yay!

Congratulations to all the finalists for the BC Book Prizes, including our author Jennifer Lloyd and illustrator Ashley Spires, for being nominated for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize for Ella's Umbrellas!





Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Author Unknown

pet owls and tigers

Have you ever wanted a pet owl? Or seahorse? At this amazing site you can get any piece of furniture, plant or animal that your heart desires - in the form of a life-size sticker that you can put on your wall. I've always wanted a pet owl, or a tiger or lion, especially after reading The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo. What about you?

the imaginary library

Oooo! The Western Libraries at Western Washington University in Bellingham is hosting a free exhibit of original art by 72 illustrators from 30 countries. It is on until the end of April 2010. The best part? The exhibit is called "An Imaginary Library: Children's Books That Do Not (Yet) Exist A Project of the International Youth Library, Munich, Germany." 72 illustrators from 30 countries have taken part and created an original book cover for a book that does not yet exist but which someday the artist would love to create. Each book cover is accompanied by a short text that expresses the artist's idea.
Based on the beautiful images above, I am guessing that many of these ideas are indeed going to become books one day soon.

down the rabbit hole

Tim Burton's Alice is now in theaters! There's an interesting article here on the lasting popularity of Alice and why we just can't get enough of her. We can't get enough of her at Simply Read too! Our Alice 2011 calendar is going to be out very soon. Here are two images from it.

cute together

Cute gift idea #1: What about pairing Saffy by Paola Opal with either of this utterly adorable teether? You can find at Pebbles.
There are also some very cute giraffe bath toys at Dandelion Kids. You can buy Saffy there, too!

I imagine there are lots of other cute stuffies, plushies and chewies that would pair nicely with the simply small titles (all below)!

spring flowers

In celebration of seeing a few cherry blossoms on the trees here in Vancouver, here's a little animation for our board book by Matthew Porter, 'Flowers.'
He has a great website too.

the story cafe

There is an amazing ancient cafe in Seoul, Korea, called Insadong Stories. You can have tea/coffee and write a story, or draw a picture, which is then pinned to the wall. We added a Simply Read picture (which you can see above). Most of stories concern matters of the heart. Most are happy, but some have a melancholic tinge to them such as:
"I came here Friday to Insadong Stories and he passed me his mind and heart. I passed him mine. Maybe next time..."
I wish there were more cafes like this.