SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Three City Kitties
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.ashleybarron.com/
CITY: Toronto
STATE:
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME: SATA 358
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Canada; partner’s name Kevin (a cinematographer).
EDUCATION:Ontario College of Art and Design University, graduated, 2007.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator, author, and educator. Teaches art classes; presenter at schools and libraries; Joanne Fitzgerald Illustrator in Residence, Toronto Public Library, 2017.
AVOCATIONS:Gardening, reading.
AWARDS:Best Books for Kids and Teens designation, Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC), 2013, for Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt; Canadian Children’s Literature Roundtable’s Information Book Award, 2014, for Sorting through Spring by Lizann Flatt; Willow Awards nomination, 2016, for Kyle Goes Alone by Jan Thornhill; Best Children’s Books of the Year list, Bank Street College of Education, and CCBC Best Books for Kids and Teens designation, both 2018, both for Birthdays around the World by Margriet Ruurs; Best Books for Kids & Teens winner, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2019, for My Forest Is Green; Northern Lights Book Award, 2020; First and Best Award, Toronto Public Library, 2019, 2020, and 2021; Schneider Family Book Award, American Library Association, 2022; additional honors from Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators and Communication Arts.
WRITINGS
Contributor of illustrations to periodicals, including Toronto Globe and Mail, Chirp, WILD, and Highlights.
SIDELIGHTS
An author and illustrator based in Canada, Ashley Barron is recognized for her vibrant, cut-paper collage artwork. A graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design University, she has earned praise for her contributions to a host of well-received picture books, including My Forest Is Green and Kyle Goes Alone. Discussing Up! How Families around the World Carry Their Little Ones by Susan Hughes, Booklist reviewer Becca Worthington described Barron’s mixed-media spreads as “exquisitely textured and boldly colored.”
Barron took an early interest in drawing and sketching, encouraged by her parents. “They enrolled me in after school art classes whenever possible and kept a healthy supply of blank paper and markers around the house … in the back seat of the car … even in our camper trailer, should I get the urge to doodle,” Barron recalled in an interview on the Canadian Children’s Book Centre website. After moving to Whitby, Ontario, as a teenager, Barron landed a babysitting job for her neighbors, freelance illustrators Chrissie and David Wysotski. “They were always happy to share what they were working on …, and it slowly dawned on me that I, too, might be fit for this sort of thing,” Barron stated.
Barron entered the world of children’s literature in 2012 with the publication of Counting on Fall, part of the “Math in Nature” series written by Lizann Flatt. The books, which also include Sizing up Winter, Sorting through Spring, and Shaping up Summer, introduce young readers to basic math and science concepts. “The layered, 3-D, cut-paper collage techniques employed by … Barron provide an opportunity for children to become familiar with sorting and classification, balance, and pattern rules in a visually attractive way,” observed Nicole Rowlinson in Resource Links.
In Darren Lebeuf’s picture book My Forest Is Green, a young artist uses the natural world to inspire his creations. “Colorful multimedia spreads convey the joy of discovery and model the different ways art can be used to express colors, textures, and feelings,” a writer noted in Kirkus Reviews. In a companion volume, My Ocean Is Blue, Lebeuf describes a girl’s trip to the seashore. Barron’s illustrations, featuring cut paper, acrylics, watercolors, and pencil crayons, “capture the beach experience with clarity,” noted Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan.
Barron’s first self-illustrated title, Love You Head to Toe, “is absolutely delightful,” according to Dorothea Wilson-Scorgie in the Canadian Review of Materials. Employing a lyrical text and dynamic collage art, the ale compares the movements of human babies to those of young animals, showing how infants splash like ducklings and stuff their cheeks like chipmunks. “Some stanzas have a nice rhythm and rhyme,” a writer stated in Kirkus Reviews, and a Publishers Weekly contributor remarked that the illustrations have a “shapely, multidimensional look that readers will want to reach out and touch.”
