ALA Convention Floor Goodies (Upcoming Titles and the Like). Part Three.

I wasn’t aware of it, but Kids Can Press is also responsible for that hip Visions in Poetry series.  I reviewed Casey at the Bat last year.  Now they’ve decided to go the Edward Lear route with a particularly hip Owl and the Pussycat with illustrations by Stephane Jorisch.  The owl is wearing this grey suit and briefcase along with… are those ankle boots?  Awesome.  And the pussycat is wearing this truly mod yellow tank top with a thin black dress and clunky boots.  Honestly, these characters even getting together in the first place is what’s going to encourage ME to read the book.  Here’s the description of the book in the catalog: "… an aristocratic owl from Owl Heights and a bohemian pussycat from the other side of the tracks find each other.. Jorisch’s playful and fantastic interpretation, inspired in part by Lear’s own illustrations as well as the films of Fellini, the art of Miro and The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, is a celebration of love and an exhilarating journey that takes us beyond the quirky charm of this favorite poem."

I love all small presses, but my heart belongs to the smallest of them all.  I am hoping that with the rise in popularity regarding Shaun Tan and his new book The Arrival, hopefully some people will feel obligated to seek out Simply Read Books and their previous Tan publications like The Rabbits and The Lost Thing.  These two titles came out some years ago, but everyone and their brother should own them. They’ve flown under the radar too too long.

Anywho, I fell in love with Simply Read Books this time last year when I got a gander at their selection.  When You Were Small.  Mocking Birdies.  That ABC book by Matthew Porter.  Their books are beautiful to look at and lovely to see.  This year they’ve a couple nice new selections.  Matthew Porter’s got a counting book called Count the Birdies.  There’s this truly gorgeous alphabet book called Ryan Heshka’s ABC Spookshow (winning the Best Halloween Book of the Year Award by a long shot).  And for the capper there’s The Moon Rock.  Check out its website, first of all.  Again, I haven’t seen the text for this title so it may or may not have stellar writing.  But in terms of the big presentation, this book may garner some buzz.