Author Archives: bergmanmara

Bears, Bears, Everywhere!

Illustrated by Helen Craig, published by Orchard Books. ISBN: 978 1860396632

Bears in boxes, bears wearing sockses,                                                                                                 bears on the ceiling, spinning and reeling,                                                                                           bears up the stairs, bears on chairs…                                                                                                           Bears, bears everywhere!

A little girl’s wish for bears comes true. A rollicking cautionary tale about being careful what you wish for!

“The rhyming tale is complemented beautifully by the detailed illustrations of every sort of bear imaginable. Preschoolers will have fun picking out their favourites.” – Parents News

Click here to buy from Amazon

Musical Beds

Illustrated by Marjolean Pottie, published by Simon and Schuster. ISBN: 0743 462084

It’s bedtime for Josie, Rosie and little Rick. Dad’s tucked them in, each in their own bed, as snug as snails. But while he is trying to enjoy some quiet time by himself, each child tries to find a better place to sleep… So they go, one by one, on a bedtime dance around the house.

“Bergman’s whimsical descriptions of the tykes snoozing in their beds, “quiet as a carrot,” “cozy as a caterpillar” and “snug as a snail” are bound to elicit giggles. Pottie’s vividly hued illustrations are a vibrant counterpoint to the text. Perfect to share just before toddling off to the right bed.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“Most kids will relate to the fears of the children in the story as well as their shuffling around in beds trying to get comfortable. The appealing artwork keeps the tone of the story upbeat with scenes that are bright and cheerful while still giving the feeling of nighttime. A good selection for sweet dreams at home or for a story hour with a bedtime theme.” – Booklist 

“This charming story is told in simple language and illustrated with big, blocky shapes and colors. Josie, Rosie and Rick and their dad spend the night switching beds when the youngsters wake up scared, cold, lonesome or crowded, respectively. Eventually, they all get sorted out and end up asleep in their rightful places just in time for their mother to come home and give them a kiss. The author and illustrator convey the palpably safe, swaddled-in feeling that comes from (eventually) being snug in one’s own bed. This quaint vignette of family life will spark instant recognition for many children.” – School Library Journal

“It’s hard to say who will see themselves more clearly in this tale of musical beds, the kids who start it or the grownups who end it (echoing the experience of many long-suffering parents, Dad finally picks up each child and tucks each one into his or her very own bed). The plot structure is simple but effective: one child sets off another like a row of toppling dominoes, until the grownups straighten them all up again… The text is straightforward and funny, and the familiar situation will surely draw snickers from past (and future) musical-bed miscreants.” – The Bulletin

Click here to buy from Amazon

Sylvie’s Seahorse

swa

Illustrated by Tor Freeman, published by Walker Books. ISBN: 978 1 406301946

Sylvie loves to swim, although she can’t quite do it on her own yet. But when she visits the aquarium and sees the baby seahorses swimming, she is more determined than ever to get it right!

A Walker Story: The perfect first step into fiction. Three short stories to build reading confidence.

The author supports the work of Project Seahorse.

Click here to buy from Amazon
Click here to buy from The Book Depository
Click here to buy from Waterstones
Click here to buy from Walker Books

Nick Mack’s Good Luck

 

nick

Illustrated by Jill Barton, published by Walker Books. ISBN: 9781 844280919

Nick Mack finds that good luck comes to him in many different ways – but on his birthday, will his biggest wish come true?

A Walker Story: The perfect first step into fiction. Three short stories to build reading confidence.

Click here to buy from Amazon
Click here to buy from The Book Depository
Click here to buy from Waterstones

 

Snip Snap, Alligator!

This is the paperback reissue of Snip Snap! (Snip Snap! What’s That?, US)

Illustrated by Nick Maland, published by Hodder Children’s Books. ISBN: 978 1444914894

Winner of the Stockport Children’s Book Award
A Parents’ Choice Silver Award winner (USA)
Awarded the Society of Illustrators’ Silver Medal (USA)

When the alligator came creeping, creeping, creeping up the stairs, were the children scared?     You bet they were!

“Mara Bergman’s thrill ride, Snip Snap! What’s That?, brilliantly captures this primal fear of home invading noisemakers. While Bergman’s rhythmic, vocal text propels the story forward, it is Nick Maland’s illustrations, watercolors on photocopied drawings, that actually provide the book’s suspenseful foundation. Teasing us visually by showing just portions of the alligator’s body – a spiky tail, gigantic jaws, clawed feet – Maland enables us to confront our own menacing reptilian fantasies. In fact, the children’s dramatic reversal neatly coincides with our first look at the entire alligator, head to tail.” – New York Times

“Nick Maland’s clever perspectives make the alligator increasingly alarming as he swells to fill more and more of the page in this well-created story of facing down fear.” – The Guardian

“Using elements of rhythm and rhyme as well as an enjoyably predictable question-and-answer    refrain the text maintains a playful tone beneath the scary details… Expressive line drawings, brightened with watercolour washes, illustrate the story with wit and style… Good fun.”  – Booklist

Click here to buy from Amazon

Project X Alien Adventures, blue book: FUNFAIR FUN

Illustrated by Jonatronix, published by Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0198492931

Nok finds himself trapped among some fairground toys. Can Cat and Tiger win the game and claim Nok as their prize? 

