Scholastic Picture Book Preview

"The Story Starts Here" is a picture book collection from Scholastic Publishing that is "committed to inspiring a lifelong love of reading starting on day one." Last month they brought a small gathering of librarians together to preview their upcoming titles. Here are a few of those titles and some small creative process anecdotes to boot!

Groovy Joe by Eric Litwin and Tom Lichtenheld

This next picture book in Eric Litwin's musical story book library started as a song. He would practice and practice at different story times and visits until the children's faces gave him the response he was looking for. When their faces lit up he knew it was just right - it is kid tested! He is indeed the pied piper of picture books. The above photo shows one of the many variations of the main character of the book. 

King Baby by Kate Beaton

Beaton recently became an aunt when this book was starting to culminate in her mind. She took notice how the parents and the rest of the family reacted when the baby was in the room. All the attention in the would be focused on her new nephew. As she saw this she realized that this baby was like a monarch! He needed all eyes on him and any thing he said went. It seems like her character, King Baby, knows this and takes complete advantage of his reign!

Cleonardo, the Little Inventor by Mary GrandPre

Children's rooms rejoice: the illustrator of Harry Potter has her very own picture book! As a child GrandPre's father was always working in his workshop and that's why she wanted to become an artist. She then had her daughter and felt that she should be an artist in whatever way she wanted to be as well. This thought of family tradition handed down from generation to generation is what inspired Cleonardo. Our young inventor has seen her inventor father and his famous father (any guesses?) tinkering away her entire life and now she wants to show her skills too.

Hungry Bird by Jeremy Tankard

This character came about when Tankard's daughter wanted him to draw grumpy things. After many different animals he landed on Grumpy Bird. In this second installment starring our bird friend he goes on a hike with all his colorful animal friends only to realize that he forgot his lunch! When everyone starts to eat Bird begins to take on another emotion - he becomes... HANGRY! (Hungry + Angry = Hangry) What's a bird to do?

Duck on a Tractor by David Shannon

This book picks up where the 14 year cliffhanger of Duck on a Bike left off. On the final page of that book we see a tractor. Now we have Duck riding the tractor with all his farm friends. The illustrations are fantastic and so much fun.

I'll Wait, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony

It is worth the wait! Patience is indeed a virtue in this picture book about a panda baking a delicious treat. All of the animals want what Mr. panda is making, but they don't want to wait. It isn't until Penguin has enough patience to standby for the deliciousness that we finally get to see what Mr. Panda has been making. Editors shared that Antony uses limited colors in his books (all of the animals that appear are black and white) because he is colorblind. There is so much cuteness on these pages!

For more information regarding these titles and Scholastic's "The Story Starts Here" visit the website http://storystartshere.scholastic.com/.