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Children's Fiction Bedtime & Dreams

Just Because

by (author) Mac Barnett

illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

Publisher
Candlewick Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2019
Category
Bedtime & Dreams, Imagination & Play, Visionary & Metaphysical
Recommended Age
4 to 8
Recommended Grade
p to 3
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780763696801
    Publish Date
    Sep 2019
    List Price
    $24.99

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Description

Curious minds are rewarded with curious answers in a fantastical bedtime book by Mac Barnett and Isabelle Arsenault.

Why is the ocean blue? What is the rain? What happened to the dinosaurs? It might be time for bed, but one child is too full of questions about the world to go to sleep just yet. Little ones and their parents will be charmed and delighted as a patient father offers up increasingly creative responses to his child’s nighttime wonderings. Any child who has ever asked “Why?” — and any parent who has attempted an explanation — will recognize themselves in this sweet storybook for dreamers who are looking for answers beyond “Just because.”

About the authors

 

 

Mac Barnett est un auteur classé au palmarès du New York Times pour ses livresjeunesse, dont Extra doux et Max et Sam creusent, creusent, creusent..., deux albums illustrés qui ont reçu des mentions d'honneur pour la médaille Caldecott. Mac est aussi l'auteur de la série à succès Terrible Two, illustrée par Jory John. Il habite en Californie.

 

Mac Barnett is the author of several books for children, including Extra Yarn, illustrated by Jon Klassen, a Caldecott Honor Book and winner of a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse, a New York Times bestseller; and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, a Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the E. B. White Read Aloud Award, and The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown. He is the co-author, with Jory John, of the New York Times bestselling series The Terrible Two. Mac lives in California.

Mac Barnett's profile page

Isabelle Arsenault is a very talented Quebec illustrator who has won an impressive number of awards and has achieved international recognition. She has illustrated Migrant by Maxine Trottier, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award; Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear, winner of the Governor General’s Award; Le coeur de monsieur Gauguin by Marie-Danielle Croteau, winner of the Governor General’s Award; and My Letter to the World and Other Poems by Emily Dickinson, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. She has also illustrated Once Upon a Northern Night by Jean Pendziwol and Jane, the Fox and Me by Fanny Britt, forthcoming from Groundwood. Isabelle has won the Grand Prix for illustration (Magazines du Québec) for six years running. She lives with her family in Montreal.

Isabelle Arsenault's profile page

Editorial Reviews

The exacting, exquisite phrasing electrifies readers, and full-bleed illustrations pull them into an extraordinary alternate universe...Matte paper, flat colors, conventional & typesetting, and a mid-20th-century look to the light-skinned people conjure a retro feel, allowing the unexpected, original answers to stand out even more. Charming, playful, and extraordinary imaginings will galvanize young minds to find inspired answers to their own questions.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Arsenault’s strikingly detailed artwork depicts the bedroom scenes in grays, blacks, and soft whites...A charming celebration of bedtime rituals and parent-child affection, this book also underscores the importance of fostering imagination and wonderment while nurturing young minds.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Barnett (The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown) offers a comic look at that famous childhood bedtime-delaying tactic, the difficult question...Arsenault’s imaginative power enhances a thin, nevertheless enjoyable, text.
—Publishers Weekly

This is a clever launch pad for curious children and adults. The large trim size and double pages done in gouache, pencil, and watercolor, assembled digitally, are replete with details both realistic and fanciful.
—Booklist

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