Kyo Maclear

A STYLIST BEST NON-FICTION PICK 'A lucid and compelling memoir of family rupture and repair' Sue Stuart-Smith, author of The Well Gardened Mind 'Gorgeous and generous . . . a mind-altering journey that challenges biological determination' Naomi Klein, Esquire Three months after Kyo Maclear's father dies, a DNA test reveals that they were not biologically related. All at once Kyo's silver-haired mother becomes a mystery to her; she holds the story of a secret buried for half a century, but her memories are fading, and words are failing them both. Maclear does not speak Japanese and so to unearth the past, she must turn to her mother's second fluent tongue: gardening. Unearthing is a memoir written in the wild green language of soil, seed, leaf and mulch. With exquisite illustrations by the author, this is a tribute to the ineradicable love between a mother and daughter.

A gentle, probing picture book from award-winning author Kyo Maclear and celebrated illustrator Katty Maurey about the special relationship between a grandfather and his grandson, and the many traces, memories, and even ghosts with which we live.A New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2024!A Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2024!One of Maria Popova's Marginalian Favorites of 2024!A Moonbow Favorite Picture Book of 2024! SIX starred reviews! There’s a ghost in Grandpa’s garden. It leaves tracks by the path where there was once a cool, dark stream. It makes mischief by knocking over flowerpots. And sometimes, it leaves behind a gift perfect for a curious boy in the form of little treasures from times gone by. The boy who is the narrator of this picture book loves spending time with his grandpa in the garden, enjoying the natural world, listening to memories of how things used to be, and making up stories about the friendly ghost. With Grandpa as his loving guide, the boy learns to look closely at the garden and marvel at its mysteries, to uncover the layers of history that make up this special place, and also to fashion new things from all that he has found.

A vibrant historical picture book about Tokyo's bicycle food deliverers, or demae, who balanced towering trays of steaming hot noodles on their shoulders while navigating crowded city streets. When the deliverymen set off in the morning, the children wait for the flicker of pedal and wheel. It's the demae-- delivery men-- setting off to deliver steaming trays of noodles to hungry customers all over the city. They are acrobats: whizzing past other bicycles, soaring around curves, avoiding the black smoke of motorcycles. When the children see them, they want to be them. And so they practice with bowls of wobbling water stacked on trays. The day passes, and, finally, exhausted, the demae return home, to their families, and, yes, to steaming bowls of noodles. This beautifully crafted, visually exciting story by a powerhouse author and illustrator team is sure to be adored by food lovers, young and old.

A vibrant historical picture book about Tokyo's bicycle food deliverers, or demae, who balanced towering trays of steaming hot noodles on their shoulders while navigating crowded city streets. A CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK - A Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book - A BOOKPAGE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND HORN BOOK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR When the deliverymen set off in the morning, the children wait for the flicker of pedal and wheel. It's the demae-- delivery men-- setting off to deliver steaming trays of noodles to hungry customers all over the city. They are acrobats: whizzing past other bicycles, soaring around curves, avoiding the black smoke of motorcycles. When the children see them, they want to be them. And so they practice with bowls of wobbling water stacked on trays. The day passes, and, finally, exhausted, the demae return home, to their families, and, yes, to steaming bowls of noodles. This beautifully crafted, visually exciting story by a powerhouse author and illustrator team is sure to be adored by food lovers, young and old.

ONE OF STYLIST'S BEST NON-FICTION PICKS FOR 2024 'A mind-altering and supremely generous exploration of kinship, selfhood, memory and the roots we share' NAOMI KLEIN, AUTHOR OF DOPPELGANGER 'A lucid and compelling memoir of family rupture and repair and the power of plants to anchor us in the world' SUE STUART-SMITH, AUTHOR OF THE WELL-GARDENED MIND __________ Three months after Kyo Maclear's father dies, a DNA test reveals that they were not biologically related. All at once Kyo's mother becomes unknown to her; she has a big story to tell, the story of a secret buried for half a century, but her memories are fading. Words are failing them both, so she looks to gardening - her mother's second fluent tongue - to bridge the gap between them. Unearthing is written in the wild green language of soil, seed, leaf and mulch. A memoir of inheritance that goes far beyond heredity, this is the story of what happens when we give up the weeded and pruned plots of our family histories and open ourselves up to a more expansive view of kinship. Told through the passage of seasons, with beautiful illustrations by the author, it is a deeply thoughtful meditation on race, lineage and grief and a tender testimony to the ineradicable love between a mother and a daughter. PRAISE FOR UNEARTHING: 'A lyrical and at times cryptic meditation on nature, kinship and the lives of both humans and plants' NEW STATESMAN 'I could not put this gorgeous book down... at once vulnerable and precise, gentle but unforgettable' JESSICA J. LEE 'Fierce, loving, inquisitive, devastating - this book got under my nails, and into my heart' LULAH ELLENDER 'A masterful lyric exploration of identity, inheritance and belonging in the wake of an unsettling discovery... absorbing and transformative' POLLY ATKIN 'A tender and precious gift of a book, that holds out grief like an opening flower. Deeply moving, beautifully written and delicately delivered' VICTORIA BENNETT

