• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Placemaking—personalizing public and semi-private spaces like front yards—is a growing trend in cities and suburbs around the world, drawing people out of their homes and into conversation with one another.

Picture a busy avenue. Now plant trees along the boulevard, paint a mural by the empty lot, and add a community garden. Set up benches along the sidewalks and make space for kids' chalk drawings, and you've set the scene for a thriving community. Kids are natural placemakers, building tree forts, drawing on sidewalks and setting up lemonade stands, but people of all ages can enjoy creative placemaking activities. From Dutch families who drag couches and tables onto sidewalks for outdoor suppers to Canadians who build little lending libraries to share books with neighbors, people can do things that make life more fun and strengthen neighborhoods. Home Sweet Neighborhood combines upbeat text, fun facts and colorful photos to intrigue and inspire readers.

Michelle is the author of several books for children, and she enjoys telling the stories of kids who seize life's opportunities. When growing up in Port Moody, British Columbia, her favourite spot was the library. She loved cracking open the cover of a novel, taking a deep breath, and jumping into another life.

At university, Michelle studied literature, and between courses, she helped dig a water pipeline in the Dominican Republic and flipped burgers for a summer at a McDonald's in Germany. After graduating, she cycled 6000 kilometres across Canada, became a travel writer, taught creative writing in the Arctic, and worked as a simulated patient for medical students to practice on. She also married the pen pal that she'd been writing to since she was fourteen years old, and together they traveled around his home country of Argentina.

Michelle began writing for kids because she's always loved reading children's books. These days, when she's not writing or going on adventures, she enjoys reading, swimming, baking, hiking, and pedaling her bicycle around Victoria, British Columbia, where she lives with her husband and daughter. For more information about Michelle and her books, please visit her website at www.michellemulder.com.

Michelle Mulder's profile page

• Short-listed, Rocky Mountain Book Award (RMBA)
• Nominated, Young Readers' Choice Book Awards of British Columbia (YRCABC) Red Cedar Book Awards
• Commended, The Nature Generation Green Earth Book Award - Honor Book
• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens
• Commended, Junior Library Guild (JLG) Gold Standard Selection

“Young people will get ideas for projects they could recreate in their own neighborhood...and may even be inspired to get involved in local politics.”

The Horn Book Online

&quotAn upbeat view of innovations in modern living.&quot

Kirkus Review

Home Sweet Neighborhood makes me so happy! Michelle Mulder's delightful book is proof that, by working and playing together, all of us have the power to create better communities.

Charles Montgomery, Author of <i>Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design</i>

&quotLively idea. An intriguing book on a good topic.&quot

Booklist

&quotA vibrant introduction to community building through the practice of placemaking and how much one person can accomplish through small activities. Readers will be inspired by the variety of ideas and the stories of success to start placemaking in their own neighborhood. Highly Recommended.&quot

CM: Canadian Review of Materials