Books in Nesting Shape Books series

With such enthusiastic response to our reproductions of die-cut antiquarian children's books, we have been in search of more titles that our discerning customers would enjoy. The Cats' Pajamas (1932) is another title from Frances Brundage, the illustrator of our popular The Three Bears. The Cats' Pajamas is a truly delightful tale of a fashion conscious cat and her two kittens. After receiving brand new stylish pajamas, the small kittens promptly ruin them with reckless play, but, as they discover, a mother's love surpasses even beautiful pajamas. This would make a wonderful gift for new parents building their classics collection or an avid young reader. It is die-cut around the cover image, the newest in our ""shape"" book series.

Our most popular title, this version of the elemental tale of a little girl, her grandmother and a scary wolf is illustrated by Gladys Hall and dates from around 1910. It is rendered in bright primary colors, and the little girl – Rosie – is utterly adorable in her gingham dress and red cloak. The wolf is vanquished, Rosie is saved, and all ends well in this most gentle of Red Riding Hoods.

We have more than fifty versions of this wonderful poem in our library; this is one of our favorites. Margaret Evans Price has a gentle talent. The Santa Claus on the cover, and throughout, is one of the kindest Santas ever imagined. This is a Santa who is appealingly earth bound. This is a facsimile of the 1917 edition. We have die-cut it, as in the original, and the shaped / rounded top makes it especially appealing. This is an ideal first "Night Before Christmas" for a young child.

This shaped picture book uses vintage illustrations from Laughing Elephant’s treasure trove to explore Halloween from a child’s perspective. Essential Halloween activities such as selecting a costume, pumpkin carving, parties, trick-or-treating and apple bobbing are all depicted. A simple text links the images, and together they weave an evocative spell of nostalgic Halloween magic.

Lewis Carroll’s duo of novels about a girl named Alice and her surreal adventures have been popular since their publication in 1865 (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) and 1871 (Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There). Neither book has ever been out of print. But many parents find the originals too difficult for young children, and thus the publication of many simplified and abridged versions of Alice. Our Alice in Wonderland Picture Book features illustrations of several major episodes of the story from Italian mid-century illustrator Maraja. Accompanying these vibrant images is a very simple text. It serves as a marvelous introduction to Carroll’s world of marvelous madness.

This is our sixth reproduction of a shaped children's book, and our fourth illustrated by Margaret Evans Price. Price has certainly proved popular with our customers, and for good reason. Her illustrations are pretty and fanciful. She is especially gifted at depicting children in a stylized yet not cartoonish manner. In The Betty Fairy Book (1915) a little girl ? Betty ? inadvertently angers the fairies by wearing a fairy crown that she finds and dancing ?on fairy ground?. The fairies decide to banish her to a boat, on which Betty bravely faces several hardships. Betty's courage endears her to the fairies, who relent and take Betty to fairyland where she is cared for and given gifts. Betty comes away from her adventure with fairy souvenirs and new friends. This charming tale is richly illustrated and will appeal to both children and sentimental adults.

The new Shape Books series brings the ancient world to three-dimensional life and reveals the most interesting topics from some of the world's most important empires. Each title is a self-boxed 3-D board book that replicates an iconic structure from an ancient civilization. Page-filling color illustrations and concise text take young readers back in time, where they discover how people lived and what their world looked like. Engaging, interactive and informative, Shape Books are sure to be a hit with curious readers. Readers will find the fascinating stories of the most famous Egyptian icons: hieroglyphs, pharaohs, gods, pyramids and other tombs, mummies and the Nile. Cutaway illustrations and concise text describe how archaeological discoveries were made and what they reveal about the civilization that created them.

Kitty's ABC Shape Book is a reproduction of an 1890 book featuring cats and kittens in an alphabetic parade of charming adventures. This eccentric tale of a beautiful "A for Angora" cat who overcomes jealousy and buckets of water to find love and happiness is beautifully illustrated with cats playing banjoes, getting married, singing in a choir, and many other whimsical activities. This tender love story is highlighted with verses such as: "T stands for Trouble now over and past, and The Triumph of True Tender hearts at The Last," and "V is the Vanity Fluffy displays, When on a Visit her kittens you praise." The Victorians' love of cats is on full display in this fine addition to our popular series of shaped books.

Let me call you "Sweetheart," I'm in love with you.Let me hear you whisper that you love me too… Let Me Call You Sweetheart is a book-length valentine using the words of the beloved 1910 song as the text. It is illustrated on every page with a beautiful vintage valentine from the Laughing Elephant's vast treasure trove. Let Me Call You Sweetheart is die cut, like an over sized Valentine's day card, and is in the same format as the Laughing Elephant's popular line of die cut, shaped, books. Crafted to look like a lovingly filled out scrap book, with hand written text, Victorian scraps and Valentine's and the sweet words of the song hand written in old fashioned cursive, replete with an elaborate border area for personal inscription. Let Me Call You Sweetheart will make a stunning Valentine’s Day gift for those times when a card just isn’t sufficient.

""Would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony.""The iconic story of the beautiful Snow White and her eventual triumph over a particularly evil Queen is filled with colors and their powerful symbolism, and in this version – illustrated by Beth Livings in 1937 - the colors are strong and saturated, and the illustrations are rendered in a flat, almost naïve style. They are beautiful yet straightforward, and thus mesh well with this abridged version of the Grimm tale.

The new Shape Books series brings the ancient world to three-dimensional life and reveals the most interesting topics from some of the world's most important empires. Each title is a self-boxed 3-D board book that replicates an iconic structure from an ancient civilization. Page-filling color illustrations and concise text take young readers back in time, where they discover how people lived and what their world looked like. Engaging, interactive and informative, Shape Books are sure to be a hit with curious readers. Gladiators were an important part of ancient Roman civilization. Most gladiators were unwilling slaves and prisoners of war, but some did win their freedom through their exploits in the arena. This book describes the gladiatorial system, the types of gladiators, their weaponry and the animals they fought. Important architectural features of the Colosseum are also explained.