with teensy details, which will
be fun to hunt for, and an answer key identifies each inspiring artwork in more detail. Aspiring artists will
be captivated.
— Anita Lock
Complete list and more full reviews of Masterpiece Mix (plus activities) please click here: Masterpiece Mix web page
MARKET MAZE [KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW!]
Publisher:Holiday House
Pages: 32
Publication Date: May 15, 2015
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-0-8234-3092-5
ISBN ( e-book ): 978-0-8234-3358-2
With an interactive maze/map, Munro demystifies for children where all the items for sale at the farmers market originate. Readers must navigate each page's directions and maze to collect and ship the items. "Guide the boat to the dock's loading area. Transfer the catch to the FISH truck, go to the fish-packing plant, and drive toward town." Readers also collect apples, milk, cheese, corn, flowers, eggs, veggies, baked goods, and kids (going on a field trip to the greenmarket). Less a map than an aerial view of different areas, the illustrations lack any compass or map key, so children will need their powers of observation and deduction to notice the only dock and the only boat out to sea, the truck marked with a fish, and the building with the same sign out front (the challenges seem to grow in difficulty with page turns). Arrows mark one-way streets (not correct paths!), and readers must puzzle the shortest way to get from one page turn to the next. Lists of items to find in the bright, busy, detailed India ink and colored acrylic ink illustrations extend the fun. The backmatter includes thumbnails marking both the shortest routes and the hidden items, and a paragraph under each goes into more detail about the featured market item. A great way to introduce kids to their foods' origins and to prepare them for a greenmarket visit of their own. (Interactive informational picture book. 4-8)
BOOKLIST
Though picture books in the find-the-tiny-objects genre can seem a bit aimless, this one has a clear destination: the farmers’ market. The large double-page spreads present diverse landscapes crisscrossed with roads and full of details and features. As trucks haul food and flowers through the countryside to the green market in town, children can pick out features such as “2 picnic areas, 2 tractors, 1 school bus,” or they can trace the mazelike routes of the trucks.
The meticulously drawn illustrations, which are india ink drawings colored with acrylic inks, offer attractive vistas as well as interesting details. Puzzle fans will particularly enjoy searching for a route through the corn maze. Answer key maps are appended.
From a parent’s or teacher’s point of view, here’s a good way for kids to gain the visual discrimination skills needed for reading, while they learn about the sources of food at their local farmers’ markets. For kids,though, the combination of mazes and hidden objects is just plain fun. It’s a winning combination. — Carolyn Phelan
Reading Rockets (WETA) Summer Reading List 2015
Publisher:Holiday House
Pages: 32
Publication Date: May 15, 2015
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-0-8234-3092-5
ISBN ( e-book ): 978-0-8234-3358-2
With an interactive maze/map, Munro demystifies for children where all the items for sale at the farmers market originate. Readers must navigate each page's directions and maze to collect and ship the items. "Guide the boat to the dock's loading area. Transfer the catch to the FISH truck, go to the fish-packing plant, and drive toward town." Readers also collect apples, milk, cheese, corn, flowers, eggs, veggies, baked goods, and kids (going on a field trip to the greenmarket). Less a map than an aerial view of different areas, the illustrations lack any compass or map key, so children will need their powers of observation and deduction to notice the only dock and the only boat out to sea, the truck marked with a fish, and the building with the same sign out front (the challenges seem to grow in difficulty with page turns). Arrows mark one-way streets (not correct paths!), and readers must puzzle the shortest way to get from one page turn to the next. Lists of items to find in the bright, busy, detailed India ink and colored acrylic ink illustrations extend the fun. The backmatter includes thumbnails marking both the shortest routes and the hidden items, and a paragraph under each goes into more detail about the featured market item. A great way to introduce kids to their foods' origins and to prepare them for a greenmarket visit of their own. (Interactive informational picture book. 4-8)
BOOKLIST
Though picture books in the find-the-tiny-objects genre can seem a bit aimless, this one has a clear destination: the farmers’ market. The large double-page spreads present diverse landscapes crisscrossed with roads and full of details and features. As trucks haul food and flowers through the countryside to the green market in town, children can pick out features such as “2 picnic areas, 2 tractors, 1 school bus,” or they can trace the mazelike routes of the trucks.
The meticulously drawn illustrations, which are india ink drawings colored with acrylic inks, offer attractive vistas as well as interesting details. Puzzle fans will particularly enjoy searching for a route through the corn maze. Answer key maps are appended.
From a parent’s or teacher’s point of view, here’s a good way for kids to gain the visual discrimination skills needed for reading, while they learn about the sources of food at their local farmers’ markets. For kids,though, the combination of mazes and hidden objects is just plain fun. It’s a winning combination. — Carolyn Phelan
Reading Rockets (WETA) Summer Reading List 2015
"Roxie's Puzzle Adventure" has been selected as one of the
12 Most Addictive Games for the iPhone for 2018!!!
Click here: https://www.agent.media/tech/12-most-addictive-games-for-iphone/
12 Most Addictive Games for the iPhone for 2018!!!
Click here: https://www.agent.media/tech/12-most-addictive-games-for-iphone/
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ROXIE'S PUZZLE ADVENTURE app for iPad and Android
chosen as one of School Library Journal's Top Ten Apps of 2013 To read the School Library Journal's review: http://www.slj.com/2013/11/reviews/apps/touch-and-go/caught-in-a-labyrinth-roxies-puzzle-adventure-touch-and-go/#_ To read SLJ's Top App List: http://www.slj.com/2013/12/reviews/best-of/sljs-top-10-apps-of-2013/ To order from the App Store, click here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/roxies-puzzle-adventure/id717180704?l=nl&ls=1&mt=8 To check out more reviews and awards, click here: ABOUT THE APPS |
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School Library Journal. Gr 2-4–Floating on a colorful, realistic, double-page painting of patterned skin, a black text box offers clues to the snake’s identity, and it is up to readers to name the species. Fortunately for unfledged herpetologists, the following spread presents the entire snake in full color, carefully placed in its habitat. Each bright revelation is accompanied by a more detailed paragraph of information. The nine species range from the familiar (the coast garter snake) to the expected (the eastern diamondback rattlesnake) to the exotic (Schinz’s beaked snake). Accompanying this colorful array is an introductory page of “Fun Snake Facts,” another discussing snakes in general, a glossary of “Fun Snake Words,” and a brief list of adult titles. Team this with Laurence Pringle’s nifty Snakes!: Strange and Wonderful (Boyds Mills, 2004) and/or Gail Gibbons’s exuberant Snakes (Holiday House, 2007) for a session of scaly speculation. –Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
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BOOKLIST: This oversize informational picture book will thrill those who like their scaly beasts large and up close, while those less enamored might be intrigued by the dazzling patterns and vibrant colors of their scales, artistically featured throughout. Nine diverse types of snakes are portrayed via double-page spreads filled with a likeness of the scales, the question “Can you guess what kind of snake this is?” and information providing further clues to the snake’s identity. Flipping the page reveals a startling colored-ink portrait filling both pages, with the coiled figure looming large in its natural habitat and a medium-sized paragraph of text placed discreetly to the side. Those represented, from many parts of the world, harmless and deadly, large and small (though they all appear large on the page), appear to have been chosen mostly for the interesting aspects of their scales. Still, it’s an informative package and an enticing introduction to the indeed-quite-slithery world of snakes.— Randall Enos
Here's a darling (short) video review by 7-year-old Kevin of "Slithery Snakes"...
Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byzECaSmR9Q
Here's a darling (short) video review by 7-year-old Kevin of "Slithery Snakes"...
Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byzECaSmR9Q
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"Busy Builders" won the
Cook Prize Silver Honor Metal! New York’s Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature (CCL) Cook Prize for the best picture book that teaches science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) principles. Click here: http://www.slj.com/2013/02/books-media/bank-street-ccl-announces-irma-black-award-cook-prize-finalists/#_ |
Ages 5-11—Many-legged home-builders are rendered in remarkable artwork. Eight habitat-building insects plus one spider are introduced. Each receives a close-up two-page look at the animal alone followed by a full-spread painting of the web, hive or mound in which it lives, here accompanied by a description of its hunting, nesting and food-storage habits. For most of the insects, the habitat provides a way to store its eggs and hatch and nurture larvae; the spider uses its web to capture its food. The full-color ink illustrations work well to give a sense of the creature’s body structure as well as of the general look of the hive or nest for each. The individual portraits are terrifically impressive, while the handsome habitat paintings show very well from a slight distance, making this a good choice for reading aloud to a group. Munro includes within each habitat drawing a close-up or cutaway interior look at a piece of the structure. The information presented is clear and unadorned, densely packed in a trim, compact type against the background of the habitat paintings. More information appears on the insect-focused introductory page directly opposite the title-page verso, and a glossary of “Bug Words” along with a brief list of resources is included on the last page. Enticing as an introduction to insects and spiders. — Kirkus Reviews, March 2012
“There are about 1,000,000,000 (1 billion!) insects for every human being”, says Roxie Munro in Busy Builders. That’s a lot of insects running, crawling, and flying around Earth. Yet, out of all those insects very few are actually builders. Using large, full-page illustrations rendered in India ink and colored ink, Munro gives us an inside look at the unique structures of seven insects and 1 spider.
The format is set up like a guessing game. “This is a Paper Hornet. Where does it live?” Young preschoolers who love to learn lots of facts about bugs will be waiting anxiously for the page to turn. Using clear language that is very accessible, we see and learn where they build and how the colony or individual insect or spider works together to survive. The seven insects listed are: Honeybee, Red Harvester Ant, Organ-Pipe Mud Dauber, Australian Weaver Ant, Leaf-Cutter Bee, Pine Processionary Caterpillar, African Termite, Paper Hornet, and the arachnid, a Garden Orb Spider.
Munro includes fun facts, a glossary of bug words, a bibliography of books and web sites to learn more about insects and spiders. A first-rate book Perfect for hot summer days. Pair this with Steve Jenkin's The Beetle Book. The NonfictionDetectives (two intrepid librarians review the best nonfiction for children)
Profiles of eight insects (and one spider) that make their own dwellings are presented in Roxie Munro’s Busy Builders. As always, Munro expertly employs perspective, on one page zooming in close enough to see the hairs on an insect’s legs and the shape of its antennae, and then on the next backing out to feature the geometric details of its home. Detailed explanations on the construction techniques and purposes of the structures are interwoven with facts about life cycles, food sources, and habitats. (6–9 years) Horn Book, May 2012 (Recommended books about bugs!)
“There are about 1,000,000,000 (1 billion!) insects for every human being”, says Roxie Munro in Busy Builders. That’s a lot of insects running, crawling, and flying around Earth. Yet, out of all those insects very few are actually builders. Using large, full-page illustrations rendered in India ink and colored ink, Munro gives us an inside look at the unique structures of seven insects and 1 spider.
The format is set up like a guessing game. “This is a Paper Hornet. Where does it live?” Young preschoolers who love to learn lots of facts about bugs will be waiting anxiously for the page to turn. Using clear language that is very accessible, we see and learn where they build and how the colony or individual insect or spider works together to survive...
Munro includes fun facts, a glossary of bug words, a bibliography of books and web sites to learn more about insects and spiders. A first-rate book Perfect for hot summer days. The Nonfiction Detectives
“There are about 1,000,000,000 (1 billion!) insects for every human being”, says Roxie Munro in Busy Builders. That’s a lot of insects running, crawling, and flying around Earth. Yet, out of all those insects very few are actually builders. Using large, full-page illustrations rendered in India ink and colored ink, Munro gives us an inside look at the unique structures of seven insects and 1 spider.
The format is set up like a guessing game. “This is a Paper Hornet. Where does it live?” Young preschoolers who love to learn lots of facts about bugs will be waiting anxiously for the page to turn. Using clear language that is very accessible, we see and learn where they build and how the colony or individual insect or spider works together to survive. The seven insects listed are: Honeybee, Red Harvester Ant, Organ-Pipe Mud Dauber, Australian Weaver Ant, Leaf-Cutter Bee, Pine Processionary Caterpillar, African Termite, Paper Hornet, and the arachnid, a Garden Orb Spider.
Munro includes fun facts, a glossary of bug words, a bibliography of books and web sites to learn more about insects and spiders. A first-rate book Perfect for hot summer days. Pair this with Steve Jenkin's The Beetle Book. The NonfictionDetectives (two intrepid librarians review the best nonfiction for children)
Profiles of eight insects (and one spider) that make their own dwellings are presented in Roxie Munro’s Busy Builders. As always, Munro expertly employs perspective, on one page zooming in close enough to see the hairs on an insect’s legs and the shape of its antennae, and then on the next backing out to feature the geometric details of its home. Detailed explanations on the construction techniques and purposes of the structures are interwoven with facts about life cycles, food sources, and habitats. (6–9 years) Horn Book, May 2012 (Recommended books about bugs!)
