Sara O'Leary's Blog, page 12

Book Trailers: Big Imaginations and Little Humans

We are making a book trailer for This Is Sadie and are looking for video clips of small girls and boys with big imaginations doing whatever it is that they like to do. What my boy likes to do is make films and so he will be putting this together as a special gift to me.

Head over to This Is Sadie for details and to see a great video by my pal Stephany Aulenback's darling daughter Sylvie.

Video clips can be sent to thisissadiebook@yahoo.com.

And here's a trailer we enjoyed for Little Humans by Brandon Stanton.

Ridiculously Wonderful Books to Read With Kids

This Is Sadie  is set for release next spring, but has already made a Buzzfeed list of 25 Ridiculously Wonderful Books to Read With Kids in 2015. What a ridiculously nice thing to happen.
Check out the whole list--there's lots to be excited about there. I'm looking forward to Debbie Ridpath Ohi's Where Are My Books (Simon & Schuster) about a book-loving boy.                                                                      
I very much like what reviewer Mallory McInnis has to say as well: "This is a story for those with a deep love of stories." I can't think of anything nicer.
If you're looking for an independent bookseller carrying the books, it's always good to check Indiebound.  And if you really wanted to be kind, you could mention the book to your local librarian. We love libraries!

Be The Hero

The promotional poster for my forthcoming book with Julie Morstad, This Is Sadie, makes me want to cry in the best possible way.  


In our story, Sadie is a little girl who likes to imagine herself right inside a story--in Julie Morstad's beautiful illustration, she actually dives right into a book. And what I hope for is that all children--boys and girls--feel free to imagine themselves as whoever they want to be in that fictional world, because that is, after all, a stepping stone to imagining yourself as whoever you want to be in the real world.

This image of the little girl on the horse makes me think of Elizabeth I and her Prince of England speech, which I love. Here's Cate Blanchett on her white steed.



All of this got me thinking about the whole idea of princes and princesses. Over at A Chair, A Fireplace, And a Tea Cozy, Liz Burns takes on what she calls "Princess Shaming" and avows the right of every child to play princess, read about princesses, and all that.  She's writing partly in reaction to this article on Slate, The Princess Trap which basically takes the position that girls who play at being princesses will never grow up to be scientists.

Really what we want, I suppose, is a world where girls can play at being princes or princess and boys are free to do the same.

Liz Burns quotes novelist Meg Cabot as saying: "the princess thing is amazing. It’s about standing up for what you believe in, protecting the people you love, and never letting the bad guys win. It’s about rescuing yourself, and yet risking your heart when you meet someone who seems worth giving it to."
And on those terms, I do agree. Be the hero of your adventure is all I really want to say.

Recently Noted

I've been remiss in rounding up the notices lately, but I do enjoy seeing these books still finding appreciative readers.

One of the loveliest responses to the books so far? Miniature pavlovas perfect for a Dot-sized repast at the new blog A Dainty Feast. 

A nice notice from the beautiful Smallish Magazine.

Beautiful write up on When I Was Small at the wonderful LEITMOTIF.

The little boy’s mother begins to tell him the most beautiful fictions of her youth – exaggerations of the word “small” that allow her to imaginatively enter another world. The book is not about a literal relationship between our own childhoods and our children – it is about communicating on their level. Imagining, dreaming, playing, and thinking like they do.

I really love the way this little girl’s identity unfolds within these pages. Throughout the book, her gestures and presence exude warmth, an ease with nature and solitude, and a strong sense of self. In a world of children’s literature that rarely shows girls in this light, this story reveals the inner life of a unique and magical creature – the precious & precocious child at heart.

When You Were Small featured on the very lovely Illustrated Forest.

We’ve all been there, a small child asks us the simplest of questions: what was I like when I was small?  And searching through the infinity of answers, or having exhausted them all, we hit upon something so wondrous that the child is immediately mesmerised in disbelief.  Children love to hear stories about themselves and the more fantastical the better.  When You Were Small is a collection of some of the finest.

 Each left hand page features Sara O’Leary’s simple, imaginative and super sweet text, whilst the right has an accompanying illustration by the wonderful Julie Morstad.  O’Leary and Morstad compliment each other beautifully, neither one vying for attention, and this is perhaps why they work together so often: because they work so well together.  The text, which could have felt flippant and dismissive in the wrong hands, feels caring and warm: it is affectionate and perfectly encapsulates the loving relationship between adult and child.

A lovely write up by Helen Spitzer over at Bunch.

Most children, after all, are trying to wrap their heads around how big or how small they are exactly. As parents we really confuse the issue – “Oh, what a big girl you are!” we tell our two-year-old who has mastered some skill but, “Aww, you’re my sweet little baby!” as we nuzzle a four-year-old on the verge of losing his baby-plump cheeks.O’Leary and Morstad’s much-cherished first book When You Were Small taps into the absurdity and wonder of never knowing that you’re growing or just how big or how small you are exactly. It also captures the wistful magic, the “pre-nostalgia” as O’Leary puts it, of being a parent.

