Serving The Community For Nearly 35-Years

WELCOME ELISE PRIMAVERA

Auntie Claus, Santa Claus’s older sister and the brains behind the operation, is also Sophie Kringle’s favorite aunt.

Each year Auntie Claus mysteriously disappears just after Halloween and doesn’t return until Valentine’s Day - but not this year! This year Sophie wants nothing more than to be the Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker” ballet, and so Auntie Claus is home for the holidays. And Auntie Claus is bringing the North Pole, the workshop, Santa, and all the reindeer to 5th Avenue with her - it’s Sophie Kringle’s best Christmas ever!

ABOUT THE AUTOR

Elise Primavera has been writing and illustrating books for children for over twenty-five years. Her illustrations for Raising Dragons (Silver Whistle, 1998) by Jerdine Nolen. received a 1999 Christopher Award, the 1999 Irma S. and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature from the Bank Street College of Education, and an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award. Newsweek, Sesame Street Parent’s magazine, and Smithsonian Magazine selected the book as one of the best of 1998.

In 1999 she created her national best-selling book Auntie Claus which has since sold close to half a million copies. In 2004 she was asked to illustrate the Christmas Brochure for the White House. In 2006 Elise wrote and illustrated her first novel, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls. In 2007 her series of graphic novel/chapter books Fred & Anthony Escape from the Netherworld is being published by Hyperion Books for Children.

Elise Primavera lives in Red Bank, New Jersey.

MEET CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATOR

KRISTIN BALOUCH

Baby Polar loves cuddling up with Mama Polar--until the snow starts to fall. Then he wants to play! He loves catching the tasty flakes on his tongue and zigzagging across the ice. When the winds begin to gust and the snow becomes a blizzard, though, Baby Polar knows it's time to go back to his mother. But now the whole world is covered in white. Where could Mama Polar be?

Award-winning author Yannick Murphy's tender, lyrical story and acclaimed artist Kristen Balouch's vibrant collage illustrations perfectly capture the excitment and wonder of a young child's first independent adventure.