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Lily and the Paper Man is my first book. It’s a story about a little
girl’s reaction to the plight of a homeless man.
Winner of ForeWord Magazine's 2007 Book of the Year Award, Children's Picture Book category.
Finalist for the 2008 Blue Spruce Award.
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People often ask me why I wrote Lily’s story. Several years ago, I was
walking with my four-year-old son in downtown Toronto. We came across a
man asleep on the sidewalk. Frightened, my son asked who he was and why
he was there. These were questions I couldn’t answer easily. After
weeks of worry, my son came up with a solution: to invite the homeless
in the city to stay in our apartment while we were away. And the spark
for the book was lit.
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I still wonder about the man on the sidewalk. Like Ray, the Paper Man,
he is only one of many hundreds of people — men, women, teens and young
children — who have no place to call home.
What does home mean to you? I’d love you to send me your poems, stories
and artwork about what having a home is for you and I will post them
here.
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