A Present for Mrs. Kazinski

Mrs. Kazinski, the old woman who lives in the attic of the old Grant Street rooming house, turns eighty on Sunday. Frank, who lives with his mother in the back rooms on the main floor, is her friend. He wants to give her the best present in the world. But what could that be? He asks all the motley residents in the house and they do have good ideas, but in the end the local cat is the most help of all. On Mrs. Kazinski's birthday, Frank carries a kitten up the stairs, but his true gift is something even more precious. A Present for Mrs. Kanzinski was inspired by Marilynn Reynolds' childhood memories of living in several locations across Canada with her single mother. Everywhere she lives, an old lady lived nearby. These women became her friends and have now been immortalized in the title character. Lynn Smith-Ary's quirky, richly-detailed illustrations bring to the varied cast of characters all the warmth and personality suggested in the author's text. Carefully researched for every detail of illustration, the story carries us back to an inner city community of the mid-twentieth century. Marilynn Reynolds is the author of many highly-successful picturebooks including Belle's Journey, The New Land and The Magnificent Piano Recital. Another of her books, The Prairie Fire, has been nominated for several awards, including the CLA Book of the Year and was selected for the America Booksellers Association's prestigious "Pick of the Lists." Marilynn's book Goodbye to Griffith Street won the Christie Harris Book Award in 2005. More than thrity years' experience as an artist and animation filmmaker prepared Lynn Smith-Ary for this special project. She has won many awards for her films, including a Genie for Pearl's Dinner and first prizes in Columbus, Ohio and Bombay for Sandburg's Arithmetic. Smith-Ary was drawn to A Present for Mrs. Kanzinski immediately; the story cast her into her own warm childhood memories of her loving, playful Scottish nanny.Marilynn Reynolds is the author of 'A Present for Mrs. Kazinski', published 2001 under ISBN 9781551431963 and ISBN 1551431963.