Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 following her return to her native Kenya, after pursuing university studies in the US: she was concerned not only about the detrimental changes in the landscape caused by deforestation, but also about how these were affecting women’s lives especially. Through the Green Belt Movement, more than 47 million trees have been planted, and with them, many families have been able to take active control of their own food production and become involved in promoting sustainable development.

Three inspirational children’s books that relate this aspect of Wangari Maathai’s life are Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) and Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt Books, 2008) and Seeds of Change: Wangari’s Gift to the World by Jen Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler (Lee & Low Books, 2010). Wangari’s story helps children to recognise that small actions can lead to big actions, and that through putting many people’s small actions together, they can be the instrument for momentous change.

You can read more about Wangari Maathai’s incredible life on the Green Belt Movement’s website, including her advocacy for freedom and peace; and her own words about some of the issues close to her heart. Our thoughts and prayers are with Wangari’s family: may the knowledge that Wangari’s name and influence will live on be of consolation to them in their time of grief. An online condolence book is available on Wangari’s Facebook page.

Kate O’Sullivan, Executive Editor at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, answered our questions about James Rumford’s Rain School, one of the books selected for inclusion in the 2011 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set, and about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the children’s publishing industry in general.

Interview by Aline Pereira, former Managing Editor of PaperTigers and currently an independent writer, editor and editorial consultant specializing in multicultural children’s books.

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Please tell us a little bit about your path to becoming an editor.

A college course in mythology had me looking at ancillary interpretations of old texts; I came across illustrated versions of The Odyssey and Argonautica and was hooked by the merging of word and picture to relay narrative. I figured children’s books was where it’s at—not being a writer or artist myself, editor seemed like a good fit.

The publishing industry being as competitive as it is, I worked my first couple of years in college textbook publishing at St. Martin’s Press before getting through the door to children’s trade. That was thirteen years ago and I’ve never looked back!

What makes you passionate about the projects you acquire?

If I laugh, cry, or go goosebumpy, I’m sold. I’m always looking for convincing, authentic stories.

Rain School draws on the author’s experience of teaching in Chad, Africa to portray a village’s commitment to educating its children, against all odds. What first attracted you to Rain School when you first read it? Was the story already illustrated then?

Rain School is such a simple, spare story—but it packs an emotive punch. I love how it shows us that with hard work and determination, the rewards of an education can last a lifetime. And that it does this without ever feeling preachy or forced is no small feat. As with all of Jim’s projects, this one first arrived as a beautiful dummy with exuberant sketches.

Houghton Mifflin has published several of Rumford’s books.  How long have you been working with James, and how is your relationship like?

I’ve worked with Jim since his longtime editor, Amy Flynn, left Houghton in 2003. Since then we’ve worked together on Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves, Sequoyah, Beowulf, Chee-lin, and Rain School. Jim is one-of-a-kind and so are his books; he effortlessly changes his approach and art technique from project-to-project, which keeps things exciting and surprising. There isn’t anything Jim can’t do (or language he can’t speak)! He continuously outdoes himself with each new book and it’s very fun to be in his creative orbit.

Can you tell me a little bit about the actual process of bringing Rain School to life?

This manuscript was ship-shape from the beginning. The real challenge with this project was getting the color reproduction just right in proof. Luckily, the designer, Carol Goldenberg, and our production team are crackerjacks at what they do, so we knew we’d get there.

Is the editorial process of working with an author/illustrator (like Rumford) any different than the process of working with individuals who are solely writers, or solely artists?

Working with authors/illustrators can be a bit more organic and streamlined, as all the pieces are coming from the same source and it’s great to keep the creative flow between editor and creator clear and simple. But each dynamic yields its own advantages, such as the surprises that an illustrator can bring to a text written by someone else.

Can you tell us about some of the accolades Rain School has received since its publication, in October 2010?

Rain School was a Junior Library Guild Selection, garnered a starred review in Booklist, and was included in the Smithsonian Notable Books for Children 2010 list.

How long can the average picture book be expected to stay in print these days?

It’s hard to say. Houghton is known for creating picture books that appeal across generations, so while there are increased expenses now associated with warehousing slow-selling books, it’s always our intention when signing a book that it has a long, vigorous life.

Did you have a favorite book as a child?

I have clear memories of poring over Martha Sanders and Philippe Fix’s Alexander and the Magic Mouse. The artwork was luminous and the story made me want to befriend the misunderstood gator at its center. I also remember staying up late (a lot) with Black Beauty and Mrs.Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. But my hands-down favorite wasn’t discovered until high school: The Once and Future King by T.H. White.

