Leanne Shapton gives voice to the toys on our shelves in this wry yet tender children’s book
Always there to comfort and listen, stuffed animals provide a reassuring presence in many a childhood. With Toys Talking, acclaimed illustrator and author Leanne Shapton explores their inner lives, to reveal that their thoughts and feelings are just as complicated as our own. The concerns of these bunnies, bears, and ducks range from the mundane to the existential, and with each new pairing of character and text, we see a deeper portrait of their pensive, quiet world. Shapton holds a mirror to our own lives, to our insecurities and concerns, by revealing that the objects who comfort us have worries of their own. This book brings Shapton’s gorgeously minimal brushstrokes to a younger audience, and will leave children and parents alike brimming with the beauty and melancholy of self-reflection.

Leanne Shapton's profile page

Leanne Shapton is an author, artist, illustrator and publisher based in New York City. She is currently the art editor at The New York Review of Books. She is the co-founder, with photographer Jason Fulford, of J&L Books. Shapton is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Shapton is the author of nine books: Toronto; Was She Pretty?; Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry; Native Trees of Canada; Sunday Night Movies; Swimming Studies; Guest Book: Ghost Stories; In Cars and Toys Talking, a children’s book. Swimming Studies won the 2012 National Book Critic’s Circle Award for autobiography, and was long listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2012.

An offbeat illustrated board book of stuffed animals speaking in non sequiturs. A class menagerie." - Globe & Mail
"Those toys are always listening so politely; we want to know what they have to say." - Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker
"Shapton has created a charming, funny and off-beat book that will no doubt fire the imagination of her youngest readers." - Creative Review

"This is an extraordinary book - remarkable, but also odd." - Financial Times
"