(open new)Barron released her second self-illustrated book, Three City Kitties, in 2024. In this volume, the three titular cats are Nori, Yeti, and Flo. They live in a two-story loft apartment in an unnamed city, and they enjoy looking out the window at what is going on on the street below them. They observe dogs walking by and neighbors who wave at them. Inside, they enjoy eating their food, bathing themselves, relaxing on the couch, and playing with boxes. They also play chase, running after one another as they circle the potted plants in their home. When a delivery person comes to the door, they hide. Though they never go outside, they have a joyful life together and feel connected to the outside world through their window observations. In an interview with a contributor to the Owl Kids Books website, Barron discussed the inspiration behind the book, stating: “My cats spend a lot of time gazing out our front windows. … So, I was thinking a lot about windows and how they only show one side of a story, and how fun it would be to view our neighbourhood from the cats’ perspectives.” A critic in Kirkus Reviews offered a favorable assessment of Three City Kitties, stating: “Pet lovers, especially feline fanciers, will smile at this slice-of-life depiction of indoor cats.” (close new)
Barron told SATA: “My favourite book so far is My Forest is Green because it really pushed my illustration skills to a new level. I had fun dabbling in all sorts of mediums to create the child’s forest-inspired artworks. My greatest hope is that someone somewhere will see themselves in one of my characters.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 1, 2017, Becca Worthington, review of Up! How Families around the World Carry Their Little Ones, p. 58; March 1, 2019, Amina Chaudhri, review of Love You Head to Toe, p. 60; May 15, 2019, Kathleen McBroom, review of My Forest Is Green, p. 52; December 15, 2019, Carolyn Phelan, review of My Ocean Is Blue, p. 102; October 15, 2020, Selenia Paz, review of Pretty Tricky: The Sneaky Ways Plants Survive, p. 42.
Canadian Review of Materials, June 14, 2019, Dorothea Wilson-Scorgie, review of Love You Head to Toe.
Children’s Bookwatch, October, 2017, review of Counting on Fall; December, 2018, review of Sizing up Winter; July, 2019, review of My Forest Is Green.
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2013, review of Sorting through Spring; July 1, 2015, review of Kyle Goes Alone; February 15, 2017, review of Up!; July 1, 2017, review of Birthdays around the World; January 15, 2019, review of Love You Head to Toe; February 15, 2019, review of My Forest Is Green; July 15, 2021, review of Chaiwala!; August 15, 2021, review of My City Speaks;March 1, 2023, review of I, Sea: A Tale Told in Homonyms; April 1, 2023, review of Granny Left Me a Rocket Ship; December 1, 2023, review of This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake;August 1, 2024, review of Three City Kitties.
Publishers Weekly, December 17, 2018, review of Love You Head to Toe, p. 140.
Quill and Quire, December, 2015, review of Kyle Goes Alone.
Resource Links, October, 2013, Nicole Rowlinson, review of Sorting through Spring, p. 21; February, 2014, Mavis Holder, review of Sizing up Winter, p. 3; October, 2014, Mavis Holder, review of Shaping up Summer, p. 15; December, 2015, Tanya Boudreau, review of Kyle Goes Alone, p. 7; February, 2018, Victoria Pennell, review of Birthdays around the World, p. 22; October, 2019, Elizabeth Brown, review of My Forest Is Green, p. 10.
ONLINE
Ashley Barron website, https://www.ashleybarron.com (March 5, 2024).
Canadian Children’s Book Centre website, http://bookcentre.ca/publications/newsletter/ (May, 2017), “Illustrator’s Studio: Ashley Barron” (interview).
Owl Kids Books website, https://owlkidsbooks.com/ (September 24, 2024), author interview.
Biography
Ashley Barron is a multimedia artist who is best known for her paper collage work. She is the illustrator of several children’s books, including Kids Can Press’s Birthdays Around the World and My Forest is Green.
Ashley grew up in the Oshawa/Whitby region of southern Ontario with her parents, younger sister and their many pet dogs and rabbits. Ashley’s love for books was ignited at an early age thanks to her mother, a preschool teacher, who kept an extensive collection of children’s literature in their spare bedroom. Although Ashley was very much an outdoorsy kid, she savored rainy indoor days, which allowed her the freedom to daydream, read and draw pictures to her heart’s content.
Ashley’s love for art and literature followed her into adulthood. She graduated from the illustration program at Ontario Collage of Art & Design in 2007 and has been working as a freelance illustrator ever since.
