Milk Teeth

If you are in Vancouver then lucky you, because you can go see Julie Morstad's exhibition Milk Teeth at Atelier Gallery, 2421 Granville Street, Vancouver BC V6H 3G5.

For the rest of us, you can view the works from the show at www.ateliergallery.ca

Now Playing at a Library Near You

This link makes a handy Henry finder - you can check to see if he's in residence at your local library through www.worldcatlibraries.org.
Very cool.

In love with a little-ish book...

So, Julie Morstad is pretty wonderful...I mean, her work is. I know lots of you applets are fans.
She did the beautiful drawings for Neko-my-love-Case's most recent record sleeve, and some sweet little bird tipped me off about the children's book she illustrated, called When You Were Small, which I now own and am in love with. It is a little-ish book with a little story about a boy named Henry (my most favorite boy-name, p.s.) who asks his father repeatedly "Tell me about when I was small". His dad seems to be a very creative sort with a wonderful imagination, and he regales Henry with tales of just how small he was.
It is simply one of the most quietly, perfectly-spare but lovely little picture books I have ever seen. The book's design is clean but sweet and library-like, and the drawings are charming and fragile-looking vignettes. The words are matter-of-fact in this wonderful, whimsical way.

Again, I'm smitten with the endpapers:



See how delicate and perfect?

At first I thought that the "thread" illustration was clearly my favorite...but now I think the "sleeping in a slipper" might be...

From Emily at theblackapple.typepad.com which is full of lovely things to look at and covet.

Euan reading When You Were Small

Noted by Vancouver Public Library

WHEN YOU WERE SMALL
By Sara O'Leary
Illustrated by Julie Morstad
2006 - $19.95 - SIMPLY READ BOOKS
"When you were small, you wore a thimble for a hat," his father tells the inquiring Henry. Dad's matter-of-fact whoppers about a younger Henry are made all the more credible by Morstad's clean and elegant illustrations. A quietly beautiful production.

Golden Fuse Awards

When You Were Small named
Best Unappreciated Picture Book of the Year

Mean Magpie's favourite Canadian-designed and written book of 2006

Best book to read aloud and just look at the pictures
I submitted Sara O'Leary's When You Were Small to Quill and Quire as being my favourite Canadian-designed and written book of 2006. Fans of Neko Case may recognize the work of illustrator Julie Morstad, who also drew the cover for her Fox Confessor album. The book itself is wonderful, and if you're struggling over what to get your younger/pregnant relatives for Christmas this year, I'd suggest this. It's great.

When You Were Small: Second Printing

The second print run of When You Were Small has arrived by ship from Italy!

32pp, Full-colour illustrations, 8" x 10", Cloth
Ages 5 and up
CDN $19.95

ISBN 1-894965-36-1
WHEN YOU WERE SMALL

Written by Sara O'Leary and illustrated by Julie Morstad
http://www.simplyreadbooks.com

When You Were Small: When You Were Small nominated for 2006 Cybils Award

www.cybils.com

When You Were Small: When You Were Small named one of the best books of 2006 by Association of Booksellers for Children

www.abfc.com

Doty wee man

Finest Picture Book
November 12th, 2006
No bookshelf under age 5 (or 50) should be without a copy of Sara O’Leary’s illuminating children’s book: When you were small. I challenge anyone to find a more doty wee man than Henry in print.
http://seriousreaders.wordpress.com/

Henry's world travels

A Mexican edition of When You Were Small will be published by Artes de Mexico - National Ministry of Education. 59,122 copies are to be distributed in schools.

The talented Julie Morstad

To see more of Julie's work go to:
http://www.juliemorstad.com/

Understated and spare ...

