I Talk Like a River
Age 3+
Picture Storybooks
What if words got stuck in the back of your mouth whenever you tried to speak?
After a day of being unable to speak when asked, and of being stared at, a boy and his father go to the river for some quiet time. "It's just a bad speech day," says Dad. But the boy can't stop thinking about all the eyes watching his lips twisting and twirling. When his father points to the river bubbling, churning, whirling and crashing, the boy finds a way to think about how he speaks. Even the river stutters. Like him. "I talk like a river," he says.
An incredibly moving picture book that offers understanding rather than a solution, and which will resonate with all readers, young and old. Masterfully illustrated by Sydney Smith, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal.
Creators
Jordan Scott is a poet whose work includes Silt, Blert, Decomp and Night & Ox. Blert, which explores the poetics of stuttering, is the subject of a National Film Board of Canada project: Flub and Utter: a Poetic Memoir of the Mouth. Scott was the recipient of the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize for his contributions to Canadian poetry. I Talk Like a River is his first book for children. Jordan Scott lives on Vancouver Island, Canada, with his wife and two sons.
Sydney Smith has illustrated multiple children’s books, including Small in the City, Town Is by the Sea, the winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal, The White Cat and the Monk, written by Jo Ellen Bogart, and the acclaimed Footpath Flowers, which was a New York Times Children’s Book of the Year and a winner of the Governor General Award for Illustration. Born in Nova Scotia in Canada, Sydney now lives in Toronto with his wife and son. Find him online at hutten.org/sydney and on Twitter and Instagram as @sydneydraws.
Reviews
Featured in The Bookseller’s January previews.
The Bookseller
A deeply poignant book, personally written and highly emotive […] An emotionally difficult journey beautifully expressed.
The Green Parent
