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Wake up, little one, a soft voice beckons, the world around you is already stirring. As Wake Up, Island gently rouses the sleepy child, it summons a world of nature coming to life on a summer island in the magical North Woods. Sunlit fingers touch the shores, pine trees stretch their limbs, and lichen warms on ancient rock. Doe and fawn rise from their grass bed and pearls of dew bead a spider’s finely woven web. Mallards skim the water’s surface. Ravens perch and gargle greetings, chickadees call dee, dee, dee, and a heron swoops—minnows flee! The moose and her calf wade, munching on plants. The red squirrel chatters. The black bear lazily scratches her back against a tree.

Conjuring the morning life around a cabin fragrant with berry pancakes, this timeless book wakens the child in every reader to the wonders of nature that greet every new day in the charmed world of a northern woodland island.

Based on recent archaeological interpretation, this standards-based resource enriches material covered in Native People of Wisconsin. Water Panthers, Bears, and Thunderbirds introduces young readers to effigy mound sites in five southern Wisconsin counties. Suggested activities encourage students to graph, compare, contrast, and analyze the ways these mound groups vary from county to county.

There are many things cats can do that children can’t, such as lap up milk, leap double the length of their bodies, and use their tongues as combs. There are also a number of things that cats can’t do, like sing children to sleep, or get down from trees . . .
            Abner Graboff combines the voice of childhood innocence with a wonderful sense of fun in his quirky book about the mysteries of cats and their secret lives, inspired by the Graboff family’s own beloved cat Tarzan. Told from the point of view of a young child, this whimsical tale is complemented by Graboff’s characteristically playful and bold illustrations.

It took her two tries, but in 1955, sixty-seven-year-old Emma “Grandma” Gatewood became the first woman to solo hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one thru-hike. Gatewood, who left an abusive marriage after raising eleven children, has become a legend for those who hike the trail, and in her home state of Ohio, where she helped found the Buckeye Trail. In recent years, she has been the subject of a bestselling biography and a documentary film.

In When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike, Michelle Houts brings us the first children’s book about her feat, which she accomplished without professional gear or even a tent. Houts chronicles the spirit of a seasoned outdoorswoman and mother of eleven whose grit and determination helped her to hike over two thousand miles. Erica Magnus’s vibrant illustrations capture the wild animals, people from all walks of life, and unexpected challenges that this strong-willed woman encountered on the journey she initially called a “lark.”

Children ages 4–10 will delight in this narrative nonfiction work as they accompany Emma Gatewood on the adventure of a lifetime and witness her transformation from grandmother to hiking legend, becoming “Grandma” to all.

Claudia McGehee brought the glory of the prairie to life in A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet and explored the wonders of the woodlands in A Woodland Counting Book. Now this award-winning artist focuses on the birds of the United States, bringing children and their parents closer to the habitats and lives of birds from the Pacific coast to open rangeland to the cityscape of Manhattan.

McGehee introduces us to fourteen representative habitats, giving each its own double-page spread that features a signature bird. She devotes one page of each spread to depicting the bird in the full complexity of its complete habitat—at home in its environment with other animal companions—and the other page describes and illustrates its nesting, feeding, soaring, and paddling lifeways. Highlighting ideas for preserving and protecting each habitat and its inhabitants, McGehee also provides ways that children can make their own backyards safe havens for birdlife while they learn to enjoy the magic of birdwatching.

Claudia’s birds include bobolinks on the tallgrass prairie, common ravens in the Pacific rainforest, brown pelicans on barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico, scarlet tanagers in the northwoods, red-cockaded woodpeckers in longleaf pine forests, greater roadrunners in the southwestern desert, and roseate spoonbills in red mangrove forests. Her energizing, engaging illustrations create worlds of vibrant color that ring with the calls and songs of birds across the panorama of American landscapes.

Here’s a fun, interactive way to teach youngsters ages 1- 4 basic American Sign Language signs. Where Is Baby? A Lift-the-Flap Sign Language Book features 12 basic questions in ASL with English translations. Little ones can find the answer for each question by lifting the flap on the opposite page to reveal a charming, full-color illustration. The questions and answers engage children with everyday subjects of high interest to them: Where is the airplane, train, bug, cat, elephant, shoe, pizza, Mama, Daddy, sister, and of course, Baby.

By introducing young children to sign language, Where Is Baby? can help them strengthen their vocabulary, grammar, and other language skills while also allowing them to communicate their needs and feelings at an earlier age. This sturdy book offers an enjoyable, instructive way for parents, teachers, and other caregivers to begin reading and signing together with children at a wonderful age for learning.

At its most basic, philosophy is about learning how to think about the world around us. It should come as no surprise, then, that children make excellent philosophers! Naturally inquisitive, pint-size scholars need little prompting before being willing to consider life’s “big questions,” however strange or impractical. Plato & Co. introduces children—and curious grown-ups—to the lives and work of famous philosophers, from Descartes to Socrates, Einstein, Marx, and Wittgenstein. Each book in the series features an engaging—and often funny—story that presents basic tenets of philosophical thought alongside vibrant color illustrations.

“Mister Wittgenstein! Stop looking for a horned beast in the middle of a Cambridge classroom!,” an exasperated Bertrand Russell commands his pupil. But the young Ludwig Wittgenstein knows that, just because we don’t see a rhinoceros, doesn’t mean one may not be hiding where we least expect it. When war breaks out in Europe, Ludwig is recruited for a top-secret mission. Alas, no one is able to make sense of rhino-loving philosopher’s notebooks. What could he possibly mean by so many seemingly nonsensical statements?

            Plato & Co.’s clear approach and charming illustrations make this series the perfect addition to any little library.
 

Writing from the Heart offers us a unique window into what young people have learned about life. This collection of essays captures the values that matter most to teens—values such as love, perseverance, family, and helping others—in their own words. As the young writers reflect on their own experience, readers of all ages will be inspired by their wisdom and hope.