Within a Sky Full of Earth

A Room Full of Toys

What exactly do toys do when there’s nobody there to watch them?
Here is an amazing journey through the world of toys and the children’s rooms that were their homes, from the late 19th century to the present day. More than seven hundred toys from the superb collection at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, are brought to life in a series of fabulous and fantastical scenes, strikingly staged to produce a toy’s-eye view of more than a century of fun and games.
Dolls and teddies, trains and planes, robots and animals, favourite characters ranging from Donald Duck and Barbie to Luke Skywalker and the Ninja Turtles – all of these and more run riot through a land that seems both strange and familiar, comforting and unsettling, and absolutely evocative of the pleasures and pains of the playroom.
The book is led by the gaze of Alberto Manguel, whose text explores what toys mean to both children and adults – how toys can tell us who we are and allow us to imagine what we may become. Manguel’s words and the extraordinary images come together to form a dazzling recreation of the dreamlike world of childhood, the serious business of pretending – and the magic of make-believe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Internationally acclaimed as an essayist and novelist, Alberto Manguel is also a prize-winning translator and has edited ten anthologies. Author of the award-winning A History of Reading and News from a Foreign Country Came, his most recent novel is Stevenson Under the Palm Trees. Born in Buenos Aires, he has lived in Italy, England, Tahiti and Canada, and now lives in France, where he was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Béatrice Salmon is Director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Dorothée Charles is a Curator in the Department of Toys at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Michel Pintado is a photographer, illustrator, special effects designer and modelmaker. Jean Haas is an award-winning set designer who has worked on many theatre productions, exhibitions and concerts. Simon Saulnier designs exhibitions and creates special effects for films and advertising.

A Room Full of Toys, by Alberto Menguel • THAMES & HUDSON

This book awaits you at Bloom!

Manfish – Before Jacques Cousteau became an internationally known oceanographer and champion of the seas, he was a curious little boy. In this lovely biography, poetic text and gorgeous paintings combine to create a portrait of Jacques Cousteau that is as magical as it is inspiring. This is a new and enganging biography beneath the sea level you cannot let it drown. Mostly for kids (3-6's) but also for grown-ups. Prepare your swimming gear to join us on this adventure.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jennifer Berne, a contributing writer for Nick Jr. magazine, enjoys writing about our amazing universe. This is her first children's book. She lives in Columbia County, New York.
Award-winning illustrator Éric Puybaret has illustrated several books for children. He lives in Paris, France.

Manfish, A Story of Jacques Cousteau, by Jennifer Berne
Illustrated by Éric Puybaret • CHRONICLE BOOKS • 40 PAGES • MAY 2008

HABA is focused on children.

Games, Toys, Educational Games, Furniture for Home, Furniture for Schools.

The new 2008 catalogue has just arrived and is here at Bloom. Everybody is welcome to take a peek, choose, play and enjoy! We can get it all.

HABA
Inventors for Children.
We are a wood manufacturing company known for our high-quality baby and children's toys, as well as our children's games and furniture. We view ourselves as a "single source supplier" for children. We are expanding our product portfolio beyond wood products using the same high quality standards for which we are known. Thus, HABA also offers jewelry, porcelain dishes and textiles, for example. HABA products may be found in well-stocked toy stores around the globe.

CHECK HERE: www.haba.de

Since last month we're having the great german HABA brand in store. They have an amazing catalog, for children of all age and for all the family, from tiny tin games to furniture sets. Check them at WWW.HABA.DE, we can bring to you everything you like. Come to Bloom and ask for a catalog or send us a special inquiry through our main email address. From time to time we'll show you here what makes HABA an amazing trade name.
Thank you! And again: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

A cheeky die game for 2 dwarfs ages 5-99
Authors: Wolfgang Dirscherl and Markus Nikisch
Illustrations: Stefan Fischer

Contents
7 dwarfs
1 die
Set of game instructions

Preparation of the Game
Spread the seven dwarfs in the center of the table and get the die ready.

How to Play
Play alternately. Who has seen a dwarf most recently? You may start first. If you cannot agree, the younger player starts and rolls the die.

On the die thereappears:
• A Colored Dwarf's Cap? - Take a dwarf of this color from the center and place it in front of you.If there is no dwarf of this color left in the center you can steal it from the other player. Nothing happens if you already have all the dwarfs of that color.
• Beautiful Snow White? -The dwarfs love Snow White! Take any of the dwarfs from the center or from the other player and put it in front of you.
• The Wicked Witch? - Oh dear! The witch has thought of something mean! Choose a color.Both players must then return all the dwarfs of this color to the center. Then it's the turn of the other player to roll the die.

