Home | Nancy Hartry

“Though frugal with her words,” commended Helen Kubiw, Chair of the Book of the Year for Children Award Committee, “Nancy Hartry packs much intensity into them, superbly depicting the hardships of her characters’ lives without demanding sympathy from her readers.”

©MATTHEW WILEY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Hartry is a best selling children's author. Her novel Watching Jimmy won the Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year Award 2010 and was a finalist for the TD Bank's Canadaian Children's Literature Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Historical Award and the OLA's Golden Oak Award. She is a past president of the Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP).

Nancy currently sits on the Board of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. She has been a guest speaker at workshops, classrooms, and libraries.

Welcome to the neighborhood! A heartwarming entry to a winter wonderland.

Reminiscent of a vintage photo album, this wordless picture book situates readers close to the action as sympathetic witnesses to a child’s experience of having just moved to an unfamiliar place. As olive-skinned Sami looks out the window of a new home at an unfamiliar landscape, fear and anxiety manifest in the ominous, oversized shadow cast by a kitty cat belonging to neighbor Joy. (The children are unnamed within the book; monikers are supplied in jacket copy.) Joy appears similar in age to Sami and also appears to be a child of color, with thick, straight, jet-black hair and skin paler than Sami’s. Eager to show Sami around nature’s playground, Joy schleps to the newcomer’s house with warm clothing and accessories. Even though they do not seem to speak the same language, Joy’s gestures eventually encourage Sami to venture outdoors, albeit reluctantly. They play in the falling snow, go sledding, feed sunflower seeds to chickadees, and make snow angels that Sami envisions as doves. Muted, simple sketches capture the frost-veiled sunlight, rustic setting, as well as an idyllic faith in friendship and peace. The story’s wordlessness neatly decenters the presumption of a particular dominant culture.

Quaintly rendered nostalgia for the innocence and idealism of early childhood. (Picture book. 3-6)- Kirkus Reviews

SNOW DOVES. Second Story Press. September 2020. A Wordless Picture Book

SMOKESCREEN. Tundra Books, 2013. A Young Adult Novel

Nothing in Kerry’s life prepares her for her first summer job. Stationed as far north from Toronto as Florida is south, unqualified and inexperienced, she perceives hazards around every tree. What does she know about fieldwork? Or black bears? Or men? Absolutely nothing—all she’s done with her life so far is competitive dance. If her mother only knew what this job required! Kerry’s new partner, Yvette, is unlike anyone she’s ever met and something about her doesn’t add up.Her boss is a chauvinist pig and out to get them. When forest fires break out, Kerry and Yvette are drafted for fire duty and sent deeper into the bush—even closer to the fire. As all of northwestern Ontario goes up in flames, Kerry vows to find out what is really going on and uncovers a crime of international scope and scale that will threaten her life.

Smokescreen is an adrenalin pumping adventure, pitting two resourceful young women against nature and man at their most greedy. Truth and lies. Fire and darkness. Who will triumph when nothing is what it seems?

Evenly paced with lots of dramatic action, Smokescreen lives up to its title as several characters

have hidden agendas. Veteran author Nancy Hartry’s quick and enticing book will keep readers

guessing which characters are genuine and which ones are telling lies right up until the final

chapters when all is revealed in a satisfying conclusion.

This review first appeared in the Winter 2014 edition of the Canadian Children’s BookNews.

WATCHING JIMMY. Tundra Books, 2009. Won the Canadian Library Association’s

Children’s Book of the Year Award 2010 and was a finalist for the TD Bank’s Canadian Children’s Literature Award, the Geoffrey

Bilson Historical Award and the OLA’s Golden Oak Award

Almost-12-year-old Carolyn holds a terrible secret. Last summer her best friend Jimmy didn't sustain a serious brain injury from falling off a swing, as his Uncle Ted has told everyone. Instead, Carolyn secretly witnessed Ted's brutal abuse of the boy. Now he is finding ways to treat Jimmy and his mother, Aunt Jean, even more badly as her health falters and bills begin to mount up, since the family can't afford health insurance. Striving to protect her severely brain-damaged friend, Carolyn is aided by a local minister and a caring man from her church. Telling her tale in a pithy first-person, present-tense narration, Hartry, previously known for her picture books (Jocelyn and the Ballerina, 2003), has perfectly captured this determined child's voice and vividly recreates the setting of Toronto in 1958. It's not hard to connect the dots from the medical-bill crisis Jean faces to the current situation in the United States, which brings the story home to modern readers. As Carolyn encounters one nearly overwhelming challenge after another, they will find her ultimately optimistic tale impossible to put down. (Historical fiction. 10 & up)- Kirkus Reviews

This book is well worth the read. It is very believable and captures the reader for a step back in time to learn what life in Canada was like then, and what it means to be courageous, dedicated, and truthful.- LibraryThing

In the hands of another author, the heart-breaking portrayal of Jimmy might have overwhelmed the novel, but Nancy Hartry’s observant, smart, and iconoclastic narrator floats the story over the surface of a despair which often threatens to engulf the characters, but somehow never does. - Canadian Literature, A Quarterly of Criticism and Review

JOCELYN AND the BALLERINA. Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Fall, 2000.

A Picture Book. Received a Starred review in Library Journal and Booklist

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Starred Our Choice Award Recommended

in A Guide to Canadian Children’s Books in English by Deidre Baker and Ken

Setterington, Random

House, 2003

Jocelyn loves her ballerina. When she is wearing it she can twirl and dance up to the sky! It hugs her legs and keeps her warm. But, her mother will not let Jocelyn wear her ballerina when she is the flower girl at Aunt Judy's wedding. And her new pink lace dress is scratchy and doesn't twirl at all! Jocelyn solves her problem in a hilarious manner that will have young readers laughing out loud. Includes a step-by-step guide to creating a floral bouquet just like Jocelyn's!

Nancy Hartry's book is a joy, and any child or adult who has or remembers a treasured toy, blanket, piece of clothing, or special place will absolutely love this endearing story. It speaks to the magic of life and imagination that can be found in the simplest of things, and this naturally told tale deserves and ought to be shared with children for generations to come. - Ian Stewart

Hold On, McGinty! Doubleday Canada Limited, Fall, 1995. A Picture Book.

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Starred Our Choice Award.

Where are the fish?

Every morning for more than sixty years, Old McGinty has launched his fishing dory,

Hearts Content, into the Atlantic Ocean Off the coast of Newfoundland. Every evening,

he's returned with a boatload of codfish.

Until one day, when there's hardly a nibble.

And so begins the cross-country adventure of McGinty and his boat. A mere ten inches

on the globe stands between McGinty and his granddaughter, Molly, who lives on Vancouver Island. But ten provinces is more than ten inches, and instead of the elements and the sea, Old McGinty and Heart's Content must battle train schedules and loneliness during their long voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

Hartry's text has a distinct, nautical flavour. From the book's onset, readers can empathize with McGinty whose whole life has revolved around his job and the sea. The author's use of simple vocabulary, relatively short sentences, and an even balance between narrative text and conversation moves the story along. Teachers can use the book to complement their students' study of Canada and/or to stimulate discussion about the east coast's depleting fish stocks and overfishing. A strong story, and one that makes readers proud to be Canadian.- Gail Hamilton

Short Stories in Other Publications:

“The Thunderbird Swing” Secrets, Marthe Jocelyn ed. Tundra Books, 2005, (Short Story)

“Fore” First Times, Marthe Jocelyn ed. Tundra Books, 2007, (Short Story)