Artistic value

[Shelley]

"A Prairie Boy's Summer" is a wonderful depiction of life on the prairies during the Depression years, through a series of 20 paintings by William Kurelek (1927-1977), which have been exhibited under the same title. In these paintings his self-portrait appears as the boy in the white shirt, blue pants and red running shoes, and the narration which accompanies each picture also adds an autobiographical tone to the book. He was presented with the Librarians Illustrators Award for this volume, as well as numerous awards and a reputation as a pre-eminent children's book illustrator, for his work in this volume and "A Prairie Boy's Winter".