My Best Friend

A mysterious shadow walks the corridors. It goes from room to room, and sometimes leaves with someone in its arms, taking them to the land of dreams. Until one day a patient at the hospital—a little boy—speaks to the shadow, offering it a drink of water. The boy is fearful at first, but as he gets to know the shadow through their conversations, he realizes that she has feelings of her own. So begins a great friendship between an unlikely pair: a little boy, and Death.

Combining the poetic delicacy of author Gilles Tibo and the light touch of illustrator Janice Nadeau,My Best Friend tells a deeply moving, hopeful tale with moments that will bring a smile to readers' faces, and a story that will lodge in the depths of the heart and remain there for life.

Gilles Tibo is a highly acclaimed author and illustrator with over 150 books to his name. His children's picture bookMy Best Friend was originally published in French as Ma meilleure amie (les Editions Quebec Amerique, 2007), and won the 2008 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature (Illustration), the Grand Prix Illustration du Concours Lux 2008 and the Prix Alvine-Belisle 2008. He lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Janice Nadeau studied graphic design at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and illustration at the Ecole superieure des arts decoratifs de Strasbourg (France) before working as an art director for various organizations. Over the years she has illustrated a number of books and is a three-time recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Illustration. Nadeau has an evocative, poetic and sophisticated style, which blends both retro and modern aesthetics. Her fine and intricate line work can be seen through her soft watercolours, whose multitude of details bring a rich touch to her compositions. Nadeau lives in Montreal, Quebec, where she teaches illustration at the Ecole de design of Universite du Quebec a Montreal. For more information, visit www.janicenadeau.com.