Toys Talking, Hardcover

Leanne Shapton gives voice to the toys on our shelves in this wry yet tender children's book

Always there to comfort and listen, stuffed animals provide a reassuring presence in many a childhood. With Toys Talking, acclaimed illustrator and author Leanne Shapton explores their inner lives, to reveal that their thoughts and feelings are just as complicated as our own. The concerns of these bunnies, bears, and ducks range from the mundane to the existential, and with each new pairing of character and text, we see a deeper portrait of their pensive, quiet world. Shapton holds a mirror to our own lives, to our insecurities and concerns, by revealing that the objects who comfort us have worries of their own. This book brings Shapton's gorgeously minimal brushstrokes to a younger audience, and will leave children and parents alike brimming with the beauty and melancholy of self-reflection.

About the Author:

Leanne Shapton is an illustrator, author, and publisher based in New York City. She is a cofounder of J&L Books. She has been the art director of the National Post's Avenue page and Saturday Night magazine, and from 2008 to 2009 she was also the art director for The New York Times Op-Ed page. Shapton is the author of six books: Toronto; Was She Pretty?; Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry; Native Trees of Canada; Swimming Studies, which won the 2013 NBCC award for Autobiography; and Sunday Night Movies.