Monday, December 19, 2011

The Vole Brothers


This week the PBJunkies are reviewing books from the catalog of Owl Kids, a children's publisher in Canada who also publishes Owl, Chirp and ChickaDEE magazines. Their catalog, which is chock full of fabulous books can be found at www.owlkids.com. Each day this week, we will be reviewing a different book and at the end of the week we will give away the entire week's selections to a lucky reader! All you have to do is leave a comment to be entered into the drawing.


Roslyn Schwartz, the creator of the Mole Sisters, has written and illustrated a new picture book with the irresistable and adorable Vole Brothers. The characters were first created as a comic for Chirp Magazine and became extremely popular with the readers. But before they were comics, they were doodles and drawings in a sketchbook that she would send to her brother for a few laughs. I think there might be a lesson here somewhere.....

The book is simply illustrated in a clean, colored pencil style and blends the picture book form with an innovative comic book approach, layered with playful dialogue and onomatopoeia.
The vole brothers, who are always hungry, romp through the book with their silly antics that start with chasing after a cat and lead to a pepperoni pizza.

You'll love this video of Roslyn Schwartz's version of how a picture book is created and how the Vole Brothers came to be!


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the "How to" video and especially love Step #8! (I'd love to see page 15 to see whether I agree with Rosalyn or the editor.)

Thanks for a chance at winning the giveaway. My two young ones (a seven year-old and a two year-old) would love it!

Zara Garcia-Alvarez
zgarcia(dot)alvarez(at)gmail.com

jemrah said...

Always loved The Mole Sisters - glad to see they have a male counterpart - looks really cute :)

marlibu said...

My little one loves the mole sisters. She laughs at their jokes. I know her sister and her will enjoy the vole brothers just as much

Skees said...

My daughter reads Chirp magazine and loves to read the adventures of the Vole Brothers that are presented in the book.

Chelsea R said...

The sisters are so cute, and I bet this book is adorable as well. We love "Owl" books and magazines. river26[at]gmail[dot]com

Unknown said...

The book looks great and based on the video, it sounds like a lot of work went into making it. Thanks for including the video!

Brenda A. said...

We love The Vole Brothers and this book is great! We had it from the library but our own copy would be the best!!
wickenching (at) yahoo (dot) com

Michelle Henninger said...

Awwe, too cute!!

Unknown said...

I REALLY enjoyed the video, getting to know the author and the characters and her process (how creative to get my interest in the book - now I can't wait to see page 15!) - It looks like an adorable book.