I Just Love Sidewalk Flowers and Groundwood Books....You Will Too!

Yesterday I received a surprise from my friends at Groundwood Press in Canada.  It was a package including the beautiful new wordless book Sidewalk Flowers by...   

JonArno Lawson and illustrated by Sydney Smith.

Groundwood Press has done an amazing job publishing Sidewalk Flowers along with dozens of other books.

From the back of the book...

A little girl collections wildflowers while on a walk with her distracted father.  Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter. 

This wordless picture book, conceived by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and beautifully brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, is an ode to the importance of small things, small people and small gestures.  

I just love following the little girl through the city....It is simply one of the sweetest stories of simple, kind, loving gestures and thoughts.  

I was so happy to also find a little package of sidewalk chalk with the book.....

just right for some creating of our own.  Hagan and I will have fun using this as soon as it warms up outside. 

If you haven't checked out Groundwood yet....you just must!  

The Groundwood Publishing website is wonderful.   It includes a blog, books, catalogs, and contact information.   

One of my favorite parts of the website is the Resource page. 

They have included dozens of Resources including Teachers' Guides and Activity Sheets for their books. 

I picked Stella, Queen of the Snow to take a look at. 

The Teacher's Guide to Stella, Queen of the Snow is packed full of Information and an Introduction to the book, author and illustrator....

Discussion Questions....

Curriculum Connections, such as Snowy Science and Math....

Fun Snowy Games ....

and a terrific list of Additional Internet Resources. 

On the Resources page there are also Storytime Activities which bring several books to life with activities that tie into literacy and story.

I love the activity guide for Stella...it is so much fun to see the titles come to life through these guides Groundwood has created. 

For older students, you must check out the amazing Groundwork Guides.  These are related to situations and topics such as climate change, genocide, news, and technology. 

This is one titled Slavery Today. It includes curriculum connections, discussion questions, potential projects, quizzes, and much more.

As you can see Groundwood Books truly has created something that is wonderful for all ages and topics.

For more information and news about Groundwood Books follow them on Twitter at @groundwoodbooks and....

on Facebook at Groundwood Books.

You can read this post from Debbie Glade's blog about how JonArno created Sidewalk Flowers.  It will be fun to share with children too.

Thank you again Groundwood Books.....I can't wait to share Sideway Flowers with the little people in my world too.