Winner of the prix Harry Black de l’album jeunesse (2020), honoring the best French-language Canadian picture book for children.

An original, nuanced treatment of children navigating their way through their parents’ separation.

The art is striking and unusual; painted scenes include collage of cut-out photos, torn paper and lace.

Provides a window into Quebec’s remote Îles de la Madeleine and the community that lives at La Grave heritage site.

MARIE-ANDRÉE ARSENAULT is a teacher and author of children’s books. Her publications include the novel Les souvenirs du sable, finalist for the prix Tamarac Express; the picture book Mingan les nuages, illustrated by Amélie Dubois, and a book of children’s poetry, Un chemin dans la mer, illustrated by Catherine Petit. Marie-Andrée lives in Montreal, Quebec.

DOMINIQUE LEROUX is a multidisciplinary artist and puppeteer who lives on Quebec’s Îles de la Madeleine, where she founded La Petite Théâtrerie, a space for puppetry and creative projects for young children. The illustrations for this book, her first, were inspired by the feeling of fall on the islands, and they are a tribute to the people who live there.

SHELLEY TANAKA is an award-winning author, translator and editor who has written and translated more than thirty books for children and young adults. She teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Shelley lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Appealing paint-and-collage illustrations … a lovely ode to La Grave.

- Kirkus Reviews

This is a quiet and poetic picture book … an excellent selection for individual sharing and discussion with a child or very small group of children. Pebbles to the Sea would be particularly reassuring for children whose parents are undergoing a separation or divorce as it reinforces the stability of the bonds between parents and children, regardless of the family structure.

- CM: Canadian Review of Materials

This book overflows with gorgeous Expressionism, collages of characters and scenes … [and] the story holds equal nuance and layers.

- Telegram

The illustrations, multi-media created with paint and collage of photos, torn paper and lace, [seem] to be pervasively cool, as the girls might feel their circumstances may be, but brightened with colour and textures that cheer. … [Pebbles to the Sea reassures readers] that parental separation is not necessarily familial separation, and that family can go beyond the nuclear family.

- CanLit for Little Canadians

Pebbles to the Sea takes us on a poetic voyage to a small corner … in the heart of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Leroux’s illustrations fill the book’s pages with a collage of images and textures that invite us to contemplate every detail. Each element weaves itself seamlessly into the story … Pebbles to the Sea is a story about community and the people in our lives who are there for us, even when we may feel alone.

- Montreal Review of Books

A triumphant tale of found family and community bonds.

- Booklist