Books with author Monika Beisner

This delightfully imaginative book catalogs eleven fantastical inventions of magical toys, with detailed descriptions and vivid illustrations that will make kids want to create their own fantastic toys Fantastic Toys is a dream catalog of eleven marvelous inventions, magical toys that would make the world far more interesting, if only they existed. Here are inventions based on fantasy, like winged jumping boots that let you leap so high you startle the birds; inventions to assuage fears, like a glowing teddy bear; inventions to improve upon boring tasks or gloomy weather, like child-size bath-foam animals and animal umbrellas; and even educational inventions, like the treasure-hunt letter maze. Best of all are the inventions just for fun: the skipping machine that should be in every playground and the sheep toboggan (real sheep not included) that takes sledding to a whole new level. In a perfect mimicry of marketing, each toy is advertised with an earnest, compelling description and a detailed hand-drawn illustration of happy children demonstrating the fun that can be had. Fantastic Toysis a book not only for reading but for marveling, inventing, and building. Who knows what other fantastic toys are just waiting to be invented?

"The incandescent colors and precise images will remind readers of [Beisner's] splendid illustrations in Alison Lurie's The Heavenly Zoo and Fabulous Beasts. The ingenious landscapes and animals depicted are also clues to the festive collection of rhyming riddles the artist has adapted to provide fun and test children's wits."-Publishers Weekly. "This is a gem."-Starred/School Library Journal

To travel from one place to another by flying as fast as the fastest hawk: Take snow and boil it with oil on a fire of two different wood (one white, the other red). Then put the mixture in a bag made from a sheep's bladder. When this has been in the bladder for a moon and a half, pour over charcoal, and when it is all mixed together...Get this and many other spells and potions in this inspiring book!