Just Because by Mac Barnett

"Charming, playful, and extraordinary imaginings will galvanize young minds to find inspired answers to their own questions." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Why is the ocean blue? What is the rain? What happened to the dinosaurs? It might be time for bed, but one child is too full of questions about the world to go to sleep just yet. Little ones and their parents will be charmed and delighted as a patient father offers up increasingly creative responses to his child’s nighttime wonderings. Any child who has ever asked “Why?” — and any parent who has attempted an explanation — will recognize themselves in this sweet storybook for dreamers who are looking for answers beyond “Just because.”

Isabelle Arsenault is a graphic-design graduate who has applied her skills to illustration. She contributes to magazines and newspapers across the US and Canada, and has been the recipient of major illustration awards such as the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Awards for Illustration, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, and the National Magazine Awards of Canada. Arsenault lives in Montreal, and Le coeur de monsieur Gauguin, the original French version of Mr. Gauguin’s Heart, is her first book.

Mac Barnett is the author of many beloved picture books for children, including Just Because, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault; A Polar Bear in the Snow, illustrated by Shawn Harris; and John’s Turn, illustrated by Kate. He is also the author of several books illustrated by Jon Klassen, including Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, a Caldecott Honor Book and E. B. White Read-Aloud Award winner; the shape trilogy; and The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse, an E. B. White Read-Aloud Award winner. Mac Barnett lives in California.