O C T A V I O O L I V A

My Ducky Buddy

My Ducky Buddy

• Mom’s Choice Award Gold Medal Winner • International Latino Book Awards • Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards • Creative Child Magazine Book of the Year.

By Michael Smith Illustrated by Octavio Oliva

Awards:

*Mom's Choice Award

*Moonbeam Children's Book Award,

*Creative Child Magazine's Best Book of the Year

School Library Journal Book Review Preschool—A boy describes why he enjoys bathing with his rubber duck. When it comes time to sleep, he misses his friend, imagining it leaping the fence as he counts sheep. Using animation and graphic-arts media, Oliva's illustrations create fun, engaging, up-close pictures. Vivid, full-color spreads done in pastels feature blues, greens, magentas, and purples set against eye-catching backdrops for the happy child and his bright, and often huge, yellow duck. The boy's large head gives him a bobble-head look, emphasizing his large smile and freckles. The Spanish translation adequately captures the English text; however, it does not always scan perfectly. This fun story will help fill the need for bilingual books suitable for storytimes. The engaging tale and pleasant illustrations will be a favorite for group or one-on-one sharing.

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Original characters for children's books, comic books, toys, cartoons, video games and more!

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RELATIVITY

Awards:

*Junior Library Guild 2011 Fall Selection
* International Latino Book Award
* Best Children’s Picture Book

Critical thinking skills are vital for success in today's world. Much of the text on handheld devices, computers, and online search engines minimizes the need to connect the dots, to recall knowledge, and push beyond the obvious. Michael Smith addresses this in his new children's book, Relatividad/Relativity. This bilingual rhyming story—no easy feat in two languages and perfectly executed here—gently guides elementary school children to begin thinking critically. Can critical thinking skills and focus be taught, by what method, and at what age can the process begin? Relatividad/Relativity is a clear and fun lesson that wrangles these complicated topics to a workable and enjoyable method for learning. The text on each page of Relatividad/Relativity compares and contrasts near and far, slow and fast, and so on. Once presented, however, the author emphasizes that there are no extremes or hard-and-fast rules—instead there is relativity. Smith charges the reader with finding out what relativity is and follows up with, "There is no high, there is no low, just levels of something taller or below." Here the Spanish sentence reads better, "sólo niveles de arriba abajo," which translates to above or below—a sharper, more visceral explanation of relativity. Lush illustrations by Octavio Oliva move the story along, providing the perfect amount of visual stimulation to keep children engaged from start to finish; warm, friendly, encompassing, they're a refreshing departure from the anime or superhero styles of many children's books today. Teachers and parents will also enjoy the flow between Spanish and English and will find that reading the story over and over again is a pleasure rather than irritating. The Center for Applied Linguistics estimates that more than half the States now offer Spanish/English dual-language programs in elementary schools. And, according to the most recent US census, there are 47.8 million Hispanic residents in the country, with a projected doubling in the next thirty years. This represents 15.5 percent of the current US population. Worldwide, Spanish is among the top three languages spoken by more than 450 million people. What better statistics to support children's books that teach difficult to parse subjects and encourage bilingual learning to prepare for a time when proper Spanish is as important to speak as proper English. Smith and Oliva do an outstanding job here, as they have in earlier collaborations. Dindy Yoke

Octavio Oliva

Junior Library Guild 2011 Fall Selection, International Latino Book Award - Best Children’s Picture Book

Relativity Michael Smith, Octavio Oliva

Catalog

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Who is behind the Door?

(Flap Book)

Olivas Sketch.

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Grasshopper Buddy

Michael Smith, Octavio Oliva

A companion book to the award-winning My Ducky Buddy/Mi Amigo El Pato, young readers will love to explore a bouncy grasshopper buddy in this warm and colorful concept book. With clever rhyming text in English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic.

*AWARDS*

*Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award

*Luminarias Master List

Book Covers Books ,Original concept art / images / Conceptual Art / Graphic design.Literature Science Fiction, satire, drama, Action and Adventure, Romance, mystery, horror, self help, guide, children's, religious, science, history, anthologies, poetry, comics, art, cookbooks, series, trilogies, biographies, and fantasy.

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G A L L E R Y .

By Octavio OLiva.

Brilliantly creative •Fresh Unique ideas., Fashion Sketches, Fashion Drawings, Fashion Illustrations , Fashion Art, Vintage Style. Bohemian Fashion . Chic Fashion Style. Artsy ,Sexy Style. Casual Fashion Style. Sophisticated Fashion Style