Lana Button has a new picture book coming out!

One Can by Lana Button and Eric Walters, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant

A child donates a can of food to their school food drive. But in an unexpected twist, they come to understand what it means to give and receive.

A child is excited to donate a can of their favorite Zoodelicious to the school food drive. Their teacher has explained that the food will be given to people in need, along with mittens from the “mitten tree.”

In the classroom, there’s a carpet with one hundred squares, and the goal is to fill each square with a can of food. When the child places their can of Zoodelicious on square 100, everyone cheers, and the teacher puts a snowflake sticker on top to celebrate.

But a few days later, the child finds the same can of Zoodelicious among the groceries their mom has brought home. There’s a pair of red mitts, too. “Mom, are we the people in need?” the child asks.

The next morning, after having thought of all the people who will receive food from the school and wondering what else they might need, the child donates their too-small blue mittens to the mitten tree at school.

Created by an award-winning team, One Can tells a timely and touching story of a child who learns to give and receive – and wants only to give again in return.

One Can is available for pre-order from Chapters / Indigo here or pre-order from your local bookstore (see here). 

Pre-orders are important! They…

Tell publishers people are excited about this book

Build buzz among booksellers

Push the book higher in retailer algorithms, making the book more likely to get stocked in stores

Set the book up for post-publication, with strong initial sales drawing attention from readers, reviewers, booksellers, and publishers.

Help the authors you love – order their books even before they come out!  

Lana Button is a children’s book author, motivational speaker for kids and an early childhood educator. She has written more than a dozen picture books, many of them award-winners, including Tough Like Mum, illustrated by Carmen Mok (Crystal Kite Award), and Willow’s Whispers, illustrated by Tania Howells (Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities). Lana lives in Burlington, Ontario. 

Many Quick Brown Fox readers will know Lana a frequent guest speaker at my Kid Lit courses and, from long ago, as a frequent attendee at my workshops ~Brian

Eric Walters has published over 130 novels and picture books for young readers. Among many awards, he won the Governor General’s Award for The King of Jam Sandwiches and the Children’s Africana Book Award for The Matatu, illustrated by Eva Campbell. 

He is co-founder of Creation of Hope, which supports orphans and disadvantaged children in Kenya, and creator of National Run Day for the Terry Fox Foundation and I Read Canadian Day. A recipient of the Order of Canada, Eric lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Isabelle Malenfant has illustrated more than twenty children’s books, including Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino (Stonewall Honor Book, American Library Association’s Rainbow List, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year) and Pinny in Summer and Pinny in Fall, both by Joanne Schwartz. Isabelle’s illustrations for Pablo trouve un trésor by Andrée Poulin were nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award. 

Isabelle lives in Magog, Quebec.

Note: For information about submitting to Groundwood Books, see here.

If you’re interested in writing for children, don’t miss our upcoming Kid Lit workshop Sunday, July 27, with guest speaker Katie Hearn, Editorial Director at Annick Press. See here.

See all our upcoming  weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day retreats here.