Spring Picture Books from Prestel Junior Celebrate Nature and Art (+ Giveaway)

This Spring Pictures Books giveaway is sponsored by Prestel Junior. As always, all opinions are my own.

Summer Reading = Time Well Spent

Just because summer is here doesn’t mean it’s time to put the books aside. Help encourage the love of reading and appreciation of literature through these gorgeous books from Prestel Junior. Set aside some time each day for kids to relax and flip through a book to either enjoy the pictures or read.

What’s Cooking in Flowerville? Recipes from Garden, Balcony or Window Box by Felicita Sala

Young cooks will learn about the edible gifts that each season brings in What’s Cooking in Flowerville? Recipes from Garden, Balcony or Window Box by Felicita Sala. This books features a warm and inviting collection of recipes from the author of What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street. In lush double-page spreads featuring Sala’s gorgeous watercolor illustrations, you’ll get to visit the yards, balconies, and rooftops where the citizens of Flowerville grow their vegetables. Each month features a different member of the town, and a delicious recipe inspired by a fruit or vegetable.

From spring’s asparagus and peas and summer’s cherries, cucumbers and peppers to autumn’s pears and squash and winter’s potatoes and citrus—twelve healthy ingredients are harvested in one of the townspeople’s gardens and then used to make an easy, delicious dish. The recipes, which include savory and sweet pies, soups, sauces, pancakes and croquettes, embrace a wide array of cultures, and feature fresh flavors and easy-to-source ingredients. Kids will learn not only how to incorporate fruits and vegetables into meals, but also how they grow and when they ripen. The book also includes charmingly illustrated tips and tools for growing your own food. A celebration of gardening, cooking, and community, this unique and beautiful cookbook is certain to become a perennial favorite in family kitchens.

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Fantastic Fruits by Olaf Hajek and Annette Roeder

In Fantastic Fruits by Olaf Hajek and Annette Roeder, you’ll enjoy a beautiful exploration of everyone’s favorite fresh foods. Olaf Hajek’s brilliantly colored and uniquely stylized paintings are accompanied by informative texts that will enthrall readers of all ages.

As in his previous books, Flower Power and Veggie Power, Hajek’s whimsical, imaginative paintings—inspired by a variety of artistic traditions—situate each fruit in a fascinating cultural context. Each “portrait” features delightful pictorial clues about how the fruits are grown and consumed.

Opposite the illustrations, Annette Roeder’s engaging texts offer illuminating and often surprising facts from throughout history and contemporary life. As mouthwatering as a summer peach, and as surprising as a pomegranate’s seeds, this book serves up page after page of delicious, nutritious, but most of all fun portions of fruity knowledge from all over the world.

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The National Menagerie of Art: Masterpieces from Vincent Van Goat to Lionhardo da Stinki by Thaïs Vanderheyden

The National Menagerie of Art: Masterpieces from Vincent Van Goat to Lionhardo da Stinki by Thaïs Vanderheyden is a hardcover book that elevates serious art to the heights of pure giggle-inducing fun. This collection of cleverly reimagined masterpieces is the perfect way to introduce young readers to great art and became a quick favorite in our home.

Even the greatest works of art will often fail to enthrall young children. But insert a funny, lovable animal into the scene, and it’s a whole different story. This delightful picture book takes artistic license as it reimagines the world’s most famous paintings for a young audience. A teddy bear surfs Hokusai’s Great Wave; a charming pig changes Mona Lisa’s smile from cryptic to comic; Munch’s scream is far less angsty on a panda’s face, while Whistler’s mother–the elephant–gives new meaning to Arrangement in Grey and Black. While it covers every major artistic school in art history, from Michelangelo and Velázquez to Kahlo and Rothko, each snort and guffaw offers an opportunity to explore the paintings in ways that will help kids remember them for the rest of their lives.

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The Wild Garden by Cynthia Cliff

The Wild Garden by Cynthia Cliff is filled with charmingly rustic illustrations of people, plants and animals. This story about community and biodiversity introduces children to the variety of ways things can grow and flourish in nature.

In the village of Mirren, a tidy community garden is carefully organized and tended by the townspeople. On the other side of the garden wall is a wild patch of land— a jumble of trees, a pond, and tall grassy places. While the garden is cared for in different ways throughout the seasons, Jilly and her grandfather like to visit the wild place, foraging for mushrooms, asparagus, and nuts, and watching the insects, birds and other animals.

When the townspeople decide they need a bigger garden, they make plans to expand beyond the wall into the wild place. Worried about what will happen to their special piece of nature, Jilly and her grandfather come up with a plan, inviting the townspeople to discover a new kind of gardening. Their plan works and the wild place and the community garden merge harmoniously; the bees pollinate the crops, berry bushes take over a garden corner, pumpkins grow along the pond, and delicious herbs appear among the ferns. Cynthia Cliff’s lovingly detailed illustrations reveal the joys of every kind of garden, while her story offers endless opportunities to talk about healthy eating, nature, ecological gardening, and friendship.

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Enter To Win This Prestel Junior Book Giveaway

One lucky Thrifty Nifty Mommy reader will receive hardcovers of all 4 books featured above, (ARV $65)! This giveaway is open to the US/Can/UK only. Just enter the widget below for your chance to win. Good luck!