Town Is by the Sea - 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. Her other books include City Alphabet and City Numbers, with photos by Matt Beam, and two Inuit folktales with Cape Dorset elder Qaunaq Mikkigak The Legend of the Fog, illustrated by Danny Christopher, and Grandmother Ptarmigan, illustrated by Qin Leng. Her most recent book is Pinny in Summer, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant. Joanne has been a children’s librarian for more than twenty-five years. She lives in Toronto.

Sydney Smith was born in rural Nova Scotia and has been drawing from an early age. Since graduating from NSCAD University, he has illustrated multiple children’s books, including the highly acclaimed wordless picture book Sidewalk Flowers, conceived by Jon Arno Lawson, which won a Governor General’s Award and was shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. He is also the illustrator of Grant and Tillie Go Walking by Monica Kulling and The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart. Sydney has received the Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Illustrator’s Award. He now lives in Toronto and works in a shared studio space in Chinatown.

About Town Is by the Sea

New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award
New York Times Notable Children’s Books 2017
Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book
School Library Journal Best Books 2017
Kirkus Best Picture Books 2017

Horn Book Fanfare 2017
CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal short-list
ALSC Notable Children's Books
Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year
Cooperative Children's Book Center Best of the Year

"This quietly devastating book ... stirs timeless, elemental emotions." ― The New York Times

"Hauntingly beautiful." ― Booklist, starred review

"A quiet book that will stay with readers long after they have closed it." ― Kirkus, starred review

"Art and text meld for a powerful glimpse at a way of life that begs inspection." ― School Library Journal, starred review

"This is a moving story, and a fine example of text and pictures in perfect harmony." ― Horn Book, starred review

"Smith’s expressive, evocative spreads contrast the light-soaked landscape above with the night-black mine below ... a sensitive way of helping readers understand that, for some, the idea of choosing a career is a luxury." ― Publishers Weekly

"This is one of the most beautiful picture books you’ll see this year. It’s picture book-making at its very best." ― BookPage

"Exquisitely rendered, it's a subtle day in the life title ... This is, in short, a magnificent book." ― Elizabeth Bird, A Fuse 8 Production

"A powerful and profound work of art that tweaks our perspective and transcends its subject." ― Shelf Awareness

About Pinny in Summer

"Whether used as a read-aloud or a bridge between early readers and chapter books, a serene treat." — Kirkus Reviews

About Sidewalk Flowers

"An emotionally moving, visually delightful ode to the simple powers of observation and empathy. . . . A book to savor slowly and then revisit again and again." — School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

About The White Cat and the Monk

"The watercolor-and-ink artwork has both heft and humor, especially in the joyful depictions of the manuscripts...Readers who consider the story’s underlying messages about necessities, companionship, and fulfillment will come away enriched." — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW