About this item
"Verde's unique style and simple yet increasingly important messages of peace, mindfulness, and community make her stories a must-share...A must-purchase." - School Library Journal (starred review) "Walls do not just create barriers and divide spaces. They can be canvases for artmaking; opportunities to shape a community." - The Horn Book "This story of urban renewal sends a welcome double message by Verde: neighbors and neighborhoods are more than the way they look, and ordinary people can band together to transform big things." - Publishers Weekly A boy takes on a community art project in order to make his neighborhood more beautiful in this empowering and inspiring picture book by Susan Verde, stunningly illustrated by award-winning artist John Parra.One creative boy. One bare, abandoned wall. One BIG idea. There is a wall in ngel's neighborhood. Around it, the community bustles with life: music, dancing, laughing. Not the wall. It is bleak. One boy decides to change that. But he can't do it alone. Told in elegant verse by Susan Verde and vibrantly illustrated by John Parra, this inspiring picture book celebrates the power of art to tell a story and bring a community together.
About the Author
Susan Verde grew up in a brownstone in the heart of Greenwich Village in New York City with her older brother Michael. She spent much of her time as a child clad in bell bottoms and rainbow suspenders, roller skating up and down her block with a skate key around her neck and a piece of chalk in her pocket (for spontaneous hopscotch) .Susan's household was filled with books, music and the smell of mocha chip pies, which her mother made for their neighborhood restaurant. Susan often wrote stories and poetry to share with family and friends and even her high school poetry magazine. Susan's love of literature began in utero (according to her mother) and never dwindled. She can, to this day relate very well to Amelia Bedelia.Ultimately, she moved to the Hamptons and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and a Master's in reading remediation and become an elementary school teacher at a private school in Bridgehampton. She has also participated in the Southampton Children's Literature Conference at Stonybrook University. Although no longer a school teacher, Susan is a certified kid's yoga instructor which allows her to frog jump and wag her tail in Downward facing dog with great frequency. Currently, Susan lives in East Hampton New York amidst an explosion of Legos, art supplies, and picture books with her twin boys Joshua and Gabriel and her daughter Sophia. They are the constant inspiration for her writing. They never let her forget how to see things from a child's point of view and keep the kid in her alive and kicking.
