Summer Reading

All the colors of the rainbow are hidden in the garden, but can the little bee find them--with help from the reader Christie Matheson, author of the popular and acclaimed Tap the Magic Tree, brings a garden to life in this bright, interactive picture book about the natural world--and our place within it.

One little bee peeks out on a world of gray and snow.

She's looking for bright colors and needs you to help them grow.

Bees need a healthy and colorful garden to survive. Luckily, all the colors of the rainbow are hidden in this garden--but the bees need the reader's help to find them. Brush off the camellia tree, tickle the tulips, and even blow a kiss to the lilac tree. With every action and turn of the page, a flower blooms and more bees are drawn to the feast.

Christie Matheson is a master at creating simple picture books that encourage children to engage with the natural world. In The Hidden Rainbow, she introduces the colors of the rainbow, counting, and the basic ecosystem and vocabulary of a garden. Beautiful collage-and-watercolor art captures all the bold colors of a garden throughout the seasons, and the interactive text will captivate young readers at every story time.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A life-altering, science-backed exploration of the healing power of art, which has now been proven to help lower stress, supercharge learning and creativity, extend your lifespan, and combat loneliness.

“This book blew my mind!”—Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit

A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Finalist for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award and the Porchlight Business Book Award

What is art? Many of us think of the arts as entertainment—a luxury of some kind. In Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives.

We’re on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. They expand our understanding of how playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers, engaging all of our senses and strengthening memory. Doctors have even been prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns.

Your Brain on Art is a portal into this new understanding about how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities, and mend an aching planet.

Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, Your Brain on Art is an authoritative guide to neuroaesthetics. The book weaves a tapestry of breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers, and compelling stories from people who are using the arts to enhance their lives.

Rethink the way you approach writing in this “honest, useful craft book that all fledgling writers need” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) from fourteen diverse authors that demystifies craft and authorship based on their experiences as writers of color—perfect for fans of Fresh Ink and Our Stories, Our Voices.

So, you’re thinking of writing a book. Or, maybe you’ve written one, and are wondering what to do with it. What does it take to publish a novel, or even a short story? If you’re a writer of color, these questions might multiply; after all, there’s a lot of writing advice out there, and it can be hard to know how much of it really applies to your own experiences. If any of this sounds like you, you’re in the right place: this collection of essays, written exclusively by authors of color, is here to encourage and empower writers of all ages and backgrounds to find their voice as they put pen to page.

Perhaps you’re just getting started. Here you’ll find a whole toolkit of advice from bestselling and award-winning authors for focusing on an idea, landing on a point of view, and learning which rules were meant to be broken. Or perhaps you have questions about everything beyond the first draft: what is it really like being a published author? These writers demystify the process, sharing personal stories as they forged their own path to publication, and specifically from their perspectives as author of color.

Every writer has a different journey. Maybe yours has already started. Or maybe it begins right here.

Contributors include: Julie C. Dao, Chloe Gong, Joan He, Kosoko Jackson, Adiba Jaigirdar, Darcie Little Badger, Yamile Saied Méndez, Axie Oh, Laura Pohl, Cindy Pon, Karuna Riazi, Gail D. Villanueva, Julian Winters, and Kat Zhang.

Go on an artistic journey around the world in this children's introduction.

Discover the power of art and be inspired by cultures from all over the world with this extensive children's guide. This book is the perfect introduction for young readers to the world of art and celebrates different styles from every continent!

Children aged 9+ can enjoy reading about early art right through to present day, and learn about the fascinating lives and achievements of great artists and sculptors, from Leonardo da Vinci to Tracey Emin and Henry Moore. All the essential information about art is covered, including the major movements, artists from around the world and techniques.

This art book for children offers: 

- Chapters which cover a huge range of artistic styles, from the very first cave paintings to contemporary art installations.
- Profiles of influential artists from Katsushika Hokusai to Jackson Pollock.
- A focus on key techniques and the famous artists who used them.Fun activities to create frescoes and sculptures for yourself. 

Children's Book of Art is full of facts and photos highlighting artistic styles from across the globe, from the very earliest cave paintings through to Renaissance art and surrealism, via China's terracotta army and African sculptors. 

