Books published by publisher Tilbury House Publishers

Maryland Blue Crab Honor Book 2018A big, brightly colored, playful introduction to various important painters and art movements.If someone asked you to paint a snowman, you would probably start with three white circles stacked one upon another. Then you would add black dots for eyes, an orange triangle for a nose, and a black dotted smile. But if Picasso painted a snowman…From that simple premise flows this delightful, whimsical, educational picture book that shows how the artist’s imagination can summon magic from a prosaic subject. Greg Newbold’s chameleon-like artistry shows us Roy Lichtenstein’s snow hero saving the day, Georgia O’Keefe’s snowman blooming in the desert, Claude Monet’s snowmen among haystacks, Grant Wood’s American Gothic snowman, Jackson Pollock’s snowman in ten thousand splats, Salvador Dali’s snowmen dripping like melty cheese, and snowmen as they might have been rendered by J. M. W. Turner, Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee, Marc Chagall, Georges Seurat, Pablita Velarde, Piet Mondrian, Sonia Delaunay, Jacob Lawrence, and Vincent van Gogh. Our guide for this tour is a lively hamster who―also chameleon-like―sports a Dali mustache on one spread, a Van Gogh ear bandage on the next. “What would your snowman look like?” the book asks, and then offers a page with a picture frame for a child to fill in. Backmatter thumbnail biographies of the artists complete this highly original tour of the creative imagination that will delight adults as well as children. Fountas & Pinnell Level O Full Color

John Burroughs Association Riverby AwardLupine AwardSkipping Stones Honor AwardYou might walk right by a vernal pool and not notice it. Often mistaken for mere puddles in the woods, vernal pools are the source of life for many interesting creatures. If you look carefully, you can find them and be amazed! These secret pools form every year when low places on the forest floor fill up with rain and melted snow. They soon become home to hatching wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp. Even in late summer and fall, when many vernal pools have shrunk to mud holes, creatures such as turtles and snakes rely on them for shelter and food. The Secret Pool introduces young readers to the wonders right underfoot as the voice of a vernal pool shares its secrets through the seasons, and sidebars provide fun facts on its inhabitants and the crucial role these small, often overlooked wetlands play in maintaining a healthy environment. Color Throughout

Booklist Starred ReviewThe Spanish architects Rafael Guastavino Sr. and his son, Rafael Guastavino Jr., designed more than one thousand iconic spaces across New York City and the United States, such as the New York City Hall Subway Station (still a tourist destination though no longer active), the Manhattan Federal Reserve Bank, the Nebraska State Capitol, the Great Hall of Ellis Island, the Oyster bar at Grand Central Terminal in New York, the Elephant House at the Bronx Zoo, the soaring tiled vaults under the Queensboro Bridge, the central dome of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, and the Boston Public Library. Written in the voice of the son, who was eight years old in 1881 when he immigrated to America with his father, this is their story.Rafael Guastavino Sr. was 39 when he left a successful career as an architect in Barcelona. American cities―densely packed and built largely of wood―were experiencing horrific fires, and Guastavino had the solution: The soaring interior spaces created by his tiled vaults and domes made buildings sturdier, fireproof, and beautiful. What he didn’t have was fluent English. Unable to win design commissions, he transferred control of the company to his American-educated son, whose subsequent half-century of inspired design work resulted in major contributions to the built environment of America. Immigrant Architect is an introduction to architectural concepts and a timely reminder of immigrant contributions to America. The book includes four route maps for visiting Guastavino-designed spaces in New York City: uptown, midtown, downtown, and Prospect Park. full color

Skipping Stones Honor Award One summer day, Luke and his friends decide to play their favorite game of war, using sticks for guns and pine cones for bombs. But Sameer, who is new to their neighborhood, doesn’t want to join in. When the kids learn that Sameer lost his family in a real war, they realize that war is not a game. The gracefulness of their response and the power of friendship are the real stories here. color throughout

Talking Walls introduces young readers to different cultures by exploring the stories of walls around the world and how they can separate or hold communities together. American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists;" Boston GLobe Top 25 Non-Fiction Children's Books, 1992; ALA Booklist, Starred Review; Horn Book, Noteworthy Book, 1993. Full-color illustrations.

