Join a mother-to-be and her daughter in award-winning author Sheryl McFarlaneand illustratorLaurel Aylesworth’s The Blue Canoe, an enchanting picture book adventure filled with love, reassurance, and cherished connections, discovering the wonders of nature while embracing the arrival of a new baby.

Every cabin day is a paddle-on-the-lake day.
You’ll be paddling with us too, coming-soon baby.
Mom and me and you in our blue canoe.

A mother and daughter spend the day on the lake, admiring the local flora and fauna and considering the way their paddling routine might change when a new baby arrives.

For nature lovers with a growing family, The Blue Canoe is a poignant picture book conversation that gently addresses a child’s natural worries about shifting family dynamics while celebrating the unchangeable bond between mother and child. The details of the animal families they encounter bolster the child’s confidence and reinforce the mother’s loving reassurance that even though a new baby will bring change, some things are as reliable as the sunrise.

Sheryl McFarlane was born in the Ottawa Valley and was raised in Arizona, but the west coast snatched her heart more than thirty years ago. She is the mother of three wonderful daughters who often appear in her books in disguised form. She is the author of four board books and eight picture books, including: A Pod of Orcas, This is the Dog, Jessie's Island and Waiting for the Whales.
Sheryl's books have won and been short-listed for several readers' choice awards, the Governor General's Award, the IODE Award, the BC Book Prize for Children's Literature, and the Mr. Christie Award. Sheryl has toured with the Peter Gzowski Golf Tournament for Literacy, Save the Children, and The Canada Council. She has judged creative writing for The Writer's Union of Canada, The Canadian Children's Book Centre, and the BC Creative Writers' Grant Program, been a writer in residence in many schools, been involved in many young author programs, and has led children's writing workshops for beginning and established writers.
A former teacher, Sheryl provides professional development in language arts for school districts, Early Childhood Educators, Primary Educator Associations and the International Reading Association. She frequently acts as a consultant for publishers on both educational and trade projects. Her first young adult novel was published in the fall of 2006.

Sheryl McFarlane's profile page

Laurel Ayelsworth's profile page