Plus, there are fun activities and projects so children can create their own works of art - making it the perfect gift for budding painters and sculptors.

More in the series

The Children's Book of series inspires young learners to dive into their favorite topic and immerse themselves in the ins and outs, from fun facts to experts in the field. If you liked Children's Book of Art, then why not try the guide for budding musicians, Children's Book of Music?

Twelve-year-old Maisie is an artist.When she's in front of her sketchbook or apprenticing at Glenna's Portraits, the family-run art shop her grandmother started, the world makes sense. She doesn't think about Calum, her brother who mysteriously left home and cut ties with her family six years ago, or her parents' insistence that she "broaden her horizons" and try something new--something that isn't art.

 

But when Glenna's Portraits falls on hard times, Maisie's plan to take over the shop when she's older and become a lifelong artist starts to crumble. In desperation to make things right, Maisie runs away to London to reconnect with her adult brother, hoping he might be the key to saving the shop. But as Maisie learns about her family's past from Calum, she starts to rethink everything she's ever known. Maisie must decide not only if saving her family's art shop is worth it, but if she can forgive her parents for the mistakes they've made.

Internationally bestselling series Little White Fish has sold over 600,000 copies!

Little White Fish is crying. He can't find his mommy. While looking for her he sees all sorts of animals: a red crab, an orange starfish, a yellow snail, a green turtle, a blue whale and a purple octopus. But none of them are his mommy! Then he sees his mommy, and she has all the same colors as Little White Fish.

A playful book about sea animals and colors. For toddlers ages 30 months and up, with a focus on the child's language development.

At Clavis, our focus is on what's best for children. We believe that books play an important role in each new phase in life. Our toddler books are tailored for every stage from 0 to 3 and focus on the five most important themes in their life: daily life, skills, emotions, the world, and language development. The age range and theme of every book in our toddler series can be found on the back cover in the form of a colored train.

A young warrior dreams of proving his worth in the elite Guardian Tournament, fighting not only for himself but the fate of everything he loves.

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s pride—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.

But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place.

As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about.

An accessible and inspiring guide full of creative ideas and practical lessons for designing happy, family-friendly spaces.

In her first book, interior designer Betsy Wentz shares 13 fabulous family homes. The book is really a practical design guide for anyone who may not want—or simply cannot afford—to hire an interior designer. The story of each home includes color studies, design lessons, and pro tips, plus plenty of practical advice for anyone who might face similar challenges. The featured homes are in the following locations:

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Sewickley Heights, Pennsylvania
• Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania
• Glen Osborne, Pennsylvania
• Columbus, Ohio
• Granville, Ohio
• Boca Raton, Florida
• Palm Beach, Florida
• Blue Hill, Maine

This thrilling chapter book series will immediately suck readers in with its combination of fast-paced adventure and full-color art!

When ten-year-old Tiger Brooks and his family move into a new home, he sees some strange things at the house next door--like a talking pig in a top hat! When he and his neighbor, Luna Lopez, investigate, they discover a reclusive old woman and her magical golden frame, through which they can enter the world's greatest paintings. In this book, Tiger and Luna get pulled into the painting Surprised! or Tiger in a Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau. But they must escape the jungle adventure before time runs out, otherwise they'll be trapped in the painting forever!

Praise for Danger! Tiger Crossing:

"Ten-year-old Tiger Brooks and his neighbor, Luna Lopez, get up-close and personal with Henri Rousseau's "Tiger in a Tropical Storm" in this action-driven first book in the Fantastic Frame series." -Publishers Weekly

"Oliver keeps the plot itself snappy and peppy." -Kirkus

The magic of summer comes to life in this enchanting middle grade debut about an eleven-year-old girl who must save the future by restarting time after she realizes that her wish to relive the last day of summer may not have been such a great thing after all.

What if you could get a do-over—a chance to relive a day in your life over and over again until you got it right? Would you?

After finding a mysterious set of paints in her backpack, eleven-year-old Haleigh Adams paints a picture of her last day at the New Jersey shore. When she wakes up the next morning, Haleigh finds that her wish for an endless summer with her new friend Kevin has come true. At first, she’s thrilled, but Haliegh soon learns that staying in one place—and time—comes with a price.

And when Haleigh realizes her parents have been keeping a secret, she is faced with a choice: do nothing and miss out on the good things that come with growing up or find the secret of the time loop she’s trapped in and face the inevitable realities of moving on.

As she and Kevin set out to find the source of the magic paints, Haleigh worries it might be too late. Will she be able to restart time? Or will it be the biggest mistake of her life?

A bestselling author-illustrator duo join forces to create a modern father-son love story. The father tells his little son the story behind each of his tattoos, and together they go on a beautiful journey through family history. There's a tattoo from a favorite book his mother used to read him, one from something his father used to tell him, and one from the longest trip he ever took. And there is a little heart with numbers inside—which might be the best tattoo of them all. Tender pictures by New York Times bestselling illustrator Eliza Wheeler complement this lovely ode to all that's indelible—ink and love.

"Astonishing"—The New York Times Book Review

A brilliantly funny, highly illustrated story about how a little ink splot changes a family forever. Perfect for those who love Hoot, Holes, or Frindle!

The Rylance family is stuck. Dad's got writer's block. Ethan promised to illustrate a group project at school--even though he can't draw. Sarah's still pining for a puppy. And they all miss Mom.

Enter Inkling. Inkling begins life in Mr. Rylance's sketchbook. But one night the ink of his drawings runs together--and then leaps off the page! This small burst of creativity is about to change everything.

Ethan finds him first. Inkling has absorbed a couple chapters of his math book--not good--and the story he's supposed to be illustrating for school--also not good. But Inkling's also started drawing the pictures to go with the story--which is amazing! It's just the help Ethan was looking for! Inkling helps the rest of the family too--for Sarah he's a puppy. And for Dad he's a spark of ideas for a new graphic novel. It's exactly what they all want. 

It's not until Inkling goes missing that this family has to face the larger questions of what they--and Inkling--truly need.

• A New York Times Notable Book
• A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year -- top ten selection
• "A true-to-life family, some can't-put-it-down excitement, a few deep questions, and more than a little bit of magic. This book is everything, and I loved every page." —Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medalist for When You Reach Me

From the bestselling team behind "The Jester" comes a suspenseful new novel. Life is good for lifeguard Ned Kelley. He's involved with the beautiful Tess, and a million dollars awaits him as his share of the score for the robbery of some world-class art. But when Tess is murdered and others involved in the robbery are massacred, Ned is the prime suspect. He's been set up.

“An excellent introduction to graphic design through [the author’s] own excellent work. Anyone interested in the subject, including most practitioners, will find it delightful.”—Milton Glaser

Kids love to express themselves, and are designers by nature—whether making posters for school, deciding what to hang in their rooms, or creating personalized notebook covers. Go, by the award-winning graphic designer Chip Kidd, is a stunning introduction to the ways in which a designer communicates his or her ideas to the world. It’s written and designed just for those curious kids, not to mention their savvy parents, who want to learn the secret of how to make things dynamic and interesting.

Chip Kidd is “the closest thing to a rock star” in the design world (USA Today), and in Go he explains not just the elements of design, including form, line, color, scale, typography, and more, but most important, how to use those elements in creative ways. Like putting the word “go” on a stop sign, Go is all about shaking things up—and kids will love its playful spirit and belief that the world looks better when you look at it differently. He writes about scale: When a picture looks good small, don’t stop there—see how it looks when it’s really small. Or really big. He explains the difference between vertical lines and horizontal lines. The effect of cropping a picture to make it beautiful—or, cropping it even more to make it mysterious and compelling. How different colors signify different moods. The art of typography, including serifs and sans serifs, kerning and leading.

The book ends with ten projects, including an invitation to share your designs at GoTheBook.com.

• 160 photography challenges that trigger your creativity and inspire you to slow down, look around, and have a more mindful outlook on life

Whether you're using a top-notch camera or the one on your phone, anyone can practise being more present through photography. One Photo A Day Keeps the Doctor Away will help you do just that, through 160 photography challenges that help you to slow down and look around.

To inspire you, each challenge is accompanied by a carefully selected quote, sourced from a diverse collection of books by inspiring thinkers, writers, artists and philosophers - all of them experts in the art of looking, seeing and being.