Very nice to see When I Was Small featured on a list of Nurturing Adults in Kids Books over at Book People.

When You Were Small is a book of the week at Library Mice.

Delightfully retro in its design, When You Were Small marries Sara O’Leary’s eccentric and comical tale of a modern-day Tom Thumb with Julie Morstad’s exquisitely delicate and muted artwork. Text and artwork work  in perfect harmony to create an unusual, sweet little book full of wit and brimming with love and comfort. There is a certain serenity oozing out of this book, and though little readers will be delighted by the wackiness and absurdity of some of the scenes, When You Were Small will spur tranquil bedtime reading.

Nerdy Book Club says they use When You Were Small as a writing prompt.

Julie Morstad's work featured at 49th Shelf with special notice given to the Henry books. Big thanks to Kerry Clare who also included us in her Books for Literacy Day list.

You can buy the books at BuyOlympia. They do have the loveliest listings.

This Is Sadie

My new picture book This Is Sadie, co-created with the ridiculously talented Julie Morstad, and produced under the tender care of the brilliant editor Tara Walker at Tundra Books will be out in the world next spring. 
Today I saw it listed for the first time online and am so very happy to be able to share the cover!  
More here.

Picture Book Friends

One of the nicest things about making picture books is the lovely people you meet along the way.  I was invited to participate in the latest blogging chain mail enterprise by Kyo Maclear (her post here) and because it was Kyo Maclear and because I admire her and pretty much everything she does, I said yes. I agreed to answer these questions:

What am I working on? Why do I write what I do? How does your writing process work?

I'll answer the last first, just to get it over with


Q: How does your writing process work? 
A: Not very well.


Really I agreed to do this blog tour as an opportunity to talk about Kyo Maclear's latest book because it is a thing of beauty and (prediction) will be a joy forever.



Julia, Child is a story about childhood and friendship and mastering the art of slowing down and enjoying life. It is only in the very loosest sense about Julia Child and in its most profoundest sense about nourishment. 



Here is a little look at the interior art.  Note all the adults rushing around and the children watching on bemused.  The text here reads: "Life was filled with far too many grown-ups who did not know how to have a marvelous time. The girls had no wish to become big, busy people--wary and worried, hectic and hurried."


Julie Morstad's illos here are a wonderful mix of spare line drawings and vibrant colour and there is great pleasure to be found in all the delightful details. It's a perfect little gem of a book and an excellent reminder to slow down and smell the petits gâteaux. 
Okay, that's enough not about me for a bit.

Q: What are you working on?
A: Many things all at once.

     I am doing a picture book called This is Sadie with the glorious talent that is Julie Morstad. It will be published next spring with Tundra Books and I just wish I could show you the cover right now because it is perfectly swoony.
     I am also working on a series of baby books with the fine folks at Owl Books.  
     I am also at various stages with various other things which I probably shouldn't talk about. One of them is a middle grade novel about a red-headed boy that I am writing with my very own red-headed genius of a boy.  

I still intend to answer one more question but first let me tell you about who I will be handing the blog tour baton over to and let's get to the giveaway portion of this blogpost. 

Stephany Aulenback has just published her very first picture book and while I am quite sure it won't be her last it seems cause for celebration. In lieu of champagne, I've received permission from her publisher Simply Read Books to offer a copy of the book to one lucky reader. (Sorry but Canadian addresses only on this one.)  


Stephany Aulenback's  book is called If I Wrote a Book About You and it is illustrated by Denise Holmes.  It's a wonderful paean to parenting and creativity. Here's a sneaky peek for you.




To win a copy just leave a comment below telling me what you might write a book about or what your favourite book is or how much you'd like to win a book. Basically, just leave a comment. Or you can tweet something about why you love picture books to @saraoleary using the hashtag #stephka and I will enter your name.  

Last question now....

Q: Why do you write what you do?
A: Because I stumbled into writing for children and consider myself very, very lucky to write books for the very most important readers there are.

That's it. By way of a disclaimer I should mention that I am inordinately fond of both Steph Aulenback and Kyo Maclear although I have never actually met either of them in real life.  

Finally, some other blog tourists I have spotted on my travels.
Susan Juby
Sophie Blackall
Carin Berger
Vikki VanSickle

UPDATE:  We have a winner! Congratulations Carrie Gelsen. A book will be winging its way to you from Simply Read Books.

Dreaming Small

Lots of beautiful Julie Morstad prints for sale on her site, but I have to say I'm pretty sure I know which is my favourite....                                                              from WHEN I WAS SMALL

International Typewriter Appreciation Month

This is my son's cherished typewriter. A Hermes Baby. Built in Switzerland, boasting a distinctive shade of mint green and and a QWERTZ keyboard.



Ron Charles writes about his appreciation of typewriters in the Washington Post.

