• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: 2

The wonders of a child's imagination.

When Dad doesn't have time to play in the snow with her, Emily is annoyed. Then she becomes so mad that she makes a snow dinosaur and calls it Grizzle. Grizzle comes alive, and she is a Dilophosaurus with a temper to match Emily's. And Grizzle is hungry - so hungry that Emily rustles up some snow pizzas with lots of pepperoni. Then Grizzle begins to grow and as Emily makes more and more meals out of the backyard snow Grizzle snaps it all up and growls for more. She is really hungry! At last Grizzle turns her attention to Dad, who has wandered outside to admire Emily's handiwork. If Emily doesn't do something fast, Dad will make an excellent snack!

An imaginative and endearing story about what happens when your temper gets the better of you, Making Grizzle Grow is also about real love - the kind that doesn't disappear just because you get mad. A great book for lovers of dinosaurs and fun in the snow.

Rachna Gilmore is the critically acclaimed Governor General's Award winning author of numerous books with multiple honours and awards. Her publications include picture books, early readers, middle grade and young adult novels, as well as adult fiction. Her books are sold internationally with translations in French, Danish, German, Korean, Dutch, Spanish, Urdu, Bengali, Chinese as well as several other languages.
Rachna's fantasy novel, The Sower of Tales, won the National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Book Award, and was nominated for the Red Maple Award and the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award. Her YA novel, A Group of One, (published by Henry Holt, and now available in paperback in Canada, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside) received a Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor citation and was included in the New York Public Library's Best Books for the Teen Age list.
A student of life, Rachna loves to explore the ideas that spark and seize her imagination, as well as to play with words. She calls the process of creating books plarking - work, she says, is too tedious and grinding a word to describe the delight of the creative process, and play doesn't quite convey the real time and effort that goes into completing a book, whereas plarking covers it all, especially as it also reflects the joy and song of larking about.
Born in India, Rachna has lived in London, England, Prince Edward Island, and now lives in Ottawa. A skilled and experienced presenter, Rachna loves to share her enthusiasm for reading and writing; she has given readings and workshops in schools, libraries and conferences across the country as well as internationally.
Website: www.rachnagilmore.ca.

Rachna Gilmore's profile page

Leslie Elizabeth Watts has illustrated a number of acclaimed picture books, including It's Raining, It's Pouring, and On the Night of the Comet. Leslie works in egg tempera, an old technique that requires the mixing of dry pigments with egg yolk and water. She lives in Harriston, Ontario, with her daughter Emily, her son Stefan, and several pets.

Leslie Elizabeth Watts' profile page

"The expressions on Watts' characters are especially well done. Readers can immediately see when Emily is angry, impatient, scared and contented. The pictures are over-sized and brimming with primary colours."
Highly recommended.
— CM Magazine

"The visual elements of the book suit this defiant humour. . . Leslie Watts's illustrations are pleasing in the way they flesh out the text's sketchier details."
— Quill & Quire

"(Readers) will have been nicely caught up in this well told and convincingly illustrated drama."
— Toronto Globe & Mail

"The critter's increasing size (and the increasing size of the text each time it roars "More!") has a delicious sense of menace. What audiences will most relate to are Emily's angry disappointment in her too-busy parent and the resulting personification of that anger, which is effective, funny, and just a little scary."
— Booklist

"Written with humor and creativity, Gilmore's story dramatizes the tenderness of a parent/child relationship. . . Watts's artwork illuminates an already luminous story. Each spread is painted in bright, gleaming colors, featuring rosy-cheeked Emily and her fantastical dinosaurs with a backdrop of glistening white snow. Moving with the ebb and flow of her anger, Emily's imagination soars, revealing the vulnerability of love and offering a make-believe depiction of the real emotional life of children."
— Kirkus Reviews

Making Grizzle Grow