Mike Deas – illustratör

Buddy Benches were introduced in Germany in 2014. When a child sits on the bench, it signals to other children to ask him or her to play. Patty Brozo’s children bring a playground to raucous life while Mike Deas’s illustrations invest their games with images of planes, dragons and elephants. The children match their imaginations with empathy, identifying and swooping up the lonely.

A school playground can be a solitary place for a kid without playmates; in one survey, 80 percent of 8- to 10-year-old respondents described being lonely at some point during a school day.  Patty Brozo’s cast of kids brings a playground to raucous life, and Mike Deas’s illustrations invest their games with imaginary planes to fly, dragons to tame, and elephants to ride. And these kids match their imaginations with empathy, identifying and swooping up the lonely among them.Buddy benches are appearing in schoolyards around the country. Introduced from Germany in 2014, the concept is simple: When a child sits on the bench, it’s a signal to other kids to ask him or her to play.

Gloria loves to sing, dance and act in her bedroom, but not in public. No way. Gloria’s big problem makes sure of that, following her wherever she goes and constantly reminding her that she’s anxious and frightened, that she’s not good enough and that everyone will laugh at her. Anxious Gloria worries all the time, about everything. Until, one day, Gloria summons all her courage to try out for a community theatre production. She marches herself to the audition and her big problem marches right in behind her. She gets up on stage and her big problem takes a seat in the front row and starts to laugh at her. And then at last she yells “STOP!” and her big problem shrinks to a little problem and Gloria wins a part in the play.

Calvin’s dictionary is proud to be carried everywhere Calvin goes—the breakfast table, school then home again—because Calvin is determined to find the perfect word to attach to his annoying older brother. The word isn’t exactly revenge, mayhem, bewilderment, subterfuge, pulverise or even retaliation, though all those words are close and very tempting. When Calvin finally finds the right word for his rascally brother, his dictionary is surprised and delighted, and readers will enjoy celebrating the triumphant discovery of Calvin’s perfect word along with his dictionary.

A young girl helps cheer on her dad's pickleball team while learning all about America's fastest growing sport in this delightful bedtime picture book for picklers of all ages!Grab your paddles, balls, and a bunch of friends--it's time to play pickleball! Goodnight, Pickleball celebrates this trending sport, capturing the excitement of the game through the eyes of a young girl who is cheering on her dad's team on the pickleball court. After the game, the girl says goodnight to all the picklers and the gear before getting tucked into bed with a brand new surprise treat. The book will include a glossary of pickleball terms for any beginning enthusiast! This is a great introduction to pickleball for the younger generation and a wonderful read aloud especially at bedtime for adults who want to share their love of this sport with children in their life.