New Releases by Phoebe Gilman

Joseph''s grandfather transforms his blanket many times over the years, but what can be done when the final item is lost? Gilman''s version of this Yiddish folk tale won the 1993 Ruth Schwartz Award. When Joseph was a baby, his grandfather made him a wonderful blanket. But as Joseph grows older, the blanket becomes tattered and worn. Throw it out! cries Joseph''s mother. Luckily, Grandpa is an extraordinary tailor. He can fix anything! And so with a snip! snip! here, and a few stitches there, Grandpa transforms the treasured blanket into a jacket, a vest, a Sabbath tie, a handkerchief, and finally a beautiful button. But when the button is lost, even Grandpa can''t help. After all, how can you make something from nothing?In a rich and loving portrait of shtetl life, Phoebe Gilman presents a traditional Jewish folktale about family love and ingenuity that will warm the hearts of readers young and old.

Now in paperback - Phoebe Gilman and Joanne Fitzgerald''s beautiful story about the transformative power of love. When a little hippo falls in love with an Egyptian princess, he hopes that a great magician can turn him into a human boy. Alas, even the magician can''t perform such a feat! Instead, the magician turns him into a toy that the princess can playwith - a beautiful blue hippo on wheels. The princess adores her toy and takes him everywhere with her. But little girls don''t play with toys forever. The princess grows up and yearns for a true love. Can the hippo make her wish come true? Based on a story by Joan Grant, The Blue Hippopotamus was Phoebe Gilman''s final book. The illustrations by Joanne Fitzgerald were inspired by sketches Phoebe drew before her death in 2002. *A Governor General''s Award nominee!

Rediscover the magic of a snowy day on the 10th anniversary of this delightful Jillian Jiggs story! "Jillian, Jillian, say it''s not true. How do you lose all the things that you do?" Jillian wants to go play in the snow with her sister and her friends, but her mom says no - not until she finds her hat! So instead, Jillian wears a Martian hat from the costume box. Of course, that means the snowscape needs to be turned into Mars, with cosmic landscapes, aliens, and flying space sleds. As the creativity flows, though, Jillian loses not only her hat (again), but her scarf and mitts too! What is Mom going to say? Sledding, snowmen, and wild flights of imagination abound in Phoebe Gilman''s first-ever wintertime Jillian Jiggs story. Celebrate a wonderful, snowy decade of Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow with this sparkly 10th anniversary edition of the much-loved story. Have fun, and try not to lose your mittens!

“Don’t worry,” said Princess Leora’s father just before he left for the tournament. “If anything goes wrong, release a bunch of balloons from the castle tower. Wherever I am, I will see them and come home right away.” Now, something is wrong—very wrong. Princess Leora’s grumpy uncle, the Archduke, wants to be king, and the very first thing he does is pop every balloon in the kingdom. Princess Leora is afraid, but she doesn''t give up. If she can find just one whole balloon, the kingdom will be saved!

Jillian is on a mission... to catch a monster! Jillian Jiggs wakes up one night to find her little sister Rebecca crying because she is afraid of monsters.With their usual creativity, Jillian and her friends use their problem-solving skills to help Rebecca deal with her fears: they decide to make a monster machine and set off on a monster hunt!

A Phoebe Gilman classic, reissued in a larger format for the first time! Little Blue Ben and his brother Blue Cat are sick and tired of eating the blue eggs their mother boils, bakes, toasts and fries for them. So they decide to play hide and seek--whoever loses has to eat all the other''s blue eggs. Fans young and old will love searching for Blue Ben as he disappears into the pages of the book. Phoebe Gilman has taken the classic Mother Goose rhyme and extended it into a favourite picture book, with whimsical illustrations that will delight readers of all ages.

Jillian likes to dress up and play, but she never quite gets around to cleaning her room.

When pirates discover that a treasure chest is actually a cradle holding a baby, they decide to raise the child as their own. Pearl is a great pirate but she has the bad habit of giving treasure away. When Prince Basil shows up one day, he recognizes Pirate Pearl as Princess Pearl, the long lost heir to the throne.

Cinnamon is a gypsy girl who can read fortunes in a cystal ball, speak to the wind, and dance with a bear. But Cinnamon longs to be a princess.

Jillian''s plan to sell the toy pigs she has made falls through when she discovers she loves her pigs too much to give them up.

Suggestions on how to use a big book in the classroom plus language arts and cross-curricular activities for individual title.

Princess Leora must grow a magic balloon tree in order to warn the king that his kingdom is in jeopardy.