Someday by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, $14.99 | This love poem to a child begins with the first kisses a new mother bestows on tiny fingers and toes, expanding through childhood’s expanding universe of realities and possibilities, and into a future realm inducting a new generation into the cyclic rites.
McGhee’s spare sentences extract meaning from every word, and Reynolds’ tender illustrations match the evocative prose. This would be a terrific gift for someone who is welcoming a new baby, or mourning the loss of a parent. All ages.
Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship by Isabella and Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, photographs by Peter Greste, $16.99 | This sequel updates the authors’ first book about the baby hippo adopted by a tortoise following the December 2004 tsunami. It’s rich with details that elevate it above more simplistic versions of this true story.
When villagers discovered a baby hippo stranded at the mouth of Kenya’s Sabaki River, they mounted a dangerous rescue effort that relocated Owen, the hippo, to a wildlife sanctuary. Unable to place Owen with the sanctuary’s resident hippos – hippos are viciously territorial – the keepers put Owen in the equivalent of a petting zoo where the cranky tortoise Mzee lived.
Owen made straight for Mzee, who wanted nothing to do with him. But Owen’s persistence elicited decidedly un-tortoiselike behavior from Mzee, who taught the hippo to forage. This extraordinary friendship still endures, with Mzee in the role of parent, and the two evolving their own language of sounds. All ages.
The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds by Marisabina Russo, $15.99 | Warmer, longer days mean that bunnies, like children, find bedtime less intuitive than when darkness fell before dinnertime. In Marisabina Russo’s amusing not-ready-for-bedtime book, tireless bunnies delay the trip to the Land of Nod so successfully that their parents conk out before they do. All ages.
Rabbit Plants the Forest by Deborah L. Duvall, paintings by Murv Jacob, $18.95 | Elders fare better in Deborah L. Duvall’s retelling of a Cherokee fable that follows an adventurous young squirrel and rabbit to explain why squirrels stash seeds and nuts throughout their territory. But will the reckless youth escape the legendary menace known as Wampus Cat? All ages.
Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend by Melanie Watt, $14.95 | An apprehensive squirrel becomes a recluse after deciding that it’s too dangerous to have friends. (What if they bite?) When he gathers his courage to approach a benevolent-looking goldfish, a rambunctious dog butts in. Now what? All ages.
Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus, $11.99 | Ebullient Junie B. Jones competes against her archenemy May at an Easter egg hunt. Hard to believe a gal as worldly as Junie B. has never heard of an Easter egg hunt before, and harder to believe that a born entertainer like Junie B. hesitates to don the Easter Bunny costume she wins before the hunt commences. Use a winch to suspend that disbelief, and the story rolls along like the elusive golden egg that Junie B. and May want so fiercely to win. Age 6 to 9.
Growing Up Grizzly by Douglas H. Chadwick, photos by Amy Shapira, $14.95 | This affectionate story about Emmett, the 2-year-old grizzly adopted by a broad-minded grizzly sow, illustrates the exception-to-every-rule concept. A mother grizzly typically chases away other bears clueless enough to approach her cubs, but Amy Shapira photographically chronicled a mama bear who took in an apparently lonely 2-year-old male.
Shapira named the adopted bear Emmett, and spent five summers photographing Emmett and his adoptive family in their southeast Alaska summer home. Her photographs and author Douglas H. Chadwick’s text document the extraordinary story of an adolescent grizzly who took a couple of extra years to mature, and the tolerant female who helped him on that journey.
The book is unrelated to the Discovery Channel’s popular cable TV series of the same name. All ages.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reaced at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
