One morning, Fatima and her grandfather wake up to find their clementine orchard savagely ransacked.
Who could be doing this?
How can the culprits be stopped?
A little girl faces an ENORMOUS problem. Luckily, Fatima has powerful friends: the spiders!
Mireille Messier
A bilingual writer, screenwriter and voice-over artist. She has published many books for children and is a collaborator on several television and online projects for youth. She lives in Toronto.
Gabrielle Grimard
As a youngster Gabrielle kept drawing, often to the despair of her teachers! But it was a way for her to stay focused. This experience enabled her to study Fine Arts at Concordia and UQAM, Montreal.
"Beautifully accented watercolors from Gabrielle Grimard add to the allure with exotically detailed textiles, landscapes, and architecture. Inspired by the African proverb of the elephants and spiderwebs, Fatima and her friends prove that by working together, even little things can have a big impact."
— Foreword Reviews
"Illustrations by Grimard are gorgeous, mostly in warm hues of orange, brown, and blue, with expressive faces and hardly any specific ethnic touches."
— Kirkus Reviews
"The most impressive aspect of the book is, without doubt, the gorgeous illustration work done by Gabrielle Grimard. Using a mixed palette of both earth and jewel tones, the pictures often jump off the page, offering a textured glimpse of Fatima's life on the clementine orchard. Many of Grimard's detailed illustrations accurately evoke the emotions on the page, providing readers with a greater means of connection and empathy with the title character. In conclusion, Fatima and the Clementine Thieves is a beautifully illustrated picture book that tells the story of how a small young girl with an impressively quick mind is able to solve a difficult problem without the use of violence — a resolution that even the adults around her are unable to come to.
— CM Magazine
On the CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens list for fall 2017
The French version of the book, Fatima et les voleurs de clémentines, was a finalist for the Tamarac prize
Also available as an eBook in the following formats. Our web site is not set up to sell eBooks. Our eBooks are available at most major vendors:
Below are a couple of low-res spreads from Fatima and the Clementine Thieves:
Pages 6 and 7:
Pages 14 and 15:
Updates Available: Updates Available: Update available for Picture Gallery Module