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城市裡的小訪客
隻身在大城市裡，會感覺自己很渺小，沒有人注意到你，喧嘩聲大到令你害怕，甚至感到不知所措的時候，這孩子有同樣的經歷和感受，也知道城裡的大街小巷，他想要幫助一位特別的朋友，並給予一些建議，希望這個朋友不會覺得孤單。
小巷，是很棒的捷徑，但有些巷子太暗了。城裡有不少藏身的好地方，比如說桑樹叢裡，或是核桃樹上。如果城市裡變化太快，永遠歡迎你回家，安全又寧靜的家。
小巷，是很棒的捷徑，但有些巷子太暗了。城裡有不少藏身的好地方，比如說桑樹叢裡，或是核桃樹上。如果城市裡變化太快，永遠歡迎你回家，安全又寧靜的家。
40 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2019
10 people are currently reading
1260 people want to read
About the author
Sydney Smith
77 books88 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Sydney Smith is a Canadian illustrator of children's books. He was awarded the 2015 Governor General’s Award For Illustrated Children’s Books for Sidewalk Flowers, a wordless picture book which he illustrated with author JonArno Lawson.
Smith studied drawing and printmaking at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was while studying there that he realized his interest for illustrating children's books.
Sydney Smith is a Canadian illustrator of children's books. He was awarded the 2015 Governor General’s Award For Illustrated Children’s Books for Sidewalk Flowers, a wordless picture book which he illustrated with author JonArno Lawson.
Smith studied drawing and printmaking at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was while studying there that he realized his interest for illustrating children's books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 444 reviews
November 24, 2020
This is practically a wordless book. I love the artwork; it's gritty and rough and towering and it brings up feelings of being Small in New York. It's a great bit of art. There is beauty in the harsh lines.
A girl is narrating the story for us telling us it's okay to feel small in the city, but we will make it. She gives tips on how best to survive the big city and how she does it. The girl is on the bus by herself and walking around the town by herself. Man, as a parent, I would think you have to have so much faith that your kid is going to be okay in such a big place. That would be tough knowing all that can happen.
Winter plays a big part in the story and the tone is sort of numb and quiet. There is the noise of the city in the background, but there is a stillness and quiet that the girl exudes.
I'm going to throw up a spoiler here.
Spoiler:
I have to talk about the ending. We see the girl putting up cat posters. I assumed she was narrating to us, but in the end we find out that she is narrating to her lost cat, hoping she will find her way home and all the safe places she showed the cat was to help her out in the world. It's a beautiful and touching ending. It's an amazing book and I didn't even know I was reading a mystery. This was such a wonderful surprise. Man, it's good.
A girl is narrating the story for us telling us it's okay to feel small in the city, but we will make it. She gives tips on how best to survive the big city and how she does it. The girl is on the bus by herself and walking around the town by herself. Man, as a parent, I would think you have to have so much faith that your kid is going to be okay in such a big place. That would be tough knowing all that can happen.
Winter plays a big part in the story and the tone is sort of numb and quiet. There is the noise of the city in the background, but there is a stillness and quiet that the girl exudes.
I'm going to throw up a spoiler here.
Spoiler:
I have to talk about the ending. We see the girl putting up cat posters. I assumed she was narrating to us, but in the end we find out that she is narrating to her lost cat, hoping she will find her way home and all the safe places she showed the cat was to help her out in the world. It's a beautiful and touching ending. It's an amazing book and I didn't even know I was reading a mystery. This was such a wonderful surprise. Man, it's good.
October 3, 2019
I had only thus far read Sidewalk Flowers, illustrated by Sydney Smith, which I loved for the artwork, so I was eager to see the first picture book he has both written and illustrated. The art is stunning, the story at least initially about what it is like being small in a big city. Then we see it is a letter to another small someone. Then we realize the child is searching the large, now somewhat desolate city for this someone, and eventually we realize that someone is the child's cat, and then it is suddenly and surprisingly a moving story that you have to read over right away to fully appreciate.
Many wordless pages, which is something that I love, with sketchy, somewhat dark and sad, lonely artwork, perfect for the story. Not typical for picture books, thank goodness. I can't tell you how much I love and admire this illustration work.