Taking a moment out of your busy day to create a thoughtful image will sharpen your focus and creativity. Share your discoveries with the world, using the hashtag for the challenge, so others can see what you saw.

Now, open the book and pick a photo challenge. What will your photo look like today?

#onephotoaday

For any child who loves making art! This Level One I Can Read story by Laura Driscoll, illustrated by Catalina Echeverri, blends narrative with nonfiction, introducing many different kinds of working artists to the young reader.

Papa takes me to an art show and I get to meet a painter and a sculptor. Then we go to Papa's workspace. He's a hand-lettering artist. He takes me to meet the other artists in the building and I get to see how they work. Maybe I will be an artist when I grow up!

Over the course of an exciting day with Papa, our young narrator interacts with a potter, a photographer, an animator, a graphic designer, an illustrator, a cartoon artist, and even a muralist!

Art and artists are everywhere. There are loads of ways to make art--and making art doesn't just have to be a hobby.

I Want to Be an Artist is a vibrant addition to the I Can Read series that introduces young readers to important community helpers. Includes a glossary.

• painter
• sculptor
• hand-lettering artist
• potter
• graphic designer
• photographer
• illustrator
• animator
• cartoonist
• botanical illustrator
• muralist

Art Lab for Kids, Express Yourself is a fun collection of art activities that encourage children to create freely, using their own thoughts and experiences as a guide.

One of the most important gifts we can give children is to nurture their creativity and allow them to express themselves freely. There's no better way to express yourself than through creative art projects. This is especially true for children because it gives them an outlet to explore their developing interests and strengths.

Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself contains 52 brand new original art projects that will draw out each young artist as they discover their style, document their thoughts, and build confidence in their unique perspective. Each lesson asks questions and offers personal choices while encouraging diverse approaches and creative thinking.

The Colorful Beasts project, which incorporates discussion of endangered animals with the Blue Rider art movement, asks children to use torn colored tissue paper and glue to create an expressive representation of a favorite vulnerable animal. In I Built This City, children imagine and build their own cityscape using columns of newspaper text to make buildings on top of a watercolor painted background, and detailed with marker.

Many projects include varying examples and executions of the activity to illustrate and reinforce the open-ended nature of the labs, inspiring children to embrace and share their own voice.

Give children the great gift of creative self-exploration with Art Lab for Kids, Express Yourself.

The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.
 

A young Dominican girl navigates middle school, her strict mother, shifting friendships, and her dream of being an artist in this debut coming-of-age graphic novel inspired by the author's tween years.

Eighth grade in New York City means one thing: It’s time to start applying to high schools! While her friends are looking at school catalogs and studying for entrance exams, Steph is doodling in her notebook and waiting for art class to begin. When her art teacher tells her about LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Steph desperately wants to apply. But she’s in the Bronx, and LaGuardia is a public school in Manhattan—which her mom would not approve of. Steph comes up with a plan that includes lying to her mom, friends, and teachers. Keeping secrets isn’t easy, and Steph must decide how far she’ll go to get what she wants.

Doodles from the Boogie Down is a sparkling semi-autobiographical middle grade graphic novel debut set in the early aughts that's perfect for fans of Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm and Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham.

An inspiring picture book about how children can combine art and activism in their daily lives.

"They say I'm an artist. They say I'm an activist."

When a young boy realizes the scope of inequities in the wider world, he's seized with the urge to do more. He decides to bring together the different parts of himself—the artist and the activist—to become. . . an Artivist. After his mural goes viral, he sets out to change the world one painting at a time.

With inspiring text and stunning illustrations by Nikkolas Smith, The Artivist is a call to action for young readers to point out injustice in their lives and try to heal the broken bones of the world through their art.

Tilly in Technicolor is Mazey Eddings's sparkling YA debut about two neurodivergent teens who form a connection over the course of a summer.

Tilly Twomley is desperate for change. White-knuckling her way through high school with flawed executive functioning has left her burnt out and ready to start fresh. Working as an intern for her perfect older sister’s start up isn’t exactly how Tilly wants to spend her summer, but the required travel around Europe promises a much-needed change of scenery as she plans for her future. The problem is, Tilly has no idea what she wants.

