In THE LOWDOWN ON DENIM, narrators JD and Shred take readers on a trip through the history of jeans, demonstrating that, whatever their style, jeans have always driven and reflected popular culture. They use their interest in denim to escort readers from wartime to the rodeo circuit and from environmental concerns to the rock and roll stage.

When blue jeans were invented in the 1870s, they were utilitarian — baggy, only a single pocket and held up with suspenders.

In the 1960s, they were bell-bottomed and embroidered, symbolizing the rebellion of the Woodstock era. Punks in the ’70s held them together with safety pins, while ’80s metal bands wore theirs acid-washed. Then the low-riding style worn by prisoners inspired ’90s hip-hop fashion. Today, denim can be as personalized as an iPod playlist.

With humorous comic-style illustrations throughout, this fun, fascinating social history will make readers think each time they pull on their jeans.

Tanya Lloyd Kyi
grew up in Creston, B.C. She began her writing career as a high school poet, producing pages and pages of work that her mother loved and her best friend religiously archived (possibly for a future blackmailing scheme). The original edition of Canadian Girls Who Rocked the World was Tanya's first book for young readers. She has since published nine other titles, including Canadian Boys Who Rocked The World, which was short-listed for the Silver Birch Award by the Ontario Library Association. Tanya now lives in Vancouver, B.C.

Tanya Lloyd Kyi's profile page

Clayton Hanmer is an illustrator whose crude, energetic comic style has given him a surprisingly broad range of clients from The Globe and Mail to Owl Magazine. He is also the illustrator of The Secret Life of Money by Kira Vermond (Owlkids Books, 2012) and Not Your Typical Book about the Environment by Elin Kelsey (Owlkids Books, 2010). He lives in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada.

Clayton Hanmer's profile page

• Short-listed, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre

“... will be a surefire hit for libraries looking to add attention-grabbing nonfiction to their collections.”

School Library Journal, 02/12