A searing and unforgettable memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the indelible power of love. "A moving account... and] a reminder of the abundance of experience present in all families, and the power and healing that can come from honoring those many truths." --The Washington Post Three months after Kyo Maclear's father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unravelling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: what exactly is kinship? What does it mean to be a family? And how do we belong to larger ecosystems? Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes beyond heredity. Infused with moments of suspense, it is also a thoughtful reflection on race, lineage, and our cultural fixation on recreational genetics. Readers of Michelle Zauner's bestseller Crying in H Mart will recognize Maclear's unflinching insights on grief and loyalty, and keen perceptions into the relationship between mothers and daughters. What gets planted, and what gets buried? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? "A lovely meditation on the hidden past and the blossoming future" (Kirkus Reviews) and a "generous, open-handed perspective" (NPR), Unearthing bursts with the very love it seeks to understand.

Just like people, there are so many ways a city can be. And this lively picture book explores all of them. From quiet and dreamy to bright and buzzing, the magnificent diversity of our world is vividly celebrated by connecting the uniqueness of its places with the people who live in them. Wild, gritty, bookish, or sheltering - if you were a city, how would YOU be?

The uplifting journey of a cloud ("kumo" in Japanese) who overcomes her shyness -- and discovers the rewards of feeling seen. Kumo is a bashful cloud whose only wish is to float unseen. When she's assigned cloud duty for the day, she feels overwhelmed by self-doubt and her fear of being noticed. But after learning that closing your eyes isn't a good solution to your troubles, Kumo pulls her fluff together and does her duties -- drifting, releasing rain and providing shelter -- meeting some new friends along the way and inspiring the imagination (and capturing the heart) of a small daydreamer like her. Kyo Maclear's sweetly humorous and lyrical parable about overcoming shyness, inspired by her own experience as an author, and vividly brought to life by Nathalie's Dion's ethereal illustrations, is an affirmation of the pleasures of community and the confidence that can arise from friendship and visibility.

See below for English description.Les arbres ondulent, le ciel gronde et la pluie arrive D couvrez les aventures d'une fillette et de son chien sous la pluie. Des bottes en caoutchouc, des parapluies color s et des flaques s duisantes les accompagnent Mais le plaisir ne s'arr te pas l Il y a aussi plein de choses faire une fois la maison, au chaud et bien install s. Que se passe-t-il apr s la temp te?Cet album color , au texte lyrique et aux douces illustrations transporte les lecteurs d'un jour de pluie vers un soleil radieux.Trees are billowing, the sky is rumbling, and rain is coming Follow a girl and her dog as they delight in a wet adventure full of rubber boots, colourful umbrellas, and inviting puddles. The fun doesn't end there - there's so much to do once warm and cozy inside. What will happen after the storm?This colourful picture book with lyrical prose and soft illustrations brings readers on a journey from rain to shining sun.Original title: Hello, Rain

A joyful celebration of Japanese cultural traditions and body positivity as a young girl visits a bath house with her grandmother and aunties You'll walk down the street / Your aunties sounding like clip-clopping horses / geta-geta-geta / in their wooden sandals / Until you arrive... / At the bath house / The big bath house. In this celebration of Japanese culture and family and naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, join a little girl--along with her aunties and grandmother--at a traditional bath house. Once there, the rituals leading up to the baths begin: hair washing, back scrubbing, and, finally, the wood barrel drumroll. Until, at last, it's time, and they ease their bodies--their creased bodies, newly sprouting bodies, saggy, jiggly bodies--into the bath. Ahhhhhh With a lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations, this picture book is based on Kyo Maclear's loving memories of childhood visits to Japan, and is an ode to the ties that bind generations of women together.

A joyful celebration of Japanese cultural traditions and body positivity as a young girl visits a bath house with her grandmother and aunties NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY New York Public Library - NPR - Publishers Weekly - Horn Book - The American Library Association - ALA Rise: A Feminist Book Project - A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST PICTURE BOOK OF THE CENTURY You'll walk down the street / Your aunties sounding like clip-clopping horses / geta-geta-geta / in their wooden sandals / Until you arrive... / At the bath house / The big bath house. In this celebration of Japanese culture and family and naked bodies of all shapes and sizes, join a little girl--along with her aunties and grandmother--at a traditional bath house. Once there, the rituals leading up to the baths begin: hair washing, back scrubbing, and, finally, the wood barrel drumroll. Until, at last, it's time, and they ease their bodies--their creased bodies, newly sprouting bodies, saggy, jiggly bodies--into the bath. Ahhhhhh With a lyrical text and gorgeous illustrations, this picture book is based on Kyo Maclear's loving memories of childhood visits to Japan, and is an ode to the ties that bind generations of women together.

