This quietly devastating book from Schwartz…and Smith…stirs timeless, elemental emotions.

03/27/2017
In an author’s note, Schwartz (Pinny in Summer) explains that until the 1950s, boys who grew up in Canadian coal towns knew that their futures lay at the bottom of their local mine. Her young narrator takes readers through a typical day, describing a quiet, unchanging life. Smith’s (The White Cat and the Monk) expressive, evocative spreads contrast the light-soaked landscape above with the night-black mine below, and the boy’s varied activities with his father’s fixed routine. In the morning, the boy stands in his underwear and gazes out the window toward the sea. A page turn reveals inky darkness: “And I know my father is already deep down under that sea, digging for coal.” The boy plays and does errands as his father toils far below. “One day,” the boy concludes, “it will be my turn.... In my town, that’s the way it goes.” In Schwartz’s lyrical, wistful account, there’s no sense of injustice or complaint—only a note of resignation. It’s a sensitive way of helping readers understand that, for some, the idea of choosing a career is a luxury. Ages 5–9. Illustrator’s agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Apr.)

This quietly devastating book … stirs timeless, elemental emotions.

This is a moving story, and a fine example of text and pictures in perfect harmony.

this story ebbs and flows like the sea itself . . . one of the best illustrated books of the year . . .

Sydney Smith's gorgeous, airy illustrations showcase the beauty of childhood in the seaside town. … [Schwartz] perfectly captures the matter-of-fact thinking of a small child.

Hauntingly beautiful.

Sydney Smith's gorgeous, airy illustrations showcase the beauty of childhood in the seaside town. … [Schwartz] perfectly captures the matter-of-fact thinking of a small child.

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

★ 02/01/2017
K-Gr 3—This first-person narrative portrays a day in the life of a loving family in a seaside mining town. As the tale begins, Schwartz lays the foundation for a comparison of the boy's daily routines, illuminated by sunshine, with the father's world underground. The rhythm is established and continued at logical junctures with the protagonist's introductory words: "It goes like this…" He then describes what he notices when he awakens, swings with his friend, eats a bologna sandwich, and visits the grave of his grandfather—also a miner. As the boy gazes at the sparkling water or basks in the light pouring through the diaphanous bedroom curtain, he is cognizant that "deep down under that sea, my father is digging for coal." These phrases are also repeated periodically as the blackness that occupies most of the related spreads presses down on—and eventually eclipses—a small border depicting the father and coworker crawling through the mines. The voice is matter-of-fact, without judgment, and self-aware. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions. As in Smith's illustrations for Jo Ellen Bogart's The White Cat and the Monk, the ink and watercolor scenes are characterized by companionable relationships and strong brushwork; effectively evoking the story's subject and qualities, the blackness forms shadows, window frames, silhouettes, outlines around objects (heavier around the father's teacup than the mother's), and, at the family dinner, a tangled mass under the table. VERDICT Art and text meld for a powerful glimpse at a way of life that begs inspection. A thoughtful and haunting book that will stay with readers.—Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

★ 2017-01-17
The coal mines of Cape Breton in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia have closed, but this book recalls a time when generations of men toiled in the mines under the sea.As the book starts, a white couple stands by the door. The woman holds her husband's lunch pail as he gets ready to leave home. Upstairs, their son wakes up, and it is from him that readers will get to know his town and life by the sea, the repeated phrase "it goes like this—" lending the narrative a timeless quality. Both the text and the illustrations have a simple, understated quality that go hand in hand and lend a melancholic feel to the whole. A muted palette and images heavily outlined in black reinforce the feeling. As the boy goes about his life above—playing with his brown-skinned friend; coming home to a simple lunch; going to the store with a list for the grocer; or visiting his grandfather's grave overlooking the sea—several predominantly black two-page spreads, vigorously textured strokes of black and gray adding weight, are woven into the narrative, reminding readers that deep down, the miners are digging for coal. A particularly poignant spread depicts the front door of the house in a wordless series, the angle of the sunlight showing time going by; in the last image the door is opening, and the narrator's father is home at last. A quiet book that will stay with readers long after they have closed it. (Picture book. 5-8)