Description
Book SynopsisFinalist, CCBC Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award
Finalist, Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature
Sydney and his friends gather outside to play, transforming one by one to climb, leap, lumber and soar into a shared jungle of their imagination.
Hanging upside down in a tree, Sydney imagines he is a sleepy, sun-bathing sloth. And that's where Sami finds him. Sami thinks sloths are too slow, so she scampers up the tree and becomes a spider monkey. “Fast is fun!” she chatters. “Fast is best!” And that’s where Edward finds them…
One after another, the neighborhood kids wander by and slip into a shared imaginative world where leaves and giant flowers unfurl, playing, laughing, teasing and bickering, until Edward the elephant fills up his trunk and—WHOOSH!—sends the children “galloping home like a herd of small wet animals.”
As always, Marie-Louise Gay’s writing and artwork are wonderfully pitched to young readers, capturing the effortless way that children travel back and forth between the worlds of real life and make believe. With its sun-dappled watercolors, depiction of time spent outdoors with friends, and quiet, wistful ending, I’m Not Sydney perfectly illustrates the slow-moving magic of a childhood summer.
Key Text Features
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
Trade ReviewAnother winning work to add to Gay’s body of work.
* CM: Canadian Review of Materials *
A well-paced, funny adventure.
* Horn Book *
Mary-Louise Gay entices readers with a narrative … inspiring a feeling that anything and everything is possible.
* Montreal Review of Books *
A creative tribute to the inventive inner world of children.
* Book Page *
Marie-Louise Gay … always, always, takes us to the heart of children's play of imagination.
* CanLit for LittleCanadians Blog *
Marie-Louise Gay understands children well. … her depictions of childhood are masterful in their simplicity and authenticity.
* Canadian Children’s Book News *
With pleasant illustrations, I’m Not Sydney is a fun, adventurous story for young listeners.
* Miramichi Reader *
