My Books

Here is a list of my picture books and some reviews. To order a book from your local independent bookstore through Booksense.com, click a link below.

The Saturday Escape
Clarion Books, 2002
ISBN: 0618133267
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2003 Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year

Saturday is Jack's favorite day—story hour day!

But Jack and his friends can't go to the library until they finish their chores. Jack is supposed to clean up his messy room. Angie has to practice piano. And Melden's parents want him to paint the shutters on the house. Jack, Angie, and Melden might have to miss story hour altogether—unless they can manage to get out of doing their work and sneak away...

In this fresh, playful picture book, the power of a good story brings a mischievous Saturday to a satisfying conclusion.

"Mahoney...is sure of hand and eye in his deft arrangement of simple, comic scenes painted in warm watercolor. The characters, their moral dilemma and ultimate good-heartedness, are quite endearing. Told in spare prose and threaded through with humorous detail, this unabashed tribute to libraries and reading will be a sure choice for reading aloud at story hours and at home."

—The Horn Book Magazine

The Perfect Clubhouse
Clarion Books, 2004
ISBN: 0618346724
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2005 Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year

Julius, Floyd, Heston, and Stanley need a place to hang out together this summer. Heston comes up with a great idea: they can build a clubhouse. "Perfect!" say his friends.

Collecting the materials is easy. And they have fun doing the construction, even though it's hard work. But finding the right location turns out to be more complicated than they thought. And when they have to decide exactly what the clubhouse should be, the four friends discover that their perfect clubhouse isn't at all what they had planned.

Daniel J. Mahoney's entertaining story celebrates friendship, teamwork, compromise, and honoring each other's differences in the pursuit of perfection.

"The colorful, comfortable watercolor artwork is childlike in its simplicity and use of perspective....Mahoney's slice-of-life view of friendship and cooperation will strike a chord with children struggling to navigate with their playmates."

—School Library Journal

A Really Good Snowman
Clarion Books, 2005
ISBN: 0618475540
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2006 Kansas State Reading Circle Recommendation
The Society of Illustrators 2005 Original Art Show

Jack has a good excuse to get away from Nancy, his little sister. He's going to meet his friends Angie and Melden in the park, and together they're going to build a snowman. Who knows—they might even win the Snowman Contest.

Nancy has other ideas. She loves to help Jack—though her "help" can be disastrous—and she loves to build snowmen. So despite Jack's best efforts to leave her at home, she tags along.

On a happy winter afternoon, the friends who made their debut in The Saturday Escape discover that a good idea and lots of snow are important, but it's teamwork that makes a really good snowman.

"Mahoney again extols the benefit of cooperation, bringing back the animal cast from The Saturday Escape....nicely reflecting the tale's intimacy and light tone, the author creates a snowy, spacious landscape in which the snowman of diverse, often humorous design....a well-crafted, low-key tale, more warming than a cup of steaming cider."

—Kirkus Reviews

Coco the Love Dog
by Sue Grundfest
Illustrated by Daniel J. Mahoney

2006
Order at www.cocothelovedog.com

Ocean Wonders

By Dorothea DePrisco Wang
Illustrated by Daniel J. Mahoney
Tide Mill Press, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-84666-277-5
EAN: 9 781846 662775
More information...

Each page in this board book slides out to reveal a brightly illustrated sea creature with sparkling foil accents. A fun and interactive way for young children to learn about the creatures of the open sea and how they live.