The Magic Beads

It''s seven-year-old Lillian''s first day at a new school, and she''s got butterflies in her tummy. When she learns she has to bring something for Show and Tell at the end of the week, her butterflies turn into grasshoppers. Lillian and her mother have just moved away from Lillian''s abusive father and into a family shelter, leaving behind all of their possessions. Every day that Lillian anxiously watches her classmates bring toys in to share, the creatures in her stomach change and grown, until finally, she realizes that imagination can make anything magical, even an ordinary string of beads.

Geneviève Côté is an award-winning illustrator of many children''s books, including her own What Elephant? and With You Always, Little Monday. She is the winner of the 2007 Governor General''s Literary Award for Children''s Book Illustration, French Text, for La petite rapporteuse de mots, and the winner of the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award 2005 for The Lady of Shalott. Susin Nielsen-Fernlund has written for internationally-acclaimed TV series and many award-winning children''s TV series. She co-created the animated pre-school series, "Franny''s Feet," and recently adapted Susan Juby''s "Alice I Think" trilogy into a TV series. The Magic Beads is Susin''s third children''s book, following the Mr. Christie''s Silver award-winner "Hank and Fergus, and Mormor Moves In." Susin Nielsen lives in Vancouver, BC.