“There are about 1,000,000,000 (1 billion!) insects for every human being”, says Roxie Munro in Busy Builders. That’s a lot of insects running, crawling, and flying around Earth. Yet, out of all those insects very few are actually builders. Using large, full-page illustrations rendered in India ink and colored ink, Munro gives us an inside look at the unique structures of seven insects and 1 spider.
The format is set up like a guessing game. “This is a Paper Hornet. Where does it live?” Young preschoolers who love to learn lots of facts about bugs will be waiting anxiously for the page to turn. Using clear language that is very accessible, we see and learn where they build and how the colony or individual insect or spider works together to survive...
Munro includes fun facts, a glossary of bug words, a bibliography of books and web sites to learn more about insects and spiders. A first-rate book Perfect for hot summer days. The Nonfiction Detectives
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Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12, National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) & Children's Book Council
A Children's Book of the Month Club Selection CBC "Go Green!" Summer Reading List CYBILS Award Nominee in Nonfiction Eric Carle Museum Best Book of 2011 List Society of School Librarians International Honor Book Award Bank St College Best Books of 2012 list—with Outstanding Merit Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Finalist |
Gr K-6 - 'Birds are some of the most fascinating creatures on Earth,' writes Munro, who proceeds to explain just how so with all the enthralling pizzazz of the Guinness Book of Records. The design of the book is a winner: page left - an illustration of some eggs; page right - clues as to what bird laid the eggs; overleaf - a two-page spread of the bird in its milieu (with a small company of other creatures typically found there) and additional, often wowing, information about the bird. The illustrations are scrupulous but friendly and inviting, with none of the antiseptic character of a guidebook. The selection of birds allows for both the familiar - ostrich, hummingbird, eagle - and the unusual: black-legged kittiwakes, cactus wren, pegged for both the musicality of their names and some good and strange facts. Birds that sleep on the water with one eye open? Birds that build a nest as big as a car? Birds that can dive 700 feet under water? A bird taller than a professional basketball player? Birds that squat on anthills for the stinging thrill of it? They are all here. Munro doesn't just dole out the odd facts, but paints - literally and figuratively - a fine portrait of each bird, the kind that will keep a young reader rapt. Kirkus January 15, 2011
K-Gr 4 - Which bird can turn its head 270 degrees? Which bird can stay under water for up to 18 minutes? Which bird never drinks? Which bird can run faster than a racehorse? Whose nest weighs more than a car? These and other fascinating facts about familiar and unusual avian species from the great horned owl and the emperor penguin to the cactus wren, ostrich, and bald eagle are presented in a fun and accessible format. A simple illustration of an egg or group of eggs is accompanied by large, bold text posing the question: "Can you guess whose eggs these are?" The facing page includes a brief description of the mystery bird. Turn the page and a detailed spread reveals an expansive colored-ink illustration of the species, its nest, and its offspring along with more information and interesting facts. A white text box at the bottom of the page lists other animals that share the featured bird's habitat, and readers will enjoy searching for them among the intricate illustrations. Useful for classroom units, this inviting and attractive book will captivate young nature lovers. School Library Journal, May 2011.
K - 3 Munro presents fascinating fact-profiles of nine mostly familiar birds --owls, hummingbirds, penguins, eagles, and the like --in an engaging guessing-game format. For each bird, we start with a two -page spread: on one side, a close-up of eggs ...; and on the other side, a series of clues about the producers of those eggs. It's thinking about the clues that will help readers to guess each bird, as the clues contain information with which readers might be familiar (e.g., a bird with the same colors and name as a major league baseball team, or the world's tallest, heaviest bird that can't fly). Turn the page to find the answer as well as Munro's colorful, detailed illustrations of each bird's nesting habitats. The art includes portrayals of adult birds, baby birds, the eggs in their nests, and a view of their immediate environments. An egg-shaped text box provides additional information that might not already be known by readers, such as bird behaviors, reproduction, and feeding patterns. A helpful list of the other animals in each illustration encourages even more interactivity... The Horn Book Magazine, May/June 2011
PreK-3 Munro's large-format picture book makes a question-and-answer game out of a series of eggs and the remarkable birds that they produce...Munro's ink illustrations are clear and precise. The compositions of the egg illustrations are suitably simple, while the shifts between up-close and wide-angle perspectives in the habitat spreads give both a specific picture of the birds in question and a sense of their broader environment. Children will find the format engaging and discover more in the intriguing preface, supplementary glossary, and lists of print and Internet resources. Booklist, March 15, 2011
Munro uses a guessing game format to deliver an impressive amount of trivia ... The answers are revealed, after a page turn, in full-bleed scenes that show the birds flying, swimming, and caring for their young in their natural habitats. Straightforward... packed with information. Ages 5 to 11. Publishers Weekly
Grades PreK - 3. This informational title is a wonderful cuddle-up book for a small child.... Wonderfully realistic artwork provides many teaching opportunities with a variety of wildlife, flora, and fauna. ...The birds, animals, and vegetation are true to life; feathers, eggs, and other details are just right without being overwhelming for a young reader...
Recommended. Library Media Connection, August/September Issue
Don't let the five-letter title splashed across eggs and a duckling on the cover lead you to think this book is small. The oversized picture book will spread nicely across laps or hold up well in story hour, where children will enjoy the guessing game structure. With every turn of a page, we see an egg - plain, spotted, white, or colored - and are given clues about who might be in it. The following pages are sure to be pored over with detailed illustrations of the bird, its family, and habitat, including images of nests and suggestions of food sources and predators. Of course it's a great book for spring, but can be used anytime to learn about varieties of birds from around the world: birds that we learn can be much taller than a person, or fit in a palm, or which can fly eight miles high or migrate 25,000 miles in a year. Readers interested in learning even more about incubation, parenting styles, flight, and birdcalls can use the bibliography and glossary ("fun bird words to learn") in the back. Top of the Shelf book reviews/Eric Carle Museum.
K-Gr 4 - Which bird can turn its head 270 degrees? Which bird can stay under water for up to 18 minutes? Which bird never drinks? Which bird can run faster than a racehorse? Whose nest weighs more than a car? These and other fascinating facts about familiar and unusual avian species from the great horned owl and the emperor penguin to the cactus wren, ostrich, and bald eagle are presented in a fun and accessible format. A simple illustration of an egg or group of eggs is accompanied by large, bold text posing the question: "Can you guess whose eggs these are?" The facing page includes a brief description of the mystery bird. Turn the page and a detailed spread reveals an expansive colored-ink illustration of the species, its nest, and its offspring along with more information and interesting facts. A white text box at the bottom of the page lists other animals that share the featured bird's habitat, and readers will enjoy searching for them among the intricate illustrations. Useful for classroom units, this inviting and attractive book will captivate young nature lovers. School Library Journal, May 2011.