When You Were Small by Sara O’Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad
O’Leary gives us a father telling his son Henry stories about when he was small, very small, about-the-size-of-a-pen-cap small. O’Leary’s text and Morstad’s illustrations are understated and spare, making for a surprisingly quiet book given the subject matter. It’s just right, though: these aren’t stories told to make a child laugh, they’re meant to entertain and let a child know how much he’s loved.
http://www.watat.com

Gifted

From the Tyee's "Dangerous Gift" Guide

When You Were Small by Sarah O'Leary with Illustrations by Julie Morstad. (Simply Read Books) Charming drawings and droll humour that will bring a smile to the most self-serious five-year-old. "When you were small we used you as a chess piece…"

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 3–Each night, Henry asks his dad to tell him about when he was small, and his father relates how very small he really was: “…we used to give you baths in the teapot…,” and “…we took the toy castle out of the aquarium and you were king of it.” This is obviously an enjoyable nighttime ritual and it always ends with the child asking, “'Dad, is all that true?’ 'Well,’ says his dad, 'don’t you remember?’” The minimal text is accompanied by delicate illustrations. Subtle coloring and ample white space add to the book’s tranquil feel. A lovely title to share one-on-one, and sure to start many family rituals.–Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN

Curiously validating...

This review comes from a feature on "small" books from the blog Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast:

When You Were Small by Sara O’Leary is a bit different from the previous two. It starts out with a standard picture book premise: Henry always asks his father the same question at bedtime: “Tell me about when I was small.” But, rather than the expected description of a typical babyhood, the reader is then treated to a series of (ahem, pardon me) tall-tale one-liners about a 3-inch-tall mini-boy. My favorite: “When you were small your mother once lost you in the bottom of her purse. When she found you again, you were clinging to an earring she’d lost three years before.” The deadpan text is perfectly countered by sweetly whimsical illustrations by Julie Morstad, in a crosshatching-and-watercolor style that’s kind of like a non-sardonic Edward Gorey. There’s a lot of appeal here: pure silliness that will certainly invoke belly-laughs when read aloud, plus there’s the Borrowers/Littles/etc. phenomenon - that fascination with characters that are so small they can use ordinary objects in completely unintended ways. For example, Henry uses a ruler for a toboggan and his father’s slipper for a bed. And there’s a curious validation in that, too, I think – even the impossibly-small can manage in a too-big world, and Henry always looks like he’s having a pretty good time.

I discovered When You Were Small by in a very roundabout way – I was trying to find out more about Julie Morstad after (thanks to Julie!) I saw the animated “Maybe Sparrow” video (hauntingly lovely) and the Fox Confessor Brings the Flood CD cover art (spooky, surreal) she created for Neko Case. Sadly, when I tried to get a copy for my library, I was told that the publisher is “out of stock indefinitely.” So, if you run across this one in a bookstore or something, grab it! You may not get another chance!

Maybe Sparrow video

You can view the Maybe Sparrow video at Neko Case's website: http://www.nekocase.com

Praise from ForeWord

When You Were Small
by: Sara O’Leary ; Julie Morstad, illustrator

Issue Month: July/August 2006
Category: Children's Picture Book
Publisher: Simply Read Books
32 pages, Hardcover $16.95
ISBN: 1894965361
There is nothing children like better than to hear stories about when they were very young. They love to hear about the silly things they did and said before they were old enough to remember. Henry is no exception.

Every night he and his father meet in a pair of wingback chairs and begin the conversation the same way: “Dad,” says Henry, “tell me about when I was small.” His father entertains his son with whimsical tales, imagining that Henry was once so small he could take his pet ant out for a walk on a leash, or ride in his father’s shirt pocket.

The author is an award-winning playwright, fiction writer, and literary columnist, but it’s her experience as the mother of two boys that helps her know exactly what will capture the imagination of her young audience. Henry’s father invents endearing descriptions like: “When you were small we used to give you baths in the teapot, and when you were done we could just tip it over and pour you out,” or “When you were small you couldn’t hold a spoon so you used to sit on the edge of my porridge bowl and dip your head in like a baby bird.” The pair imagine that, thanks to Henry’s Lilliputian size, he has the good fortune to wear a thimble for a hat, stand in for a lost chess piece, and ride a ruler instead of a toboggan.

