Explore the latest books of this year!
Bookbot

Kyo Maclear

    Kyo Maclear is an author who masterfully navigates the realms of children's literature, novels, and essays. Her writing is characterized by deep introspection and a celebration of the small yet significant aspects of life, often focusing on art and the creative process. Through engaging narratives and insightful essays, Maclear explores themes of connection, perception, and the discovery of beauty in the everyday. Her works resonate with a distinctive sensitivity and a unique perspective on the world around us.

    The Liszts
    Unearthing
    The Big Bath House
    Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli
    Noodles on a Bicycle
    Time Is A Flower
    • Time Is A Flower

      • 56 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      A playful and poignant exploration of the nature of time through the eyes of a child from acclaimed author/illustrator Julie Morstad. What is time? Is it the tick tick tock of a clock, numbers and words on a calendar? It's that, but so much more. Time is a seed waiting to grow, a flower blooming, a sunbeam moving across a room. Time is slow like a spider spinning her web or fast like a wave at the beach. Time is a wiggly tooth, or waiting for the school bell to ring, or reading a story . . . or three! But time is also morning for some and night for others, a fading sunset and a memory captured in a photo taken long ago. In this magical meditation on the nature of time, Julie Morstad shines a joyful light on a difficult-to-grasp concept for young readers and reminds older readers to see the wonders of our world, including children themselves, through the lens of time.

      Time Is A Flower
      4.4
    • Noodles on a Bicycle

      • 40 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      The vibrant culture of Tokyo's bicycle food deliverers captivates children as they witness these skilled individuals expertly stacking noodle bowls and navigating the bustling city with agility. This engaging depiction highlights the artistry and efficiency of food delivery, showcasing how these acrobatic riders bring delicious meals to students, office workers, and families, making them an integral part of urban life.

      Noodles on a Bicycle
      4.3
    • A joyful celebration of Japanese cultural traditions and body positivity as a young girl visits a bath house with her grandmother and aunties You'll walk down the street / Your aunties sounding like clip-clopping horses / geta-geta-geta / in their wooden sandals / Until you arrive... / At the bath house / The big bath house. In this celebration of Japanese culture and family and naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, join a little girl--along with her aunties and grandmother--at a traditional bath house. Once there, the rituals leading up to the baths begin: hair washing, back scrubbing, and, finally, the wood barrel drumroll. Until, at last, it's time, and they ease their bodies--their creased bodies, newly sprouting bodies, saggy, jiggly bodies--into the bath. Ahhhhhh!With a lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations, this picture book is based on Kyo Maclear's loving memories of childhood visits to Japan, and is an ode to the ties that bind generations of women together.

      The Big Bath House
      4.3
    • Unearthing

      • 416 pages
      • 15 hours of reading

      Three months after Kyo Maclear's father dies in December 2018, she gets the result of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, desperately seeking answers from her ailing mother whose memories and English are failing. Maclear no longer speaks Japanese, her mother's first language, so she turns to her mother's second fluent tongue: the wild and green language of soil, seed, leaf and mulch. Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? What gets planted and what gets buried? Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes far beyond heredity, full of unflinching insights into grief, loyalty and the relationship between mothers and daughters.

      Unearthing
      4.2
    • The Liszts

      • 40 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      Mama Liszt, Papa Liszt, Winifred, Edward, Frederick and Grandpa Liszt make lists all day long. Then one day a visitor arrives. Will the Liszts be able to make room on their lists for this new visitor? Kyo Maclear's quirky, whimsical story is perfectly brought to life with the witty, stunning illustrations of debut picture book artist Julia Sarda.

      The Liszts
      4.1
    • "One winter Kyo Maclear felt unmoored. Her father had recently fallen ill and she suddenly found herself a little lost. In the midst of this crisis, she met a musician who loved birds. When he watched birds and began to photograph them, his worries dissipated. Curious, she began to accompany him on his urban birdwatching expeditions and witnessed the magic of a transient city. Birds Art Life Death asks how we might gain perspective and overcome our anxieties by learning to cherish the urban wild spaces in which we live." --Provided by publisher.

      Birds Art Life Death
      4.0
    • If You Were a City

      • 40 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      A city can be many things: quiet and dreamy or buzzing with excitement, and this picture book explores them all--and celebrates the people who live in them.

      If You Were a City
      4.0
    • The uplifting journey of a bashful cloud ("kumo" in Japanese) who discovers the rewards of feeling seen.Kumo is a cloud whose only wish is to float unseen. When she’s assigned cloud duty for the day, she feels overwhelmed by self-doubt and her fear of being noticed. But after learning that closing your eyes isn’t a good solution to your troubles, Kumo pulls her fluff together and does her duties — drifting, releasing rain and providing shelter — meeting some new friends along the way and inspiring the imagination (and capturing the heart) of a small daydreamer like her.Kyo Maclear’s sweetly humorous and lyrical parable about shyness, vividly brought to life by Nathalie Dion’s ethereal illustrations, is an affirmation of the pleasures of community and the confidence that can arise from friendship and visibility.

      Kumo
      3.9
    • Hello, Rain!

      • 44 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      A glorious celebration of all the reasons to love the rain!

      Hello, Rain!
      3.8