Here is Smith's Instagram account to see if you are interested in him as artist. I am:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RisIhH_fX/
Many wordless pages, which is something that I love, with sketchy, somewhat dark and sad, lonely artwork, perfect for the story. Not typical for picture books, thank goodness. I can't tell you how much I love and admire this illustration work.
Here is Smith's Instagram account to see if you are interested in him as artist. I am:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RisIhH_fX/
October 23, 2019
It doesn’t come up all that often that I have to review a picture book without giving away too much. Picture books are short by nature, and while they often contain twist endings, there are relatively few that draw out their endings in slow, patient reveals. But then, I don’t suppose that there are many picture books out there quite like Sydney Smith’s Small in the City. Recently I had the pleasure of presenting alongside Mr. Smith at an event for booksellers. To best describe this work, Mr. Smith decided that he would read the book in its entirety at each bookseller table. And so, seven times over, at seven different tables, in his calm, Canadian voice, Mr. Smith read to the grown-ups. And seven times over, at seven different tables, I found myself tearing up. Maybe it was the fact that there was an element to this book that I identified with closely. Maybe it was Mr. Smith’s voice, filled with infinite patience. Or maybe it was the fact that I recognized over and over, again and again, the sheer artistry necessary for Mr. Smith to pull off this book. Small in the City is just that. It is not flashy or gaudy or loud. It is quiet and serious and oh-so very beautiful. Beautiful right down to its little paper soul. Once in a while, a reviewer gets to talk about a modern day classic. Today, I am that reviewer, and this is that book.
“I know what it’s like to be small in the city.” A child rides a city bus, gets off, and begins a long walk. As they do so, they comment to someone, unseen. “People don’t see you and loud sounds can scare you, and knowing what to do is hard sometimes.” The city is a bustling, lively place, but the child walks on, past sketchy alleys, mean dogs, parks, snowflakes, and vents. “But home is safe and quiet.” The child returns and we see what drew them out. What it is that they are looking for and haven’t found. But at home there is a mom and warm arms and this: “But I know you. You will be all right.”
Okay. I don’t usually do this, but I think we need to start off here by talking seriously about this book’s cover. I say this because it’s one of those book jackets that will fail to draw sufficient attention to itself on a first glance. The colors? There are some spots of red here and there, but for the most part it’s pretty subdued. Anyone who has ever lived in a major metropolis will instantly recognize the presence of what I would like to call public transit gray. It was only when I looked just a little deeper that I began to realize what Smith was up to. Holy moly. Consider this: In this picture you have the glass of the bus, where you can see our main character sitting inside. You can see past the child into the bus, where there are silhouettes of the adults standing in the aisle. You can see out the other side of the bus, through the opposite window, to a sign and some telephone poles. Cool, right? I’m not done. You can also see reflections on the glass that is between you and the child, reflecting the city buildings and cars that would be behind you. And finally, and this is the kicker, (parse this sentence if you can) you can see that the reflections of the cars show that the cars themselves are reflecting red lights off of their own back windows. Essentially, this is Velázquez’s Las Meninas for the picture book set. And that’s only the cover of the book!
Inside, Smith sets his book against what I take to be a single hour of the day, in the winter, in Toronto. If a book is to be set in a city, then it should be true to its location. I lived in Manhattan for eleven years and over time I became a bit of an accuracy harpy whenever I saw a picture book set in NYC. Basically, if the subway system doesn’t connect in a logical way, I’m outta here. Sydney Smith is a denizen of Toronto, so it made sense for him to set his story against the backdrop of those cold, snowy Canadian streets. I have never been to Toronto, but there is not a drop of doubt in my veins that what you see on these pages is anything but the clearest, sheerest accuracy.