K - 3 Munro presents fascinating fact-profiles of nine mostly familiar birds --owls, hummingbirds, penguins, eagles, and the like --in an engaging guessing-game format. For each bird, we start with a two -page spread: on one side, a close-up of eggs ...; and on the other side, a series of clues about the producers of those eggs. It's thinking about the clues that will help readers to guess each bird, as the clues contain information with which readers might be familiar (e.g., a bird with the same colors and name as a major league baseball team, or the world's tallest, heaviest bird that can't fly). Turn the page to find the answer as well as Munro's colorful, detailed illustrations of each bird's nesting habitats. The art includes portrayals of adult birds, baby birds, the eggs in their nests, and a view of their immediate environments. An egg-shaped text box provides additional information that might not already be known by readers, such as bird behaviors, reproduction, and feeding patterns. A helpful list of the other animals in each illustration encourages even more interactivity... The Horn Book Magazine, May/June 2011
PreK-3 Munro's large-format picture book makes a question-and-answer game out of a series of eggs and the remarkable birds that they produce...Munro's ink illustrations are clear and precise. The compositions of the egg illustrations are suitably simple, while the shifts between up-close and wide-angle perspectives in the habitat spreads give both a specific picture of the birds in question and a sense of their broader environment. Children will find the format engaging and discover more in the intriguing preface, supplementary glossary, and lists of print and Internet resources. Booklist, March 15, 2011
Munro uses a guessing game format to deliver an impressive amount of trivia ... The answers are revealed, after a page turn, in full-bleed scenes that show the birds flying, swimming, and caring for their young in their natural habitats. Straightforward... packed with information. Ages 5 to 11. Publishers Weekly
Grades PreK - 3. This informational title is a wonderful cuddle-up book for a small child.... Wonderfully realistic artwork provides many teaching opportunities with a variety of wildlife, flora, and fauna. ...The birds, animals, and vegetation are true to life; feathers, eggs, and other details are just right without being overwhelming for a young reader...
Recommended. Library Media Connection, August/September Issue
Don't let the five-letter title splashed across eggs and a duckling on the cover lead you to think this book is small. The oversized picture book will spread nicely across laps or hold up well in story hour, where children will enjoy the guessing game structure. With every turn of a page, we see an egg - plain, spotted, white, or colored - and are given clues about who might be in it. The following pages are sure to be pored over with detailed illustrations of the bird, its family, and habitat, including images of nests and suggestions of food sources and predators. Of course it's a great book for spring, but can be used anytime to learn about varieties of birds from around the world: birds that we learn can be much taller than a person, or fit in a palm, or which can fly eight miles high or migrate 25,000 miles in a year. Readers interested in learning even more about incubation, parenting styles, flight, and birdcalls can use the bibliography and glossary ("fun bird words to learn") in the back. Top of the Shelf book reviews/Eric Carle Museum.
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A STARRED review in School Library Journal for "EcoMazes":
"...This is truly a complete package: it is engrossing and interactive, featuring finely and accurately detailed art and covering the basics of an organizational concept that is central to our understanding of the natural world." John Peters, NYPL Smithsonian: Best Science Books for Children |
"Rarely has science been more fun or more accessible." --Nicholas A. Basbanes, Literary Features Syndicate
"This unique book with fantastic illustrations should be an essential for every home library or classroom this Earth Day." --Monica & Hannah McRae Young, Winston-Salem Journal
The following books ["EcoMazes"; 12 others] have been selected to motivate the earth-conscious spirit in all of us. --Bianca Schulze, The Children's Book Review
"Wherever on Earth you find yourself, you are part of an ecosystem!" Twelve mazes from a bird's-eye perspective challenge readers to find animals hidden in biomes ranging from the tropical rainforest to the polar Arctic, with savannas and conifer forests in between. Each colorful maze is filled with tiny but accurate detail. Munro invites children to solve the mazes by tracing the journeys with a finger. The answer key provides more detailed scientific information about each landscape. The artwork is top-notch, and the writing is pithy. A list of resources, both electronic and print, completes the package. Grade: A Kathy Englehart, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"With extraordinary pictures and a wonderfully informative and interesting text, this is a book that should be on every library and classroom shelf." Marya Jansen-Gruber, Through the Looking Glass Review
"This elaborately researched book...make(s) Munro's latest creative endeavor a timely, educational and adventurous odyssey. A bonus: "Ecomazes" is big enough that several children can interactively read and work together at the same time." --Lee Littlewood, Creators.com
"What do you get when you combine a book of mazes, a "search-and-find" type of feature, and an accompanying text that provides appealing and interesting information? I'm holding the answer in my hands right now, and it's the new cute, fun and informative over-sized picture book by Roxie Munro."
"Knowledge, especially when presented in this lighthearted and active way, can instill a respect and awe for all that our planet has to offer! " --Five Minutes for Books
"Fun facts reinforce the delicate balance and importance of these regions and subtly push a message of conservation. Nature-loving youngsters and puzzle-hounds alike will enjoy repeat visits to these landscapes." Booklist
Roxie Munro's maze books are brilliant combinations of facts and fun.
…Habitat/ecosystem is a tricky thing for a second grader to wrap their mind around and differentiate. Oh certainly, it is easy to understand the difference from Arctic/Polar regions and say the Tropical Rainforest but where is the line between Grasslands and Tundra?
Munro's book allows the reader to travel through the area, locating the hidden mammals, birds, and reptiles that live there…
School librarians, you need this title. BookMoot
EcoMazes was nominated for a CYBIL (Children and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Award) in Nonfiction.
"This unique book with fantastic illustrations should be an essential for every home library or classroom this Earth Day." --Monica & Hannah McRae Young, Winston-Salem Journal
The following books ["EcoMazes"; 12 others] have been selected to motivate the earth-conscious spirit in all of us. --Bianca Schulze, The Children's Book Review
"Wherever on Earth you find yourself, you are part of an ecosystem!" Twelve mazes from a bird's-eye perspective challenge readers to find animals hidden in biomes ranging from the tropical rainforest to the polar Arctic, with savannas and conifer forests in between. Each colorful maze is filled with tiny but accurate detail. Munro invites children to solve the mazes by tracing the journeys with a finger. The answer key provides more detailed scientific information about each landscape. The artwork is top-notch, and the writing is pithy. A list of resources, both electronic and print, completes the package. Grade: A Kathy Englehart, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"With extraordinary pictures and a wonderfully informative and interesting text, this is a book that should be on every library and classroom shelf." Marya Jansen-Gruber, Through the Looking Glass Review
"This elaborately researched book...make(s) Munro's latest creative endeavor a timely, educational and adventurous odyssey. A bonus: "Ecomazes" is big enough that several children can interactively read and work together at the same time." --Lee Littlewood, Creators.com
"What do you get when you combine a book of mazes, a "search-and-find" type of feature, and an accompanying text that provides appealing and interesting information? I'm holding the answer in my hands right now, and it's the new cute, fun and informative over-sized picture book by Roxie Munro."
"Knowledge, especially when presented in this lighthearted and active way, can instill a respect and awe for all that our planet has to offer! " --Five Minutes for Books
"Fun facts reinforce the delicate balance and importance of these regions and subtly push a message of conservation. Nature-loving youngsters and puzzle-hounds alike will enjoy repeat visits to these landscapes." Booklist
Roxie Munro's maze books are brilliant combinations of facts and fun.
…Habitat/ecosystem is a tricky thing for a second grader to wrap their mind around and differentiate. Oh certainly, it is easy to understand the difference from Arctic/Polar regions and say the Tropical Rainforest but where is the line between Grasslands and Tundra?
Munro's book allows the reader to travel through the area, locating the hidden mammals, birds, and reptiles that live there…
School librarians, you need this title. BookMoot
EcoMazes was nominated for a CYBIL (Children and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Award) in Nonfiction.
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"This fully illustrated, large-format book features six North American deserts: the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Great Basin, Mojave, the Painted Desert, and Death Valley....Teeming with wildlife, the main illustrations create distinctive looks for the different ecosystems in detailed ink drawings washed with watercolors... An engaging introduction to American deserts." Carolyn Phelan, Booklist
"We often think of a desert as a hot, arid, and uninhabitable place," Munro writes. But, she notes, deserts are actually "full of life mostly insects, spiders, reptiles, birds and small burrowing rodents." In vivid watercolor illustrations, Munro devotes two-page spreads to daytime critters and to nighttime critters who live in the six deserts ... Glenn Dromgoole, Syndicated reviewer/6 Texas newspapers.. |
To buy DESERT DAYS, DESERT NIGHTS, click on the cover or here: http://www.wordsbythehandful.com/product/desert-days-desert-nights-by-roxie-munro/
"Desert Day, Desert Nights" was a Science Book Club Pick
Through meticulously detailed illustrations, this visually dynamic survey contrasts day and night in five of North America's prominent deserts - the Chihuahuan, the Great Basin, the Mojave (including Death Valley), the Painted, and the Sonoran - and highlights the unique animals, plants, and geological formations of each. From the desert spiny lizard and the greater roadrunner to the spotted bat and desert banded gecko, this survey examines the diverse array of animals, birds, and reptiles occupying these arid lands. Intricate watercolor illustrations are accompanied by lists of animals and names in each spread.
** for desert dwellers like us, and those who want to know our habitat** (Las Vegas Examiner)
Through meticulously detailed illustrations, this visually dynamic survey contrasts day and night in five of North America's prominent deserts - the Chihuahuan, the Great Basin, the Mojave (including Death Valley), the Painted, and the Sonoran - and highlights the unique animals, plants, and geological formations of each. From the desert spiny lizard and the greater roadrunner to the spotted bat and desert banded gecko, this survey examines the diverse array of animals, birds, and reptiles occupying these arid lands. Intricate watercolor illustrations are accompanied by lists of animals and names in each spread.
** for desert dwellers like us, and those who want to know our habitat** (Las Vegas Examiner)
"In a veritable visual panorama of dinosaurs, eight classic dinosaurs are presented in two ways: first as skeletons and then as living creatures...There's the massive fellow, alive and munching on leaves, set against a prehistoric landscape, with a volcano steaming in the distance... Children will recognize and identify, the three pterosaur-ish creatures flying by, the toothy T. Rex-like creature lurching toward a smaller dinosaur, and maybe that's an Ankylosaurus munching on ferns. It's an arresting scene, in gorgeous full color inks, that will transport readers to the old days. The real old days. They will have a fine old time flipping the pages, back and forth, and comparing bones to body, and saying all those gloriously tongue-twisty dinosaur names.
It's one big wow... The handsome pictures portray a lake-filled background of plants, trees, dinosaur babies hatching out of eggs, and lots of other wildlife. This ... will inspire children to draw their own dinosaur-filled scenes. The final pages are a real treat: there's a paragraph about each dinosaur, including a phonetic pronunciation..., and (a) thumbnail sketch of each scene, with all of the additional dinosaurs (32 different ones, four or five per scene) labeled..." Judy Freeman, judyreadsbooks.com
"Eye-catching illustrations and minimal text make this a good choice for young dino fans..."Booklist
"Munro moves from architecture to paleontology for her latest Inside-Outside album ...young dinophiles will relish the cleanly drawn details. ... Pre-readers in particular will be drawn to this prehistoric primer." Kirkus
"Munro opens a wonderful window into a long-extinct world for young dinophiles...this title will be greeted with sighs of satisfaction by the younger set." School Library Journal
Kansas National Education Association Reading Circle Recommendation
ReadKiddoRead: Ultimate Summer Reading List 2010 (100+ Best Recent Children's Books to Read Over and Over)
Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Selection
"...Roxie Munro's Inside-Outside Dinosaurs offers youngsters an opportunity to power up their imaginations and envision prehistoric times. Each creature is introduced by a full-spread illustration of its gigantic skeleton, along with its scientific name ("Triceratops") and English translation ("three-horned face"). A turn of the page reveals the same creature, now fully and handsomely fleshed out, set against a habitat brimming with vegetation, geological features, and wildlife. These wordless illustrations convey a you-are-there immediacy along with a healthy dose of information... An appended section provides a few tidbits about each species and identifies the other dinosaurs depicted in the scenes. The large illustrations make this book ideal for classroom sharing, and the almost text-free approach will encourage young scientists to make observations and draw conclusions. Joy Fleishhacker-Curriculum Connections--School Library Journal
BOOKS FOR KIDS
Both Sides Now: Inside-Outside Dinosaurs by Roxie Munro
When dino-mania strikes a young reader, Roxie Munro's eye-popping new large-format picture book, Inside-Outside Dinosaurs, has what it takes to satisfy that curiosity about these fascinating beasts.