A writer's intimate and exuberant search for creativity, meaning, and solace leads her to birdwatching in this "profound, charming memoir of art, books, life--and birds" (Minneapolis Star Tribune). When it comes to birds, Kyo Maclear isn't seeking the exotic. Rather she discovers joy in the seasonal birds that find their way into view in city parks and harbors, along eaves and on wires. In a world that values big and fast, Maclear looks to the small, the steady, the slow accumulations of knowledge, and the lulls that leave room for contemplation. An "inspiring" (Parade) read, Birds Art Life celebrates the particular madness of chasing after birds in the urban environment and explores what happens when the core lessons of birding are applied to other aspects of art and life. Moving with ease between the granular and the grand, peering into the inner landscape as much as the outer one, this "timely and generous reprieve from anxiety, fear, and grief" (Globe and Mail) and "incandescent exploration of beauty, inspiration, art, family, and freedom" (Toronto Star) was sprung from Maclear's sense of disconnection, her passions faltering under the strain of daily existence. Ultimately, however, Birds Art Life is about the value of reconnection--and how the act of seeking engagement and beauty in small ways can lead us to discover our most satisfying and meaningful lives. In this "fragile fluid commentary...The reader can relax in the solitude of Maclear's musings as the words gently flow into the consciousness" (Seattle Book Review, 5/5 stars).

Spork is neither spoon nor fork but, rather, a bit of both. His (spoon) mother and (fork) father think he's perfect just the way he is. Only, Spork stands out. All the other cutlery belongs with those like themselves, and they all have a specific purpose. Spork tries fitting in with the spoons, and then with the forks, but he isn't quite enough like either. Instead, he watches from the drawer at dinnertime as the others get to play with the food and then enjoy a nice warm bath in the sink. But one morning, a messy thing arrives. A thing that has obviously never heard of cutlery customs or table manners. Will Spork finally find his place at the table?

* 4 Starred Reviews ** An Indie Next List Pick *“Playful, bold, and, much like its subject, full of grace.” —Jillian Tamaki, Caldecott Honor winner for This One Summer “It Began with a Page tells [Gyo Fujikawa's] story beautifully, in picture-book form.” —The New YorkerFrom beloved team Kyo Maclear and Julie Morstad (creators of Julia, Child and Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli) comes an elegant picture book biography that portrays the most moving moments in the life of Gyo Fujikawa, a groundbreaking Japanese American hero in the fight for racial diversity in picture books.Equal parts picture book biography, inspiring story, and a look at racial diversity in America, It Began with a Page is a gem for any book lover, librarian, or child who dares to dream big.Growing up in California, Gyo Fujikawa always knew that she wanted to be an artist. She was raised among strong women, including her mother and teachers, who encouraged her to fight for what she believed in. During World War II, Gyo’s family was forced to abandon everything and was taken to an internment camp in Arkansas.Far away from home, Gyo worked as an illustrator in New York while her innocent family was imprisoned. Seeing the diversity around her and feeling pangs from her own childhood, Gyo became determined to show all types of children in the pages of her books. There had to be a world where they saw themselves represented. Gyo’s book Babies was initially rejected by her publisher, but after she insisted, they finally relented, and Babies went on to sell almost two million copies. Gyo’s books paved the way for publishers, teachers, and readers to see what we can be when we welcome others into our world.The book includes extensive backmatter, including a note from the creators, a timeline, archival photos, and further information on Gyo Fujikawa.A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2019A Kirkus Best of 2019 Picture BookA 2020 ALSC Notable Children's BookA 2020 Orbis Pictus Recommended Title awarded annually by NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English)Featured in the 2019 Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators

A story of friendship, first crushes, opera and the high drama of middle school told by award-winning Kyo Maclear in her debut graphic novel.Somewhere in the universe, there is the perfect tune for you.It’s almost the end of middle school, and Charlie has to find her perfect song for a music class assignment. But it’s hard for Charlie to concentrate when she can’t stop noticing her classmate Emile, or wondering about Luka, who hasn’t been to school in weeks. Then, the class learns about opera, and Charlie discovers the music of Maria Callas. The more she learns about Maria’s life, the more Charlie admires her passion for singing and her ability to express herself fully through her music. Can Charlie follow the example of the ultimate diva, Maria Callas, when it comes to her own life?Key Text Featuresspeech bubblescaptionsbibliographyCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Mama Liszt, Papa Liszt, Winifred, Edward, Frederick and Grandpa Liszt make lists all day long. So does their cat. Then one day a visitor arrives. He's not on anyone's list. Will the Liszts be able to make room on their lists for this new visitor? What will they do when something unexpected happens? Kyo Maclear's quirky, whimsical story is perfectly brought to life with the witty, stunning illustrations of debut picture book artist Júlia Sardà. Discover this humorous, poignant and unforgettable celebration of spontaneity.