While Marietta dreams impossible dreams
of travel and adventure, Piero longs for
the home and family he has lost. Their lives
could not be more different, for she is the
cherished daughter of the artist Tinteretto,
and he is the "worthless" slave
of a sea captain. Yet their friendship grows
out of the one thing they share — their
love of drawing.
Inseparable,Marietta and Piero spend a
precious few weeks of freedom exploring the
canals and streets of Venice. Before their
time together is over, they will give each
other unforgettable and priceless gifts.
Set inVenice during the Renaissance, The
Paint Box is a tale of longing and
unfulfilled promise, frozen in time and
framed by a master storyteller.
Her story of Marietta and Piero, told in
a simple and stately prose, manages to suggest
a sixteenth century manner of speaking. In
a few short pages, she creates believable
characters, a vivid setting and a gripping
theme.…Highly recommended.— Canadian
Review of Materials.
To read the entire review,
click HERE.
Short listed
by the Canadian Childrens Book Centre for
their Our Choice Award 2005
Today
many people still create these traditional crafts.
Nothing can substitute for being taught by a traditional
artist, but in these pages you will see how to adapt
the methods Aboriginal people historically used
to make your own useful and lasting objects. There
are new techniques and materials, but what lies
at the heart of the making of Aboriginal art and
crafts has never changed. It is the handing down
of ideas from one person to another. In this book,
a small part of this tradition is passed on to you.
Parents Choice Recommended Book 2000
Trottier treats her subject matter with great respect. — CM
Magazine
To visit the site for Primitive Artisans, click here.
Little Dog Moon
by Maxine Trottier, Laura Fernandez &
Rick Jacobson
published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside
This quietly provocative story of courage, faith, and kindness is sure
to raise awareness regarding the reality in a restricted society. —
Dauphin County Library
Short listed for the 2000 Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon Award
Short listed for the 2002 Hackmatack Award
"In simple but poetic language she evokes the atmosphere of the
Northern night, where the ordinary sense of time is altered, and
human merges into landscape and myth."
— a Starred Review indicating
a book of exceptional merit, Quill & Quire, September 1999.
"I will take care of your garden, Mr. Hiroshi," I offered.
He smiled. "That would give me great comfort, Mary," he said. "The
Koi are greedy, you know. Do not let them get fat."
We watched the bus drive away.
For Mary, too young to fully understand about war and far-off places,
the promise was meant to last only until Mr. Hiroshi came back. But after
a while it was clear that her friend wouldn't be coming home. Still, Mary
faithfully kept her word all through that long summer. And when the new
people came to live in Mr. Hiroshi's house, she knew exactly what to do.
Once more, Maxine Trottier takes a small piece of a
larger story, nurtures it with care, and grows a tale
as elegant as a Japanese garden. Flags
is a simple story of innocence and friendship set against
a backdrop of fear and suspicion. A story that must
be told and told — but never repeated.
Republished in 2007 as Mr. Hiroshi's Garden.
Flags is a powerful retelling of a dark incident in Canadian
history - the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II. Maxine
Trottier has taken a small piece of this much larger and more complex
story and told it in a language and setting which young children can understand.
— Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada
The White Raven Award of the International Youth Library 2000
A CCBC Our Choice Book
Recipient of The Storytelling World Honor Title, 2000.
Notable Book, Social Studies, Children's Books Council
"This achingly beautiful story of a young girl and her pioneer family
evokes the vastness of the land, the whisper of the wind and the promise
and hope of people who settled the endless prairie. Maxine Trottier's
lyric prose captures the rhythm of the seasons and of life itself." —
a Starred Review indicating a book of exceptional merit, Quill & Quire,
May 1998.
Selected as a Starred Book for the 1998/99 Our Choice Awards by the
Canadian Children's Book Centre.
Short listed for the Ruth Schwartz award 1999.
Notable Book, Social Studies, Childrens Books Council Childrens Choice
selection, Childrens Book Council and International Reading Association.
"Any child facing a similar situation would be comforted by this
book." —The London Free Press, June, 1997
Awarded first place standing in the 1997 Chicago Women in Publishing
competition in the women's issues category; tied for first place
in the juvenile trade category.
Selected for the 1997/98 Our Choice Awards by the Canadian Children's
Book Centre.
Albert Whitman & Co.,
6340 Oakton Street,
Morton Grove, Ill.,
USA,
60053-2723.
Pavlova's Gift
by Maxine Trottier
Illustrated by Victoria Berdichevsky
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1996
A CCBC Our Choice book
"A fine melding of story and
pictures." — Best Canadian Picture Books,
Emergency Librarian, March-April, 1997
"The story and the pictures
are such a moving portrayal of the goodness
of giving that they will be a far greater
inspiration to your grandchildren than any
lecture could ever be." — Margot Griffin,
Ask The Book Lady
Today
many people still create these traditional crafts.
Nothing can substitute for being taught by a traditional
artist, but in these pages you will see how to adapt
the methods Aboriginal people historically used
to make your own useful and lasting objects. There
are new techniques and materials, but what lies
at the heart of the making of Aboriginal art and
crafts has never changed. It is the handing down
of ideas from one person to another. In this book,
a small part of this tradition is passed on to you.