O’Leary’s text is accompanied by pale watercolors and detailed cross-hatch drawings of a tiny Henry snuggled into his father’s slipper, or nude and poised to jump into the teapot for his bath. This is the illustrator’s first children’s book, and her art incorporates details beyond the written words. For example, when Henry is lost in the bottom of his mother’s purse and is finally found clinging to an earring, the reader not only sees Henry hanging by one arm from the hoop earring pinched between an unknown adult’s fingers, but the tiny child is wearing striped pajamas and is clutching an empty candy wrapper, a faint and wistful smile on his face.

Children as young as three will enjoy the tales of Henry’s adventures, in which being miniscule means that the most mundane tasks like brushing teeth or eating porridge become veritable feats.

The last lines of this book may also spark conversations between adult and child: a question is cleverly answered with a question. “Dad,” says Henry, “is all that true?” His dad replies, “Well, don’t you remember?” Henry is left scratching his head, as might the young readers (or listeners) who will continue to ponder being so small that they can ride on the back of a cat like an emperor.

Review by: Cymbre Foster

http://www.forewordmagazine.com/reviews/viewreviews.aspx?reviewID=3555

Small Joys

I first saw this book at a children's boutique and instantly fell in love with it's outsides. With it's dolphin smooth robin egg blue cover and chocolate brown cloth spine, the pleasure is both tactile and visual. The hand drawn illustrations, hand lettered drop caps and muted colours harken back to an earlier time. It's almost like a treasure that I could find hidden on a thrift store shelf and I'm almost amazed I could purchase it brand new.
http://smalljoys.blogspot.com

Praise indeed from "Bookstore Girl"

When You Were Small is a gorgeously old fashioned book. Every night, Henry asks his father to tell him about when he was small. Henry's dad has a bit of a sense of humour, and all the anecdotes he relates (one per page) involve a very small Henry indeed. (See how old-fashioned?! I said "indeed"). For instance, when Henry was small, his father tells him, "you rode on the cat's back like you were an emperor and he was an elephant." Julie Morstad's charming line illustrations fit so nicely in with author Sara O'Leary's text that I truly cannot imagine a better pairing.
from www.can'tstopreading.blogspot.com

"Most appealing" review from a bookseller

In our home each night at bedtime, without fail, our two boys ask us for ‘a story with our lips’. This is something they have come to enjoy just as much or more than the storybooks we read to them before bed. Telling a story about something that happened when they were small or when Mom or Dad were little is enough to keep their minds busy until they drowsily fall off to sleep. (For the record, Nanny’s stories with her lips are the best!)

In this new picture book, Sara O’Leary captures this common question that so many youngsters are interested in: what were they like when they were small. The exaggerated quips that young Henry’s father shares with him include such funny ideas as wearing a thimble for a hat; taking a bath in a teapot; using a ruler for a toboggan and my favourite, being lost in the bottom of Mom’s purse. As parents, we can all learn something from Henry’s father, the more outrageous the story, the better.

Morstad’s pictures are cleverly created using pen and ink and pale watercolours making the overall feel of the book somewhat old-fashioned in a most appealing way.
-reviewed by Mary Ann Gallagher of Benjamin's Books
http://www.benjaminsbooks.nb.ca

Listen to a CBC chat about the book

CBC Radio link:

May 25, 2006

Listen to this interview (runs 6:41)
http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningsaintjohn/int_archives/2006_may.html

