Two-time Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka captures the sound, passion, innovation, and love of the arts that the renowned jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams shared with the world. Mary’s Idea is a stunning and transporting picture book about music and the creative process, for readers of Trombone Shorty and Chris Raschka’s acclaimed books about musicians, including Charlie Parker Played Be Bop and Mysterious Thelonious. At the age of three, Mary Lou Williams taught herself how to play the piano. At the age of fifteen, she was considered a professional. An American jazz pianist and composer, Mary Lou Williams wrote hundreds of compositions, recorded hundreds of songs, and wrote arrangements for musicians, including Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Mary’s Idea is an exquisite picture book about Mary Lou Williams, an artist often overlooked in the canon of American music because of her gender and skin color. With a text full of rhythm and movement and illustrations that sing off the page, Chris Raschka’s picture book is equal parts biography and celebration of the imagination, ideas, and creative process. Mary’s Idea will find readers in fans of Traci N. Todd’s and Christian Robinson’s Nina, and Brian Selznick’s and Pam Muñoz Ryan’s When Marian Sang. Includes backmatter.

This Caldecott Honor classic is a simple yet important story about friendship. Two kids meet on a street. "Yo!" says one. "Yes?" says the other. And so begins a conversation that turns strangers into friends. With vibrant illustrations, Chris Raschka's rhythmic read-aloud is a celebration of differences -- and how it just takes a few words to overcome them. More relevant than ever in our divided world, this 1993 Caldecott Award-winning classic is presented for the first time in a board book format.

From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes a way to talk about race and identity that will appeal to parents of the youngest readers-in board book edition.The skin I'm in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story. If you want to know who I am, you have got to come inside and open your heart way wide.Race matters, but what's most important is who we are on the inside. Looking beyond skin, going straight to the heart, we find in each other the treasures stored down deep. Learning to cherish those treasures, to be all we imagine ourselves to be, makes us free.This award-winning book celebrates all that makes us unique and different and offers a strong, timely and timeless message of loving yourself and others.Don't miss these other books by bell hooks and Chris Raschka!Be Boy BuzzHappy to Be NappyGrump Groan Growl

An original, out-of-this-world fable about friendship, teamwork, and persistence, illustrated by double Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka. It’s up to Giovanni and Lorenzo, Sky Repair Specialists, to fill the sky with stars. One night, on the job, Lorenzo gets stuck in a nebula! Giovanni calls out for help to the constellations.... Find out what it will take to rescue his friend in this imaginative story featuring Chris Raschka’s brilliant, luminescent illustrations.

"Finally, here's a picture book that helps young children move beyond rote recitation of the Pledge to find meaning in its language. This is the book parents and teachers have been waiting for." -- BOOKLIST (starred review)
"I led a pigeon to the flag" . . . "and to the wee puppet" . . . "one
nation, and a vegetable" . . . What was that again? Children in the United States have been reciting the Pledge of Allegiance since 1892 -- and for about that long, they've found its big words confusing. Now, beloved children's book author Bill Martin Jr (BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE?), fellow literacy expert Michael Sampson, and Caldecott Honor--winning artist Chris Raschka give America's children a hand, and explain this patriotic poem once and for all. A new paperback edition offers notes and suggested activities to help parents and teachers make this book even more interesting to and fun for children.

A charming introduction to Saint Paul and his epistles Caldecott Medal-winner Chris Raschka breathes new life into the letters of Paul the Apostle with this inviting book. Each sumptuous page distills the main themes of Paul's epistles into approachable, appealing language. Chris Raschka expertly depicts Paul's sincerity and compassion, sadness and pain, giving readers a true sense of who Paul really was. Paul Writes (a Letter) celebrates how one of the most beloved biblical figures changed the world through the written word.

A heartfelt and playful ode to the father-child relationship, by two-time Caldecott-medal-winning author Chris Raschka King and Jester, Boat and Captain, Mountain and Climber... fathers and children are all of these things and more in Chris Raschka's tribute to this familial pair. Each stanza presents three scenarios in which the father and child's roles are subtly balanced. The pairs vary between stanzas, coming together in a visit to an ice-cream truck. With minimal text and maximum emotion, the book encapsulates Raschka's own passion and nostalgia for being a father to his [now-grown] son. Ages 3-5

"In a daring attempt to capture the raw energy of Parker's music . . . Raschka (pens) a text that's as lean as a poem and as mean as a blues refrain" ("Publishers Weekly", starred review). Full-color illustrations.