The day starts off sunny. You can see shadows where people walk. Then, as the child proceeds to walk, a light snowfall begins. You’d be forgiven for not noticing it, even as it obscures the setting sun, leaving cars to navigate in a blur of white and gray. Smith’s book is, in this way, a perfect accompaniment to Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day. Both books examine what it means to live in a busy metropolitan city in the wintertime and the snow. Both too somehow manage to show how beautiful ugly cities truly are. As in his previous book Sidewalk Flowers, the interplay between nature and concrete was integral to the storytelling. Here, there is a two-page wordless spread that consists entirely of three panels. The top panel is of trees and streetlamps and gathering snow. The second is of the tree alone, snow piling up on its branches. But the third is the one that kids from snowy lands will recognize on sight. It’s that moment when you stand beneath the sky and look up at the snow as it plummets towards you and all you can see, really, is the dark of the sky, and the fast falling flakes, too numerous to mention, surrounding you. Like you’re the only person in the world.
It was to my very great surprise that I discovered that this was the first book that Mr. Smith has both written and illustrated. Surprising for me because I was quite convinced that the book Town Is By the Sea was his and his alone. An apology to author Joanne Schwartz is in order, but I think I can be forgiven my confusion. In many ways this book couples with that one naturally. In both cases, Smith has indulged in his love of sequential art with a cinematic bent. In Town Is By the Sea he used wordless panels to show the passing of time late in the narrative. Here, four wordless panels depict four different foggy scenes seen out of a city bus window. On a first reading they seem pretty but superfluous. On a second, third, and fourth reading their intent is clearer. Someone is looking for something. And like Town Is By the Sea, the emotional gut-punch of the book is visual. In this case, it’s a two-page wordless sequence where the child reaches into a bag and takes something out. I read this book and I imagine teachers and librarians getting to that part. I imagine them asking kids what it is, and what it might mean. There is a method of reading called the Whole Book Approach, where adult readers involve child listeners, not simply as passive vessels into which to pour books, but active participants in the reading. This book was pretty much made for that that method of presentation.
Tonally, this book also matches Town Is By the Sea beat for beat as well. Considering the subject matter (which I refuse to give away) the main character should be riddled with anxiety. Instead, they’re separated from that emotion by the act of giving someone advice. That’s a great way to put some distance between yourself and a sad situation. The advice itself varies. Sometimes it is as far reaching as, “Alleys can be good shortcuts”, and sometimes it’s as specific as, “You could perch on a window ledge.” What never changes is that the child speaking isn’t insistent in any way. They say, “If you want, you could just come back.” They’re gentle. There are natural pauses between the sentences and in the page turns. I think it took me ten or twelve reads before I realized that the sentences in the book are the thoughts in the main character’s head as they walk along. And amazingly enough, the way Smith has written them, you realize that the wordless sequences would work less well if the sentences didn’t contain these natural pauses of their own. For a book of this sort to work, it must marry the text to the art without a bubble. There has to be a symbiosis where language and visual images lean on one another. And if you get it, the way this book gets it, you win.
There was one tiny image in the art that I found myself looking at again and again while I watched Sydney Smith read his book. I don’t know that you would necessarily notice it yourself. It’s not meant to draw your attention. On the page where you see an alleyway and the child says, “… don’t go down this alley. It’s too dark,” there is a tree. And on that tree, at the very tip of a branch, a single plastic bag blows in the breeze. The wind has caught it, but it’s stuck fast. Later, when the child climbs a black walnut tree, a second plastic bag hangs by a twig. It’s such a common sight in a city, but I can’t think of a single time I ever saw these trapped bags in a picture book. We’ve come to the end of the review now. I’m still not really going to give away what the book is truly about. I don’t think that I need to, though. Because if you’ve read this far then you know that it’s about tiny details like a bag in a tree, and the way that ink, watercolor, and gouache can convince you that you’re in an afternoon snowstorm in a busy city. You know it’s about pauses. Pauses in art. Pauses in text. What pauses like that mean. It is ultimately living out its title, this small, quiet, insistent, beautiful book. It is the best at what a picture book can and should do.
On shelves now.
“I know what it’s like to be small in the city.” A child rides a city bus, gets off, and begins a long walk. As they do so, they comment to someone, unseen. “People don’t see you and loud sounds can scare you, and knowing what to do is hard sometimes.” The city is a bustling, lively place, but the child walks on, past sketchy alleys, mean dogs, parks, snowflakes, and vents. “But home is safe and quiet.” The child returns and we see what drew them out. What it is that they are looking for and haven’t found. But at home there is a mom and warm arms and this: “But I know you. You will be all right.”
