NEIGHBORS, a New Picture Book By George Held and Joung Un Kim: A Sumptuous Banquet, Perfectly Served

NEW YORK, Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Poet George Held and children's book artist Joung Un Kim have collaborated on a new picture book for children, called Neighbors™.  Subtitled The Yard Critters, it is the first book in the Neighbors series and refers to animals one often finds in a suburban yard, a country house landscape, or a city street. The lavishly illustrated book is 12"x12" and can easily be shared by parents and children, as well as educators eager to explore poetry with their young students.   

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120216/NY55066)

Poet Kimiko Hahn: "Open George Held's magical metrical menagerie and enjoy the boisterous buzz of verse. These poems, paired with Joung Un Kim's appealing pictures, will tickle the creature in children and adults alike."

A member of the executive board of the South Fork Natural History Society in Bridgehampton, New York, Mr. Held has a longstanding love of the natural world.  He observes it for the children -- and even names a haiku for the Raccoon: "Racku." He states: "The poems in Neighbors are intended to make even lowly animals appear valuable, as they are, and to show how they fit into their ecosystem. That's why  each animal has its own poem and illustration." [interview with Jim Furlong, former managing editor of the international news service of Dow Jones & Co.]

Ms. Kim, artist, captures the essence of each animal...but in a collaged landscape of her own musings. Here, plaid bushes grow, groundhogs splash in a wading pool, turtles follow road maps.

"Neighbors, that's what they are. They're near, not far.  So slow your car. See, watch, enjoy – our creature-neighbors help make us who we are."
-- Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean and The View From Lazy Point:

GEORGE HELD, a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, has published fifteen poetry collections, including a trilogy of chapbooks on nature themes. Other work appears in such publications as The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Review, Confrontation, and The Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor). Educated at Brown, University of Hawai'i (M.A.), and Rutgers (Ph.D), he was a Fulbright lecturer and is a former professor at Queens College, City University of New York. He lives in New York and Sag Harbor.

JOUNG UN KIM, illustrator and designer, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She has illustrated many picture books for children, including The Grasshopper Hopped [Golden Books/Random House] and Hen Hears Gossip [Greenwillow/Harper Collins]. She lives in Southern California.
Agent: Jane Feder.

Consultants: Matteo Bologna, Bryan Canniff.

NEIGHBORS The Yard Critters Book 1 / by George Held / illustrations by Joung Un Kim / publisher: Filsinger & Company, Ltd. / price: $20.00/hardcover / ISBN: 978-0-916754-25-9 / ages: 3-11, and above / pages: 32 / publication: December 10, 2011 / CPSIA compliant available: http://www.filsingerco.com; http://www.amazon.com; http://www.bookhampton.com

Contact: C. Filsinger, 212-243-7421
[email protected]
Kit download: http://www.filsingerco.com

SOURCE Filsinger & Company, Ltd.