The Book Beat is pleased to present Caldecott Medalist David Small & author Sarah Stewart together at the Oak Park Public Library on Wednesday November 7th from 6:30-8:00 pm. David and Sarah will present their newest book The Quiet Place – a picture book set in the 1950s about the transition of a Mexican family to America and told through the letters of young Isabel to her Auntie Lupita. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet two of the best children’s book makers in the country who are now at the top of their game.
Previous Small/Stewart collaborations include The Gardener (1997) and The Journey (2001) and now once again in the The Quiet Place, this creative dynamic couple have produced an absolutely stunning and heart warming storybook, centered on immigration, assimilation and a child’s natural need for a space of one’s own.
“I know that a lot of writers, when they finally see a finished book, are disappointed at the way an artist has interpreted their words. We’ll be married 32 years in September –a week after the book comes out! – and David knows me through and through. And he always translates my words into art in ways I find deeply profound” — Sarah Stewart, Publisher’s Weekly, Q & A with Sarah Stewart and David Small
“All of my stories have started the same way. It’s always about a friend that says something to me.” -Sarah Stewart, Friendship Inspires new chidren’s book
“Articulating our experience can provide important perspective as we confront new challenges. The anxiety that comes of being uprooted is tenderly explored in ‘The Quiet Place,’ an immigrant tale by Sarah Stewart and the illustrator David Small, award-winning collaborators.” —The New York Times Book Review
“As in Stewart and Small’s previous The Gardener (1997) and The Journey (2001), letters to a loved one become the vehicle for a girl to explore what she sees, feels and comes to understand upon leaving home for the first time…. A warm, gentle portrait of an immigrant’s isolation and the ways that creativity and a loving family can offer both a safe haven and a bridge (Ages 4-8 years).” —Kirkus, starred review
“Stewart and Small offer a stirring, backyard-size metaphor for the determination and drive for self-betterment that characterize the immigrant experience.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
David Small earned the 1997 Caldecott Honor and The Christopher Medal for The Gardener, with Sarah Stewart, his wife, recipient of the 2007 Michigan Author Award. In 2001 he won the Caldecott Medal for So You Want to Be President?, combining political cartooning with children’s book illustration. David’s amazing graphic novel Stitches was one of the best illustrated books published in 2009, and was nominated for the National Book Award. His drawings have appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Times. David Small and Sarah Stewart make their home in an historic manor house in Mendon, Michigan.