New 'NEIGHBORS,' Just Released, Goes Swimmingly with Kids

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Poet George Held and children's book artist Joung Un Kim have collaborated on a third picture book for children, NEIGHBORS^® The Water Critters.  The title refers to certain fish, amphibians, and even mammals, that we find in our oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds. Through a set of witty, pithy, and accessible poems, children see that, like us, the critters need pure water to live, feed, and breed.

The sturdy, museum-quality, and lavishly illustrated book is 12"x12" and can easily be shared by parents and children, as well as librarians and teachers eager to explore poetry and nature with their young students. 

With a longstanding love of the natural world, Held asks the children: "What could be odder than to float on your back like the Pacific sea otter?" Kim captures the essence of each critter, but in a collaged waterscape of her own making. Here, bivalves are wallpapered…and the rocks are tiled. Children and adults alike will discover new visual treats every time they look at her inventive illustrations.

Children's musician Jon Samson calls NEIGHBORS^® "multi-dimensional, unconventional, tongue twisting, and thought provoking…." And naturalist Carl Safina adds: "There ought'ta be water for otters and others, so I hereby call this meeting to water. Sink into these poems; they go swimmingly with kids."

GEORGE HELD, an eight-time Pushcart Prize nominee, has published twenty poetry collections. Other work appears in such publications as Notre Dame Review and The Writers Almanac (Garrison Keillor). Educated at Brown, University of Hawaii, and Rutgers, Held was a Fulbright lecturer, and a professor at Queens College, CUNY. He has served on the executive board of the South Fork Natural History Museum (www.sofo.com) since 1991.

JOUNG UN KIM, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, has illustrated many children's books, including The Grasshopper Hopped (Random House) and Hen Hears Gossip (Harper Collins). Her agent is Jane Feder.

Consultants: Matteo Bologna, Bryan Canniff.

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

NEIGHBORS^® The Water Critters / by George Held / illustrations by Joung Un Kim / publisher: Filsinger & Company, Ltd. / price: $25.00 hardcover / ISBN: 978-0-916754-31-0 / ages: 3-11+ / pages: 32 / publication: January 2015 / available: http://www.amazon.com, Baker & Taylor, Follett School Solutions, www.filsingerco.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150114/169180

SOURCE Filsinger & Company, Ltd.

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