New Releases by Russell Hoban

Celebrate Christmas with the inspiration for the beloved Jim Henson film. In 1977, when Jim Henson debuted the now-classic film Emmet Otter''s Jug-Band Christmas, few knew it was based on a story written and illustrated by Russell and Lillian Hoban, creators of Bread and Jam for Frances and other treasured children''s books. With an enduring score by the great Paul Williams, the movie remains a holiday tradition in homes across North America. Here is the book that started it all, a beautiful gift edition that will thrill Muppets fans young and old. Inspired by the classic tale "The Gift of the Magi," the story begins in a poor country cottage, as Emmet Otter dreams of buying Ma a piano for Christmas, while Ma dreams of buying Emmet a guitar. When a village talent contest is announced, both imagine their dreams coming true. But what they don''t imagine finding is their real reward — the power of love, family, and hope in hard times. It is a story that reaches into a reader''s heart and reminds us all that fortune favors the brave. A Bank Street College of Education Best Children''s Book of the Year "[A] welcome reissue of the Hobans'' 1971 story . . . Colorful illustrations of the close-knit animal community contain plenty of warmth." —The Horn Book

"Like the fantasies of Tolkien, Thurber, E. B. White, The Mouse and His Child is filled with symbolism and satire, violence and vengeance, tears and laughter." -- The New York Times The images stay with you long after the book is done: the toy mouse and his father, on a journey together joined hand in hand; Manny Rat, the nefarious lord of the junkyard, stalking the toy mice for their clockwork parts; Uncle Frog, spouting wisdom and nonsense from within a glove; and the Bonzo Dog Food dog, repeating himself endlessly on a label, fading away to the last visible dog...Russell Hoban''s novel is many things: a stirring adventure story, a sharp-witted comedy, and the moving tale of a father and son struggling to return to a state of grace.Called one of the great works of children''s literature of the twentieth century -- but with an audience that spans ages and times -- The Mouse and His Child has been lovingly re-illustrated by Caldecott Medalist David Small for a new generation and a new millennium.

Russell Hoban’s moving, unflinching tale of a boy who finds bravery during illness is reimagined in graphic-novel format with art by Alexis Deacon. Asleep in his hospital bed, Jim dreams of a great lion with white teeth and amber eyes. This lion is Jim’s finder. According to Nurse Bami, everyone has a finder, a creature who comes looking for us when we are lost. But when the time comes for Jim’s operation, will his lion be able to find him and bring him safely home? Dramatically reimagined as a graphic novel by award-winning illustrator Alexis Deacon, with the inclusion of powerful dream sequences, Russell Hoban’s tale of a boy’s search for strength and courage will resonate with any child dealing with adversity.

When eighty-three-year-old Irving Goodman falls in love with actress Justine Trimble she''s been dead for forty-seven years. Irving may not know how he''s going to attain his heart''s desire but he knows a man who does. Istvan Fallok, a wizard of high technology, sees her on Irving''s TV screen and hi-techs Justine out of the video tape and into present-day Soho - in black-and-white. As any reader of Bram Stoker will know, blood is the (full-colour) life and in order for Justine to retain her colour she has to be topped up now and then - by Irving and his friends and the odd passer-by. Things become a little complicated when Grace Kowalski brings a Justine Two into the picture and not surprisingly the curiosity of the police is soon aroused ...

Recently widowed and increasingly lonely, Roswell Clark''s life had arrived at the point when he felt he needed a tattoo. His ideal image was that of a bat featured on an eighteenth-century bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but strangely, on a visit to the museum, he encountered a woman called Sarah Varley, who was clearly compelled by the same bat. What did it mean? Sarah dealt in antiques and Roswell soon ran into her stalls in Chelsea and Covent Garden. His calling, which grew out of an obsession with crash-test dummies, was a bit harder to explain. It led from the invention of a popular children''s toy to lucrative commissions from a Parisian sybarite for wooden working models with very adult moving parts. Both Roswell and Sarah had lost their spouses and were still grieving in their different ways. And then Christ started putting a hand in - literally - when a fragment of an ancient crucifix fetched up in one of Sarah''s antique lots. Between some compulsion conveyed by this hand and Sarah''s natural urge to make improvements in people, Roswell''s work took a surprising new turn... Russell Hoban''s delicious new novel combines much about art - traditional and conceptual - with new angles on Christ, crash-test dummies, antiques, pornography and a charming tale of romance.

The first time Peter Diggs saw Amaryllis she was at a bus stop where the street sign said "Balsamic" although there was nothing vinegary about the place. The bus was unthinkably tall, made of yellow, orange and pink rice paper. That was a dream, but this romance soon intersects with reality.