To this task Munro brings a powerful palette. Her cover glows with cherry red and bright green accents, and her endpapers reverse the pattern, with green set off by just a touch of bright color.
Inside her format follows the design suggested by her title: the first double-page spread on each featured dinosaur shows a careful profile of the animal's skeleton, with the scientific name in cherry red block capitals at the upper left, and the meaning of the name in large black lower case letters in the opposite corner. The following full-color double-page spread shows the living animal, in the foreground, in its place in its environment, with landscape and other dinos of the same period in the background. For example, the ever-popular TRICEROTOPS is shown daintily nibbling on fern-like plants, while in the scene behind it a carnivorous Gorgosaurus chases a flock of Struthionmimuses and a flying Quetzalcoathus soars above the proto-palm trees dotted about the Cretacean landscape.
Many of the usual suspects of dinosaur books are here: Brachiosaurus, T. Rex, and Stegosaurus, for example, get the full treatment; but there are lesser-known examples as well: Parasaurolophus and Spinosaurus also have their moments in the sun. These feature pages have no further text, but Munro appends an especially useful section at the end which provides line drawings of each landscaped page, with the dinosaurs color-coded with their scientific names below, while the featured beast gets a detailed description of his habits, behavior, physiology, and geological period. The final section, "Find Out More About Dinosaurs," provides a short but fine selection of books for further reading and a list of six "Online Sources" which include the sites of the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History collections, as well as such interactive web sites as Zoom Dinosaurs and Dinosaur Dig.
Munro's Inside-Outside Dinosaurs is a knock-out of a book, one which will draw young dinophiles like a magnet and provide just the right amount of mind-expanding information for the youngest paleontology fan out there. This book should be the first stop before an actual trip to the natural history museum.
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"There's much to contemplate here, and happily the book lays flat, a perfect format for toddlers on their stomachs studying each page... After hearing the book, children can read it on their own. Go! Go! Go!" Horn Book |
"In this fascinating picture book, people are on the go in a variety of ways... Firemen put on their gear and then rush to an emergency with their ladder truck. A hot-air balloon is prepared for flight. After being saddled, horses and riders gallop along a steeplechase course. A sea vessel voyages to the depths of the ocean. Pit crews service two racecars, and the action switches to an auto race over an oval track. The full-color illustrations are loaded with pertinent details. Gatefolds, flaps, and fold-out pages ... create a wonderfully energetic sense of motion. The complexity of the art demonstrates the careful planning that went into the book's preparation. Young readers will devour this appealing title. Teachers might use it as a basis for writing story extensions." School Library Journal
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Mazeways: A to Z...Real life mazes! A is for Airport, B is for Boatyard, K is for Kitchen, M is for Mountain....26 mazes, from real life. And over 700 objects to look for, count, and name. Answers in the back.
"Hours of fun...a bright enticing book" Booklist "Munro presents fans of her previous maze challenges new fodder to delight and intrigue. From A (airport) to Z (zookeeper), Munro's fantastical paintings provide an abundance of detail to entrance and enchant even the most jaded maze-whiz. Munro's paintings are just plain fun to look at." Kirkus Bank Street College of Education's Best Children's Books of the Year |
To buy RODEO, click on the book cover or here: http://www.wordsbythehandful.com/product/wild-west-trail-ride-maze-by-roxie-munro/www.wordsbythehandful.com/product/wild-west-trail-ride-maze-by-roxie-munro/
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Fifty flaps/fold-outs. Watch the Bronco buck off the cowboy, a cowgirl Barrel Race, the Calf Scramble, Mutton Busting, and all events in a real Rodeo. Each double page spread has the event history and rules, and after the Rodeo, Square Dance with a Cowboy Band. 24 pages in brilliant color, published by Bright Sky Press.
"One of the year's Top Ten Texas books" Houston Chronicle "Clear, concise text and clever lift-the-flap illustrations capture the action and excitement of a rodeo..." School Library Journal Finalist, Texas Institute of Letters, Friends of the Austin Public Library Award for Best Children's Book |
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Written by Mike Spradlin and illustrated by Roxie Munro. Walker, 32 pages.
Thrilling history detailed in a fast-paced richly illustrated account. "Paying handsome tribute to the doughty crew that brought the rule of law to some of the wildest parts of the Wild West...the best short introduction since Stephen Hardin's Texas Rangers" Kirkus "The abundant color, cartoon illustrations are well suited to the text, and provide competent visual support to the facts. Give this to children who have a strong interest in Texas history or the Wild West." Booklist |
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Join the Crooked River Ranch cowboys on a trail ride through canyons and over rivers, across prairies and mountains to the cattle pens on the range, and then to the camp. Wind your way back home on a different path. Look for hidden ABCs, find the wily coyote in each maze, count the cattle, and play more games! Answers in the back of the book.
"These landscapes are as lovely to behold as they are to solve." --Publishers Weekly "Appeals [to] many kids who shy away from 'regular' reading." --Washington Post "My kids always preferred interactive books, especially ones that gave them a challenge. This one is perfect for that!" --Savvysource.com |
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A lift-the-flap fold-out picture book. Vibrant color throughout. 24 pages, all ages. Includes finding/naming games. Check out the Elephant Ballet, the Astounding Agile Acrobats, the Trapeze Twins, Agonsky's Amazing Animals, High-Wire Harry and Harriett, and more lively acts. Watch the clowns getting ready, and then tease and trick each other. Look for Max the Cat and Fred the Dog and their antics. And be prepared for the grand finale! Over 50 flaps! A Children's Book of the Month Club.
"A winning concept expertly executed; could become a young child's favorite book." Kirkus "...Roxie Munro's Circus, an interactive extravaganza that portrays all the hullabaloo of the center ring. Detailed spreads highlight assorted spine-tingling acts and seek-and-find lists encourage close examination of the pictures. Children get in on the action by unfolding flaps to watch the Pippin Brothers pile assemble a human pyramid, Hi-Wire Harriet prance across a tightrope, and much, much, more." SLJ Curriculum Connections |
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A Children's Book of the Month Club selection.
Bronze Medal, Interactive Children's Books, IPPY (Independent Publishers).
To buy this maze book, click here: www.wordsbythehandful.com/product/wild-west-trail-ride-maze-by-roxie-munro/
Bronze Medal, Interactive Children's Books, IPPY (Independent Publishers).
To buy this maze book, click here: www.wordsbythehandful.com/product/wild-west-trail-ride-maze-by-roxie-munro/
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Each eye-popping maze connects to the next one - travel through the Park via the rides (the Cyclone, Dinosaur Daze, Marsburg, the Winding River...) or the Toot-toot Train. Stop in the Food Court. Then wind your way back on a different path. In each maze, look for Mrs. McCourt's class, the balloon man, an ice cream stand.