Ashley lives in Toronto with her cinematographer partner, Kevin. Together they share a bright, plant-filled studio with their three cats.
Instagram: @_ashleybarron
Awards
My City Speaks
2022 - Schneider Family Book Award, American Library Association, Winner
2021 - First and Best, Toronto Public Library, Joint Winner
2023 - IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities Award, IBBY Canada, Short-Listed
2022 - Toronto Book Award, City of Toronto, Long-Listed
My Ocean Is Blue
2021 - Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award, Ontario Arts Foundation, Commended
2020 - Concept (Colors) Category, Northern Lights Book Awards, Winner
2020 - First and Best List, Toronto Public Library, Winner
My Forest Is Green
2020 - Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children`s Book Award, Ontario Arts Council, Short-listed
2019 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, starred selection, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2019 - First & Best List, Toronto Public Library, Winner
2019 - OLA Best Bets, Ontario Library Association, Commended
Birthdays Around the World
2018 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2018 - Best Children’s Books of the Year, Bank Street College, Winner
Picture Books
Granny Left Me a Rocket Ship, 2023
My City Speaks – Braille Edition, 2021
My City Speaks, 2021
My Ocean Is Blue, 2020
My Forest Is Green, 2019
Non-fiction
Birthdays Around the World, 2017
Ashley Barron is a multimedia artist who is best known for her paper collage work. She is the illustrator of over a dozen picture books and has worked on a wide assortment of advertising and editorial projects over the years.
Ashley grew up in the Oshawa/Whitby region of southern Ontario with her parents, younger sister and their many pet dogs and rabbits. Ashley’s love for books was ignited at an early age thanks to her mother, a preschool teacher, who kept an extensive collection of children’s literature in their spare bedroom. Although Ashley was very much an outdoorsy kid, she savored rainy indoor days, which allowed her the freedom to daydream, read and draw pictures to her heart’s content.
Ashley’s love for art and literature followed her into adulthood. She graduated from the illustration program at Ontario Collage of Art & Design in 2007 and has been working as a freelance illustrator ever since.
Ashley lives in Toronto with her cinematographer partner, Kevin. Together they share a bright, plant-filled studio with their four cats Nori, Yeti, Flo & Maeve.
For all inquiries, please contact me at hello@ashleybarron.com
Highlights
2017 - Selected as Toronto Library's Illustrator in Residence: a program organized by IBBY Canada honouring children's book illustrator Joanne Fitzgerald
2019 - Toured Vancouver, BC as part of the CCBC’s TD Children’s Book Week
2022 - My City Speaks (written by Darren Lebeuf, Kids Can Press) was awarded the ALA Young Children’s Schneider Family Book Award.
2023 - Chaiwala! (written by Priti Birla Maheshwari, Owlkids) was chosen for the TD Grade One Book Giveaway , where grade one students across Canada got to take home their very own copy of the book.
Clients
Disney, Kashi, Owlkids Books, Kids Can Press, Orca, Groundwood books, Canadian Wildlife Federation, TEDX Toronto, Ontario Parks, Woodland Park Zoo, Children’s Wish Foundation, The Globe & Mail, Elle Canada, TD Bank, CAA, Cover Girl, The Royal Ontario Museum, Humane Society (HSUS), Leaves of Trees, Wesbanco, LOFC, St. Louis Magazine, Skirt!, Shameless Magazine, Kind News, Chirp Magazine, Spidar Magazine, WILD Magazine, Innovate, Cottage Life, Workforce, Best Health Magazine, This Old House Magazine, GE, Pepsi Canada, Highlights, Quill&Quire, Ontario Nature, Ontrario Charitable Gaming.
Awards
Schneider Family Book Award, Communication Arts, 3x3 Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, CAPIC, Society of Publication Designers.
QUOTED: "My cats spend a lot of time gazing out our front windows. ... So, I was thinking a lot about windows and how they only show one side of a story, and how fun it would be to view our neighbourhood from the cats’ perspectives."
Creator Corner: Author and Illustrator Ashley Barron
September 24, 2024
Welcome to Creator Corner, a blog series where we interview the creators of our recent books. For this post, we interviewed Three City Kitties author and illustrator Ashley Barron, whose book published September 15, 2024!
