• Age: 6 to 8
• Grade: 1 to 3
• Reading age: 6 to 8

Shmuel is eager to help support his poor family, but no one in town is interested in hiring a ten-year-old boy. One day, the village installs new electric lamps, bringing light to their square and dazzling away the dark. Until a lamp breaks during a storm—and Shmuel is the only one who can fix it. Will Shmuel be able to conquer his fear of heights and bring light back to his town?

A gentle tale of bravery, empowerment and community, and the thrill of transformation.

Karen Levine is a prizewinning producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio. Karen has won awards for her radio work, including two Peabody Awards - the Oscars of radio. She originally produced Hana’s Suitcase as a radio documentary before making it into a book. Though she travels widely to talk about the book, she makes her home in Toronto with her partner and her son.

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Sheila Baslaw began writing children’s stories after a career in social work. Intrigued by the stories her parents told about growing up in a shtetl, she based Shmuel on her father's life as a Jewish child in Russia in the early 1900s. Sheila, now in her nineties, lives in Ottawa.

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Alice Priestley has illustrated numerous books including five other children’s stories. Out on the Ice in the Middle of the Bay was shortlisted for a Mr. Christie Book Award and the Amelia Frances Gibbon Award. Her other books include Winning the Girl of the Sea, The Watcher, Clouds on the Mountain and Someone’s Reading This Book. She lives in Toronto with her husband and children.

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