After learning about urban visionary Jane Jacobs, seven-year-old Lucia takes a closer look at what makes her city neighborhood special. Is it the park where people jog, play with their dogs and practice Tai Chi? The shops along the main street? Or the yards with their pretty flowers and trees? Oh, it must be the Portuguese cultural festival, Senhor Da Pedra! It's all of these things and more, including Lucia's neighbours! Illustrating the many ways people work together to make their communities vibrant and beautiful, IN LUCIA'S NEIGHBORHOOD will inspire readers to join the performance of "the ballet of the good city sidewalk" in their own neighbourhoods. AGES: 3-7 AUTHOR: Together, Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek are Tin Can Forest, the 2011 Joe Shuster Award?winning team behind the comic book BABA YAGA AND THE WOLF, and creators of the internationally celebrated animated short film "Montrose Avenue," on which IN LUCIA'S NEIGHBORHOOD is based. Localism, environmentalism, the urban environment and Slavic folk culture inform and inspire their personal projects. Pat and Marek have also worked as directors and designers of animation for broadcasters, including Cartoon Network, Teletoon and PBS. They live in Lucia's neighbourhood, among stacks of books and art-filled walls. ILLUSTRATIONS: Colour