End of the Game
The game ends when there is no dwarf left in the center.The players count their dwarfs. Whoever has the most, wins the game.

If you come to Bloom during these days you might hear at our sound speakers the story of Little and Big Nutbrown Hare, a love story written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram in 1994. The book is called "Guess How Much I Love You" and it's the best book in the world. We have some of the different versions made available by the english publisher, Walker Books. The one that is playing now is the CD that comes along with paperback version.

I love you right up to the moon - and back.

The story of Little and Big Nutbrown Hares' efforts to express their love for each other has become a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 18 million copies worldwide. First published nearly 15 years ago, these lovely editions are either for children or adults and they can make the best present of all time.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sam McBratney
In his own words, Sam spent his postwar childhood "in short trousers and Fair Isle jumpers." He remembers studying for his 11-plus exam, before going to grammar school, and then on to study History and Political Science at Trinity College in Dublin.
Sam became a teacher and taught at a further education college, a grammar school and a primary school. He took early retirement from the teaching profession to concentrate on his career as a writer. Sam is married with three grown-up children and a teenage tortoise, and lives in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Sam has won many awards for his children's books and is best known as the author the multi-million selling Guess How Much I Love You which was shortlisted for the 1994 Kurt Maschler Award, and is now one of the world's best-selling picture books. In 2004, Sam reunited with Guess How Much I Love You illustrator Anita Jeram to produce the follow-up, You're All My Favourites.

Anita Jeram
Born in Portsmouth, 1965, Anita worked in a variety of jobs after leaving school (in a factory and a kennel) before becoming a children's book illustrator.
Anita is married to a palaeontologist and has three children and a menagerie of animals, including cats, dogs, rabbits, toads, a lizard, a snake and a tortoise. She lives in Northern Ireland, and hopes, eventually, to set up a wildlife sanctuary there.
Anita did a foundation course in visual studies at Manchester Polytechnic, followed by a degree course in illustration. Her first book, Bill's Belly Button, was published a year after she graduated. Anita is best known for her illustrations for the picture book Guess How Much I Love You, which was shortlisted for the 1994 Kurt Maschler Award, and is now one of the world's best-selling picture books. Illustrating was a labour of love, she says. "Every time I read this book, I want to cry. The story reminds me so much of my own son, who often plays this kind of game with when it's time for bed." In 2004, Anita reunited with Guess How Much I Love You author Sam McBratney to produce the follow-up, You're All My Favourites.

Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam Mcbratney and Anita Jeram • WALKER BOOKS

For the younger ones, a suggestion for this Christmas' gifts.
One more great pop-up story by Robert Sabuda, a construction of a series of varied and well-engineered scenes: Santa pops in and out of the chimney, beds fold out, a window shade rises and falls, and, in a clever nod to Moore's not-a-creature-was-stirring text, it's a family of mice who are receiving Santa's nighttime visit. A pull-out tab even lets readers interact, when Santa's sleigh glides out on the clouds and over an intricately realized village. It's hard to pick a favorite scene here, but you can bet that kids will love the book's pop de résistance, in which Santa's lead reindeer nearly fly right up your nose (if they don't knock you out of your chair first).

To learn about the amazing process of creating this pop-up book visit Robert Sabuda's world here. This and other books from Sabuda's collection are available at Bloom, and waiting to make this X'mas a magic one for the little ones!

The Night Before Christmas POP-UP, by Clement Clarke Moore & Robert Sabuda Little Simon Publisher • ISBN: 9780689838996

It's going to happen tomorrow. We're going to take our kids section to Taipa, down the road of the University of Macau, on the way to the Friendship Bridge, Pac On, whatever. Yes, is that green School on the block, the big and round one. Is got a name, is the Sheng Kung Hui Primary School. And we are going to set some tables full of books for kids and some for their parents. English beauty fool books for the soul and will last just for one day. Prepare yourself and your children and get some nice learning objects full of pages to read at to let your imagination flow away.
From 8 A.M. on we are going to be at the Father Thomas Pear Tree Avenue, yes, than one, this is a free translation, just for you, at nº 109-117. It's our second Children's Bookfair of the year, first time with just English titles. And will have around 400 books just to go and we'll only leave after we sell the last one. ;-)

DONT'T MISS IT!
[click on the image to zoom in]

Esta publicação da OQO resulta numa interessante viagem ao mundo da arte pelas relações intertextuais – próximas do sentido original de paródia – que cada imagem (e, em certa medida, cada texto) estabelece com um quadro célebre que não é identificado, mas cuja referência emerge, de forma implícita, à superfície. História alternativa da pintura ou sua revisitação paródica, o álbum em causa pode funcionar como excelente pretexto para a descoberta das verdadeiras obras de arte que estiveram na sua origem.

