Smart Pets

Smart Pets teaches children that they are special and smart for many different reasons. Each and every “Smart Pet” is celebrated for what makes them unique. What makes you unique?Lindsay Marti is a self-taught painter and the mom of twin girls, Lucy and Zoey. She originally painted the illustrations in Smart Pets to decorate the walls of their incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit, while Lucy and Zoey did a bit more growing before coming home. In the unit, these animated paintings served as fun conversation starters between the hospital staff and fellow parents. Lindsay and her husband, David, connected with several families whose children also arrived in the world a little too early. It was then that Lindsay decided to name the characters in the book after the babies they met in the hospital, writing captions alongside the images to ultimately produce a heartfelt book called Smart Pets. The paintings were created with high-contrast colours to make them easier for newborn and premature babies to see. With every book sold, a portion of proceeds will be donated to Surrey Memorial Hospital and Royal Columbian Hospital in British Columbia, Canada.