My New Shirt

Author Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Dusan Petricic
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Hardcover
$18.95 US
| $22.99 CAN
On sale Sep 11, 2007 | 32 Pages | 9780887767159
Age 4-6 years | Preschool - 1
Receiving the yearly birthday gift from his grandmother has become David’s living nightmare. The “surprise” she always has for him never varies. How can he stop this never-ending flow of stiff, white, scratchy shirts — “perfect gentlemen” shirts that make him squirm and pull and shift and twitch? David closes his eyes and imagines a long line of shirts — one for every year of his life — stretching on forever. Then suddenly, without really intending to, he has done the unthinkable.

“DAVID!” his mother screams. And when David opens his eyes, there are his mother, his father, and his bubbie staring at him. The shirt is no longer in his hands. He has thrown it out the window! Now it is out on the street, in the jaws of his dog, and the very merry chase is on.

Bitingly funny and keenly observed, My New Shirt is graphically presented as a photo album commemorating David’s desperate act of liberation from a family tradition badly in need of a change.
  • FINALIST | 2007
    Governor General's Literary Awards - Children's Literature - Illustration
Praise for Cary Fagan:

“Fagan’s prose is engaging….”
School Library Journal

“Fagan proves himself a wonderful writer with a rare comic gift.”
Publishers Weekly

“Cary Fagan gives readers a wonderfully whimsical and yes, heartwarming, story…”
Times-Colonist
© Josh Levine
CARY FAGAN's numerous kids' books include The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster, which was a JLG selection, the Kaspar Snit novels, the Wolfie & Fly chapter books, and the picture books Water, Water, Little Blue Chair, What Are You Doing, Benny?, King Mouse, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award, and Bear Wants to Sing. Mr. Zinger's Hat, another of his picture books, was awarded the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the IODE Jean Throop Award. He has also won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. Cary was born and raised in Toronto, where he continues to live with his family. View titles by Cary Fagan
Dusan Petricic is the award-winning illustrator of more than twenty books for children including Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes published by Bloomsbury in September 2004. A former professor of illustration and book design, Petricic’s work appears in The New York Times, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, and The Toronto Star. He lives in Toronto. View titles by Dusan Petricic

About

Receiving the yearly birthday gift from his grandmother has become David’s living nightmare. The “surprise” she always has for him never varies. How can he stop this never-ending flow of stiff, white, scratchy shirts — “perfect gentlemen” shirts that make him squirm and pull and shift and twitch? David closes his eyes and imagines a long line of shirts — one for every year of his life — stretching on forever. Then suddenly, without really intending to, he has done the unthinkable.

“DAVID!” his mother screams. And when David opens his eyes, there are his mother, his father, and his bubbie staring at him. The shirt is no longer in his hands. He has thrown it out the window! Now it is out on the street, in the jaws of his dog, and the very merry chase is on.

Bitingly funny and keenly observed, My New Shirt is graphically presented as a photo album commemorating David’s desperate act of liberation from a family tradition badly in need of a change.

Awards

  • FINALIST | 2007
    Governor General's Literary Awards - Children's Literature - Illustration

Reviews

Praise for Cary Fagan:

“Fagan’s prose is engaging….”
School Library Journal

“Fagan proves himself a wonderful writer with a rare comic gift.”
Publishers Weekly

“Cary Fagan gives readers a wonderfully whimsical and yes, heartwarming, story…”
Times-Colonist

Author

© Josh Levine
CARY FAGAN's numerous kids' books include The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster, which was a JLG selection, the Kaspar Snit novels, the Wolfie & Fly chapter books, and the picture books Water, Water, Little Blue Chair, What Are You Doing, Benny?, King Mouse, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award, and Bear Wants to Sing. Mr. Zinger's Hat, another of his picture books, was awarded the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the IODE Jean Throop Award. He has also won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. Cary was born and raised in Toronto, where he continues to live with his family. View titles by Cary Fagan
Dusan Petricic is the award-winning illustrator of more than twenty books for children including Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes published by Bloomsbury in September 2004. A former professor of illustration and book design, Petricic’s work appears in The New York Times, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, and The Toronto Star. He lives in Toronto. View titles by Dusan Petricic