The time is 1900, in the midst of the great waves of European immigration to North America. Standing in the dust and wind of the prairie, a young boy prepares to say good-bye to Josepha, his older classmate, who is leaving the alienating world of the classroom where no one speaks his language.

But what a wonderful friend he has been! And without a common language between them, how will his younger friend ever say good-bye? What gift can he give Josepha to show how special their friendship has been? Josepha depicts a facet of pioneer life seldom considered - the immigrant child's struggle to begin again in a strange land.

For over 20 years Jim McGugan has been an elementary-school teacher, a guidance counsellor, an educational consultant, an editor, and a writer. The author of two books for children, he draws on all his experiences when he writes and is presently at work on another illustrated story and a novel for young readers. Jim McGugan lives in Palgrave, Ontario with his wife, two daughters, and, according to the author information in his first book, with his lawn tractor, Grumplegrunt.

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Murray Kimber is a Canadian, currently residing in Mexico, where he is a full time artist. He trained at the Alberta College of Art and Design and worked for a time as a graphic designer in an advertising agency. Murray won the Governor General’s Award for Illustration and the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award for his work in Josepha: A Prairie Boy’s Story, by Jim McGugan. His second picture book, Fern Hill, by Dylan Thomas, won the R. Ross Annett Award. Although Murray is influenced by the works of many famous painters, he says his earliest inspiration came from the comic books, magazines, and political cartoon he read as a child.

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