Apart, Together by Linda Booth Sweeney and Ariel Rutland

The subtitle of this book is "A book about transformations".

The cover of this book really caught my eye but then I turned to the end papers and WOW! On the front end paper there are balls of wool and a set of knitting needles. Think about the title - apart then together. YES the back end paper shows the almost completed scarf. I love the complex pattern of checks in shades of pink and yellow and two shades of blue. I almost wish the author or illustrator had included the knitting pattern at the back of the book!

The title page has some additional information: "This book also introduces the concept of emergence, a scientific concept described by the adage - 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts'."

So what do you see inside this book. 

Apart, blue is blue and yellow is yellow, but ... 
TOGETHER, they make green!

We seem to be off to a good start. Next a little girl plants some seeds, and she adds water and sunshine. Together they make ... beans. Moving deeper into the garden bees and flowers make ... honey. This illustration is scrumptious - a plate filled with honey crumpets or perhaps it is honeycomb. And there is a sprig of lavender on the page too. 

You can easily guess the things that go together to make a cake but what about a rocket like the one on the cover. Look closely - it is made from Lego. 

Notes from the author webpage: Apart, Together is a rhyming concept book (ages 2-6) about the magic that happens when 1 +1 doesn’t equal 2, but something entirely new! Parents, teachers and librarians will delight in how this book uses familiar object to support abstract thinking in 2-6 year olds (and older). Bold and playful, Apart/Together introduces important concepts such as cause-and-effect, prediction and transformation. Throughout, preschoolers are encouraged to imagine the interconnections that produce change, a building block of early childhood development as well as systems thinking.

Someone recently asked, on a Facebook forum, for suggestions of preschool non fiction books - this one is perfect!

Apart, Together (published 2024) is a debut book for illustrator Ariel Utland. Linda Booth Sweeney is a US author. She has written nine books including The Noisy Puddle: A Vernal Pool Through the Seasons which is a Finalist for the 2024 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award.

Here is an interview with Linda Booth Sweeney and Ariel Rutland where they discuss creating Apart, Together. Linda says of Ariel's art: She’s like a jazz musician except she’s riffing on the color wheel. Her drawings, her fabric, her art is clean, graphic, child-friendly, whimsical, and in many cases, inspired by nature.

A sweet read-aloud for younger readers to help them learn how the individual is part of a greater community; a standout for conveying complex concepts in an accessible format. School Library Journal

Companion book:

Circle Round by Anne Sibley O'Brien illustrated by Hanna Cha

Just when you think there surely are no new ideas for books you find a book that surprises you! There are children playing in all the different places found in their local park. Then when you look closer you see the children are all from different backgrounds (think inclusion). This is also a counting book with numbers one to ten plus a concept book about the circles we see all around us. Circles like paths, balls, bicycles, hoops, frisbees, monkey bar climbing rings, ground level water spouts (you will recognise these if you live in Manly (Sydney Australia), bubbles, marbles, balloons, and cookies! With a group of older children it this book could be used to talk about the way illustrators interpret a text. 

Circle Round was published in 2021 and it is still available but here in Australia it is fairly expensive. If your budget allows this would be a good book to add to a preschool library collection. 

Bookseller blurb: an inspiring new story of inclusion. One child in the park waves over a second child. Two children then wave over a third. Counting from one to ten, a growing circle of children see new faces outside the group and invite them over. Children of different abilities, ages, genders, and races demonstrate how easy it can be to expand your group, extend yourself, and welcome new friends.

This ode to kindness and a welcoming spirit is cheerful and textually minimal, focusing on number words one to 10, active verbs, and the words circle or circles in boldfaced larger type. Kirkus

The message of inclusion, underscored by the illustrations casual diversity in characters’ skin tones, ethnicities, genders, and abilities, is clear for very young children—all of whom would likely be welcomed enthusiastically into this circle of friends." The Horn Book

Hanna Cha is a Caldecott honour recipient for her book The Truth about Dragons.

Anne Sibley O'Brien is an author and an illustrator. She lives on an island in Maine. You can read about her childhood in Korea as the child of missionaries here. She is the co-founder of I'm Your Neighbor Books in Portland. This looks like a fabulous resource rather like our wonderful Lost in Books here in Sydney. Read more about the way I'm Your Neighbor share their book collections. Here is a 2016 interview with Anne Sibley O'Brien. 

I love this image of the questions the children planned to ask during an author visit and also here you can see some of her books.

Meet the illustrator Beth Krommes

One of our large chain bookstores recently filled a table with children's books that had been on their shelves since 2018. All of the books were 50% off the retail price. I saw Blue on Blue by Joyce Sidman (2014) illustrated by Beth Krommes. Silly me - I didn't buy it - and now I regret that decision. When I visited a school library this week, I grabbed three other books by Joyce Sidman illustrated by Beth Krommes. I really love her illustration style. Sadly, here in Australia her books are fairly expensive but perhaps you can add one or two to your library or pop them onto your wish list. 

Here are some Kirkus star review comments that describe her work:

Before Morning: Krommes' inimitable scratchboard illustrations play with perspective and point of view as they flesh out Sidman’s short poem, written in the form of an invocation. Washed with orange, tan, and icy blue, they open and close with landscapes reminiscent of Virginia Lee Burton’s work.

