Books
Award-winning fiction and nonfiction for young readers
LOOP DE LOOP
By Andrea Curtis, illustrated by Roozeboos
★BUY NOW!
Get loopy with it in this playful introduction to the hopeful, transformative possibilities of circular systems!
Nature works on a cycle, where everything has value and nothing is wasted. But modern humans have created a different kind of system: it’s less like a circle and more like a line. We take, make, use and then, when those things break or we’re finished with them, we toss them away.
But our planet’s resources are limited, and we’ve taken too much. That’s why all over the world, people are reusing, repurposing, repairing and designing waste out of the system!
With lots of kid-friendly examples and ideas for how children can get involved.
For ages 6 to 9
Also available as an ebook!
City of Neighbors
By Andrea Curtis, illustrated by Katy Dockrill
★OLA BEST BETS Honourable Mention ★World Illustration Award longlist ★AVAILABLE NOW!
Welcome to the neighbourhood!
A splash of paint, a place to sit, a popup park or playground bring life and a sense of fun to our cities.
Neighborhoods where people look out for each other, eat together, make art and build community are healthier, happier, greener and cleaner. Journey around the world to discover how people are dreaming up new ways to make their cities great.
“Brimming with laughter and joy, City of Neighbors is sure to be a crowd-pleaser – librarians definitely included.”—Quill and Quire
For Grades 3 to 7
Also available as an ebook
The 4th book in the ThinkCities series from Groundwood Books
City Streets are for People
By Andrea Curtis, illustrated by Emma FitzGerald
★KOBO Best of the Year in children’s literature ★Booklist Top 10 Environment & Sustainability Books for Youth 2023 ★Also available in Korean
City streets are often loud and noisy. They’re thick with cars and trucks, while pedestrians and bicycles are squeezed to the dangerous edges. But does it have to be this way?
Imagine a city where clean air makes it easier to breathe. Imagine a city where transit is easy to access—and on time. Imagine a city where streets are for people!
This fun, accessible and hopeful book explores sustainable transportation, including electric vehicles, public transit, bicycles, walking and more. It invites you to conjure a city of the future, where these modes are all used together to create a place that is sustainable, healthy, accessible and safe.
Illustrated by the talented Emma FitzGerald, it includes a list of ideas for kids to promote green transportation in their communities, along with a glossary and sources for further reading.
For Grades 3 to 7
Also available as an ebook!
Third in the ThinkCities series from Groundwood Books
City of Water
By Andrea Curtis, illustrated by Katy Dockrill
★ TOP 10 books on sustainability, ALA Sustainability Roundtable. ★Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection ★Also available in German, Mandarin and Korean
It’s easy to forget about the importance of water if you live in a city where it flows from the faucet with a flick of the wrist …
City of Water, the second book in the ThinkCities series, shines a light on the urban water system. It traces the journey of water from faraway lakes and rivers through pipes and treatment facilities, into our taps, fire hydrants and toilets, then out through storm and sewer systems toward wastewater treatment plants and back into the watershed.
Along the way we explore water systems past and present. We look at the need to protect our watersheds and preserve groundwater. We learn about the drastic effects of drought, and what happens when the water flowing from people’s taps isn’t clean or safe. And we discover how cities around the world are coping with extreme weather and flooding.
For Grades 3-7
Second in the new ThinkCities series from Groundwood Books
Barnaby
By Andrea Curtis, illustrated by Kass Reich.
★ Also available in Dutch ★Kirkus starred review
Barnaby is a beautiful blue budgie who’s got it all: a golden cage, bells that jingle-jangle, and an owner who gives him all the snacks and love he could want. Until one day she brings home a friend for him: a little yellow canary. But Barnaby is not happy. When his tantrums don’t convince his owner to get rid of the new bird, Barnaby flies away and ends up hopelessly lost.
Out in the world, Barnaby discovers that he’s got a lot to learn. A beautiful picture book for families and teachers to share (Grade K-5), Barnaby can also be a resource for exploring sibling rivalry, acceptance of difference, open-mindedness and social-emotional learning.
Also available in Dutch!
A Forest in the City
By Andrea Curtis
★Skipping Stone Honor Award winner ★Bank Street Best Books of the Year (9-12 year olds) ★UN Sustainable Development Goals Book Club pick. ★Also available in Mandarin and Korean
“Imagine a city draped in a blanket of green… Is this the city you know?”
Richly illustrated by the award-winning Pierre Pratt, A Forest in the City is a narrative nonfiction picture book about the urban forest.
It starts with a bird’s-eye view of the tree canopy, then swoops down to street level, digs deep into the ground, then moves up through a tree’s trunk, back into the leaves and branches. A Forest in the City is aimed at grades 3-7.
First in the new ThinkCities series from Groundwood
Big Water
By Andrea Curtis
★Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year ★Canadian Children’s Book News Recommended
Inspired by the true story of one of the worst shipwrecks in the history of the Great Lakes, Big Water is a tale of survival, loss and love. When the passenger boat they are on sinks in a terrible fall storm, two 17-year-olds find themselves the only survivors. Adrift in a lifeboat full of corpses, Christina and Daniel must find a way to help one another if they both want to live.
*young adult fiction 12+
Eat this!
How fast food marketing gets you to buy junk (and how to fight back)
By Andrea Curtis
★ Kirkus Review; Best Books of 2018
★ School Library Journal review; Best Books of 2018
★ Red Cedar Book Award nominee
★ OLA Best Bets
★ Highly Recommended “Red Leaf Literature” Canadian Children’s Book News
Fast food companies spend billions every year trying to get the attention of young people. You’re bombarded with marketing messages selling salt, sugar & fatty foods on TV, the internet, the street, even in school. Eat this! is an antidote to all that—a media and food literacy guide to decoding the big sell.
What’s for Lunch?
How Schoolchildren Eat Around the World
By Andrea Curtis
★ Stepping Stones Honor Award
★ VOYA Nonfiction Honor List
What’s for Lunch? travels the globe peering into lunch trays, mugs, bowls and school bags in 13 countries — including a refugee camp in Kenya, a community school in Birmingham, England, a remote Andean village in Peru, and an eco-school in downtown Toronto, Canada. Aimed at kids age 9-12, it features full-colour photographs by Yvonne Duivenvoorden and lots of ideas about how kids can take charge of the food system.
