Alison Garwood Jones

Hi, I’m Miss Jones, your first grade teacher.

I’m spending my Sunday cutting out wall letters and flowers for my home room library corner.

Okay, I haven’t switched careers!

Actually, I’m creating these wall letters for a corner of the Deer Park Branch of the Toronto Public Library.

For the month of April, Deer Park will be hosting an exhibit of my drawings from I MISS MY MOMMY , my illustrated novel for orphaned adults that follows what it feels like to live in a world that no longer includes your parents.

I’ll be hanging it on the first floor in the magazine section.

WHAT: Free public art exhibition – “I MISS MY MOMMY: Portraits of Orphaned Adults”
DATE: April 2 – April 30th, 2026
WHERE: Deer Park Branch of the TPL — 40 St Clair Ave E, Toronto, ON M4T 1M9 (Subway: St. Clair)

When you lose your parents, sometimes you go back to feeling like a little kid. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to using cut-out letters.

Or maybe it’s just my industrious way of working with next to no budget.

Keeping it small keeps me close to my parents. Staying close to the work guides all of my professional decisions.

BTW: The paperback and ebook versions of   are available at the Toronto Public Library. You can also purchase the book using the link in my bio.

FUN FACT: In the 1940s, Margaret Atwood received her very first library card at the Deer Park branch of the TPL. She checked out Grimm’s Fairy Tales, followed by an avalanche of other titles. I’m currently reading the library copy of her memoir (of sorts), Book of Lives.

Libraries make us feel things. Come and hang out with the art and books.