City Alphabet - Hardcover

JOANNE SCHWARTZ was born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Her first picture book, Our Corner Grocery Store, illustrated by Laura Beingessner, was nominated for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. She is also the author of Pinny in Summer, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant, and Town Is by the Sea, illustrated by Sydney Smith, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. Joanne has been a children’s librarian for more than twenty-five years. She lives in Toronto.

MATT BEAM is a writer, photographer and teacher. His young adult novels include Can You Spell Revolution?, Earth to Nathan Blue and Last December. He created two photographic picture books, City Alphabet and City Numbers, with words by Joanne Schwartz. He lives in Toronto.

...artfully constructed...fascinating...It will certainly have readers seeing their own cities with new eyes. (Kirkus Reviews 2009-06-01)

...[The photographs in City Alphabet are] meditations on the idea that, in the city, words are everywhere, the opening salvos in ongoing conversations...Stark, metallic and urban, these images may encourage children to think about alternate ways of seeing their surroundings (Publishers Weekly 2009-07-20)

...sophisticated...[City Alphabet is] an intriguing, eclectic selection that may encourage young people to notice the printed words that appear in unexpected urban places... (Booklist 2009-08-01)

...sophisticated...Beam's photographs will be appreciated for their found art quality, and Schwartz's words for their originality... (Globe and Mail 2009-09-12)

Most inspiring [about this book] is the potential for youngsters to use this urban alphabet as motivation to go out and find words where they live, discuss their purpose, and hear their own city speaking to them. (School Library Journal 2009-08-01)

Here future urban enthusiasts can discover how words exist in the spaces around them, what words can do in 26 different fonts...The book is, first and foremost, a pictorial work about Toronto that will appeal to anyone who loves this city in lots of little ways. (Jacqueline Whyte Appleby Spacing Magazine 2010-04-01)