Okay. I don’t usually do this, but I think we need to start off here by talking seriously about this book’s cover. I say this because it’s one of those book jackets that will fail to draw sufficient attention to itself on a first glance. The colors? There are some spots of red here and there, but for the most part it’s pretty subdued. Anyone who has ever lived in a major metropolis will instantly recognize the presence of what I would like to call public transit gray. It was only when I looked just a little deeper that I began to realize what Smith was up to. Holy moly. Consider this: In this picture you have the glass of the bus, where you can see our main character sitting inside. You can see past the child into the bus, where there are silhouettes of the adults standing in the aisle. You can see out the other side of the bus, through the opposite window, to a sign and some telephone poles. Cool, right? I’m not done. You can also see reflections on the glass that is between you and the child, reflecting the city buildings and cars that would be behind you. And finally, and this is the kicker, (parse this sentence if you can) you can see that the reflections of the cars show that the cars themselves are reflecting red lights off of their own back windows. Essentially, this is Velázquez’s Las Meninas for the picture book set. And that’s only the cover of the book!
Inside, Smith sets his book against what I take to be a single hour of the day, in the winter, in Toronto. If a book is to be set in a city, then it should be true to its location. I lived in Manhattan for eleven years and over time I became a bit of an accuracy harpy whenever I saw a picture book set in NYC. Basically, if the subway system doesn’t connect in a logical way, I’m outta here. Sydney Smith is a denizen of Toronto, so it made sense for him to set his story against the backdrop of those cold, snowy Canadian streets. I have never been to Toronto, but there is not a drop of doubt in my veins that what you see on these pages is anything but the clearest, sheerest accuracy.
The day starts off sunny. You can see shadows where people walk. Then, as the child proceeds to walk, a light snowfall begins. You’d be forgiven for not noticing it, even as it obscures the setting sun, leaving cars to navigate in a blur of white and gray. Smith’s book is, in this way, a perfect accompaniment to Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day. Both books examine what it means to live in a busy metropolitan city in the wintertime and the snow. Both too somehow manage to show how beautiful ugly cities truly are. As in his previous book Sidewalk Flowers, the interplay between nature and concrete was integral to the storytelling. Here, there is a two-page wordless spread that consists entirely of three panels. The top panel is of trees and streetlamps and gathering snow. The second is of the tree alone, snow piling up on its branches. But the third is the one that kids from snowy lands will recognize on sight. It’s that moment when you stand beneath the sky and look up at the snow as it plummets towards you and all you can see, really, is the dark of the sky, and the fast falling flakes, too numerous to mention, surrounding you. Like you’re the only person in the world.
It was to my very great surprise that I discovered that this was the first book that Mr. Smith has both written and illustrated. Surprising for me because I was quite convinced that the book Town Is By the Sea was his and his alone. An apology to author Joanne Schwartz is in order, but I think I can be forgiven my confusion. In many ways this book couples with that one naturally. In both cases, Smith has indulged in his love of sequential art with a cinematic bent. In Town Is By the Sea he used wordless panels to show the passing of time late in the narrative. Here, four wordless panels depict four different foggy scenes seen out of a city bus window. On a first reading they seem pretty but superfluous. On a second, third, and fourth reading their intent is clearer. Someone is looking for something. And like Town Is By the Sea, the emotional gut-punch of the book is visual. In this case, it’s a two-page wordless sequence where the child reaches into a bag and takes something out. I read this book and I imagine teachers and librarians getting to that part. I imagine them asking kids what it is, and what it might mean. There is a method of reading called the Whole Book Approach, where adult readers involve child listeners, not simply as passive vessels into which to pour books, but active participants in the reading. This book was pretty much made for that that method of presentation.
Tonally, this book also matches Town Is By the Sea beat for beat as well. Considering the subject matter (which I refuse to give away) the main character should be riddled with anxiety. Instead, they’re separated from that emotion by the act of giving someone advice. That’s a great way to put some distance between yourself and a sad situation. The advice itself varies. Sometimes it is as far reaching as, “Alleys can be good shortcuts”, and sometimes it’s as specific as, “You could perch on a window ledge.” What never changes is that the child speaking isn’t insistent in any way. They say, “If you want, you could just come back.” They’re gentle. There are natural pauses between the sentences and in the page turns. I think it took me ten or twelve reads before I realized that the sentences in the book are the thoughts in the main character’s head as they walk along. And amazingly enough, the way Smith has written them, you realize that the wordless sequences would work less well if the sentences didn’t contain these natural pauses of their own. For a book of this sort to work, it must marry the text to the art without a bubble. There has to be a symbiosis where language and visual images lean on one another. And if you get it, the way this book gets it, you win.
There was one tiny image in the art that I found myself looking at again and again while I watched Sydney Smith read his book. I don’t know that you would necessarily notice it yourself. It’s not meant to draw your attention. On the page where you see an alleyway and the child says, “… don’t go down this alley. It’s too dark,” there is a tree. And on that tree, at the very tip of a branch, a single plastic bag blows in the breeze. The wind has caught it, but it’s stuck fast. Later, when the child climbs a black walnut tree, a second plastic bag hangs by a twig. It’s such a common sight in a city, but I can’t think of a single time I ever saw these trapped bags in a picture book. We’ve come to the end of the review now. I’m still not really going to give away what the book is truly about. I don’t think that I need to, though. Because if you’ve read this far then you know that it’s about tiny details like a bag in a tree, and the way that ink, watercolor, and gouache can convince you that you’re in an afternoon snowstorm in a busy city. You know it’s about pauses. Pauses in art. Pauses in text. What pauses like that mean. It is ultimately living out its title, this small, quiet, insistent, beautiful book. It is the best at what a picture book can and should do.
On shelves now.
February 8, 2020
4.5 stars. This is a lovely and unique story and one best read knowing nothing about. The story shows a little girl walking through the city, many pages are without text but the ones that have words describe the feeling of being a small being in a large and sometimes unfriendly city.
The illustrations are exceptional and are so successful in getting across the feeling of being a small being in the City. I loved the scenes of snow, trees, and buildings, so many wonderful scenes. There are sad elements to the story but this ends with hope. I think it makes it a better story not trying to wrap this up too neatly. A moving story about feeling small in a big place, the loss of a loved one and hope for the future.
The illustrations are exceptional and are so successful in getting across the feeling of being a small being in the City. I loved the scenes of snow, trees, and buildings, so many wonderful scenes. There are sad elements to the story but this ends with hope. I think it makes it a better story not trying to wrap this up too neatly. A moving story about feeling small in a big place, the loss of a loved one and hope for the future.
November 8, 2019
Absolutely beautiful. As soon as I saw the city scenes. I immediately thought we were in a Canadian city, and only found out after I finished the book that the author is a Canadian.
I loved the illustrations, and the quiet tone of the book. I could hear the sound of snowflakes hitting the snow as I read this book.
I loved the illustrations, and the quiet tone of the book. I could hear the sound of snowflakes hitting the snow as I read this book.
October 15, 2019
This one was not for me. I found it kind of depressing as a young boy wanders around a big city searching for his missing cat. The ambiguous ending, which leaves readers wondering about the cat's return, might not be the kind of thing you want children to read.
June 28, 2019
Very few words. Lots of artwork around a big city environment.
A bit sad.
A bit sad.
December 23, 2019
A young girl journeys through a vast, snowy, sometimes scary city while her mother waits at home. But what seems at first to be the gentle confidence of a loving mother assuring her child that she can make it home through the city and the snow slowly reveals itself to be something else entirely.
This is a very sad but ultimately incredibly uplifting book with beautiful, simple illustrations that hold a wealth of emotion and just a little mystery.
I loved this.
This is a very sad but ultimately incredibly uplifting book with beautiful, simple illustrations that hold a wealth of emotion and just a little mystery.
I loved this.
October 6, 2019
Love the moment when you realize the speaker in the book isn't talking to the reader. Gorgeous illustrations.
October 11, 2019
UPDATE: Whilst cataloging this book, I noticed that the CIP summary spoils the book's surprise. Those dummies.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I don't know what I was expecting, but I was pretty disappointed for the first three-quarters.
Then I reached the surprise toward the end that sent me back to the beginning...
