Books with author Jan Thornhill

Long ago in Ancient India, there lived a young hare who worried about everything — food, rain, and even the color of her eyes. As the worrywort hare tries to settle down for a quiet nap in her favorite sun-dappled grove of palms and mango trees, she is startled into action by a sudden and very loud explosion.Convinced that the world is breaking up, the hare tears out of the grove, into a thicket, across a marshland, through a forest, out into the scrubland and onto the open plain. All along the way, she spreads her alarming news, gathering up an ever-increasing herd of terrified animals: hares, wild boars, deer, tigers, and rhinos. The stampede continues and the frenzy grows, until one wise voice prevails .Perfect for reading aloud, this beautifully told traditional story from India is a lovely version of a classic "The Sky Is Falling" tale. Vibrant illustrations set inside exquisite borders in a handsome large format book have an effect like gorgeous tapestries on every page. The richness of each illustration adds layers to this deceptively simple fable, and young readers will love to pore over the art to pick up the hidden details in each piece.Nature Notes at the back of the book give additional information on the wildlife, flora, and fauna featured in the story and illustrations, as well as the origins of the tale and the style of illustration.The Rumor is a retelling of an ancient Jataka tale from India. Jataka tales have been used for more than 2,500 years to teach about sharing, compassion, and the difference between good and bad.

Reports of global warming’s catastrophic effects are everywhere: in newspapers, on the nightly news, even on movie screens. The subject can be so overwhelming that young people are often left with the thought, What can I do? In This Is My Planet, Jan Thornhill gives young readers the tools they need to live their own lives more ecologically — and ultimately, to improve the life of the planet. The book takes a comprehensive look at climate change, beginning with basic information about how the planet works and moving through an in-depth look at human societies and three specific environments — polar, ocean, and land. Although she doesn't shy away from the truth, Thornhill offers hope, showing where action can make a difference and providing evidence of the Earth’s amazing resilience and adaptability. Never preachy or alarmist, this amazing book trusts young readers with the facts, allowing them to form their own intelligent opinions. A multitude of full-color photographs enhance Thornhill’s engaging, informative text.

Jan Thornhill's trademark ingenuity brings this well-loved 19th century rhyme to a new audience in a captivating and original way.Jan has created a magical imaginary world made up of everyday objects: A forest of broccoli, a beaver dam of pretzels, a dragonfly with paperclip wings... Who could have thought berries, twist-ties, light bulbs, garden gloves, and rubber bands could be transformed into such unimagined delights?As always with Jan Thornhill's books, young readers can pore for hours over the intricacies of a seemingly simple story. Not only will they learn about counting, rhyming, animals, and nature, but kids will also delight in picking out recognizable everyday objects used in ingenious new ways in the illustrations on these pages. Pages at the back of the book show the original elements used in the creation of the illustrations—readers can then go back and play eye-spy.Hand-drawn text with some rebus elements help the youngest reader to learn and delight in words. Ten spreads show different parts of the meadow and introduce a different animal and a new action verb.

The death of a bird is the jumping-off point for this intelligent, wide-ranging look at the cycle of life. From life spans to how things die, from what happens after death to how people cope with the loss of a loved one, Jan Thornhill guides young readers through difficult territory with grace, sensitivity, and touches of humor. She tackles the subject head on, never shirking from reality, but with a life-affirming perspective that connects death to the world around us as part of the natural, never-ending cycle of life. The book’s lively design and color photographs reinforce Thornhill’s pragmatic, positive tone.

The death of a bird is the jumping-off point for this intelligent, wide-ranging look at the cycle of life. From life spans to how things die, from what happens after death to how people cope with the loss of a loved one, Jan Thornhill guides young readers through difficult territory with grace, sensitivity, and touches of humor. She tackles the subject head on, never shirking from reality, but with a life-affirming perspective that connects death to the world around us as part of the natural, never-ending cycle of life. The book’s lively design and color photographs reinforce Thornhill’s pragmatic, positive tone.

