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list price: $21.95
edition:Hardcover
also available: eBook
category: Children's Fiction
published: Sep 2020
ISBN:9781773214344
publisher: Annick Press

Why Are You So Quiet?

by Jaclyn Desforges, illustrated by Risa Hugo

tagged: self-esteem & self-reliance, emotions & feelings, girls & women, imagination & play
Description

Into a world where it often seems nobody is listening comes a poignant story that celebrates the power of silence.

“Why are you so quiet?” Her teacher implores it, her classmates shout it, even her mom wonders it. Everyone, it seems, is concerned for Myra Louise. So, in search of an answer to the tiresome question nobody will stop asking, she invents a listening machine. If the raindrops, or the crickets, or the dryers at the laundromat can tell her why they’re so quiet, maybe Myra Louise can finally make everybody understand. But the more she listens, the less interested she becomes in finding any answer at all. Because Myra Louise comes to realize that all she really needs is someone else to listen alongside her.

With gorgeous illustrations from Risa Hugo, Jaclyn Desforges’s first picture book champions introversion and the value of being a listener, a thinker, and an observer in our increasingly loud world.

About the Authors

Jaclyn Desforges is a Pushcart-nominated writer whose work has appeared in The Puritan, The Fiddlehead, Contemporary Verse 2, Minola Review and others. She’s the winner of the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award, and also the winner of two Short Works Prizes: the 2019 Hamilton Public Library Freda Waldon Award for Fiction, and the 2019 Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd. Award for Poetry. She’s an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia and lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her partner and daughter.


Risa Hugo is a Canadian illustrator with a bachelor of fine arts and major in illustration from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. She spent most of her childhood living in Japan but currently lives in Vancouver with her husband and their son.

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
Age:
4 to 7
Grade:
p to 2
Reading age:
4 to 7
Awards
  • Joint winner, TD Summer Reading Club
  • Short-listed, Chocolate Lily Award, BC Young Readers’ Choice Award
Editorial Reviews

“A great story for children who both love to talk and love to listen.”

— Hidden Worlds Books, 08/25/20

“Teaches kids to slow down, to appreciate something more than technology.”

— My Book Abyss, 01/13/21

“Authentic and inspiring.”

— Sal’s Ficiton Addiction, 02/04/21

“Celebrates diversity by championing Myra Louise’s quiet, contemplative way of being . . . Should be read aloud in every Kindergarten classroom across the country, but it also deserves a place in libraries and homes.”

— CM Reviews, *starred review, 06/26/20

“A delightful read.”

— BuzzBees Book Reviews, 07/21/20

“This endearing must-read of a quiet heroine is sure to become a classic go-to tale in a frenetic world.”

— Canadian Children’s Book News, *starred review, Fall/2020

“This book could really open up a discussion about how children are all different and how it is important to embrace those differences.”

— Youth Services Book Review, 10/28/20

“The illustrations are charming and beautifully done. The book is a tender challenge for children (and adults also) to be silent observant listeners too. Take heed . . . the world has lots to teach us in its silence! I highly recommend this book. Well done!”

— Storywraps, 06/16/20

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