PROJECT X ALIEN ADVENTURES

An effective and inspiring approach to teaching reading and writing.

An amazing 3D illustrated character adventure that will get children reading for pleasure.

Developed with the very best educational experts.

Comes with notes on the inside front and back covers for teachers, TAs and parents/carers, which give question prompts and points for discussion, phonic practice words, challenge words, and additional activities that children can do.

Click here to buy from Amazon
Click here to buy from The Book Depository
Click here to buy from Waterstones

Project X Alien Adventures, yellow book: THE ROCKET FLIGHT

Illustrated by Jonatronix, published by Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0198492788

Nok wants to go for a trip in Max’s rocket. What will happen when they take off and zoom into the air?

Comes with notes on the inside front and back covers for teachers, TAs and parents/carers, which give question prompts and points for discussion, phonic practice words, challenge words, and additional activities that children can do.

PROJECT X ALIEN ADVENTURES

An effective and inspiring approach to teaching reading and writing.

An amazing 3D illustrated character adventure that will get children reading for pleasure.

Developed with the very best educational experts.

Comes with notes on the inside front and back covers for teachers, TAs and parents/carers, which give question prompts and points for discussion, phonic practice words, challenge words, and additional activities that children can do.

Click here to buy from Amazon
Click here to buy from The Book Depository
Click here to buy from Waterstones

 

Project X Alien Adventures, yellow book: THE LOST COW

Illustrated by Jonatronix, published by Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0198492771

Max’s sister, Molly, has lost the cow from her toy farm. What else will Max and Nok find in the long grass when they go looking for it? 

PROJECT X ALIEN ADVENTURES

An effective and inspiring approach to teaching reading and writing.

An amazing 3D illustrated character adventure that will get children reading for pleasure.

Developed with the very best educational experts.

Comes with notes on the inside front and back covers for teachers, TAs and parents/carers, which give question prompts and points for discussion, phonic practice words, challenge words, and additional activities that children can do.

Click here to buy from Amazon
Click here to buy from The Book Depository
Click here to buy from Waterstones

Project X Alien Adventures, blue book: HELTER-SKELTER

Illustrated by Jonatronix, published by Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0198492924

Cat, Tiger and Nok are at the fair in Helter-Skelter. Find out what adventures await the            micro-friends when Nok spots a ride that looks exactly like a space rocket!

Comes with notes on the inside front and back covers for teachers, TAs and parents/carers, which give question prompts and points for discussion, phonic practice words, challenge words, and additional activities that children can do.

PROJECT X ALIEN ADVENTURES

An effective and inspiring approach to teaching reading and writing.

An amazing 3D illustrated character adventure that will get children reading for pleasure.

Developed with the very best educational experts.

Comes with notes on the inside front and back covers for teachers, TAs and parents/carers, which give question prompts and points for discussion, phonic practice words, challenge words, and additional activities that children can do.

Click here to buy from Amazon
Click here to buy from The Book Depository
Click here to buy from Waterstones

EAST 13TH STREET or HOW I MET MY HUSBAND 

 If Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Seymour had moved
     out of their two-bedroom apartment with my four cousins
 as planned, I never would have met Susan Silver,
     who lived in their courtyard, Utopia Parkway, Queens
 and grew up with Sharon and Tara, and years later
      I might not have known her at university
 or become best friends, lived together in that red semi
      on East Street next to Feeney’s Fine Foods and Drink
 with Marla, the actress who spent weekends in New York City
      with a jazz musician twice her age. The three of us
 ate only with chopsticks at a cable spool we used as a table,
      visited Dunkin’ Donuts in the middle of the night
 and found, once, a star on our receipt and won
      another dozen. We lived up the street from Mary and Albert
 with their parakeets Sonya and Raskolnikov, and Peter, the potter,
      who borrowed my Brother typewriter to write a book
 on Abstract Expressionism. I would never have heard
     that Susan met an English guy that summer while camping
 with her boyfriend in Vermont, that he would borrow a sleeping bag
      and have to return it. She would not have rung me up
 to join her in Manhattan, and I would not have said no and
      she would not have cajoled me until she convinced me to go.
 I would not have seen him standing in the doorway
      of his friend’s apartment on East 13th Street and thought Yes.

Prizewinner in the Troubadour Poetry Competition 2012