Go Home Bay

In 1914, Tom Thomson spent the summer at a family cottage on Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, where he taught the ten-year-old daughter, Helen, how to paint. Author Susan Vande Griek and illustrator Pascal Milelli have imagined this time through Helen’s eyes, providing an intriguing glimpse into the famous painter’s life.

Helen and her father greet their visitor on the rocks of West Wind Island. She is fascinated by everything about him ― his canoe full of gear, his paint-stained hands, his campfire stew. Over the next few days she watches as Tom paddles off to fish and clambers over the rocks to paint. And then he invites Helen to paint with him ― wildflowers blooming near the cottage, boats rocking in the water, pine trees blowing in a storm. And at summer’s end, he leaves her with a memento of their time together.

The story, told in lyrical free verse, has a quiet charm, while the illustrations capture the natural beauty that inspired some of Thomson’s most memorable paintings.

An author’s note provides more information about Tom Thomson’s life.

SUSAN VANDE GRIEK is the author of several highly acclaimed children’s books. Her picture book Loon, illustrated by Karen Reczuch, was named a USBBY Outstanding International Book and won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award and the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, among others. She has also written Go Home Bay, illustrated by Pascal Milelli, about the artist Tom Thomson, and An Owl at Sea, illustrated by Ian Wallace. Susan lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Pascal Milelli graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1988. His book

The Art Room, written by Susan Vande Griek, won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award for Illustration in 2002. Visit Pascal Milelli's website: http://www.pascalmilelli.com/