Owlkids Books: Ashley, how and why did you begin writing and illustrating children’s books?
Ashley Barron: I grew up reading and loving picture books. They took me on a journey without leaving the house. So, it’s no wonder I tried replicating the book form as a kid, with my own words and pictures. I’m glad I didn’t stop!
OKB: What themes or topics do you enjoy exploring in your illustrations?
AB: I like making connections between people and animals. That theme is pretty apparent in my previous book, Love You Head to Toe, where similarities are drawn between human babies’ actions with those of baby animals. Does Three City Kitties also play off this theme? You’ll have to read it to find out!
OKB: What was the inspiration for writing this book?
AB: My cats spend a lot of time gazing out our front windows onto the street. People in my neighborhood have gotten to know them because of how present and visible they are. So, I was thinking a lot about windows and how they only show one side of a story, and how fun it would be to view our neighbourhood from the cats’ perspectives.
OKB: What was the most enjoyable part of bringing this story to life? What was the most challenging part of the process?
AB: I really enjoyed drawing from my own neighborhood, my own home, and my own cat family. The most challenging part was paper-cutting three long-haired cats on EVERY PAGE, all while keeping their characters consistent.
OKB: What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
AB: I hope readers will see little bits of themselves in Nori, Yeti and Flo. I think children especially will relate to the rollercoaster of feelings the kitties experience throughout their day: curiosity, boredom, shock and surprise, fear, shyness, excitement, goofiness, hangry/crankiness, impatience, satisfaction, prankish playfulness, and bursts of energy that inevitably lead to quiet time and rest.
OKB: What’s a fun fact people may not know about you?
AB: I grew up around pet dogs and pet rabbits, but for whatever reason, I never got the chance to really know a cat until I was an adult. I used to believe a lot of those misconceptions you hear about cats — how they’re solitary, nocturnal, moody animals who can’t be trained. Well, all of those myths flew out the window upon the arrival of my first cat, Nori. He’s such a cool dude.
QUOTED: "Pet lovers, especially feline fanciers, will smile at this slice-of-life depiction of indoor cats."
Barron, Ashley THREE CITY KITTIES Owlkids Books (Children's None) $18.95 9, 17 ISBN: 9781771476034
Who says you have to step outdoors to feel the bustle of the city?
Three indoor cats named Nori, Yeti, and Flo fill their day with ordinary fun in a two-story loft apartment. Paper cut-out illustrations show the felines with their faces up against the glass, gazing at birds on the sidewalk. Barron also portrays outside scenes from the cats' indoor viewpoint: racially diverse passersby looking in to wave hello to the cats, dogs on the pavement "do[ing] what dogs do" (i.e., pooping). Nori, Yeti, and Flo play with recently delivered boxes, bury their faces in their food during mealtime, bathe themselves while sprawled on the couch, and chase one another around the plants in the apartment. Upbeat, rhythmic verse sets a lively tone. The layers of paper and mixed media work to color the inside and outside worlds with equal depth and detail. Use of different angles shows the apartment and the outside city through multiple vantage points, from the floor beneath the couch where the trio hide from a delivery person to the elevated view of the city skyline from the upper windows. Readers are left with the sense that though these kitties never set a paw outside, their lives are nevertheless rich and vibrant.
Pet lovers, especially feline fanciers, will smile at this slice-of-life depiction of indoor cats.(Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Barron, Ashley: THREE CITY KITTIES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A802865121/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e90106e1. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Ruddock, Nicholas THIS IS A TINY FRAGILE SNAKE Groundwood (Children's None) $19.99 2, 6 ISBN: 9781773067841
A seasonal cycle of poems examines the gentle confrontations that result when human-built environments share space with animal habitats.
Ruddock composes most poems as two or three quatrains with an ABCB rhyme scheme. While Barron's lively cut-paper collages depict racially diverse children as the presumed narrators of the animal interactions, the balladlike stanzas, peppered with old-fashioned phrasing, belie the authorial voice of a ruminating adult. After the titular snake is nearly stepped on, "we trapped her in a coffee cup, / a playing card to seal, / and moved her to the nearby woods, / no longer under heel." In "Bear," a child avers, "One morning I set out upon / a quarter-mile jog, / when suddenly a lumbering bear / clambered from the bog." The child "wisely" turns around and walks away; upon safely looking back, the child sees the creature "snuffling at blueberries"--she "cared not a bit for me." Several poems visit interactions that will be familiar to many: picnic ants, a skunk on the porch, a squirrel intent on a pet dog's kibble. Other entries focus on a fleeting twilight encounter between a moose and a family in a car and herons observed from a canoe. Barron supplies a bright abundance of supporting plants and animals for the poems' spring-to-winter arc. Ruddock sticks a nice landing with "Winter," citing each foregoing animal's current status--including, "curled in a nest of moss / our tiny fragile snake."
Quaint poems, charmingly illustrated. (Picture book/poetry. 3-7)
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"Ruddock, Nicholas: THIS IS A TINY FRAGILE SNAKE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A774415109/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=90a71fbd. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Smith, Heather GRANNY LEFT ME A ROCKET SHIP Kids Can (Children's None) $19.99 6, 6 ISBN: 9781525305528
A child copes with the death of their grandmother.
The young, unnamed narrator returns with their family to their late grandmother's home and explains that her passing left "a hole in our family" but that her memory lives on. Granny left the child's father a tuba, their mother a locket, their brother all of her records, and their sister a microscope. The child lists the many things Granny left them--a tent, a knight's sword, the titular rocket ship, and much more. Straddling the line between fantasy and reality, cut-paper collage, watercolor, and pencil crayon illustrations depict Granny and the little one camping out in the living room, riding toy ponies, scaling mountains made of ice cream, and encountering sea monsters. Granny's blue cane can be seen throughout--it's the broomstick they ride and the flagpole they plant on the mountain. The simple text and lush pictures form an ideal combination, making this a wonderful resource to start a conversation about grief and the importance of preserving our memories of deceased loved ones. Some readers may not immediately notice the blue cane's unifying presence; still, this vibrant tale's insistence on sitting with conflicting feelings of joy and sadness is welcome. The child and their siblings are various shades of tan, Granny and one parent are brown-skinned, and the other parent is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gentle, thoughtful, age-appropriate guide to loss. (Picture book. 2-7)
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"Smith, Heather: GRANNY LEFT ME A ROCKET SHIP." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A743460709/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0a071a26. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Sutherland, Suzanne I, SEA Owlkids Books (Children's None) $18.95 4, 18 ISBN: 9781771474993
A nautical (and ophthalmological) adventure, with only variations on a few homonyms for text.
In flat assemblages composed of brightly colored patterned paper elements, a seagoing tiger gazes through binoculars to spot an island ("Eye. See"), takes a sudden wave in the face ("Eye! Sea!") that leads to a visit to a doctor's office to read a wall chart ("I C "), and gets a rakish eye patch ("Eye. See?"), then heads back to the briny deep. A final page with a concluding "I see" for, perhaps, young audiences to intone depicts a cat checking out a brown-skinned child immersed in a sudsy, toy-filled bathtub. This "Land of Counterpane"-style flight lends itself to reading aloud in a broad, expressive way and could serve as a first introduction to a feature of language with equal potential for confusion and hilarious wordplay. But since Sutherland doesn't distinguish homonyms from homographs and homophones, it's best employed as a prelude to more precise explorations of the topic like Gene Barretta's The Bat Can Bat (2018) or Nancy Coffelt's Aunt Ant Leaves Through the Leaves (2012). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Clever but too limited to float unassisted. (Picture book. 4-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Sutherland, Suzanne: I, SEA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A738705449/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=27de233b. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Maheshwari, Priti Birla CHAIWALA! Owlkids Books (Children's None) $17.95 10, 15 ISBN: 978-1-77147-368-2
A child and their mother are on a train in India.
