Fresh Approaches: New Editions and Reissues
This article originally appeared in SLJ's Extra Helping. Sign up now!
Joy Fleishhacker -- School Library Journal, 5/25/2009 7:32:00 AM
New Editions You Won’t Want to Miss
These titles have been staples in children’s collections for years and are just as appealing today as when they were first published. Check your shelves and replace loved-to-tatters copies with fresh new reissues.
A mainstay in classrooms and libraries, Mary O’Neill’s Hailstones and Halibut Bones (Doubleday), originally published in 1961, provides an inviting introduction to children’s poetry and explorations of color. Twelve imagination-stirring selections celebrate and contemplate a spectrum of hues, highlighting examples from nature and the human world, and musing about the emotions evoked by each color. Added to the 1989 reissue, John Wallner’s sumptuous montage illustrations enhance the verses and echo their breathless sense of wonder. The 2009 edition features an updated cover: the title—presented in an airier font touched with bits of color—banners above a medley of intriguing objects in corresponding rainbow shades, all set against a crisp white backdrop.
While you’re in the poetry section, make sure you still have a copy of Favorite Poems Old and New (1957), selected by Helen Ferris and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, another treasure recently reissued by Doubleday. This collection of more than 700 classic and modern (early 20th century) verses compiles entries from a wide range of authors into appealingly themed chapters (e.g., “My Family and I,” “Animal Pets and Otherwise,” “Almost Any Time Is Laughing Time”), each introduced with Weisgard’s whimsical sketches. This must-have volume is appropriate for both browsing and use as a reference resource.
Consider updating your picture book collections with newly reissued versions of titles that have been unavailable in hardcover for several years. Leo Lionni’s Theodore and the Talking Mushroom, originally published in 1971 (Knopf), remains a fresh and relevant fable about peer pressure, self-esteem, and the consequences of telling a whopper. The droll sponge-textured collage artwork, vocabulary-stretching language, and subtly expressed themes make this a great choice for more sophisticated picture book readers. Mrs. Katz and Tush (Doubleday, 1992), Patricia Polacco’s affectionately told, vibrantly illustrated story about an intergenerational friendship between a lonely Jewish widow and a young African-American boy, also returns to hardcover with an updated design.
Originally published in 1967, Irma Joyce’s Never Talk to Strangers (Golden Bks.), illustrated by George Buckett in spring-bright hues, conveys an important and still-relevant message in a nonfrightening, child-friendly manner. Lively rhymes describe various (and reassuringly silly) encounters with an assortment of anthropomorphized animals and advises children on how to react by repeating the title refrain. Though more than 40 years old, the buoyant text and charming artwork remain crisp and will appeal to 21st-century sensibilities.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s Happy Birthday to You! (1959), Random House has reissued a party edition of this lively picture book with its cover artwork printed on festive shimmery blue foil. This paean to celebrating one’s “Day of all Days”—done up Katroo-style with lots of visual hoopla and jaunty rhymes—remains forever young. In another anniversary reprint, Simon & Schuster commemorates 20 years of “Chicka Chicka” fun with Chicka Chicka ABC, an oversize board book edition of Bill Martin, Jr., John Archambault, and Lois Ehlert’s classic alphabet chant, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (S & S, 1989).
Pub Info
O’NEILL, Mary. Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Color. illus. by John Wallner. Doubleday. 2009. PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-385-90652-4; Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-385-24484-8.
FERRIS, Helen, sel. Favorite Poems Old and New. illus. by Leonard Weisgard. Doubleday. 2009. Tr $26.99. ISBN 978-0-385-07696-8.
LIONNI, Leo. Theodore and the Talking Mushroom. illus. by author. Knopf. 2009. PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-375-94551-9; Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-375-84551-2.
POLACCO, Patricia. Mrs. Katz and Tush. illus. by author. Doubleday. 2009. PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-385-90650-0; Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-553-08122-0.
JOYCE, Irma. Never Talk to Strangers. illus. by George Buckett. Random/Golden Bks. 2009. PLB $12.99. ISBN 978-0-375-96964-5; Tr $9.99. ISBN 978-0-375-84964-0.
DR. SEUSS. Happy Birthday to You!: Party Edition. illus. by author. Random. 2009. Tr $14.95. ISBN 978-0-394-80076-9.
MARTIN, Bill & John Archambault. Chicka Chicka ABC. illus. by Lois Ehlert. S & S/Little Simon. June 2009. BD $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-8447-4.
