Laurel and the Times

Sometimes fairy tales do come true. Fantastic news - former student and formidable writer Laurel Croza, whose book I know here, based on a Ryerson True to Life writing class assignment, was published a few months ago, has received a glowing review in the New York Times! This is the first time her publisher Groundwood has received a major review in the Times, with an illustration. Big, big news for the press, for the book, and especially for Laurel and for Matt James, the illustrator. Amazing and wonderful. It ends:

A story about a child leaving home could have been treated as a weepy leave-taking shaded with sepia sentiment. Heroically, Croza balances her story on something far more hopeful and true: a child realizing that the act of making art is a way to preserve memories of home. And to remember, you have to do something: pay attention, draw a picture, and take it with you.

Read it all and cheer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/books/review/Barringer-t.html