Old Bear
By Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow, $17.99
Ages 2-5 years
Kevin Henkes’ current style, with broad brush strokes, delivers deep comfort in “Old Bear.” The story cycles through the seasons of one old bear’s life. Consider the picture of the hibernating, dreaming bear, curled up, with the sinuous curves of his ears, claws, and rounded body embodying peaceful containment. Nowhere near an old bear yet, Henkes himself clearly understands gifts time can’t touch.
The Cabinet of Wonders
By Marie Rutkoski.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.95
Ages 11-15 years
Twelve-year-old Petra, with nascent magical powers, lives with her father, a craftsman who makes animated metal animals, including Petra’s pet tin spider, Astrophil. When an evil ruler, in Prague, who collects “wonders,” steals her father and returns him damaged, Petra runs away to right wrongs. Like Phillip Pullman’s young Lyra, she matures in worlds more complex than she had imagined.
The Pencil
By Allan Ahlberg, illustrated
by Bruce Ingman
Candlewick Press, $16.99
Ages 5-8 years
And in the beginning, there was a pencil, “a lonely little pencil,” who drew a boy named Banjo, a dog named Bruce, a cat named Mildred. Then Bruce chased Mildred. Everyone has a name here, even the ants at a picnic (“Araminta” and “Alberic”), as we follow the power of words and lines.
A River of Words, the Story of William Carlos Williams
By Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Eerdmans, $17
Ages 8-12 years
Williams became not only the poet of everyday objects — that “red wheelbarrow,” remember? — but also a practicing family physician. Bryant and Sweet weave a densely textured and specific picture of his life.
Born to Read
By Judy Sierra, pictures by Marc Brown
Knopf, $16.99
Ages 4-8 years
When a tiny baby learns to read — a miracle and “such a perfect, patient mother” — joys and adventures follow. Who wouldn’t like to defeat a giant named Grundaloon?
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Mary Harris Russell, professor emerita of English at Indiana University Northwest, reviews children’s books each week for the Tribune.
