Gemma and the Giant Girl - Hardcover

by Sara O'Leary (Author), Marie Lafrance (Illustrator)

An exquisite new picture book from the author of the beloved This Is Sadie about a little doll whose worldview is about to get a whole lot bigger.

Gemma has always lived in a very nice little house, always slept in the same room and always worn the same clothes. A doll in an old forgotten dollhouse, Gemma wonders if she will ever grow up, but her parents tell her she will always be their little girl. Until, one day, the dollhouse is opened by a GIANT, and Gemma's whole life changes. New things are introduced into the little house -- and Gemma finally has an opportunity to leave what's familiar and see the enormous world beyond.

A story that evokes children's classics, Gemma and the Giant Girl is a gorgeously illustrated and poignant tale of what it feels like to be small in a big world and how even the smallest among us can take charge of our own destinies.

Author Biography

SARA O'LEARY is the author of many beloved picture books for children, including This Is Sadie, which was adapted by the New York City Children's Theatre, and its follow-up, This Is Ruby. Among her most recent books for children are Gemma and the Giant Girl, the recipient of several honors in Canada, and Maud and Grand-Maud, which received three starred reviews. Sara is the 2024 recipient of the 2024 Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People. She is also the author of the adult novel A Ghost in the House. A graduate of the UBC Creative Writing Program, she has taught screenwriting and writing for children at Concordia University in Montreal.

MARIE LAFRANCE studied Graphic Arts and Etching, worked as a printmaker in San Francisco and New York, and eventually started illustrating, a career which is not really a career as much as a lifestyle, so she basically lives in her studio, cooking up characters and trying to give graphic life to authors' great stories. In the past twenty years, Marie has been illustrating mostly children's books and now serves on the board of the Association des Illustrateurs et Illustratrices du Quebec (AIIQ), where she is also a part-president. Her work was nominated three times for the Governor General's Literary Award, and she won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award for A Hen for Izzy Pippik, which was also a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year. Marie lives in Montreal, Quebec, with her family.