What really excites you, or what do you think there is not enough of on the shelves at the moment?

I’ve always loved illustrated middle grade fiction. As for what I would like to see more of, I’d say literary, non-dystopian, non-supernatural YA fare.

What’s your take on the shake-up the publishing industry has been going through? Are your titles being converted to or co-published as e-books?

There’s no question that e-books are transforming the industry, not least because they’re changing our ideas about books as physical objects—and so presenting us with questions of access vs. ownership. We have a growing team at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt working on converting our books to e-formats—and tackling the unique challenges that children’s books represent in all their full-color, double-page, artful type glory.

In keeping with its position as a leading education company with a truly global network, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has recently launched The Global Education Challenge. Can you tell us about this new venture?

Everyone has an opinion about what’s wrong with the education system. The goal of HMH’s Global Education Challenge, whose submission phase is now complete and which is supported by the HMH Innovation Fund, was to provide a forum for educators, innovators, students, entrepreneurs and families to put forward their best ideas for how to transform education, inside and outside the classroom.

Ideas came from everywhere and are currently being judged by a group of experts. Prizes totaling $250,000 will be distributed among the top three winners, to be announced this month. Winners will also receive a “book allowance” for the school of their choice. You can read more about the challenge here.

I understand HMH is very committed to donating books domestically and internationally. Would you please tell us more about this?

HMH is indeed committed to donating three million books a year to under-served students who lack access to quality educational materials. With the assistance of partners like First Book, the Sabre Foundation and World Vision, it coordinates large-scale book donations, both domestically and internationally. It also gives to a wide range of organizations in the communities where it operates.

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Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, Kate. PaperTigers is very grateful to Houghton Mifflin for its generous discount for Rain School in support of the Spirit of PaperTigers project. Congratulations on your great work, and we wish you continued success!

To find our more about Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, visit the website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Auction #121: A Spirit of PaperTigers 2010 Book Set of Seven Picture books, some signed. From PaperTigers.org

Description: You are bidding for a set of seven high-quality picture books (all hardcover) which were selected as the Spirit of PaperTigers book set for 2010 to be sent to different schools and libraries around the world.

The Book Set comprises the following titles with some, as indicated, containing book plates signed by the author/illustrator:

First Come the Zebra – SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch
Lee & Low, 2009. Ages 4-8

Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing – SIGNED BY THE AUTHORS
Written by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow, illustrated by Helen Cann
Barefoot Books, 2008. Ages 9-12

My Little Round House - SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Bolormaa Baasansuren
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2009. Ages 4-8

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference – SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR
Written by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Kids Can Press, 2008. Ages 7+

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai – SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. Ages 5-8

The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos – SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR
Written by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre
Children’s Book Press, 2008. Ages 4-8

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – SIGNED
Written and illustrated by Grace Lin
Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. Ages 9-12

Estimated Value: $150

Bio: PaperTigers.org is a colorful website devoted to multicultural books from around the world for children and young adults, with a particular focus on the Pacific Rim and South Asia. We seek to promote the celebration and tolerance of diversity, and to nurture literacy and a love of reading. As well as highlighting the world of multicultural children’s and ya literature on our website and blog, we work to reinforce our goal of promoting cross-cultural understanding via our Spirit of PaperTigers Outreach, under the banner Books and Water: Nourishing the Mind and Body.

PaperTigers’ website: www.papertigers.org

I think everyone on the panel agreed that it would have been great to be able to choose 25 or more books for the first Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set, but our resources are not infinite, so each book we chose would have to have to go a long way toward expressing the true “Spirit of PaperTigers.” To me, and to others on the panel too, Planting the Trees of Kenya was an ideal book for the set, because it expresses so many important ideas and values while also being enjoyable to read and beautiful to look at.

As the subtitle says, this book is based on the inspiring story of one Kenyan woman, Wangari Maathai. As explained in the book’s afterward, Maathai was the first woman from Africa to be awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. She founded Kenya’s “Green Belt Movement” in the 1970s, which — in her own words — was “not simply about planting trees. It was about inspiring people to take charge of their environment, the system that governed them, their lives and their future.”

In a deceptively simple way, this book and its truly lovely illustrations show how Maathai learned to appreciate nature as a child and later grew up to be a powerful force in the renewal of her country’s environment and the well-being of its people. Maathai’s true story will encourage young readers:

to care about the environment and see the connection between the health of the natural world and people’s health

to take personal responsibility for caring for the Earth

to do the right thing even when it is difficult or takes a long time

to see that the poor, children, girls, and women — not only powerful men or governments — can have a strong influence on their society

to value education. Maathai’s education empowered her to take action.

