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Small in the City

by Sydney Smith

Other authors: Jennifer Browne (Designer), Neal Porter (Editor), Sydney Smith (Illustrator)

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16617163,252 (4.09)3
A little boy offers advice to his cat, which is lost in the city, from taking shortcuts through safe alleys to finding a friend in the park.
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Showing 1-5 of 16 (next | show all)
Mixed feelings on this one. I really didn't think it was about a boy and his missing cat who he is giving advice to until I read the LOC record. ( )
  msgabbythelibrarian | Jun 11, 2023 |
Note: I received an F&G of this book from the publisher at ALA Annual 2019. ( )
  fernandie | Sep 15, 2022 |
This book is about a child, they gave advice to their special friend, a cat. The cat was lost so the child was telling it where and where not to go. The child knew that the cat would be fine but still wanted the cat to come back home.
  makenna.cannon | Feb 1, 2022 |
A quiet story that follows a young person navigating the city and giving advice to their lost cat.
  SamT24 | Jan 19, 2022 |
A young child makes her way through a busy city in this lovely picture-book from Canadian author/illustrator Sydney Smith, offering a running narrative on what it is like to be small in such a large place. Describing what is to be seen, and how it makes a small being feel, offering advice on places to avoid and places to seek out, the narrative eventually concludes as the child puts up lost cat posters in the park, before making her way home, where her worried mother greets her. A sign of hope, vis-a-vis the missing cat, makes up the final scene of the book...

Originally published in 2019, Small in the City is the first picture-book that Smith both wrote and illustrated, after illustrating such notable titles as JonArno Lawson's Sidewalk Flowers and Joanne Schwartz's Town Is By the Sea, which won the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal. Smith won this year's (2021) Greenaway Medal as well, for this authorial debut, and it is not difficult to see why. The artwork here, created in ink, watercolor and a bit of gouache, really captures the emotional register of the story: feeling small and alone in a large place, feeling lost and at odds with the world while battling through a snowstorm, feeling sad and lonely and worried while missing a beloved companion. Given the melancholy feeling created by text and image, I'm glad that Smith provided that hopeful moment at the end, depicting some cat tracks in the snow outside the girl's house. I was also impressed by the storytelling pivot, as I read the beginning of the book as a child's narrative about her own experience, only to realize toward the end that the child was speaking to her lost cat, assuaging her own fear by attempting to guide the cat through all the potential dangers of being small in the city.

All in all, I found this a lovely book, and would recommend it to picture-book readers who appreciate beautiful illustrations, or somewhat melancholy tales. ( )
  AbigailAdams26 | Sep 2, 2021 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Smith, SydneyAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Browne, JenniferDesignersecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Porter, NealEditorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Smith, SydneyIllustratorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed

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A little boy offers advice to his cat, which is lost in the city, from taking shortcuts through safe alleys to finding a friend in the park.

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