Barbara Lavallee

Grandparents and grandchildren share something special everywhere. Here the universal story of a grandmother and her granddaughter is made unique as it reflects their Hawaiian life and style.

Beautiful asks Grandma to tell her their story, a story of bright eyes, swaying seaweed, and soft kapa cloth. No matter what, Grandma tells her granddaughter, she will be "Forever and for always, Beautiful." The lyrical text celebrates Hawaiian traditions and language, and watercolor illustrations evoke the lush hues of the Hawaiian islands.

Mama, Do You Love Me? tells the story of a young Inuit girl trying to find out how much her mother loves her. Beautiful illustrations of Alaska and the characters convey the cultural richness of this timeless story.

Illustrations evoke the frozen north while the text invites readers to feel more the cold of Alaska. How the weather impacts people and animals is explained in a conversational tone as is the impact of climate change. A comparable exploration, This Place Is Wet (Walker; 0802734006), will be available in May 2013.