THE SAND HORSE
I love stories that combine art and magic with grace. An artist goes
out to the beach and spends all day crafting a full size horse lying
in the sand, and when he leaves the horse wakes up. A story of
liberation and magic!
 | author: Ann. Illustrated by Michael Foreman. Turnbull rating:  asin: B000P8OX8M binding: Paperback |
The Paper Dragon
 | author: Marguerite W. Davol rating: asin: 0689319924 binding: Hardcover list price: $21.95 USD amazon price: $18.66 USD |
Mi Fei is a humble painter of scrolls. Between each day's sunrise and sunset, he paints scenes of the gods and their festivals' portraits of heroes and their deeds. Although the scrolls bring him fame, Mi Fei is content to live in his village, surrounded by people he loves.
But one day a messenger enters the village with terrible news: the dragon Sui Jen has awakened from its hundred years' sleep and is destroying everything in its path. Someone must find a way to return Sui Jen to its slumber. To the villagers, only one among them is wise enough to confront the scaly beast -- Mi Fei.
The power of the artist's vision and the ever-sustaining nature of love are brought together in Marguerite W. Davol's beautiful story, strikingly interpreted by Robert Sabuda in a series of gatefold illustrations that convey the storytelling majesty of the Chinese narrative scrollmaker's art.
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
 | author: Elizabeth Coatsworth rating:  asin: 1416949739 binding: Paperback list price: $4.99 USD amazon price: $4.99 USD |
In ancient Japan, a struggling artist is angered when his housekeeper brings home a tiny white cat he can barely afford to feed. But when the village's head priest commissions a painting of the Buddha for a healthy sum, the artist softens toward the animal he believes has brought him luck.
According to legend, the proud and haughty cat was denied the Buddha's blessing for refusing to accept his teachings and pay him homage. So when the artist, moved by compassion for his pet, includes the cat in his painting, the priest rejects the work and decrees that it must be destroyed. It seems the artist's life is ruined as well -- until he is rewarded for his act of love by a Buddhist miracle.
This timeless fable has been a classic since its first publication in 1930, and this beautifully reillustrated edition brings the magic and wonder of the tale to a new generation of readers.
The Big Orange Splot
 | author: D. Manus Pinkwater rating:  asin: 0590445103 binding: Paperback list price: $4.99 USD amazon price: $4.99 USD |
Christina Katerina and the Box
What a fun book about all the things a girl can do with a refrigerator box! Christina Katerina's imagination is inspiring
 | author: Patricia Lee Gauch asin: 0698116763 binding: Paperback list price: $7.99 USD amazon price: $7.99 |
A huge cardboard box becomes a castle, a clubhouse, a racing car and more for Christina and her friend Fats. In it they swear undying friendship, wage furious battles--and drive Christina's mother crazy. You won't believe how much fun a cardboard box can be!
Micawber
 | author: John Lithgow rating: asin: 0689835426 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
Author of the New York Times BestsellersThe Remarkable Farkle McBrideandMarsupial Sue
The Day It Rained Hearts
 | author: Felicia Bond rating: asin: 0066238765 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.99 USD amazon price: $13.25 USD |
From the illustrator of If You Gave a Mouse a CookieOne day it rains hearts, and Cornelia Augusta catches them. Each heart is special in its own way, and Cornelia Augusta knows exactly who to send them to.
Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain
Our girls were captivated by this book, especially Ella (then 6) who wanted me to read it again (even though it took 25 minuets to read through just once)!
 | author: Deborah Kogan Ray rating: asin: 0374332630 binding: Hardcover list price: $18.00 USD amazon price: $13.50 USD |
A tribute to an artist unafraid to break with tradition.
In her own glowing paintings and lucid text, Deborah Kogan Ray tells the fascinating life story of the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). He rose from poverty, taught himself to draw, became the promising pupil of a great master, and then defied tradition to become one of the most important and influential artists in the world.
Ray's paintings are rich with period and biographical detail. The endpapers show drawings from Hokusai's sketchbooks. Also included is one of his famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Charlotte in Paris
This book is Charlotte's diary (from 10 months in 1893 and 1894) and it is full of pasted in postcards, little sketches, copies of famous art, and maps of Paris. Charlotte's father is a painter and so she ends up meeting other painters, including Monet, Lilla Cabot Perry, and Edgar Degas. The story of her artistic explorations is cheerful and fun to read.
 | author: Joan MacPhail Knight rating: asin: 0811837661 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.99 USD amazon price: $11.55 USD |
It's 1893. Charlotte and her family have lived abroad in the famous artist colony in Giverny, France, for a year, when an exciting invitation arrives. The celebrated impressionist Mary Cassatt is having an exhibition in Paris. While in Paris, Charlotte dines at a cafe on the Champs-Elysees, watches a marionette show in the Tuileries gardens and celebrates her birthday at the Eiffel Tower. Illustrated with stunning museum reproductions of works by artists such as Monet, Degas, Cassatt, Renoir and Rodin as well as lovely watercolor collages, this sequel to Charlotte in Giverny also includes biographical sketches of the featured painters. Charlotte's charming scrapbook will leave fans of the first book, art lovers, Francophiles and readers of all ages shouting, "Vive Charlotte!"
Croco'nile
We were studying ancient Egypt (through Story of the World - another great book) and this was one of the book recommendations. The illustrations are so detailed and fascinating, and the text is poetic. It's a story of a brother and sister who raise a crocodile, become stowaways on a ship, and discover that they are *quite* talented at carving stone and painting in the classic old Egyptian style. An exciting adventure that I have read countless times to the delight of my children in the past 2 weeks.
 | rating: asin: 0374416117 binding: Paperback list price: $6.95 USD amazon price: $6.95 |
A romp through ancient Egypt, with hieroglyphics, too!Set sail for adventure with Hamut and his sister Nekatu as they stow away on a sailboat, paint a pyramid, and win the favor of a pharoah. But when conniving kidnappers threaten the pair, they discover that a crocodile in need is a friend indeed!