Oliver Clark knows exactly what he wants. His autism has often made it hard for him to form relationships with others, but his love of color theory and design allows him to feel deeply connected to the world around him. Plus, he has everything he needs: a best friend that gets him, placement into a prestigious design program, and a summer internship to build his resume. Everything is going as planned. That is, of course, until he suffers through the most disastrous international flight of his life, all turmoil stemming from lively and exasperating Tilly. Oliver is forced to spend the summer with a girl that couldn’t be more his opposite—feeling things for her he can’t quite name—and starts to wonder if maybe he doesn’t have everything figured out after all.

As the duo’s neurodiverse connection grows, they learn that some of the best parts of life can’t be planned, and are forced to figure out what that means as their disastrously wonderful summer comes to an end.

A tour de force of history and imagination, The Lady and the Unicorn is Tracy Chevalier’s answer to the mystery behind one of the art world’s great masterpieces—a set of bewitching medieval tapestries that hangs today in the Cluny Museum in Paris. They appear to portray the seduction of a unicorn, but the story behind their making is unknown—until now.

Paris, 1490.  A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house—mother and daughter, servant, and lady-in-waiting—before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. There, master weaver Georges de la Chapelle risks everything he has to finish the tapestries—his finest, most intricate work—on time for his exacting French client. The results change all their lives—lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look.

In The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier weaves fact and fiction into a beautiful, timeless, and intriguing literary tapestry—an extraordinary story exquisitely told.

This highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed and bestselling picture book In a Jar stars one little bunny dealing with some very big feelings.

Llewellyn does not like to feel afraid or sad, angry, lonely, or embarrassed. And so he comes up with a brilliant plan: he tucks each of his feelings into jars and hides them away where they won't bother him anymore. But when he gets in trouble in class, Llewellyn finds he needs to put away excitement too. And when joy is quickly followed by disappointment, he decides to get rid of joy as well. After a while, Llewellyn walks around not feeling much of anything at all. And what happens when his emotions refuse to be bottled up any longer?

In this richly illustrated and universally relatable picture book, Llewellyn soon discovers that life is more colorful when he sets his emotions free. And only then, by facing and embracing each of his feelings, is he finally able to let them go.

An accessible, inclusive guide aimed at helping young fans celebrate their okatu spirit by sharing the history of anime and manga while giving young readers advice on how to explore and interact with this fandom.



Whether they're watching anime on Netflix and Crunchyroll or bringing home stacks of manga from the library or bookstore, there is no denying that young fans need a guidebook to help them navigate this geeky space. Written by anime and manga fans, writers, and reviewers Samuel Sattin and Patrick Macias, A Kid's Guide to Anime & Manga includes chapters on:

• History and importance of anime and manga
• Breakdowns of how anime and manga are made
• Recommendations of popular series and films to enjoy
• Pro-tips on how to create your own anime and manga and to be involved in cosplay communities

A Kid's Guide to Anime & Manga is packed with eye-catching two-color illustrations, fascinating facts, inspiring interviews, a glossary, and more to help young fans navigate and contribute to the growing anime and manga space.

Don't miss this moving, critically acclaimed classic manga (which inspired the anime) about an android running a coffee shop in a slowly dying Japan--published in English for the first time in oversized omnibus editions!

In a future Japan, long after an environmental catastrophe, Alpha the android runs a small café in a seaside town. As she wonders if her absent owner will ever return, she stands witness to the twilight of humanity with coffee, a slice of watermelon, and the sound of her moon guitar. Alpha and her fellow residents enjoy the melancholy beauty of life, even as the end approaches. Savor chapters 1-24 of this beloved manga classic in English for the first time, in this deluxe five-volume set.

Almost twenty-five years after the infamous art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—still the largest unsolved art theft in history—one of the stolen Degas paintings is delivered to the Boston studio of a young artist. Claire Roth has entered into a Faustian bargain with a powerful gallery owner by agreeing to forge the Degas in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But as she begins her work, she starts to suspect that this long-missing masterpiece—the very one that had been hanging at the Gardner for one hundred years—may itself be a forgery. The Art Forger is a thrilling novel about seeing—and not seeing—the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.