"An appreciation for the absurd," says Publishers Weekly

"O'Leary's debut features a robin's-egg blue cover and a retrospective title that recalls Milne's When We Were Very Young. Morstad's slightly clumsy ink drawings and drop caps, daintily tinted with watercolor and airy with negative space, update the work to somewhere nearer midcentury; with its large format and minimal color, this paper-over-board book could have been published in 1960 as easily as today, and homespun sketches of a wooden ruler and old-fashioned bathroom supplies only compound the anachronism. The narrative itself cultivates an appreciation for the absurd. Every night, a boy named Henry says to his father, 'Tell me about when I was small.' Deadpan recollections follow, each accompanied by a literal illustration of a much smaller Henry. 'When you were small we used to give you baths in the teapot,' his father explains, and the image pictures a boy about to hop into a kettle, a stray sock draped over the handle. 'When you were small you wore a thimble for a hat,' says his father, and readers see a finger-size Henry, his eyes hidden under the brim of a thimble and a needle-sword hanging from his belt. As in Stuart Little, a sepia-tinted image of tiny Henry with his full-size parents sets the scale. This sequence posits a straight-faced game of hyperbole ('When you were small we took the toy castle out of the aquarium and you were king of it') that may well please children of many generations. Ages 3-6. (May) " Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Buy the book

"Possibly the best picture book of the year"

http://fusenumber8.blogspot.com/search?q=savoff
More from my favourite librarian/reviewer/all-round smart gal @fusenumber8.blogspot.com:

Next up, we here at the Fuse have heard recently from charming children's author Sara O'Leary who wrote the beautiful When You Were Small with Simply Read Books. I had the pleasure of meeting Dimiter Savoff, the man behind everything at Simply Read, not long ago at my library. Small publication houses tend to take more time than their big name equivalents. I was unprepared, however, for just how much care they take. Ms. O'Leary had this to say about her book:
Dimiter Savoff not only represents Simply Read - he's it....At one of our meetings he opened up a briefcase full of blank sheets and asked Julie and I which white we liked best. This is a man who takes details very seriously. He asked us if we would leave off the dedications and author bios which seemed strange to me but now I love how clean the book is - right down to him shrinking any of the necessaries down as small as he could. A friend of mine - a true sensualist - noted that the book even smelled good. When I mentioned this to Dimiter he said it was because they had paid extra to have scent imbued in the glue for the binding.


You heard her right. They paid extra for the scent. Actually, I wasn't too terribly surprised when I heard this. My husband actually commented on the scent of the book as I was working on its review. He said it smelled like the children's books he remembered as a kid. It was only later that we found out that that smell was part of this entire picture book experience. And don't let anyone ever tell you that scent isn't important. Have you ever picked up a picture book that had cheap glue in its binding so that when you cracked it open it stank to high heaven? As a children's librarian, I sure have. Now I can see that there are some people in the world who care more than others about this sort of thing. Add in the amazing minimalism and the beautiful binding and I'm ready and willing to declare When You Were Small possibly the best picture book of the year, bar none. Good news too. Ms. O'Leary and illustrator Julie Morstad are working on a second title after this one.

Chosen as a great summer read by Canadian Family Magazine

Henry's father remembers when Henry was so small he slept in a slipper, brushed his hair with a toothbrush and used a ruler for a toboggan. This shared dad-son fantasy shines with the polish of a tale told again and again. Gentle line drawings give a child's imagination plenty of room to roam.

-Sarah Ellis, Canadian Family, Summer 2006 www.canadianfamily.ca

One of the lovelier reviews we've had the pleasure of reading

A fantastic review & a fantastic blog by a children's librarian in New York:
http://fusenumber8.blogspot.com/2006/05/review-of-day-when-you-were-small.html#links

A small still book, May 24, 2006
Pity the small publisher in this age of global conglomerates and massive buyouts. In a time of Harcourts and Harper Collins, and Antheneums it's almost impossible for the little guy (the little guy in this case being Simply Read Books) to make any kind of a lasting impression on the marketplace. Worse than all of this is the snobbery involved in criticizing small publishers. I admit freely that when I picked up, "When You Were Small", I looked at it long and hard with an eye towards finding any faults it might have. Not all small publishers are good, after all, and not all of their books readworthy. Simply Read Books is different, though, and "When You Were Small", is infinitely readworthy. An unassuming title with a charming presence, great use of wry commentary, and some really outstanding pen and ink illustrations. "When You Were Small", reminds all of us that sometimes the smallest publishers are the ones who find the best new talent around.