Blue on Blue: Folk-art–inspired illustrations, astonishing in both their technical accomplishment and their heart, harmonize beautifully with lyrical language.

Beth Krommes is a Caldecott medalist (The House in the Night) and Joyce Sidman is a Newbery Honor winner (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night). Beth Krommes lives in Peterborough, USA. Read more about her Caldecott medal here. 

Here is a list of all books illustrated by Beth Krommes with details of the awards they have won. Check out my previous post about Butterfly eyes and Other Secrets. 

We are Branches is the latest book illustrated by Beth. In this book readers can explore the myriad of ways you can see branches at work. Yes, they are part of trees but also the way tree roots stretch through the soil is another example of branches. Flowers are found at the end of the branches on plants. Rivers form branches as they flow towards the ocean. Look up at lightning and you will see branches of light and energy. The dry land after years of drought is filled with branches carved into the soil. And think about ice crystals and coral, the bones that show on the wings of a bat, and the branches inside each of us as our blood pumps through arteries and veins. 

In Swirl by Swirl even the imprint page is presented in a swirl. On the first page we see a coiled snake which, on turning the page, uncoils. The obvious spiral is a snail shell but what about a Nautilus shell and a fern frond, a hedgehog curled into a protective ball and the horns on a ram. Elephants coil their trunks to hold each other's tails and grab forest branches - the shape is a swirl. And there are spirals in plants - sunflower, rose, hibiscus, and daisy. Oh, and the tornado page is spectacular.

Before Morning is a poem:

In the deep woolen dark,
as we slumber unknowing,
let the sky fill with flurry and flight.
Let the air turn to feathers,
the earth turn to sugar,
and all that is heavy turn light.
Let quick things be swaddled,
Let urgent plans flounder,
let pathways be hidden from sight.
Please - just this once
change the world before morning:
make it slow
and delightful
and white.

Imagine receiving this lyrical text (you are the illustrator) what do you see? Beth Krommes interprets each line in a delightful way and there are also pages in between with no words - to my mind they work to give a reader time to pause, and breathe, and ponder. See inside this book here. And read this review which has teaching ideas for Before Morning. 

Blurb: There are planes to fly and buses to catch, but a small child wishes for a different sort of day. When clouds gather and heavy flakes begin to fall, her invocation comes true.

Book List

• We Are Branches Clarion/HarperCollins, 2023
• Before Morning HMH Books for Young Readers, Fall 2016
• Blue on Blue Beach Lane Books, 2014
• Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature Houghton Mifflin, 2011
• The House in the Night Houghton Mifflin, 2008 
• Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow Houghton Mifflin, 2006 
• The Hidden Folk Houghton Mifflin, 2004 
• The Barefoot Book of Earth Poems (formerly The Sun in Me) Barefoot Books, 2003
• The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish Houghton Mifflin, 2001
• Grandmother Winter Houghton Mifflin, 1999

Scratchboard and Watercolor Illustration Demo by Beth Krommes

Beth Krommes | Steps to Illustrating a Picture Book

“I found my way to this medium through my interest in wood engraving,” says Krommes, who was working as an art director for a computer magazine when she began creating commercial art of her own. “Back in 1982, I happened to attend an exhibition called ‘Three New Hampshire Wood Engravers: Nora Unwin, Herbert Waters, and Randy Miller’ at the Sharon Arts Center in New Hampshire. Soon afterward I took up wood engraving and was juried into the 

League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.”

From The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

Image source: Artists network (note this site contains advertisements)

Yellow, Pink, Red, Green, Blue - popup board books by Aurore Petit

A rubber duckie . . . a raincoat . . . a ray of light! Infants and young readers will delight as these objects jump off the page in this unique “first colors” 

and “first words” pop-up board book.

There's a new little baby boy who has arrived to bring great happiness into the lives of the family of a friend of mine.  Yesterday I caught up with the new little man - he is now ten weeks old. I have of course given his and his mum and dad a selection of books and I was utterly thrilled to hear they are reading to him every day!!! I couldn't resist this pop-up book when I saw it in a city bookstore. The yellow raincoat page delighted the grandmother of this baby and she immediately burst into the raincoat jingle "wear a yellow raincoat when you're out in the wet" from her own childhood. 

Gecko Press bio: Aurore Petit was born in 1981 in France and currently lives in Nantes. She graduated from L’école des Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg in 2006. She works with children’s books and illustrates for magazines and media, and has worked on books and stage design. She won the Millepages Prize in 2019 for A Mother Is a House. You can see some of her French titles here. 

Infants and young readers will delight as these objects jump off the page in this unique “first colors” and “first words” pop-up board book. These sturdy, small board books are absolutely perfect for little hands, but the clever and surprising images will appeal to all ages. Each spread is printed in black-and-white, but the six playful pop-up objects are filled in with a bold pop of color—a novel take on high-contrast books! Thames and Hudson

See Yellow and Pink in action on Instagram. I do hope we see all of this series in English Yellow and Pink arrived here in March, 2024. Pink - What is pink? A cat’s tongue . . . a sunrise . . . a lollipop!  

I see Red and Green are due here in Australia in September and they are a great price at less than AUS$15 thank goodness. [I saw a different and very appealing board book this morning on social media for over AUS$37]. Here are the French titles:

• Jaune POP
• Vert POP
• Rouge POP
• Rose POP
• Blanc POP
• Bleu POP
• Orange POP
• Noir POP