A Smithsonian Notable Children's Book

James is following his father's footsteps, and today for the first time he will descend deep into the caves below the Atlantic Ocean to begin to learn the coal miner's work. But a sudden calamity puts James and his father in terrible danger. Only by working together can they escape.

Beautifully illustrated in an Edward Hopper style, Boy of the Deeps is a tribute to the generations of miners who have endangered their lives underground to supply us with energy.

Ian Wallace has had a distinguished career as an author and illustrator of picture books, publishing many classics such as Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance, Boy of the Deeps and The Huron Carol. His visual interpretation of Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot received three starred reviews and was named a USBBY Outstanding International Book and a Resource Links’ Year’s Best. He has won the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. He has also been nominated for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Ian lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, Deb.

Ian Wallace's profile page

• Short-listed, Hackmatack Award
• Long-listed, Ruth Schwartz Award
• Winner, Smithsonian Notable Children's Book

This is a book of quiet and grave beauty

Globe and Mail

Wallace expertly manipulates light and shadow in his effectively textured, acrylic-on-canvas paintings, which offer a lifelike depiction of this timeless subterranean world.

Publishers Weekly

Wallace's...work will appeal to more serious children, and anyone who appreciates that rare combination of fine writing and illustration.

Quill & Quire, STARRED REVIEW