When the train pulls into Jaipur station, the stop is 10 minutes long: just long enough to get a delicious cup of chai. Parent and child rush to the chai counter and wait in line for their turn. After they order, the child watches the chaiwala make their tea. First, he uses a mortar and pestle to grind up cardamom, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and cinnamon. Next, he drops fresh tea leaves into the pot. He then adds milk and sugar and heats everything until it starts to “boil and bubble.” Finally, he pours the tea into glasses, transferring it back and forth from pitcher to glass until it cools. The mother and child also purchase some sweets to dip into the tea—“biscuits and rusks”—and sit on the platform to enjoy their snack before the train takes off again. The text describes a scene familiar to many Indian train passengers, using authentic details and multisensory descriptions. The liberal use of onomatopoeia makes the book particularly fun to read out loud. The cut-paper illustrations are charming and do a wonderful job capturing the essence of Indian railway stations. While there is a clearly Sikh character shown on the platform, there are no characters who are obviously Muslim. Based on the mother’s bindi, the main characters appear to be Hindu. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sweetly captures a slice of Indian life. (Picture book. 2-4)
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"Maheshwari, Priti Birla: CHAIWALA!" Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A668237850/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=85aedb11. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Lebeuf, Darren MY CITY SPEAKS Kids Can (Children's None) $17.99 9, 7 ISBN: 978-1-5253-0414-9
A blind child introduces readers to their city en route to a violin recital.
Accompanied by their dad, they step out, white cane in hand. In simple, declarative sentences dotted with vivid adjectives and verbs, they narrate the many ways their city “speaks.” “It rushes and stops / and waits and goes” as they navigate a pedestrian crossing. It “grows” as they stroke a sunflower and construction workers build nearby. It’s “busy” as they feed a flock of pigeons and “relaxed” as they lounge with their dad on a park bench. “Sometimes it’s smelly,” they note as they pass a dumpster, and “sometimes it’s sweet” as they sample ice cream flavors. It “speaks with whispers and giggles and sometimes meows” as they ride a subway crowded with racially and ethnically diverse passengers. As they cross one more busy street, it “also speaks with hasty honks, impatient beeps, distant chimes, reliable rumbles, speedy sirens and urgent clangs.” “My city speaks,” they repeat, joining fellow musicians on an outdoor stage, “and sometimes it just listens” as they serenade an appreciative crowd. In a warm finale, the narrator and their dad embrace, beaming. With cheerful, doll-like human figures, Barron’s bright illustrations highlight the quiet tenderness between father and child—a rarely represented duo in books featuring disabled characters. The narrator and their dad have brown skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A celebration of city life’s sounds, sensations, and faces. (Picture book. 4-7)
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"Lebeuf, Darren: MY CITY SPEAKS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A671783103/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3e9f8f88. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Pretty Tricky: The Sneaky Ways Plants Survive. By Etta Kaner. Illus. by Ashley Barron. 2020.48p. Owlkids, $18.95 (9781771473699). Gr. 1-3. 580.
Tricky is not a word that one would think applies to plants, but this nonfiction title shows, without a doubt, just how tricky plants can really be. Early readers will learn about the clever ways plants ensure their survival through each of the three main focuses of this book: how plants protect themselves from predators, how they ensure they are able to reproduce, and how they make food--or have others make it for them. Each two-page spread highlights a different kind of flora, providing detailed information on the various methods used to help it survive and thrive, as well as on where it can be found. Large, lovely, colorful illustrations provide close-up views of the plants and their surroundings, along with the insects that at times help pollinate the plants and at times may even be a food source. Back matter includes labeled diagrams depicting how seeds are made by flowering plants and how plants make food. An index, glossary, and selected sources round out the work. With interesting facts on every page and vibrant art full of lively scenery, one thing is certain: readers won't look at plants the same way again.--Selenia Paz
* Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020
Booklist will mark the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote by calling out books about all aspects of women's lives past and present. Watch for the Women in Focus treatment throughout the magazine.
YA Recommendations
* Adult titles recommended for teens are marked with the following symbols: YA, for books of general YA interest; YA/C, for books with particular curriculum value; YA/S, for books that will appeal most to teens with a special interest in a specific subject; and YA/M, for books best suited to mature teens.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Paz, Selenia. "Pretty Tricky: The Sneaky Ways Plants Survive." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 4, 15 Oct. 2020, p. 42. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639876224/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2cdd5e44. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.