Over the Shop

JonArno Lawson is an award-winning poet and writer who is the author of many books for children and adults, including A Day for Sandcastles, illustrated by Qin Leng, which has been nominated for the Carnegie medal, and Footpath Flowers, illustrated by Sydney Smith. He has won the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Children's Poetry four times and has also won the Governor General's Award for Illustrated Children's Books. He has taught children's poetry at Simmons College and lives in Toronto, Canada, with his family.Qin Leng is a designer and illustrator of children’s books, including A Day for Sandcastles, illustrated by Qin Leng, which has been nominated for the Carnegie medal. She has received many awards for her animated short films and her artwork. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and her son. Find Qin online at qinillustrations.com and on Twitter as @qinleng and Instagram as @qinillustrations.

In this wordless tale, a chosen family forms. . .A few carefully placed pride rainbows make queerness explicit: a barely noticeable rainbow belt; a rainbow hat, tiny in a distance shot; and, finally, an unmistakable (and unprecedented for this shop) rainbow flag hanging outside the business at the very end. Careful readers may deduce that the Asian tenant is a transgender man, signaled through an extremely subtle plot point. Poverty and the child’s early loneliness are subtle too, but warmth never is. A wordless, singing infusion of love and energy into a home.