Washington Post Best Books for Boys Choice; Children's Book of the Month Club; "Reading Rockets" Summer Vacation List |
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A "brilliant" lift-the-flap book...explore a fire station, a train, a doctor's office; sail a boat, go behind the stage door, check out the space station; open the barn door, peek into a mechanic's garage....over 50 flaps to lift and explore.
A Children's Book of the Month Club selection; CHILD magazine Best Book of the Month; Horn Book Summer Reading choice; Bank Street College Best Book of the Year Selection; Tumblebooks pick; Scholastic Parent & Child Best New Book. |
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Written by Bo Zaunders
published by Dutton Children's Books Fascinating biographies of famous architectural creators through history - Brunelleschi (Pippo's Dome); the great Turkish builder Sinan; the story of the Brooklyn Bridge; Eiffel's Tower; Barcelona's Gaudi; the Chrysler Building's race for the sky; and more.... A Bank Street College Best Book of the Year; a NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. |
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Published by Bright Sky Press
Horned toads, roadrunners, and rattlesnakes, cowboys, and chuck wagons... from the open range where the buffalo roam to the horse barn and the cowboy's bunkhouse, RANCH invites you to a dazzling display of real life on a working Western ranch. Includes counting and finding games, with answers in the back of the book. Children's Book of the Month Club selection; 2006 NAPPA Family Honors Award (National Parenting Publications); Texas Reading Club 2009 |
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Navigate through thirteen amazing aerial landscapes, each connecting to the other, on your trip to the zoo, and then find your way back on a different path through the towns, constructions sites, airports, cities, mountains..... There are also hidden ABCs, items to count and find, hours of interactive play.
School Library Journal starred review; Parenting magazine Pick of the Month |
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Written by Bo Zaunders
The true story of an unlikely hero - a 19th century West Virginia furniture maker with a third grade education who, through humor, showmanship, and know-how, build one of the country's most famous covered bridges. Almost destroyed during the Civil War, the great bridge still stands today. Eighteen other US covered bridges are featured. |
From The New York Times (BLIMPS was chosen as a NYTimes Best Children's Book of the Year)
BLIMPS Written and illustrated by Roxie Munro. Unpaged. New York: E.P. Dutton. $12.95. (Ages 5 and up)
Who hasn't been surprised and delighted by a noiseless blimp rounding the corner of a building, suddenly filling the sky? Where do they come from and where do they go? Who blows them up, where do they land and how do you steer such a thing? Roxie Munro, whose bright, flat, color-saturated drawings have graced New Yorker covers since 1981, tells us all this and more in her delightful ''Blimps'' - a title as simple and straightforward as her drawings.
In prose technically precise (never a falter at words like ''ballonet'') or lyrical (''Flying in a blimp is a lot like flying in your dreams''), Ms. Munro explains for her lower grade school audience the science of airships. Readers learn that a blimp can stay aloft for a week on the amount of fuel a jet plane uses to taxi and take off; that blimps usually fly from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the ground; that they take on or let out air, as ballast, to rise or dive, much as a submarine uses water; that the fastest-ever recorded speed is 56 miles per hour; that they contain anywhere from 175,000 to 245,000 cubic feet of gas.
She also explains why blimps are big: they can carry only as much weight as the weight of the air they displace. The air displaced by a blimp's miniature counterpart, a helium party balloon, comes to about 6 grams, or not much more than the string attached to it. And she reassures potential riders of their durability: a blimp ''can fly for hours with a hole the size of a saucer in it.''A bright 5-year-old will have no problem with the sometimes sophisticated prose, in part because the pictures are so precise and inviting. The sharply angled, blimp's-eye views of the Manhattan skyline, of the midsection of the Empire State Building, of the landing crew preparing to catch the bowlines as the blimp comes in to land, give a vivid impression of what riding in a blimp must be like. But parents may stumble over the educationally correct but cumbersome system of giving measurements. Reflecting our schizophrenic national attitude toward the metric system, each is given twice, in the metric and English systems; when read aloud, as this book most often will be, this can quickly get tedious.
Roxie Munro's informative text answers one question I've always wanted to know the answer to: once inflated, do blimps stay that way? The answer is yes: moored at small airports, they are brought into hangars in severe weather. (That is, usually. The country's largest blimp, used by Pepsi Cola for advertising and moored in Los Angeles, was recently blown to tatters by gusting Santa Ana winds.) And she fails to answer another: every parent knows that a helium balloon leaks to a shriveled semblance of its former self within a matter of days. What keeps a blimp's polyester gas bag from leaking, and does it get refills?
The young reader will not encounter the Hindenburg, except in a most oblique reference to the flammable gas that formerly was used, nor the fact that the Hindenburg, which exploded in 1937, was only the best-known of many such disasters. The sinister dirigibles of World War I and II are barely mentioned. Equally joyless is the recent incarnation of blimps as spy vehicles. (According to The New York Times, the Defense Department plans by 1992 to build the largest blimp ever, filled with 2.5 million cubic feet of helium.) But for now blimps enjoy a benign image. They fly south in the winter, ''not unlike other creatures of the air.'' They blink merry messages at night, and display advertising banners by day. They're silent and steady, good for sightseeing and for taking aerial pictures. And where would televised sports be without them?
Katherine Bouton, an editor of The New York Times Magazine, frequently writes about science.
BLIMPS Written and illustrated by Roxie Munro. Unpaged. New York: E.P. Dutton. $12.95. (Ages 5 and up)
Who hasn't been surprised and delighted by a noiseless blimp rounding the corner of a building, suddenly filling the sky? Where do they come from and where do they go? Who blows them up, where do they land and how do you steer such a thing? Roxie Munro, whose bright, flat, color-saturated drawings have graced New Yorker covers since 1981, tells us all this and more in her delightful ''Blimps'' - a title as simple and straightforward as her drawings.
In prose technically precise (never a falter at words like ''ballonet'') or lyrical (''Flying in a blimp is a lot like flying in your dreams''), Ms. Munro explains for her lower grade school audience the science of airships. Readers learn that a blimp can stay aloft for a week on the amount of fuel a jet plane uses to taxi and take off; that blimps usually fly from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the ground; that they take on or let out air, as ballast, to rise or dive, much as a submarine uses water; that the fastest-ever recorded speed is 56 miles per hour; that they contain anywhere from 175,000 to 245,000 cubic feet of gas.