Two-time Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka celebrates the enduring bond between best friends-a young girl and her cat. Meow is an innovative and surprising tale of friendship, love, anger, hurt, kindness, and forgiveness. A must-have for the youngest reader and cat lovers everywhere. A girl and her cat, Marigold, are best friends. When the girl accidently steps on Marigold's tail, the surprised and hurt cat runs for cover. But after some time apart and an apology, all is forgiven, and Marigold and the girl are friends again. Two-time Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka introduces various renditions of the word "meow" throughout, each offering a collaborative, educational, and innovative way to interpret the story. With two compelling main characters, an entire rainbow of emotions, a playful text composed almost exclusively using only four letters (M E O W), and lively illustrations, Meow is ideal for visual literacy, beginning readers, very young children, social and emotional development, and for classroom story hours.

Raschka's Caldecott Honor Book which captures the street poetry between two boys is now available for the first time in a Scholastic Bookshelf paperback version. Full color.

A surprising, universal, and gorgeously illustrated story about self-acceptance, love, friendship, and the joy of embracing different perspectives, this beautiful picture book by acclaimed author Richard Jackson and two-time Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka presents a puddle with a distinct point of view. Puddle sits despondently in the playground, observing the world around her as she is dimpled by rain, splashed by shoes, piddled on by a poodle, bounced by a basketball, and stirred up by an inquisitive seagull. But when the sun makes a sudden appearance, Puddle meets an admiring new friend who lifts her spirits and makes her feel loved. Richard Jackson's playful text shines with rhythm, repetition, and surprising turns of phrase, and Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka's luminous paintings achieve the impossible-oh, sweet Puddle! A memorable story of friendship, love, and changing your point of view.

"These aren't poems to read aloud, but to look at and laugh at together, with young children and especially older readers, who will enjoy the surprise of what words look like and what can be done with them." --BOOKLIST (starred review)
Concrete poems startle and delight the eye and mind. The size and arrangement of words and letters can add or alter meaning -- forming a poem that takes the shape of crows that fly off the page or becoming a balloon filled with rhyme, drifting away from outstretched hands. Here, in a single extraordinary volume, are thirty poems from some of the world's finest visual poets, including John Hollander, Emmett Williams, Maureen W. Armour, and Douglas Florian. New to the paperback edition, tucked inside the front cover, are tips, guidelines, and inspiration for writing your own concrete poems.

Lester hasn't really belonged to anyone or anyplace for a long time. So when Daddy Albert and Daddy Rich adopt him, he is excited about his new life. There are a lot of things to like about his new house and his family: He has a brand-new room. And a brand-new bed. And a new bike. And new toys. And hot cocoa. And new cousins, too. And then there is Wincka, his new daddies' big, furry dog. She's the best. But even with all these good things, Lester gets lonely and scared in the middle of the night. What will it take to make Lester feel home at last?

From celebrated picture book creators Chris Raschka and Vladimir Radunsky comes one possible answer to the age-old question: Who was Mother Goose?

We all love to hear Mother Goose rhymes and riddles. But did you know that there was a real Mother Goose who lived in Boston three hundred years ago? In 1692, Elizabeth Foster married a widower with ten children. His name was Isaac Goose, and after they married, Elizabeth became Mother Goose. She and Isaac had six more children together, and to help her care for such a big and boisterous family, Mother Goose sang songs and lullabies and made up rhymes and poems. Her nursery rhymes and stories were published at a print shop on Pudding Lane in Boston, though no copies of her book exist today. In a book featuring some of Mother Goose’s best-loved works, Vladimir Radunsky’s bright and humorous illustrations and Chris Raschka’s rhyming poems tell the little-known story of the Goose children, Isaac and Elizabeth herself – the Mother Goose of Pudding Lane.