Pelas páginas deste grande livro vemos retratos dos mais famosos retratistas a testemunhar como os animais foram objecto de um particular interesse em épocas e lugares diferentes. Quis o artista com estes belíssimos retratos de rãs, cabras, ovelhas, leões, e outros, alterar a perspectiva que temos da história da arte, passando a poder apreciar a história da arte dos animais.

Svjetlan Junakovic seleccionou os quadros constantes nesta obra de acordo com as exigências teóricas e práticas da época (cânone de beleza animal, costumes sociais, condições de construção da imagem no espaço...) e com uma proposta lúdica e sugestiva, avisa-nos que qualquer semelhança com alguns dos mais famosos retratos humanos é puramente casual...

Svjetlan Junakovic nasceu em Zagreb (Croácia), em 1961. Formado pela Academia de Artes Brera, em Milão, trabalha, actualmente, como pintor, designer e escultor na sua cidade natal e ainda ilustra livros que foram publicados em mais de vinte idiomas. Junaković expôs, individualmente, em Munique, Zagreb, Monza e Mantova. Nas Bienais de Pequenas Esculturas, o artista ganhou prémios em 1994, 1998, 1999, 2003 e 2004 com as suas ilustrações. Ganhou ainda o prémio especial de melhor ilustrador estrangeiro em Bari (Itália). Realizou ainda exposições e workshops em Portugal.

Porque a Bloom não se esqueceu dos leitores mais pequeninos, a nossa sugestão de hoje é para eles, para que surja o amor pela leitura e pela arte, com humor e espontaneidade.
Como este, há muitos outros livros maravilhosos, no primeiro andar da Bloom, à espera de serem levados para o mundo das crianças.

O Grande Livro dos Retratos de Animais, de Svetlan Junakovic
Editora OQO • ISBN 8496573818 • Distribuição: QUIDNOVI

Nem sempre os pais são, na relação com os filhos, bem educados. Os pais fazem asneiras, têm birras, "amuam", são teimosos, mas são pais e, de forma mais ou menos equilibrada, vivem a culpabilidade por cada um dos seus actos, duma forma silenciosa (sobretudo) porque "pai é pai"... e os pais nunca se enganam!... Claro que as asneiras dos filhos têm muito a ver com as asneiras dos pais mas, como dizia um amigo meu, pegando numa ideia de um pediatra e psicanalista inglês chamado Winnicott - que, a propósito da relação empática entre a criança e a mãe, falava da necessidade duma "mãe suficientemente boa" - os pais perfeitos são..."suficientemente maus". No fundo, queria ele dizer que "o perfeito é inimigo do bom", ou seja, que os pais realmente bons são os que têm a coragem de ser como são, e que a coragem supõe que eles toleram a culpabilidade (e a dor que ela desperta).

Eduardo Sá é psicólogo clínico, psicanalista e professor de psicologia clínica na Universidade de Coimbra e no ISPA, em Lisboa. Tem uma longa experiência de acompanhamento de fetos e de bebés, de crianças, de adolescentes e das suas famílias. Presentemente, centra a sua actividade clínica no acompanhamento individual de adultos. Tem colaborado regularmente na imprensa, nomeadamente nas revistas “XIS”, do jornal Público, Adolescentes, e actualmente na “Notícias Magazine”, do Diário de Notícias. Publicou, entre outros títulos, “Manual de instruções para uma família feliz”, “Crianças para sempre” e “Tudo o que o amor não é”.

Mais uma leitura que a Bloom traz até si. Uma importante referência de apoio aos pais, para que os pequeninos de hoje sejam grandes homens e mulheres amanhã.

Más maneiras de Sermos Bons Pais, de Eduardo Sá
Fim de Século Edições • ISBN: 972754200X • 2003

All over the World, kids are losing their teeth. And who is there to gather them up, leaving coins in their places? The Tooth Fairy, of course! A self-described "action kind of gal" with plenty of attitude, she reveals her secrets at last. Learn about her amazing Tooth-o-Finder. Marvel at her ingenious flying machine. Watch her in action, dodging dogs and cats and gerbils. You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? is the essential guide for every kid about to lose a tooth.

Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt is an award-winning magazine writer and the author of two children's activity books. This is her first picture book. She lives in Buffalo, New York.

David Slonim is the author and illustrator of several children's books, including the "irresistible and infectious" He Came With the Couch. He lives in Indiana with his wife, Bonnie, and their four children.

You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
Illustrated by David Slonim
CHRONICLE BOOKS • ISBN13 9780811854603 • Ages 4-8 • Hardcover • Published in August, 2007