Dear Street

by Lindsay Zier-Vogel, Caroline Bonne-Muller (Illustrator)

Overview

A girl shares her love for her neighborhood, and finds that love multiplies, in this child-friendly story that encourages mindfulness and gratitude.

Alice loves her street. She loves its tall maple trees and marigolds and its apartment buildings with their colorful balconies. But not everyone feels the same. “Grumble, grumble, more construction, grumble, late, grumble,” she overhears. So Alice decides to write her street a love letter, which she leaves for someone to find. Through the seasons, as Alice encounters people grumbling about other things, she writes those things love letters, too, and leaves them to be found. She writes to her local park, a maple tree and even the snow. Then, one day, when Alice finds herself grumbling, she discovers a letter someone else has written to the spring crocuses. And Alice feels the joy she has been spreading to others come back to her!

Lindsay Zier-Vogel has created a delightful, uplifting story that celebrates how small acts by a single person can make a difference in a community. It inspires readers to pay attention and appreciate what they encounter every day. Caroline Bonne-Müller’s busy color-drenched illustrations beautifully evoke the abundance surrounding everyone (grumbling or not!) every day. This story was inspired by the international Love Lettering Project created by the author, in which participants write love letters to their communities and hide them for strangers to find. An explanation of the project at the end of the story encourages readers to write their own letters. This heartwarming picture book aligns with social studies lessons on cultures and communities, and character education lessons on caring, empathy and initiative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525303104
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.45(w) x 11.35(h) x 0.55(d)
Lexile:	AD570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a writer and arts educator and the creator of the internationally acclaimed Love Lettering Project. After studying contemporary dance, she received her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. Her writing has been widely published in Canada and the United Kingdom, and her hand-bound books are housed in the permanent collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto. Since 2001, she has been teaching creative writing workshops in schools and communities. She is also a professor for the professional writing program at Humber College and is a columnist with Open Book. Her debut novel, Letters to Amelia, was published in 2021. Lindsay lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Caroline Bonne-Müller was born in France, raised in the Netherlands and has also lived in Malaysia. After studying fashion design in Amsterdam, she worked as a fashion designer for fourteen years. She has been fascinated by picture books since she was a child, but the idea to illustrate them one day was planted after she had her three children. Caroline has illustrated several picture books, including Portrait of an Artist: Claude Monet; Beatrix and her Bunnies: The Story of Beatrix Potter; and So Much More to Helen! The Passions and Pursuits of Helen Keller. Her illustrations have also appeared in magazines, on greeting cards and even on jigsaw puzzles! Caroline now works and lives near Lucerne, Switzerland, looking over a lake and mountains, with her husband, three kids and four cats.

Editorial Reviews

07/24/2023

A girl’s inventive method of celebrating her neighborhood has a domino effect in Zier-Vogel’s affectionate picture book debut. Leaning over the flower box outside an upper-story window, pigtailed Alice, portrayed with pink skin, observes the cheerful homes on her street—and one sour-faced neighbor grumbling over repair-related construction delays. The reaction inspires her to write a letter addressed “Dear Street,” praising “your tall maple trees and your marigolds that look like pom-poms,” which she tucks into the roadworks sign for another neighbor to find. This act launches a campaign of seasonal missives that others discover to their delight. Bonne-Müller’s crisply worked acrylic, pencil, and crayon artwork invites lingering explorations of the tree-lined street and neighborhood residents, who are portrayed with varying skin tones and rosy cheeks. An author’s note details the book’s inspiration. Ages 3–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Gentle encouragement to cultivate mindfulness that leads by example.—Kirkus Reviews

... a charming and pleasant story of a young girl who writes letters to her street and the people who live on it. Cheerful illustrations round out this story of community and spreading positivity.—CM Magazine

A girl's inventive method of celebrating her neighborhood has a domino effect in Zier-Vogel's affectionate picture book debut ... Bonne-Müller's crisply worked acrylic, pencil, and crayon artwork invites lingering explorations of the tree-lined street and neighborhood residents ...—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2023-02-25
A love letter to the quotidian.

Young Alice adores her neighborhood. When she sees a neighbor in a bad mood due to a road closure, she writes a letter to the street praising it for its “tall maple trees and marigolds that look like pom-poms” and leaves it for someone to find. Her new tradition continues throughout the seasons. In the summer, she overhears people complaining about the park being too crowded and noisy, so she writes the park a letter. In autumn, she writes to the maple tree and in winter to the snow, each time brightening the moods of those who happen upon her letters. When spring arrives, Alice is the one having a grumpy day, but she finds her spirits lifted by a letter to the crocuses left by someone else. Zier-Vogel’s prose is straightforward and uplifting, and Bonne-Müller’s bright illustrations, created with acrylic, pencil, and crayon, rely on a well-paced variety of spot art and spreads, depict a charming, idyllic neighborhood. While the story is somewhat quiet, the author’s note will inspire mindfulness and appreciation—Zier-Vogel describes the Love Lettering Project, which she created in 2004 and which invites people to hide love letters to places in their community for others to find. Alice has peach-colored skin and straight brown hair; her neighborhood is a diverse one. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Gentle encouragement to cultivate mindfulness that leads by example. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews