Thursday, April 29, 2010

Simply Read Books' Spring Book Launch!

Meet our talented authors and illustrators and enjoy treats, door prizes and kids' activities!

When: Wednesday, May 5, 7 to 9 pm
Where: Kidsbooks, 3083 West Broadway, Vancouver, www.kidsbooks.ca



Kari-Lynn Winters (author) and Ben Frey (illustrator) of Runaway Alphabet


Sleepless Kao, author/illustrator of Monchan's Bag


Paola Opal, author/illustrator of Perry


Eliyana Biklou, author/illustrator of Lady Treble and the Seven Notes


Julie Flett, author/illustrator of Owls See Clearly at Night: Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer


Robin Mitchell-Cranfield and Judith Steedman, authors/illustrators of Foggy

Monday, April 26, 2010

A Booky Day

A good book often makes you feel like you are living the exciting life of the main character. But why not REALLY live like a character for a day? Or more!

1) Wear clothes and shoes that characters in books wear.
Dance in a pair red shoes like the ones the little girl wears in The Red Shoes.


2) Eat meals only described in books.
Feast on honey like Jack the Bear.


Or cupcakes like Monchan in Monchan's Bag.


3) Have fun like characters in books:
Make and fly a kite like Windy. (The Windy and Friends blog has a post up right now about how to make kites, both big ones and tiny cute ones!)



Or make a set of multicolored beads like Lillian in The Magic Beads.


Or play some music like the Notes in Lady Treble and the Seven Notes!


4) And when it's time for bed: Dream of growing tall, like Saffy:


Classic books too are ripe with inspiration for a living like a book character:
- Bake a bake a sugar-topped cake that Mr. Tumnus made for Lucy in C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". (There is even a Narnia Cookbook
- Color with only purple crayons like Harold Crockett Johnson's "Harold and the Purple Crayon".
- Talk like Eloise from Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's "Eloise" (She likes "s" words to describe what she does, and oftne repeats a word three times). Or maybe just try to do some of those crazy things she does like making a hat out of a kleenex box or talking to Mars with paper cups.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Owls See Clearly book launch!



Finally this lovely book by Julie Flett, Owls See Clearly at Night (Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer): A Michif Alphabet (L’alfabet di Michif) has arrived from the printer's--and it's beautiful!

Come join us as we celebrate the book launch!
When: Saturday April 24, 3 to 5
Where: Collage Collage, 621 Kingsway, Vancouver

There will be owl mask crafts, coloring, bannock and tea!

Already the book has a great review:
"A result of the mingling of First Nations (mostly Cree and Ojibwe) and European cultures (mostly the French and Scots peoples), Michif has a long, rich history as an oral language, but its writing systems are fairly new. With this book Flett carries us along on a very unique alphabet journey... In a race against time, Owls See Clearly at Night represents an essential step in the direction of preserving and transmitting the Michif language to future generations. Kudos to Julie Flett for this very important contribution!" - Paper Tigers






Monday, April 19, 2010

coloring page for Foggy




Check out the super cute coloring page Windy & Friends have created for the Simply Read book, Foggy!
And look at their blog while you're at it, for some adorable crafts and reading inspiration.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

goop



A Simply Read book, When You Were Small was featured on Gweneyth Paltrow's online newsletter, Goop, as a great book! Check it out!
There's other great books recommended here, too!



And... a sneak peek of Julie Morstad's next book, written by Caroline Woodward and coming out this Fall. More about this later!




Thursday, April 8, 2010

fairy tale knits



Just came across this neat book of fairy tale knits. What charming clothes!
We have a few fairy tale books already published. And one coming out soon, The Boy in the Oak! It's by a UK artist and fashion designer Jessica Albarn.
Here's a sneak peek.





Thursday, April 1, 2010

Alcuin Award Winners! Happy days!



Out of fifty-three books submitted for the three prizes awarded in the Children’s Book Category, two Simply Read titles were chosen! We are thrilled! Both designers live in Vancouver.

Elisa Gutierrez won second prize for The Kalevala: Tales of Magic and Adventure by Kirsti Mäkinen.



The Kalevala is definitely a stylish book, thanks to Elisa's expertise. There was a lot of time spent choosing the foil for the cover title. I especially like the moody images that start each chapter, extracted from other images in the book.



And other painterly pages add to this beautiful moodiness.



The title page is awesome, too. But one thing we wondered after the book was printed... perhaps the font is a little too light?



Grace Partridge won third prize for Ella’s Umbrellas.



I love the endpages for this book.





But best of all, by far, are the glossy raindrops on the cover!!

The winning books will be exhibited internationally: in Germany, at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs; in England, at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library and the Norwich University College of the Arts; and in Japan, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, in conjunction with the Tokyo International Book Fair. The books will also be exhibited in 19 venues across Canada. They will compete in the international book design competition in Leipzig, Germany in February 2011.

Check out the Alcuin Society for more about them and the award!