She also explains why blimps are big: they can carry only as much weight as the weight of the air they displace. The air displaced by a blimp's miniature counterpart, a helium party balloon, comes to about 6 grams, or not much more than the string attached to it. And she reassures potential riders of their durability: a blimp ''can fly for hours with a hole the size of a saucer in it.''A bright 5-year-old will have no problem with the sometimes sophisticated prose, in part because the pictures are so precise and inviting. The sharply angled, blimp's-eye views of the Manhattan skyline, of the midsection of the Empire State Building, of the landing crew preparing to catch the bowlines as the blimp comes in to land, give a vivid impression of what riding in a blimp must be like. But parents may stumble over the educationally correct but cumbersome system of giving measurements. Reflecting our schizophrenic national attitude toward the metric system, each is given twice, in the metric and English systems; when read aloud, as this book most often will be, this can quickly get tedious.
Roxie Munro's informative text answers one question I've always wanted to know the answer to: once inflated, do blimps stay that way? The answer is yes: moored at small airports, they are brought into hangars in severe weather. (That is, usually. The country's largest blimp, used by Pepsi Cola for advertising and moored in Los Angeles, was recently blown to tatters by gusting Santa Ana winds.) And she fails to answer another: every parent knows that a helium balloon leaks to a shriveled semblance of its former self within a matter of days. What keeps a blimp's polyester gas bag from leaking, and does it get refills?
The young reader will not encounter the Hindenburg, except in a most oblique reference to the flammable gas that formerly was used, nor the fact that the Hindenburg, which exploded in 1937, was only the best-known of many such disasters. The sinister dirigibles of World War I and II are barely mentioned. Equally joyless is the recent incarnation of blimps as spy vehicles. (According to The New York Times, the Defense Department plans by 1992 to build the largest blimp ever, filled with 2.5 million cubic feet of helium.) But for now blimps enjoy a benign image. They fly south in the winter, ''not unlike other creatures of the air.'' They blink merry messages at night, and display advertising banners by day. They're silent and steady, good for sightseeing and for taking aerial pictures. And where would televised sports be without them?
Katherine Bouton, an editor of The New York Times Magazine, frequently writes about science.
Book Awards (selected):
Book Awards (selected) and Book Clubs:
The Inside-Outside Book of New York City: New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book Award; TIME Magazine's Best Children's Book of the Year; NCTE Books That Invite Talk, Wonder, and Play; Library of Congress Children's Literature Center Books for Children List
A Day in the Life of the Desert: The Nature Generation GREEN EARTH BOOK AWARD 2024 Recommended List
Rodent Rascals: Starred reviews from Kirkus, BookList, Publishers Weekly; Cybils Award Nominee in Nonfiction, 2018; Bank Street College of Education Best Books of the Year 2019 list for STEM
Anteaters, Bats & Boas: Starred reviews in ALA's Booklist and School Library Journal. Top Ten Science & Technology book for 2021 (Booklist). American Scientist : Best1 12 STEM Books for Children published in 2021.
Masterpiece Mix: Bank Street Best Books of the Year List; Wall Street Journal's Best New Children's Book
EcoMazes: 12 Earth Adventures: Starred review, School Library Journal; CYBIL Nominee (Children & Young Adult Bloggers Literary Award); Smithsonian: Great Science Books for Children 2010
Busy Builders: Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature (CCL) Cook Prize Silver Medal for STEM
Hatch!: Children's Book of the Month Club; CBC "Go Green!" Summer Reading List; CYBILS Award Nominee for Nonfiction; Eric Carle Museum Best Book of 2011 List; Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12, National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) & Children’s Book Council (CBC); Society of School Librarians International Honor Book Award; Bank Street College Best Books of 2012, with Outstanding Merit; Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Finalist
Christmastime in New York City and Blimps: New York Times Best Children's Books List
Blimps: NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children; New York Times Best Picture Book of the Year
Market Maze: Kirkus Starred Review; Reading Rockets (WETA) Summer Reading List 2015
Gargoyles, Girders & Glass Houses and Crocodiles, Camels, & Dugout Canoes: CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
The Inside-Outside Book of Washington DC: IRA/CBC Books Means Business List; Horn Book Star; NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
Mazescapes: School Library Journal Starred Review; Parenting magazine Pick of the Month; Scholastic Book Club
Inside-Outside Dinosaurs; Amazement Park; Doors; Circus and Ranch: Children's Book of the Month Club
The Inside-Outside Book of Libraries: School Library Journal Starred Review; SLJ Best Book of the Year; Smithsonian Notable Books for Children; American Booksellers Pick of the Lists; Horn Book Guide Starred Review; Finalist: Nevada Young Readers Award; Rhode Island Children’s Book Award nomination; Lasting Connections, ALA; Texas Reading Club; San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle “Editor’s Choice”; Bank Street College Best Book Choice; Children's Crown Award Nominee
Feathers, Flaps & Flops: School Library Journal Starred Review; SLJ Best Book of the Year; Center for Children's Books Best Book of the Year List
Doors: Child Magazine Best Book of the Month; Horn Book Best Summer Reading List; CBOM; Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year Selection; Tumblebooks Pick; Best New Book selection, Scholastic Parent & Child
Ranch: 2006 NAPPA (National Parenting Publication) Family Honors Award; CBOM Club Selection; Texas Reading Club 2009
Rodeo: Ten Best Texas Books of the Year Choice, Houston Chronicle; Finalist, Texas Institute of Letters, Friends of the Austin Public Library Award for Best Children's Book
Desert Days, Desert Nights: Science Book Club Choice
Mazeways: A to Z: 2008 Edition of Bank Street College of Education's Best Children's Books of the Year; Chicago Public Library Children's Books for Year Round Giving List
Inside-Outside Dinosaurs: Kansas National Education Association Reading Circle Recommendation; ReadKiddoRead: Ultimate Summer Reading List 2010
Amazement Park: Washington Post "Best Books for Boys" pick; Horn Book Summer Reading List; "Reading Rockets" Summer Vacation List; Children’s Book of the Month Club
Gargoyles, Girders & Glass Houses: Bank Street College Best of of the Year List
Wild West Trail Ride Maze: Bronze Medal, Interactive Children's Books (IPPY, Independent Publishers)
Other book awards include American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, Booklist and Publisher' s Weekly starred reviews; NYPL: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing; works from The Inside-Outside Book of New York City; The Inside-Outside Book of Paris; The Great Bridge-Building Contest; and others chosen for The Original Art Exhibit, Society of Illustrators, NYC