Caldecott Medalist Ed Young Makes Ninja Mischief in New Picture Book

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Caldecott Medalist and New York Times-bestselling illustrator Ed Young makes mischief this fall with a new picture book, Nighttime Ninja, while in A Strange Place to Call Home: The World's Most Dangerous Habitats & The Animals That Call Them Home, the renowned artist takes young readers into hot springs, salt flats, oil ponds and other extreme environments.

Nighttime Ninja, written by Barbara DaCosta, is a simple, fun story about a pint-size ninja on a midnight mission. Kids will hold their breath as the ninja creeps and climbs through the house. When he reaches his ultimate goal he—and the reader—get a surprise. With cut paper, cloth, string and colored pencil, Young creates expressive figures, mysterious shadows and textured compositions full of humor and suspense.

A Strange Place to Call Home, written by acclaimed poet Marilyn Singer, shows kids the wild and risky places that some animals call home. The poems focus on fourteen different animals and their dangerous environments, and Young's collage art displays an imagination equal to these amazing animals. From pink flamingos hunting brine shrimp in salt flats, to iridescent-winged petroleum flies hatching in oil, this book celebrates the incredible diversity and adaptability of life. Backmatter features an essay about how each animal survives and adapts, and an explanation of the poetic forms in the text.

Ed Young, www.edyoungart.com, has written and/or illustrated more than eighty-five books. Winner of the Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China, he's also the author-illustrator of Seven Blind Mice and illustrator of The Emperor and the Kite, both Caldecott Honor Books. Young has twice been the U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the "Nobel Prize" of children's literature, and has received six other international awards and honors and three body-of-work awards.  A three-time winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award and the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year, his other honors include five School Library Journal Best Books, five Booklist Editors' choices, nine ALA Notable Books, thirteen state and regional honors, a Parenting Magazine Reading Magic Award, two Reading Rainbow Choices, and four Parents' Choice awards.  Ed Young's books have been translated into 12 languages, including Xhosa, Thai, and Afrikaans.

SOURCE Ed Young