It’s Christmas Eve in Maine, and Miss Moody and her boarders Millie and Emery – as well as her pup Smittens – are all tucked into bed, when out in the barnyard there arises such a clatter…! Turns out that Santa’s reindeer have come down ill and need a chance to recuperate. But what of the toys for the good girls and boys? Thanks to some old-fashioned down-on-the-farm ingenuity, Santa gets back on schedule with the help of a motley but willing crew like none you’ve ever dreamed of. Color Illustrations

Lailah is in a new school in a new country, thousands of miles from her old home, and missing her old friends. When Ramadan begins, she is excited that she is finally old enough to participate in the fasting but worried that her classmates won't understand why she doesn't join them in the lunchroom. Lailah solves her problem with help from the school librarian and her teacher and in doing so learns that she can make new friends who respect her beliefs.This gentle, moving story from first-time author Reem Faruqi comes to life in Lea Lyon's vibrant illustrations. Lyon uses decorative arabesque borders on intermittent spreads to contrast the ordered patterns of Islamic observances with the unbounded rhythms of American school days.

Winner of The Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing AwardSelected for the CCBC Choices 2019 listChildren's Literature Freeman Award 2018A Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2019Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean tells its story through the memories of a farm boy who, inspired by Pu Zhelong, became a scientist himself.The narrator is a composite of people Pu Zhelong influenced in his work. With further context from Melanie Chan’s historically precise watercolors, this story will immerse young readers in Chinese culture, the natural history of insects, and the use of biological controls in farming. Backmatter provides context and background for this lovely, sophisticated picture book about nature, science, and Communist China.“The first time I saw a scientist in my village was also the first time I saw a wasp hatch out of a moth’s egg,” writes the narrator of this picture book about Chinese scientist Pu Zhelong. “In that moment I could not have said which was the more unexpected―or the more miraculous.”In the early 1960s, while Rachel Carson was writing and defending Silent Spring in the U.S., Pu Zhelong was teaching peasants in Mao Zedong’s Communist China how to forgo pesticides and instead use parasitic wasps to control the moths that were decimating crops and contributing to China’s widespread famine. This story told through the memories of a farm boy (a composite of people inspired by Pu Zhelong) will immerse young readers in Chinese culture, the natural history of insects, and sustainable agriculture. Backmatter provides historical context for this lovely, sophisticated picture book.The author, Sigrid Schmalzer, won the Joseph Levenson Post-1900 Book Prize for 2018 for her book Red Revolution, Green Revolution. This is the most prestigious prize for a book about Chinese history, and the book upon which Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean is based. Fountas & Pinnell Level U Color throughout

* MOONBEAM GOLD AWARD ** GROWING GOOD KIDS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND NATIONAL MASTER JUNIOR GARDENER PROGRAM * Milk doesn't just appear in your refrigerator, nor do apples grow in the bowl on the kitchen counter.Before we eat, many people must work very hard―planting grain, catching fish, tending animals, and filling crates. In this book, vibrantly illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Mary Azarian, readers find out what must happen before food can get to our table to nourish our bodies and spirits. Fountas & Pinnell Level L Color Woodcuts

*Junior Library Guild Selection 2017*A unanimous selection to the 2018 Maverick Graphic Novel List!This graphic retelling of the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission follows astronaut Michael Collins, commander of the lunar orbiter, to the far side of the moon.When the Earth disappears behind the moon, Collins loses contact with his fellow astronauts on the moon’s surface, with mission control at NASA, and with the entire human race, becoming more alone than any human being has ever been before. In total isolation for 21 hours, Collins awaits word that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have managed to launch their moon lander successfully to return to the orbiter―a feat never accomplished before and rendered more problematic by the fuel burn of their difficult landing. In this singularly lonely and dramatic setting, Collins reviews the politics, science, and engineering that propelled the Apollo 11 mission across 239,000 miles of space to the moon.Fountas & Pinnell Text Level U Drawings

On Regent Street in Philadelphia, stories are still told of Luigi, who could run faster than anybody and never lost a race on those long-ago summer evenings when neighbors would gather on front stoops to watch. They say Luigi always ran barefoot. And they speak of his greatest challenge―the race nobody thought he could win, not even Luigi himself.They say Luigi always ran barefoot. And they speak of his greatest challenge―the race nobody thought he could win, not even Luigi himself. Maybe it’s urban legend, or maybe the true events have acquired added luster in Dan Paley’s memory. After all, a story this amazing couldn’t possibly be true, could it?Suffused with nostalgia for soft summer evenings in a city neighborhood, with kids playing in the street, neighbors visiting, twilight seeming like it would never end….A tall tale that kids will never tire of.Aaron Boyd’s colorful illustrations vividly recreate an urban Philadelphia street and its houses, shops, and memorable people. Fountas & Pinnell Level M Color throughout