Sylvie

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Sylvie

Title:

Sylvie

Author:

Reidy, Jean, author.

Cummins, Lucy Ruth, illustrator.

Summary:

Sylvie hangs on a silvery thread, safely hidden under her damp, dark fire escape. Sure, it’s a little too close to the dumpster below, but if she stays carefully out of sight, she can watch over her people in the apartment building above—a painter, a proper lady, a man with a plan, and a girl with an exceptionally brave tortoise. Day and night, night and day, Sylvie watches over them making sure everything is just so. Lately though, her people seem to be missing…something. Sylvie wants to help, but she’s always stayed out of view. After all, not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself. When a most audacious idea comes to her though, one that might make everything more than just so, maybe even just right, can Sylvie muster her moxie and risk stepping into the spotlight? -- Amazon.

Audience:

Ages 4 to 8. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 24 x 27 cm

Genre:

Picture books.

Subject Term:

Spiders -- Juvenile fiction.

Neighbors -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Apartment houses -- Juvenile fiction.

Author(s):

Cummins, Lucy Ruth,

Publisher:

Atheneum Books for Young Readers,

Publication Date:

2022

ISBN:

9781534463486

Publication Information:

New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2022

Call Number:

P REIDY

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003617050	Picture Books	REIDY	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

One small spider takes a big risk to bring together the people she watches over in her apartment building in this charming picture book from the celebrated author and illustrator of Truman .

Sylvie hangs on a silvery thread, safely hidden under her damp, dark fire escape. Sure, it's a little too close to the dumpster below, but if she stays carefully out of sight, she can watch over her people in the apartment building above--a painter, a proper lady, a man with a plan, and a girl with an exceptionally brave tortoise.

Day and night, night and day, Sylvie watches over them making sure everything is just so . Lately though, her people seem to be missing...something. Sylvie wants to help, but she's always stayed out of view. After all, not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself. When a most audacious idea comes to her though, one that might make everything more than just so , maybe even just right , can Sylvie muster her moxie and risk stepping into the spotlight?

Author Notes

Jean Reidy's bestselling and award-winning picture books have earned their spots as favorites among readers and listeners of all ages and from all over the world. Her books include Truman and Sylvie , both illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins. She is a three-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, a Parents' Choice Gold Award winner, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor winner, and recognized on "Best of" lists by School Library Journal , The New York Times , NPR, and Amazon. Jean writes from her home in Colorado where she lives right across the street from her neighborhood library...which she visits nearly every day. Visit her at JeanReidy.com.

Lucy Ruth Cummins is an author, illustrator, and art director of children's books. She was happily paired with Jean Reidy for both Truman , which was named a New York Times Best Children's Book of 2019, and Sylvie . She is also the author-illustrator of Stumpkin , Vampenguin , Dalmartian: A Mars Rover's Story , Our Pool , and A Hungry Lion , or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals . Lucy has swum in creeks, streams, gorges, rivers, swimming holes, pools (above- and in-ground), lakes (both Great and Finger), decorative fountains, and oceans. Her very favorite place to swim, however, is at her community pool in Brooklyn with her sons and her neighbors.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this standalone spin-off to Truman, a gray spider named Sylvie keeps a close eye on four of an apartment building's human residents, portrayed with varying skin tones, whom she thinks of as "her people." Though everything seems "just so" for each denizen, she's lately noticed from the fire escape that something's amiss, and wonders whether "the four need something... more." Sylvie knows that "not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself," but she nevertheless takes a risk; a vertical spread depicts the arachnid spinning a silvery web to beckon each individual to the building's rooftop, where they quickly bond and transform the space into a community gathering place. Not only is Sylvie not imperiled, she's celebrated and warmly welcomed into the fold. Reidy records Sylvie's qualms and enthusiasms with a breathless, enthusiastic voice (her idea is "audacious, dangerous, MAGNANIMOUS"), while Cummins's digitally finished multimedia art combines reportorial immediacy with a kind of sketchbook impressionism that takes readers inside Sylvie's head. Read with or without pandemic-era context in mind, it's a warming story about the necessity of connection and community. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (May)