Riley Can't Stop Crying

★ “Insightfully emotional…A poignant, purposeful depiction of a ­family learning to recognize, confront, and heal internal struggles with self-love and self-worth. Children in need of encouragement will find comforting ­revelations about the value of individuality.”—School Library Journal, starred review

Riley is inconsolable. He can’t stop crying and nothing is making him feel better. His sister, Regina, tries her best to help him figure out what’s wrong, but four-year-old Riley isn't sure. It’s not his tummy, or his head, or the monsters under the bed. Regina and their dad try everything they can to make Riley smile, but nothing works until one day Regina has an idea. Maybe it’s Riley that is making Riley upset.

Regina knows what it feels like to be uncomfortable in her body, but she also knows that she’s pretty amazing and really good at a lot of things. So how can she help Riley see that he’s pretty amazing and really good at a lot of things? A charming story about a child’s search for his true self under the compassionate eye of his older sister.

Author and singer-songwriter Stéphanie Boulay is half of the Quebecois folk group Les soeurs Boulay. When she’s not writing music, she’s writing award-winning books for readers of all ages that encourage them to be whatever makes them most happy. Stéphanie lives in Montreal.



Born and raised in Montreal, Agathe Bray-Bourret studied cinema at Concordia University before her passion for drawing made her change floors and enrol in film animation instead, the perfect mix of her two passions. She uses watercolor and gouache to show the humor of everyday life. Currently Agathe is illustrating a graphic novel and an animated short movie. She lives in Montreal.