The first picture book that the award-winning Sydney Smith has both written and illustrated is a story about feeling small in the city — and finding your way home.
On a snowy day in a big city, a little boy hops off a streetcar and walks through downtown, between office buildings, through parks and down busy streets. Along the way, he provides helpful tips about which alleys make good shortcuts, which trees to climb and where to find a friendly face. All the while, the boy searches for what he has lost …
The first book that award-winning illustrator Sydney Smith has written tells a story of what it means to get lost in the city, travel the wrong path and get caught in bad weather — and to ultimately find your way back home. His beautiful watercolour illustrations alternate between full spreads and small panels, evoking the sometimes overwhelming cacophony of urban sights and sounds, as well as the quiet moments that make all of us feel less small in the city.
AWARDS:
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Commended, New York Times 25 Best Children's Books of 2019, 2019
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Winner, Ezra Jack Keats Award, 2020
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Winner, Governor General's Literary Award, Young People's Literature - Illustrated Books, 2019
- Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award
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Winner, Sheila Barry Best Canadian Picture Book of the Year, 2020
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Winner, Atlantic Book Award — Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration, 2020
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Winner, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, 2020
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Winner, CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, 2021
SYDNEY SMITH was born in rural Nova Scotia and has been drawing from an early age. Since graduating from NSCAD University, he has illustrated numerous children’s books, including the highly acclaimed wordless picture book Sidewalk Flowers, conceived by Jon Arno Lawson, which won a Governor General’s Award, among many other honours, and was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book. He is also the illustrator of Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, for which he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal, and which won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Prize. Small in the City is the first picture book that Sydney has written as well as illustrated. He lives and works in Toronto with his wife and son.
