Dan Tavis – illustratör

David Antenborough narrates this picture-book send-up of a nature documentary, sounding just like the real-life David but with more gesticulations, since he has six limbs at his disposal. Director Stephen Spielbug tries to keep the cast of characters on task, but it’s worse than herding cats: The orb-weaving spider would like to eat one or two other actors; the grasshopper is a diva; the worm is too busy munching dirt to emerge from the ground on cue; the robin has joined a union and declines to show up for the predation scene; and the slug is too embarrassed by his slime to perform. As David and Stephen near the wrap-up, filming is interrupted by a whuffling noise and then a foul-smelling hurricane, and Fido the dog sniffs his way through the grass and onto their set. The panicked actors flee at top speed (which is not very fast in the slug’s case), but the intrepid Antenborough continues narrating, Spielbug keeps directing, and they bring the film to a dramatic conclusion. Despite the chaos—or maybe because of it—we learn some things about these animals, and backmatter nature facts give us more.

Dan Tavis’s humorous illustrations crank up the delight, and a child wanting to learn more will find it in the natural-history backmatter. Pat Brisson employs a variety of verse forms in the book, and she shows how it’s done in a back-of-book feature called “A Peek into the Poet’s Toolkit.”  Common Critters is a three-tool STEAM book with delightful reading, natural history, and language skills rolled into one.

Just 2 inches long full-grown, this little guy is the foundation of the Southern Ocean food chain... “Hi. What are you? You appear to be an egg. You are an egg sinking. For many days, you sink. You sink a mile down, and you keep sinking down… down… until…”The unidentified narrator follows one krill among billions as it pursues its brief existence, eating and eating while metamorphosing from one thing into another and trying to avoid being eaten. Questions and advice are hurled at the krill on every page, but the krill never responds—because, after all, krill can’t talk, and this is nonfiction.  Krill are the largest animals able to catch and eat phytoplankton, and they in turn are eaten by the largest animals ever to live on earth—blue whales—as well as by seals, penguins, and a host of others. In other words, krill are really good at eating, and they make really good eating. And that makes them the most important animals in the high-latitude oceans.  As in The Whale Fall Café, Dan Tavis’s illustrations combine scientific accuracy with Nemo liveliness and humor. Our star krill is so good at gobbling up phytoplankton that he turns green, so we can pick him out from the crowd racing to escape a penguin’s beak or a blue whale’s gaping maw. The book has been reviewed and endorsed by global krill expert Dr. Stephen Nichol, and the manuscript earned an honorable mention in Minnesota’s McKnight Artist Fellowships for Writers. Helpful backmatter is included.

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! From the creator of the viral “Bones or No Bones” TikTok videos comes a sweet and entertaining picture book following Noodle the pug and his human as they navigate Noodle’s first No Bones Day—a day for being kind to yourself!Noodle is a sweet, silly old pug who enjoys doing all his favorite activities with his favorite human, Jonathan. But one day when Jonathan goes to take Noodle on his morning walk, he finds Noodle still comfortable in bed. When Jonathan lifts Noodle up, Noodle just flops over. It’s almost like Noodle woke up without any bones! Noodle isn’t sick or sad—but he also isn’t interested in going for walks or sitting outside (he will accept snacks, though). Today, all he needs are extra snuggles and belly rubs. Jonathan soon learns that not every day can be a Bones Day, and sometimes a No Bones Day is exactly what you need to get through the week.

March, hop, slip, and slide through a winter wonderland in this adorable sing-along board book from beloved children’s musician and performer Raffi.Put on your penguin suit and waddle along with Penny Penguin and her penguin pals as they spend a day in the snow together!With rhythm, rhyme, and repetition, Raffi’s catchy song is perfect for encouraging movement and building speech and listening skills. Irresistibly cute illustrations from Dan Tavis make this the perfect book for entertaining and early learning.