Candace Christiansen

"A good bedtime tale for a cold winter night."-School Library Journal One snowy day an elderly woman, Sarah, watches children gathering at the bus stop. While they never seem to notice her, she notices them, especially one little boy who has no mittens. That night, Sarah knits the boy a pair of cozy mittens and places them on the blue spruce tree for him to discover. It soon becomes a game, with the children looking for new mittens on the mysterious tree every morning, and Sarah joyfully knitting new ones each night. With its touching message and delightful illustrations, adults and children will enjoy this intergenerational tale for years to come. Candace Christiansen grew up in the Hudson River Valley and was educated at the College of Saint Rose and Cornell University. She has been a teacher of chemistry, math, weaving, and spinning at the Hawthorne Valley School for twenty years and is currently the head of the Fiber Department at Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts. Elaine Greenstein began making children's books about fifteen years ago and is the author and illustrator of the popular Ice Cream Cones for Sale. She lives with her husband, Jose, in Brooklyn, New York.

"A fascinating, even glorious celebration of nature that will stir both children and adults to a finer appreciation of a wondrous, surprising world that's right within their grasp." --Booklist (starred review)In this stunning book by Thomas Locker, exquisite paintings are paired with questions about nature, making science comes alive through art. A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year In spring, a snapping turtle lays her eggs on the hillside beneath the tree. In autumn, leaves fall as squirrels scamper up the trunk carrying nuts. And on a winter night, a backdrop of twinkling stars shines through the branches. Each day, the tree changes with the purple and pink of a sunset or a nip of cold air. But the tree is more than a thing of beauty--its changes represent the passage of time in nature.Sky Tree combines the artistic beauty and the scientific wonder of ever-changing nature into a satisfying experience for the soul and the mind.Each page poses a discussion question, and at the back of the book is an explanation of how Thomas Locker created each beautiful oil painting.