Books with author McMullan

Ages 3-5. The sweet, soothing sounds of a mother's words come through loud and clear in this small book. A mother rabbit tells her little ones that she could pick them out from all the other babies, and she sings a bunny version of "Hush, Little Baby," with lines like "if that carrot top should wilt, / Mama's going to bring you a clover quilt." Then a bear, a cat, a duck, a dog, and finally a human mother tell their children how much they love them. McMullan's clever use of familiar songs ("Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Rock-a-bye Baby," among others) adds to the charm of this child pleaser. So do McPhail's pictures, which, though occasionally stiffly executed, are full of tenderness and love. A cuddlesome bedtime choice. Ilene Cooper

A memoir in paintings and words by internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and teacher James McMullan. A Booklist Top 10 Biography for Youth“It is this dreamlike quality of my memories that I wanted to capture in some way in the paintings that accompany the text--to suggest in the images that the events occurred a long time ago in a simpler yet more exotic world, and that the players in that world, including me, are at a distance.” Artist James McMullan’s work has appeared in the pages of virtually every American magazine, on the posters for more than seventy Lincoln Center theater productions, and in bestselling picture books. Now, in a unique memoir comprising more than fifty short essays and illustrations, the artist explores how his early childhood in China and wartime journeys with his mother influenced his whole life, especially his painting and illustration. James McMullan was born in Tsingtao, North China, in 1934, the grandson of missionaries who settled there. As a little boy, Jim took for granted a privileged life of household servants, rickshaw rides, and picnics on the shore—until World War II erupted and life changed drastically. Jim’s father, a British citizen fluent in several Chinese dialects, joined the Allied forces. For the next several years, Jim and his mother moved from one place to another—Shanghai, San Francisco, Vancouver, Darjeeling—first escaping Japanese occupation then trying to find security, with no clear destination except the unpredictable end of the war. For Jim, those ever-changing years took on the quality of a dream, sometimes a nightmare, a feeling that persists in the stunning full-page, full-color paintings that along with their accompanying text tell the story of Leaving China.

Wiglaf joins the other students of Dragon Slayers' Academy in searching the Dark Forest for the Cave of Doom, which supposedly contains the gold of the dead dragon Seetha, and when the headmaster of the Dragon Slayers' Academy hears the Princess Belcheena will pay the matchmaker who finds her a husband, he decides that Wiglaf is the perfect candidate.