Josée Bisaillon

Pendant qu’un enfant vaque à ses occupations quotidiennes, toutes sortes de choses lui font penser à la lune, là-haut dans le ciel. La lune est comme un étang gelé la nuit dans le bois. La lune est comme le lait dans le seau après la traite des vaches.

Les merveilleuses illustrations de Josée Bisaillon expriment comment notre imagination façonne notre environnement. Ce livre cartonné démontre aux enfants que leur façon de voir le monde—par le cœur, l’esprit et l’imagination—est tout à fait valable. Grâce à ses métaphores savoureuses, La lune est un étang d’argent invite les lecteurs à faire le saut magique dans leur imagination et à voir les objets du quotidien sous un autre angle.

Educator Information
This is the hardcover French translation of the boardbook The Moon is a Silver Pond.

Recommended for ages 3-5.

Keywords: métaphore, figure de style, observation, point de vue d'un enfant, poésie

Additional Information
32 Pages | 8" x 8" | Hardcover

Un enfant marche sur un chemin de campagne pour aller voir un défilé au village. Ce qu’il voit lors des événements de la journée jusqu’à son retour à la maison et l’heure du coucher lui fait penser au soleil : un jaune d’œuf, une bobine de fil, l’œil d’un oiseau, un cornet de sorbet et un pissenlit. Tous les cercles jaunes lui font penser à la grosse boule orangée dans le ciel.

Les merveilleuses illustrations de Josée Bisaillon expriment comment notre imagination façonne notre environnement. Ce livre cartonné démontre aux enfants que leur façon de voir le monde – par le cœur, l’esprit et l’imagination – est tout à fait valable. Grâce à ses métaphores savoureuses, Le soleil est une pêche invite les lecteurs à faire le saut magique dans leur imagination et à voir les objets du quotidien sous un autre angle.

Le soleil est une pêche complète La lune est un étang d’argent, écrit lui aussi par Sara Cassidy.

Educator Information
This is the hardcover French translation of the boardbook, The Sun is a Peach.

Recommended for ages 3-5.

Dans ce livre, un jeune enfant apprend ce qu’est une métaphore en comparant le soleil aux objets qu’il voit au cours de la journée, du matin au soir. 

Keywords: métaphore, figure de style, observation, point de vue d'un enfant, poésie

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Hardcover

In this charming picture book allegory of the creative writing process, happenstance and weather events symbolize the emotional ebb and flow of writing a poem.

I had a poem in my pocket,
but my pocket got a rip.
Rhymes tumbled down my leg
and trickled from my hip.

Thus begins the journey of a young poet's words out into the world, where they join randomly with other words to form funny riffs and puns all over a busy city street. The child scrambles to capture the loose words and arrange them back into poem form, only to lose them again as a storm swoops in on a rushing wind. Eventually, the words plant themselves in the muddy ground, where they grow into something that might be even better than the original poem: a Poet-Tree.

Not only a fanciful rhyming adventure tale, Chris Tougas's picture book is also a delightful allegory for the creative writing process. Perfect for classroom discussions about the emotional ups and downs of writing, this highly innovative book celebrating poetry and creativity is an excellent choice for National Poetry Month. It also showcases the magic of language and how much fun words can be. High-energy artwork by Josée Bisaillon is so full of words in flight and at play that children can pore over it again and again, and in the final spread, readers can search for rhyming pairs. An afterword discusses National Poetry Month and Poem in Your Pocket Day. This is a book that adult writers will also appreciate.

Reviews
"This is a whimsical, rhyming story that gives expression to the long frustration and toil that's often part of the artistic process." —Booklist

"This book about wordplay strikes the write balance between silly and sincere."—Kirkus Reviews

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 7.

Lexile Code: Adult Directed 
Lexile Level: 570

Additional Information
24 pages | 9.15" x 10.35" | Hardcover 

Following the huge success of Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox, this companion book is a lyrical celebration of our relationship to the natural world.

In each of twelve short poems, a child tells us how or why they feel like the sun, a river, a mountain, a cloud, the rain, a forest and more. Their deeply felt connections and identification with these wonders point to how much we are all part of the natural world. Each poem comes to life through vivid, playful illustrations that show the children immersed in their surroundings. The book serves as a gentle call to action — to notice, appreciate, preserve and protect our environment, while delighting in all its beauty.

A mindfulness activity — A Mindful Walk or Roll — invites young readers to use their senses to experience their surroundings to the fullest. Includes a brief author’s note that highlights our connections to the natural world.

Educator & Series Information Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 6 

This book is part of the Sometimes I Feel Like series.

Key Text Features
- author’s note
- illustrations
- poems
- procedural text

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.5
Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.25" x 10.00" | Hardcover 

Combining lyrical storytelling with expertly researched informational text, this beautiful book provides a year-long tour of the planet's largest land biome --- one of our most important wildernesses.

The vast boreal forest spans a dozen countries in the northern regions like “a scarf around the neck of the world,” making it the planet's largest land biome. Besides providing homes for a diversity of species, this spectacular forest is also vitally important to the planet: its trees clean our air, its wetlands clean our water and its existence plays an important role in slowing global climate change. In this beautifully written book, award-winning author L. E. Carmichael explores this special wilderness on a tour of the forest throughout the four seasons, from one country to another. Evocative watercolor and collage artwork by award-winning illustrator Josée Bisaillon provides a rare glimpse of one of the world's most magnificent places.

With excellent STEM applications in earth science and life science, this enjoyable book aims to foster environmental awareness of and appreciation for this crucial forest and its interconnections with the entire planet. In a unique approach, the text features a lyrical fictional narrative describing the wildlife in a specific part of the forest, paired with informational sidebars to provide further understanding and context. Also included are a world map of the forest, infographics on the water cycle and the carbon cycle, a glossary, resources for further reading, author's sources and an index.

This book has been reviewed by experts and was written in consultation with Indigenous peoples who live in the boreal forest region.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Curriculum: Ecosystem; Environment; Animals; Habitats; Water

Reading Levels: 
Guided Reading S
Guided Reading Grade Leve l4
Lexile Level 860

Keywords: environmental awareness, Canada, Russia, United States, trees, plants, science, nature, ecology, animals, wildlife, fun facts, curiosity, STEM books for kids

Contains some Indigenous content.

Additional Information
48 pages | 9.50" x 12.30"

A young child skates, bakes, and milks the cow while the moon wondrously transforms above. When they walk through the woods with their skates, the moon is a frozen pond. When they tend the cow, the moon is the milk at the bottom of the pail.

Stunning illustrations by Josée Bisaillon capture how imagination shapes the environment around us. This simple board book shows children that the way they see the world—by heart, mind and imagination—is just right. Reveling in metaphor, The Moon Is a Silver Pond encourages that magical leap of imagination and asks the reader to look at everyday objects from a different perspective.

Educator Information
Themes: metaphor, figurative language, observation, point of view, child's perspective

This book is available in French as a hardcover book: La lune est un etang d'argent

Additional Information
24 pages | 7.00" x 7.00"