...and re-reading Knowing What You Now Know makes every page that much more powerful. And those curious lines that don't make much sense on first read become heartbreaking and deeply meaningful.
Grab a tissue. Smith has done it again.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I don't know what I was expecting, but I was pretty disappointed for the first three-quarters.
Then I reached the surprise toward the end that sent me back to the beginning...
...and re-reading Knowing What You Now Know makes every page that much more powerful. And those curious lines that don't make much sense on first read become heartbreaking and deeply meaningful.
Grab a tissue. Smith has done it again.
September 2, 2021
A young child makes her way through a busy city in this lovely picture-book from Canadian author/illustrator Sydney Smith, offering a running narrative on what it is like to be small in such a large place. Describing what is to be seen, and how it makes a small being feel, offering advice on places to avoid and places to seek out, the narrative eventually concludes as the child puts up lost cat posters in the park, before making her way home, where her worried mother greets her. A sign of hope, vis-a-vis the missing cat, makes up the final scene of the book...
Originally published in 2019, Small in the City is the first picture-book that Smith both wrote and illustrated, after illustrating such notable titles as JonArno Lawson's Sidewalk Flowers and Joanne Schwartz's Town Is by the Sea , which won the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal. Smith won this year's (2021) Greenaway Medal as well, for this authorial debut, and it is not difficult to see why. The artwork here, created in ink, watercolor and a bit of gouache, really captures the emotional register of the story: feeling small and alone in a large place, feeling lost and at odds with the world while battling through a snowstorm, feeling sad and lonely and worried while missing a beloved companion. Given the melancholy feeling created by text and image, I'm glad that Smith provided that hopeful moment at the end, depicting . I was also impressed by the storytelling pivot, as I read the beginning of the book as a child's narrative about her own experience, only to realize toward the end that the child was speaking to her lost cat, assuaging her own fear by attempting to guide the cat through all the potential dangers of being small in the city.
All in all, I found this a lovely book, and would recommend it to picture-book readers who appreciate beautiful illustrations, or somewhat melancholy tales.
Originally published in 2019, Small in the City is the first picture-book that Smith both wrote and illustrated, after illustrating such notable titles as JonArno Lawson's Sidewalk Flowers and Joanne Schwartz's Town Is by the Sea , which won the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal. Smith won this year's (2021) Greenaway Medal as well, for this authorial debut, and it is not difficult to see why. The artwork here, created in ink, watercolor and a bit of gouache, really captures the emotional register of the story: feeling small and alone in a large place, feeling lost and at odds with the world while battling through a snowstorm, feeling sad and lonely and worried while missing a beloved companion. Given the melancholy feeling created by text and image, I'm glad that Smith provided that hopeful moment at the end, depicting . I was also impressed by the storytelling pivot, as I read the beginning of the book as a child's narrative about her own experience, only to realize toward the end that the child was speaking to her lost cat, assuaging her own fear by attempting to guide the cat through all the potential dangers of being small in the city.
All in all, I found this a lovely book, and would recommend it to picture-book readers who appreciate beautiful illustrations, or somewhat melancholy tales.
September 18, 2019
Beautiful, touching story of a child giving advice on coping with being "small in the city." A bit of a surprise ending. Children will enjoy guessing who the advice is for and which clues informed their decision. After you're done, read FOUND by Jeff Newman and Larry Day.
May 27, 2021
ই-বুক পড়েছি। ছবিগুলো ছুয়ে দিতে ইচ্ছে হচ্ছিল। অতৃপ্তি থেকে গেল 🥺
January 13, 2020
Stunningly illustrated story about a small child getting around a big city.
March 23, 2020
“People don’t see you and loud sounds can scare you, and knowing what to do is hard sometimes.”
This subtle, quiet tale says so much in words and images. Sydney Smith’s illustrations have so much to say! From the first look out the bus window to the different sights along the way, this city talks to you. The snow storm as well. I can feel both the city and the escalating storm on the page. The movement, grittiness, cold, and sadness seep in as you turn, turn, turn the pages. All your senses come into play—the smell of the steam, sound of the horns, and feel of the concrete and glass all around. I love it!
Readers may be surprised too. I was surprised to find out who the young boy was speaking to and thinking about as he moved through the snowy landscape. Very clever and sweet!