A Pro-Empathy Reading List

I am re-posting this in honour of Pink Shirt Day. I don't have any problems with the sentiment behind wearing a pink shirt to say that you are anti-bullying but I think that it's good to look at it as an opening gambit in the conversation about way of building empathy.

from Skim
I'm interested in suggestions for an Empathy Reading List--books that we can give to teens to help them see the world from a perspective other than their own.  Really, any good fiction can do this but here are some books that deal specifically with issues around high school bullying, cyberbullying or just plain old being different (always a tough one in high school).  I will add to the list as suggestions come in through comments here or over on twitter @saraoleary.
The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin NielsenAnother Kind of Cowboy by Susan JubyGetting the Girl by Susan JubyWonder by R.J. PalacioSkim by Mariko Tamaki and Gillian TamakiThe Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe StoneWords That Start with B by Vikki VansickleWhat I Was by Meg RosoffMatilda by Roald DahlHarriet the Spy by Louise FitzhughMaggot Moon by Sally GardnerEncore Edie by Annabel LyonOdd Man Out by Sarah EllisSeraphina by Rachel HartmanTales of the Madman Underground by John BarnesMetawars Heff NortonWintergirls Laurie Halse AndersonHoles by Louis SacharWitch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George SpeareAmerica by ER FrankSpeak Laurie Halse AndersonMonocerous by Suzette Mayr
I haven't read all of these but I have read and reviewed several. Here is my review of What I Was. I'll try to post some of the other reviews as I find them.Studies have shown a direct link between reading fiction and empathy in young people. There have been a number of recent articles on the subject including this one by Keith Oately in Psychology Today.  This link between fiction and empathy seems to be a good place to start in thinking about problems of bulling and cyberbullying.I wrote here about the Pink Shirt campaign the other day, trying to work through for myself why the idea of being Anti-Bullying didn't seem terribly useful to me.   And I'm still not at all sure about demonizing bullies as a way of instilling greater compassion in our young people.But I have been reading up on Pink Shirt Day and to be honest I'm kind of impressed. It originates with the actions of some Nova Scotian high school students and occurs annually on February 27. Rick Mercer has this to say on Jer's Vision: Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative:It's this failure of compassion or empathy that seems almost endemic in our society that truly frightens me.  And it's got me thinking about ways to inculcate these values in our children.  There's a fascinating program designed to address these problems called Roots of Empathy.  You can read the first chapter of the book about it here.  It says: 

When students in Nova Scotia saw a younger student being harassed because he was wearing pink, they decided to do something. They took it upon themselves to buy every pink shirt in town and they did it on their own dime.  The next day they handed these shirts out at school. Suddenly the bullies who were making this young man’s life miserable were surrounded by students in pink. They learned in no uncertain terms that the vast majority of kids were not going to accept their behavior. Message sent. To me, the kindness, courage, compassion and creativity exhibited by this gesture is what being Canadian is all about.

I agree that it's a good message and that those young Nova Scotians deserve kudos for what they did.  It's good to remember when the news is full of the stories of what some other young men from that area did and the consequences their actions had.  Rehtaeh Parsons was driven to suicide by the sexual assault that she suffered and the distribution of images related to that assault.  Those were criminal actions--not anything as innocuous-sounding as bullying--but part of her suffering was to do with the the ongoing circulation of those images and the cruel comments made about her by her peers through social media.  And that kind of cyberbullying is all too common right now.

The program is based on the idea that if we are able to take the perspective of the Other we will notice and appreciate our commonalities and we will be less likely to allow differences to cause us to marginalize, hate or hurt each other.

And that seems to me to be a good place to start.  Reading fiction helps children to develop emotional literacy and that means they will be better equipped to see the suffering of others and be moved to do something about it.
I've written about empathy here before and I'd like to once again direct readers to this article by Nikhil Goyal about empathy on the Globe and Mail site. The article gives some alarming statistics:

Today, there is a dearth of empathy in young people. After analyzing data among almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years, a University of Michigan study two years ago concluded that college students are 40 per cent less empathetic than their counterparts in 1979. Indeed, the most significant drop has been in the past decade. What’s more, cases of bullying and suicides are climbing at an alarming pace. That means empathy education is needed more than ever before.

Happily, empathy education is being addressed in at least some of our schools.  I learned today about The Empathy Factory which is a fantastic initiative out of Nova Scotia.   According to their site:  "The Empathy Factory was founded on the belief that by instilling empathy in our youth, injustices will be stopped, communities transformed and hope inspired."  
So there are reasons to be hopeful.  And I will be doing my best to think pink.

Let's Make Some Great Art

I spotted this book on my young pal Ezra's desk the other day and wanted to share. 

I've just looked up Marion Deuchars and she has several books available from Laurence King. They all look like great fun and I'd highly recommend for either children who like to draw or those who may not be as naturally inclined. Let's Make Some Great Art reminded a little of a book my boys had when they were small by Quentin Blake called Drawing: For the Artistically Undiscovered (Klutz Books). We all loved it and it's a nice souvenir from earlier days.
You can see inside Let's Make Some Great Art here, do online activities here and see more of illustrator Marion Deuchars work here. I think I may need a copy of my own. And maybe one for my boys.