I want to emphasize that the true story of Wangari Maathai makes a powerful statement on its own, but it is the way that Claire Nivola tells and illustrates Maathai’s story that makes it accessible and meaningful for young readers. Here is an example of her evocative writing:

“In the stream near her homestead where she went to collect water for her mother, she played with glistening frogs’ eggs, trying to gather them like beads into necklaces, though they slipped through her fingers back into the clear water.”

Nivola’s illustrations are as detailed as photographs. I can almost imagine her spending hours and hours painting every leaf on a tree, every blade of grass on a meadow, the intricate patterns on the African women’s skirts and headscarves. Groups of people fill many scenes so that the overall impression is “a group planting trees,” or “a group listening to Maathai speak,” but notice the individuals in the crowds. A girl peers shyly around her mother; an older girl helps her little brother to climb high enough to pick fruit from a tree; an excited dog peers eagerly into a big hole dug for a well; a baby reaches out to touch her sister’s face.

If you are paying attention, you will see more charming details every time you read this book with a child. And then may you be inspired to go outside and plant a tree with her!!

Thank you for sharing this with us, Jeannine!

When the sun goes down, fears come up. The blessing of a transcendent story for any age is that it helps us to escape, to relate, to connect and to understand the perils and magic of our mortal universe. [...]

In the midst of the swirling clouds of conversations on recession, terrorism threats and environmental anxieties, our great authors, honoring the mysterious yet profound world of childhood, steer us toward peace and community, and the promise of hope in the morning.

Pam’s list is comprised of 8 books and includes Planting the Trees of Kenya and One Hen: two books which we chose for our Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set! Here is what Pam has to say about these two books and why they made her list:

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maatthai by Claire Nivola. Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Prize in 2004 for her efforts to repair the environmental damage done to Kenya. She taught women and children to plant seeds and grow trees. Nivola shows the children restoring the health of a country. How this book will inspire: it’s not just Wangari who rallies us; it’s the tenderness of the children and their mothers, taking political action by planting gardens.

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.  Kojo lives in a small Ashanti village. His life is changed when he is given a micro-loan by his village and he is able to buy a hen. His success after this impacts everyone in his community and beyond. Why we all should read this: When we try to figure out what to do to help in this year 2010, this book gives us a good model for how teaching a man to fish is more important than the fish itself.

Be sure to click here and read about the other books on Pam’s list.

We thought it would be great to bring all the different answers together here on the blog, so here is the first of two parts in which we highlight each person’s response…

Bolormaa Baasansuren, author and illustrator of My Little Round House, adapted by Helen Mixter (Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 2009):

I would like to send it to every country in the world! But right now, I would like to send it to Haiti, most of all. Now, after the earthquake, its people, especially the children, are going through very hard times. I like to imagine the children of Haiti forgetting their current hardships even just for a moment, by immersing themselves in a picture book.

Claire A. Nivola, author and illustrator of Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008):

I would think that the most important places to send the books would be to areas most affected by deforestation. Southeast Asia and South America are areas of enormous concern. But the list of countries is long: the countries of Central America, Brazil, Madagascar, Haiti, Mexico, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire. Too many! And unless there are translations provided, the books are useless to children who don’t read English. So, I would choose any of the above countries where English is spoken or taught in the schools. However, any country where children are in need would have my blessings. The Wangari Maathai story is not just about deforestation, it is about any misuse of the environment, and the environment is in need of help all around this globe!

Lynne Barasch, author and illustrator of First Come the Zebra (Lee & Low, 2009):

I would send First Come the Zebra to Kenya, where the story takes place. Of course conflict exists in many parts of the world. I would say Israel and neighboring Arab countries could benefit from this story too.

Grace Lin, author and illustrator of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown & Co.,2009):

I’d like to send the book to myself when I was 10 years old. Partly because it is the kind of book that I wanted and needed and didn’t have when I was a child, and partly to tell my younger self, “Have faith, you will someday accomplish your dream.”

Hmm, all over the world is a bit tricky – but we are doing our best to find homes in some of the specific places mentioned. And what about you? If you could choose anywhere in the world to send special books like these, where would it be?

Today we are thrilled to be announcing our Spirit of PaperTigers Project, an initiative of Pacific Rim Voices, whose aim is to promote literacy while raising awareness of our common humanity. The idea is to donate 100 book sets of 7 carefully selected multicultural books to libraries and schools in areas of need across the globe.

The following titles have been selected for inclusion in the 2010 Book Set:

Planting The Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai, by Claire A. Nivola. Frances Foster Books, 2008.

First Come the Zebra, by Lynne Barash. Lee & Low, 2009.
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Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing, by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow, illustrated by Helen Cann. Barefoot Books, 2008.

The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos, by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre. Children’s Book Press, 2008.

My Little Round House, by Bolormaa Baasansuren, English adaptation by Helen Mixter. Groundwood Books, 2009.

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes. Kids Can Press, 2008.

Where The Mountain Meets The Moon, by Grace Lin. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009.

Our website currently highlights all the authors and illustrators whose books have been selected, as well as other features related to the project. Please note that we will be further exploring the particular reasons for selecting each title, here, on the blog, during the month of February.

One important aspect of the Spirit of PaperTigers project is that we will be receiving feedback from the book set recipients. In the course of the coming months, as feedback comes in, we will be posting it to the blog and the site, so everyone can find out about where the books are going and who they are reaching.

To learn more about the project and enjoy the new features, visit the website. And please help us spread the word on this exciting new venture!…

Join us for a memorable afternoon of award presentation and responses by authors and illustrators. Come meet and talk with the honored guests, including Award winner Margarita Engle and honorees Anne Laurel Carter, Lucia Gonzalez, Lulu Delacre, Scott Reynolds Nelson, and Marc Aronson. Enjoy a reception and an opportunity for book signing after formal presentation of the awards. All the award books will be available for purchase.

The Award Winners:

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai written and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola is the winner in the Books for Younger Children Category.

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle is the winner in the Books for Older Children Category.

The Honor Books:

Books for Younger Children:

The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos written by Lucía González and illustrated by Lulu Delacre

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad written and illustrated by James Rumford

Books for Older Children:

The Shepherd’s Granddaughter by Anne Laurel Carter

Ain’t Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

For additional information about the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and a complete list of books honored since 1953, click here.

Winners of the 2009 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards were announced today by the Jane Addams Peace Association. Books commended by the Award address themes or topics that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community, and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books also must meet conventional standards of literary and artistic excellence.

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai, written and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola, Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, is the winner in the “Books for Younger Children” category.

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, is the winner in the “Books for Older Children” category.

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai profiles the first woman from Africa to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004). Environmentalist and activist Wangari Maathai founded Kenya’s Green Belt Movement (1977) in direct response to the devastated natural resources and poverty caused by the deforestation of her homeland for commercial purposes. In a picture book that glows with orange and green landscapes dotted with bright blue, red, purple and yellow details, Nivola presents Maathai as a steady leader who saw community building as a way to resolve problems. She drew first on her own courage, then on the courage of many women, to sow seeds, nurture seedlings and plant trees. Together, they built a movement that continues to inspire people to take charge of their lives, their land and their future.

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom poignantly explores resistance to slavery and occupation in Cuba in the late 1800’s. Allied with the rebels fighting for independence, Rosa, born a slave and a healer, responds to bloodshed by healing compatriots and enemies alike. Moving from cave to cave in the mountains, Rosa, her husband Jose and Silvia, a child they heal and nurture, commit to peace with each herb they gather, each wound they dress, each spirit they soothe. Free verse poems in four distinct voices intertwine Cuban history, Engle’s own family story and historical fiction to create a searing, evocative portrait of healers who worked for peace so young people could “. . . have their chance/to dream/of new ways/to feel free . . .”

Two books were named Honor books in the “Books for Younger Children” category:

The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos, Story/Cuento Lucía González, Illustrations/Illustraciones Lulu Delacre, published by Children’s Book Press, has been named an Honor Book in the Books for Younger Children category. One of many immigrant children in New York City in the 1930’s,sprited Hildamar lives with her family in close-knit community as they face weather, language, food and customs so unlike those of their beloved Puerto Rico. Their community widens and deepens when Hildamar and her cousin meet Pura Belpre, the librarian at the local public library who not only speaks Spanish but invites families to the library to celebrate Three King’s Day! With text in Spanish and English and sepia-toned illustrations with qualities of folk art, this picture book pays tribute to Pura Belpre, the first Puerto Rican librarian for New York Public Library—a woman who instinctively understood the importance of culture and language in building community, acted upon those instincts and brought countless children into the circle of light and literacy shed by her storyteller’s candle.

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad written and illustrated by James Rumford, an Honor Book for Younger Children, is a Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Ali, a boy living in Baghdad today, loves soccer, parent-rattling music, dancing, and, most of all, calligraphy. His lively life, extended family and thoughtful nature flow from pages that weave calligraphy, intricate patterns and backdrops of golden brown into their design. Drawing strength from explicit visual and textual references to Iraq’s long history of literacy, the story of Ali’s passionate practice of calligraphy, first, highlights the power of literacy as a creative force in the midst of war, then, as a metaphor, invites reflection on the difficulty of practicing peace.

Two books were named honor books in the “Books for Older Children” category:

The Shepherd’s Granddaughter by Anne Laurel Carter, published by Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press is a realistic novel set in contemporary Palestine. Firmly grounded in the values and love of her extended family, Amani rejoices when her grandfather wisely grants her wish to become the first female shepherd in a line of shepherds reaching back thousands of years. But, when the family pastureland is usurped by an Israeli settlement, Amani faces challenges different from any shepherd who has gone before her. With immediacy and emotion, Carter’s novel purposefully centers on Amani’s family, its traditions and love of the land to give texture and meaning to an array of individual responses to violence and oppression. Amani’s struggle to come to grips with a world she cannot understand or accept creates a framework for addressing questions about peace, war and injustice that are of utmost importance in the world today.

Ain’t Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson, published by National Geographic, tracks the real man behind the larger-than-life hero of folk song fame by following clues in the song, allusions in reference works, and discrepancies in historical records. With a text that embodies the excitement of its writers, Ain’t Nothing But a Man engages through curiosity and wonder to arrive at profound questions about the life of John Henry and the 40,000 African-American men who laid tracks for the railroad in the United States in the 1800’s. Powerful photographs, cropped and enlarged throughout, underscore the importance of listening to the voices of those who have been unjustly silenced. This chronicle’s meticulous documentation bolstered by deeply-felt compassion make it clear that writing history can be a creative, humane way to address social injustice past and present

The 2009 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards will be presented Friday, October 16th in New York City. For additional information and a complete list of books honored since 1953, visit the website.

As its name suggests, the bookshop is situated in Willesden, in North West London, which is one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in London with upward of 30 languages spoken in its schools. Steve talked about rising to the challenge of finding books that reflect this diversity of culture in modern Britain. As far as publishing goes in the UK, “There’s a great time lag between recognising that diversity and publishers coming out with appropriate books” – with some notable exceptions, namely Frances Lincoln, Tamarind Books and some books from a few of the big publishers like Penguin. There’s an increase in books reflecting contemporary African heritage but it is still difficult to find Asian children in a normal British setting. There are some lovely books like My Mother’s Sari but they do not often step outside the stereotypical view. However, looking out into the wider world, books are starting to appear which show modern Indian cities – and the same with Africa: not just a focus on rural life in these countries but also books showing the modern urban areas.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

The children’s section of the bookshop welcomes young readers under a jungle canopy, with a mouth-watering selection of books, nearly all within reach of young people. On one side there is a display area devoted to Celebrating Black History and at the back are to be found a carousel of books featuring different faith celebrations and floor-to-ceiling shelves of books for the website. They also stock a wide range of dual-language books, with an increasing emphasis on Eastern European languages and culture, and this is reflected too in one of the most recent sections to be added to the website: Poland and Eastern Europe.

The website, which currently trades solely within the UK, caters not only for schools and teachers, but also for a mixture of individual parents across the country who are looking for a wider variety of books than they can find easily more locally. Half of The Willesden Bookshop’s trade is through schools – and indeed, in these challenging times for local, independent bookstores, Steve candidly admits they would not be able to survive without that trade. They have a good relationship with local schools and their teachers – and will do research for them if they’re needing something for a particular topic. At the moment they are looking to introduce a multicultural maths section to their website.

So what caught our eye? Plenty! Here I am holding A Ride on Mother’s Back: A Day of Baby-Carrying Around the World by Emery Bernhard and We Are All Born Free… and here, in no particular order, are what we came away with ( and lots of them will be reappearing as we report back on our PaperTigers Reading Challenge…):

Ice Trap! Shackleton’s Incredible Expedition by Meredith Hooper, illustrated by M.P. Robertson (Frances Lincoln, 2000);
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter (Dragonfly Books, Alfred A. Knopf, 1992);
The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud, illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennett (Candlewick Press, 2007);
Hairy Maclary’s Hat Tricks by Lynley Dodd (Puffin, 2008);
Gandhi by Amy Paston (Dorling Kindersley, 2006);
Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008);
Alphabet Gallery: An AbC of Contemporary Illustrators (Mammoth, Egmont Books 1999, in association with The Dyslexia Institute);
The Worst Children’s Jobs in History by Tony Robinson (Macmillan, 2006).

Just as well we live a long way away! But I can recommend the bookshop – and if you can’t get there in person then do check out the website. Thank you, Steve and staff, for a memorable visit.