‘Walker is my name and I am the same. Riddley Walker. Walking my riddels where ever theyve took me and walking them now on this paper the same. There aint that many sir prizes in life if you take noatis of every thing. Every time will have its happenings out and every place the same. Thats why I finely come to writing all this down. Thinking on what the idear of us myt be. Thinking on that thing whats in us lorn and loan and oansome.’ Composed in an English which has never been spoken and laced with a storytelling tradition that predates the written word, RIDDLEY WALKER is the world waiting for us at the bitter end of the nuclear road. It is desolate, dangerous and harrowing, and a modern masterpiece.

Re-issued to coincide with the centenary of Messiaen''s birth, The Messiaen Companion was the first major study to appear after the composer''s death in April 1992. It was the first book to offer both a complete survey of Messiaen''s extraordinary achievements and a comprehensive guide to his music, also examining in detail the enduring inspiration which Messiaen derived from his religious faith and from his lifelong passion for ornithology and the natural world. The contributors, all of whom have made a special study of the composer, include two biographers of Messiaen and a number of the foremost interpreters of his music. Messiaen''s influential teaching is recalled in essays by three of his pupils (Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, and Peter Hill), and the composer is also remembered in a remarkable and moving contribution from his widow and devoted musical companion, the pianist Yvonne Loriod.

With a new baby sister in the house, Frances is feeling quite forgotten. Mother doesn’t have time to iron Frances’s favorite dress, her parents don’t appreciate her new song, and there are no raisins for her oatmeal. So Frances decides to run away, and she does—but not too far. Full of warmth and family love, this new edition of Russell and Lillian Hoban’s beloved classic is perfect for beginning readers.

Frances doesn''t think her little sister, Gloria, can be her friend. But when Frances''s friend Albert has a no-girls baseball game, Frances shows him a thing or two about friendship—and a thing or two about what girls can do. Along the way, Frances discovers that sisters can indeed be friends . . . maybe even best friends.

Tom likes fooling around and is rather good at it, much to the annoyance of his Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong. So one day this fearsome lady decides to teach Tom a lesson and summons Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsmen to play womble, muck and sneedball. Can it possibly end well for all concerned?

Falling head over heels for the spirited Lola, who shares his musical tastes and complements him on every level, Max nevertheless pursues a secret second relationship when the unattainable high-school homecoming queen he loved years earlier reenters his life.

''Russell Hoban is one of our greatest, timeless novelists'' The Times

In the aquarium at the London Zoo, three sea turtles swim endlessly in ''their little bedsitter of ocean''. Two lonely people, William G and Neaera H, become obsessed with the turtles'' captivity, and resolve to rescue them and release them in to the sea. William''s and Neaera''s diaries tell the story of how they achieve the turtles'' freedom, and in the process re-define their own lives.

A Russell Hoban Omnibus presents four of Hoban''s novels: the haunting The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz; the popular Turtle Diary (which was made into a movie starring Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley); Pilgermann; and his newest work, Mr Rinyo-Clacton''s Offer, a brilliant Faustian comedy published here for the first time in the United States. Book jacket.

Washed up on the beach during a storm, the sea-thing child clings fearfully to the shore until he discovers his true destiny. Full-color illustrations.

After receiving a blow to the head from a bully at school and a mysterious puzzle from a melancholy magician, twelve-year-old Nick enters a strange and frightening reality that changes his life.

La manecilla larga del reloj senala las 12 y la pequena las 7. Es la hora de acostarse de Francisca. Pero antes tiene que beber un vaso de leche y recibir un beso de papa y otro de mama.

Famed for her many adventures, Frances made her debut with this title over thirty years ago. In this first Frances book, the little badger adroitly delays her bedtime with requests for kisses and milk, and concerns over tigers and giants and things going bump in the night. Long a favorite for the gentle humor of its familiar going to bed ritual, Bedtime for Frances is at last available with the warmth of full color enriching Garth Williams’s original nuanced and touching art. ‘Here is the coziest, most beguiling bedtime story in many a day.’—Kirkus Reviews (pointer).

When a baby sister arrives, Frances the beloved badger finds a charming way to prove her own importance. Glynis Johns is the perfect voice for Frances.

Frances decides she likes to eat only bread and jam at every meal, until, to her surprise, her parents grant her wish.

One day Thelma tricks Frances into buying her old plastic tea set. Thelma says there are no backsies on the bargain. Can Frances come up with a plan that will change her friend''s mind? Outstanding Children''s Books of 1970 (NYT)

The Little Brute Family members eat gravel for breakfast, never say "please" or "thank you" and kick, yell, punch, and shove. But one day everything changes when Baby Brute finds a "lost good feeling" wandering around in a field of daisies and brings it home. Full-color illustrations. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Jim Hedgehog, who likes heavy metal music, buys a cassette tape and a musical instrument from Mr. Strange, which lead him to a haunted castle.

"Blue ribbon book." When the Mole family finds out about Christmas and the fat man in the red suit, they ask for a telescope to help them see the stars.

Harry meets a rag-and-bone man one hot summer afternoon and follows him through the rain door for a fantastic adventure with rain, thunder, and lightning.

A little boy loses all the fights he has with his best friend until his father gives him some good advice.