Every night, we are told, Henry and his dad sit down, "and have a chat". Henry asks his dad to tell him what he was like when he was small and dad does so. The only thing is, dad seems to be a bit of a literal sort. The first thing he tells Henry is, "When you were small you used to have a pet ant and you would take him out for walks on a leash". And here we see Henry, no younger than before, but tiny enough to walk an ant as if it were a particularly frisky dog. With each page we learn more about what "little" Henry's life was like. Sometimes it's straightforward, as when we're told, "When you were small we took the toy castle out of the aquarium and you were king of it". Other times the book acquires a dry wit, saying things like, "... your mother once lost you in the bottom of her purse. When she found you again, you were clinging to an earring she'd lost three years before". We hear about how Henry would eat, use a ruler when it came to tobogganing, and take a bath. Near the end of the book Henry's father notes, "we wanted to call you Hieronymous but it was too big a name for you and so we shortened it to Henry". And when Henry asks if all of this is true (as I am sure he asks every night) his dad simply says, "Well ... don't you remember?".

With a steady hand O'Leary parcels out the information in this book in a familiar form. Each section that discusses Henry's previously tiny state begins with the repeating phrase, "When you were small". I think it was the understated humor that really won me over to this book, though. There's a wonderful moment when Henry would ride around in his father's breast pocket. "Your little head would just stick out and your little hands would grip onto the edge of the cloth. Actually you ripped a lot of my shirts that way". It's a small statement, but it makes the reader suddenly wonder if all the dad's stories were true after all. I mean, that's a pretty realistic detail to include. Illustrator Julie Morstad further confuses the issue when she displays front and endpapers that consist of Henry staring at photographs of himself in his "small" state. Some show him posing alongside an ant. Others display him floating away on a balloon or doing something as mundane as posing for Halloween. What is a child to think?

Actually, I should be giving artist Morstad some definite props for this book as well. Using the thinnest of pen lines in a wide variety of colors (subdued, for the most part) the book feels almost like a foreign import. We rarely see such delicate perfectly rendered pictures in our American bookstores and libraries. There's a picture of Henry standing astride a beautifully penned cat. Every hair of that cat is meticulously placed, making it my favorite image in, "When You Were Small". Morstad could make even Peter Sis look like a thick-penned schlub in comparison.

I should mention that the book conveys a great deal of love without artifice or false sentiment. Some of this you might be able to chalk this up to the simplicity of the book's design itself. Publication information is in tiny type at the bottom of a single page. There is no information about either the author nor illustrator nor even a dedication section. The book also hasn't any book jacket, giving it a rather classic feel. All in all, this is one of the lovelier picture book creations I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. A quiet, intelligent, rather sweet read in a style that everyone can enjoy. Recommended with honors.
Posted by E.R. Bird on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AMX0PJKV4PPNJ/ref=cm_pdp_reviews_see_all/002-6052478-8027200

"Delightfully sly sensibility"

From Booklist:

Henry sits in an armchair opposite his dad. He asks for the usual
evening ritual: "Tell me about when I was small." And so the father
does, in a series of wonderfully unexpected images. When the boy was
small, he could walk his pet ant, sleep in his father's left slipper
(with a peppermint teabag for a pillow), bathe in a teapot, or ride on
the cat's back, as if "[Henry] were an emperor and [the cat] was an
elephant." He could fit in his dad's shirt pocket or play the part of
a knight on the chessboard. When Henry asks his father if it's all
true, Dad replies, "Don't you remember?" Whimsical, crosshatched line
illustrations, washed with gently shadowed colors, appear to float on
white pages, pairing a single, evocative picture with each fantastical
memory. Packaged without a jacket and sporting an elegant cloth spine,
this looks different from most picture books on the market--and the
story's delightfully sly sensibility bears out initial impressions.
GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright (c) American Library Association. All rights reserved