Check Small in the City out. It’s an artistic gem!
February 9, 2022
What an unexpected treasure. I thought the story was about a small boy in the wintry city, but the pages revealed something else small and lost was wandering the streets. This poignant and beautifully illustrated children’s book touched my heart.
December 1, 2021
Amazing book. Great illustrations. Beautifully emotional story.
February 28, 2021
A picture book with a small surprise that packs so much punch and love and meaning.
October 16, 2021
be galo graži knyga
October 17, 2019
Oh, my. This one packs an emotional wallop. It reminded me of “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” by the Weakerthans, which is devastating. It's a hard world for little things, but the ending shows hope.
November 11, 2023
Oh, wat vond ik dit ontroerend mooi. Een donker maar daarom juist intiem en sfeervol prentenboek vertelt over het verschil tussen klein zijn en je groot voelen. Met zoveel zorg en oog voor detail gemaakt. Opzoeken, openslaan en diep zuchten.
“Maar ik ken jou.
Jij redt je wel.” 💛
“Maar ik ken jou.
Jij redt je wel.” 💛
Read
September 16, 2019I wasn't ready. Oof. But what a masterful oof.
October 20, 2019
Hopeful if heartbreaking.
December 23, 2019
I read this in a bookstore while I was shopping for my 3-year-old nephew and I teared up. Aside from my obvious emotional problems, this is a beautiful, heartfelt book and I loved it.
November 2, 2021
I loved the artwork but the story and tips are weird.
November 11, 2019
Richie’s Picks: SMALL IN THE CITY by Sydney Smith, Holiday House/Neal Porter Books, September 2019, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-8234-4261-4
“Way over yonder is a place that I know
Where I can find shelter from a hunger and cold”
— Carole King (1971)
“I know what it’s like to be small in the city.
People don’t see you and loud sounds can scare you,
and knowing what to do is hard sometimes.
Taxis honk their horns.
Sirens come and go in every direction.
Construction sites pound and drill and yell and dig.
The streets are always busy.
It can make your brain feel like there’s too much stuff in it.”
SMALL IN THE CITY is a powerful, memorable picture book story about a child traversing the city in the thick of winter. As we come to realize, the child is narrating advice to his or her missing cat.
Through most of the story, the child is on his or her own. I assume that the character is on the way home after school. My guess is that they are eight or nine years. The gender of the child is unclear.
We first see the child on a city bus. Departing the bus, the child walks through streets, hanging “Lost Cat” posters, and sharing recommendations as to where the missing cat should and shouldn’t go: There are dogs and dark alleys to avoid; a dryer vent under which a nap might be taken; a shop run by fishmongers who “would probably give you a fish if you asked.”
As this is taking place, a winter storm arrives and steadily intensifies. At the conclusion of the child’s journey, a mother waits outside and greets the child with an affectionate hug. By this time, there is a healthy accumulation of snow.
Then, on the final page, in the same location we just saw the mother and child reuniting, we see fresh cat prints in the fresh snow, and we know that everything is going to be alright.
The beautiful and affecting cinematic-like illustrations were produced with ink, watercolor, and gouache. The author/illustrator is Canadian, precluding the book’s eligibility for the Caldecott Medal. But SMALL IN THE CITY is quite exceptional, and I anticipate seeing it included on any number of Best of the Year lists.
I’d share the book with Pre-Ks through third-graders.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“Way over yonder is a place that I know
Where I can find shelter from a hunger and cold”
— Carole King (1971)
“I know what it’s like to be small in the city.
People don’t see you and loud sounds can scare you,
and knowing what to do is hard sometimes.
Taxis honk their horns.
Sirens come and go in every direction.
Construction sites pound and drill and yell and dig.
The streets are always busy.
It can make your brain feel like there’s too much stuff in it.”
SMALL IN THE CITY is a powerful, memorable picture book story about a child traversing the city in the thick of winter. As we come to realize, the child is narrating advice to his or her missing cat.
Through most of the story, the child is on his or her own. I assume that the character is on the way home after school. My guess is that they are eight or nine years. The gender of the child is unclear.