This delightful storybook leads children on an enchanting journey across the globe. It consists of a chain of stories narrated by animals. At the end of each story one of the animals leaps to a different continent to begin the next tale. Starting with an Indian tale about an elephant and a hare, the hare then hops over to West Africa to take part in a tale about a tortoise, who then travels to China to help find the cranes a new home . . . and so on. The seamless links between continents and animals represent a worldwide celebration of shared stories.

Part of the loosely constructed series by Jan Thornhill, which already includes This Is My Planet and I Found a Dead Bird, Who Wants Pizza? is brimming with no-nonsense facts that illustrate the importance of food choices and the practices surrounding food production. Full of direct, eye-opening information about why we need to eat, where our food comes from, how much of it we have, and why some food choices are wiser than others, the book covers a lot of important ground. Topics are easy to dip into and include digestion, the domestication of animals, different cultures’ table etiquette, sustainable agriculture, and the evolution of farming and food preservation. Short blocks of bite-sized text, just the right amount of “icky” info that kids love, plus a visually stimulating layout that uses captivating photo-illustration collages all add up to make Who Wants Pizza? a fun, fact-filled look at all things food-related.

*New paperback edition*"The world is breaking up!"As the worrywart hare settles down for a quiet nap in her favorite sun-dappled grove of palms and mango trees, she is startled into action by a sudden and very loud explosion.Convinced that the world is breaking up, the hare tears out of the grove, into a thicket, across a marshland, through a forest, out into the scrubland and onto the open plain. Along the way she spreads her alarming news, gathering up an ever-increasing herd of terrified creatures. The stampede continues and the frenzy grows, until one wise voice prevails Perfect for reading aloud, this traditional story from India is a lovely version of a classic "The Sky Is Falling" tale. Vibrant illustrations set inside exquisite borders have an effect like gorgeous tapestries on every page. The richness of each illustration adds layers to this deceptively simple fable, and young readers will love to pore over the art to pick up the hidden details in each piece.Nature Notes at the back of the book give additional information on the wildlife, featured in the story and illustrations, as well as the origins of the tale and the style of illustration.

Governor General’s Award finalist The Wildlife 123 is now available as a newly formatted paperback! Nature in all its splendor leaps off the pages of this magnificent, interactive early-learning primer, which features exotic and familiar animals from around the world.From one panda bear to one thousand tadpoles, this counting book communicates simple information through colorful illustrations and classic design; every page will spark young readers’ interest and imagination. At the end of the book, “Nature Notes” provide additional information on each of the featured animals and their habitats, encouraging children to spend more time with this rich read.

Behold the most despised bird in human history!So begins Jan Thornhill’s riveting, beautifully illustrated story of the House Sparrow. She traces the history of this perky little bird, one of the most adaptable creatures on Earth, from its beginnings in the Middle East to its spread with the growth of agriculture into India, North Africa and Europe. Everywhere the House Sparrow went, it competed with humans for grain, becoming such a pest that in some places “sparrow catcher” became an actual job and bounties were paid to those who got rid of it.But not everyone hated the House Sparrow, and in 1852, fifty pairs were released in New York City. In no time at all, the bird had spread from coast to coast. Then suddenly, at the turn of the century, as cars took over from horses and there was less grain to be found, its numbers began to decline. As our homes, gardens, cities and farmland have changed, providing fewer nesting and feeding opportunities, the House Sparrow’s numbers have begun to decline again — though in England and Holland this decline appears to be slowing. Perhaps this clever little bird is simply adapting once more.This fascinating book includes the life history of the House Sparrow and descriptions of how the Ancient Egyptians fed it to the animals they later mummified, how it traveled to Great Britain as a stowaway on ships carrying Roman soldiers, and how its cousin, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, was almost eradicated in China when Mao declared war on it. A wealth of back matter material is also supplied.