• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: p to 3
• Reading age: 4 to 8

A quirky story with a kid's-eye view of the curious ways people behave in groups.

In a field outside the city, a group of children are playing a simple game. They run after a kicked ball, then throw themselves on top of the ball in a laughing heap. Then the adults arrive. Lots of adults. They want to join the “people pile.” But as more and more people join the pile, some of them become uncomfortable. Others have questions. Lots of questions. Like, how big is their pile? Are they a mountain? And when a disruption causes the one pile to become two piles, is that better? All the while, the children are confused. What are all these adults doing? Can't they just get back to their game?

Award-winning journalist Dave Cameron has created an unconventional, one-of-a-kind story to introduce young readers to some big ideas about societies, group mentality and group dynamics. It's an excellent choice to encourage critical thinking about how people interact with each other in groups and could jump-start any number of wide-ranging discussions about societal structures, equality and fairness. The story's open-ended yet positive resolution reassures readers that societies are always growing, changing and reinventing themselves, and that, ultimately, no one is better than anyone else and all are welcome and can be accommodated. Suharu Ogawa's playful art is full of humorous and fun details that children will enjoy poring over, discovering something new with each read.

Dave Cameron is often able to sleep soundly on interstate buses and in airport departure lounges. This wasn’t always the case. At the age of 18, he sat up for 70 hours on the train from Toronto to Vancouver. He arrived smelly and exhausted, but also having discovered that movement alone is a fix – even if temporary – for restlessness.Dave grew up in Maple, Ontario, and studied magazine journalism at Ryerson University. A freelance writer, his work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Ottawa Citizen, and Cottage Life magazine, among other publications. He also worked for a time as a weekly newspaper reporter in Kincardine, Ontario. But the stories he likes best are those found by accident. (Or those that are somehow accidental: he can, for example, tell a Techni-colourful tale about the time he got food poisoning in Nepal.)Dave has lived in Vancouver, Toronto, and Halifax, and has travelled in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Dave Cameron's profile page

Suharu Ogawa is a Toronto-based illustrator. Her love for drawing started in a kindergarten art school after being kicked out of calligraphy class for refusing to convert to right-handedness. Formally trained in art history and cultural anthropology, she worked for several years as a university librarian until her passion for illustration called her out of that career and into the pursuit of a lifelong dream. Since then, Suharu has created illustrations for magazines, public art projects and children's books, including Why Humans Work: How Jobs Shape Our Lives and Our World in the Orca Think line. She also teaches illustration at OCAD University in Toronto.

Suharu Ogawa's profile page

A bizarre yet intriguing look at human behavior.

Kirkus Reviews

Many interesting ideas are considered in this story about play and separation and division. A creative teacher or parent could find some compelling ways to bring this book to life when sharing it with kids.

School Library Connection

Many interesting ideas are considered in this story about play and separation and division. A creative teacher or parent could find some compelling ways to bring this book to life when sharing it with kids.—School Library Connection

This book can be used to launch discussion about different perspectives, as well as about communication. In the end, they can celebrate how people can come together to accomplish shared goals.—Children's Literature

This book can be used to launch discussion about different perspectives, as well as about communication. In the end, they can celebrate how people can come together to accomplish shared goals.

Children's Literature