We first see the child on a city bus. Departing the bus, the child walks through streets, hanging “Lost Cat” posters, and sharing recommendations as to where the missing cat should and shouldn’t go: There are dogs and dark alleys to avoid; a dryer vent under which a nap might be taken; a shop run by fishmongers who “would probably give you a fish if you asked.”
As this is taking place, a winter storm arrives and steadily intensifies. At the conclusion of the child’s journey, a mother waits outside and greets the child with an affectionate hug. By this time, there is a healthy accumulation of snow.
Then, on the final page, in the same location we just saw the mother and child reuniting, we see fresh cat prints in the fresh snow, and we know that everything is going to be alright.
The beautiful and affecting cinematic-like illustrations were produced with ink, watercolor, and gouache. The author/illustrator is Canadian, precluding the book’s eligibility for the Caldecott Medal. But SMALL IN THE CITY is quite exceptional, and I anticipate seeing it included on any number of Best of the Year lists.
I’d share the book with Pre-Ks through third-graders.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
October 28, 2019
When you are small and along in the city, it can be very frightening. A child who knows how to navigate the streets offers some advice even though they can find the city a bit overwhelming too. Alleys make great shortcuts. Dryer vents can offer warmth. Avoid the big dogs that fight. The child hangs posters as they make their way through the city and the falling snow, identifying a place to sit together and options for hiding up high. It’s perfect advice for a lot cat who also could just come back home.
Set in an urban setting with street cars and a maze of lights, streets and sounds, this picture book skillfully captures the confusion of the city. As the child moves through the space with confidence, readers will learn more about both the kid and their city along the way. Readers at first may think that the child is homeless or running away. It takes a little while for their lost pet to be revealed to the reader.
Smith’s illustrations create a fascinating mix of the bustle of urban life but also the quiet of snowfall, the beauty of an empty park, and the small areas of a city just right for a little cat to survive. The images bring a contemplative tone to the book, giving space and opportunity to breathe and feel deeply.
A stellar picture book that reveals the heart of the city and the heart of a child. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Set in an urban setting with street cars and a maze of lights, streets and sounds, this picture book skillfully captures the confusion of the city. As the child moves through the space with confidence, readers will learn more about both the kid and their city along the way. Readers at first may think that the child is homeless or running away. It takes a little while for their lost pet to be revealed to the reader.
Smith’s illustrations create a fascinating mix of the bustle of urban life but also the quiet of snowfall, the beauty of an empty park, and the small areas of a city just right for a little cat to survive. The images bring a contemplative tone to the book, giving space and opportunity to breathe and feel deeply.
A stellar picture book that reveals the heart of the city and the heart of a child. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
September 9, 2019
It's no easy task to be little in a world of large. When you stand in an open sunny meadow, wildflowers dancing in the breeze, wander along a path strewn with needles among tall evergreens or gaze at a starry expanse at night, you feel the full power of your size compared to the surrounding vista but in some respects these scenes give us a sense of calm. These spaces are not by our hands. Walking among towering skyscrapers along crowded sidewalks with traffic buzzing by at breakneck speeds is an entirely different feeling. Your size is further diminished somehow.
It's as if you are among giants, animate and inanimate, wandering with obstructed views except for familiar areas at your level, your line of sight. Small In The City (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House Books, September 3, 2019) written and illustrated by Sydney Smith follows a small child on a mission. Through his voice we are given a very personal perspective.
My full recommendation: https://librariansquest.blogspot.com/...
It's as if you are among giants, animate and inanimate, wandering with obstructed views except for familiar areas at your level, your line of sight. Small In The City (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House Books, September 3, 2019) written and illustrated by Sydney Smith follows a small child on a mission. Through his voice we are given a very personal perspective.
My full recommendation: https://librariansquest.blogspot.com/...
September 9, 2019
Absolutely LOVED this book by Sydney Smith. It is a stunning read and the pictures (very reminiscent of Paul Kenton pictures) are fabulous and add to the story so well. The use of colour makes the story even more atmospheric. What a stunning book to read to chn of all ages.
February 28, 2023
A beautiful story of a child seeking out a lost cat, with lots and lots of illustrations and just a bit of text, with a deep feeling of peace and hopefulness.
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