Starlight Investments has partnered with Greater Toronto Area-based author Jackie Burns to publish Priya’s Pets, the second title in the Floor Friends children’s book series centred on life in multi-family rental communities.

The new book builds on the success of the first installment, Ivan’s Garden of Hope, which received the 2025 Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario Impact Award for social impact and community leadership. The series aims to reflect the experiences of millions of Canadian children growing up in apartments, a demographic that remains underrepresented in children’s literature despite more than one-third of households living in multi-family dwellings.

“I think it goes without saying that at Starlight we believe that the housing that we provide is about people, not just the buildings,” said Marlee Kohn, Toronto-based Starlight’s vice-president of strategy and ESG, in an interview with Connect. “It’s not just about those assets. We really wanted to support those stories that reflect the lived experiences of those people, those families that are in our multi-family communities and really just help children see their own home, their friendships, the neighbourhoods in the books that they’re reading.

“It’s something that I think Jackie really highlights very well. She captures that naturally across her book series in a way that feels just warm and authentic.”

Starlight is donating thousands of copies of Priya’s Pets to its communities’ residents across Canada.

Priya’s Pets follows a young girl known for her ability to calm animals as she helps neighbours in her apartment building, navigating shared spaces such as a community garden, gym and pet facilities. The story centres on themes of friendship, collaboration and multi-generational support, culminating in a community effort to locate a missing dog ahead of a resident’s 100th birthday celebration.

The Floor Friends series is part of Starlight’s broader resident engagement strategy, which emphasizes social connection and well-being alongside physical amenities. By portraying apartment living as a vibrant, supportive environment, the initiative also seeks to normalize and elevate rental housing as a long-term lifestyle choice for families, according to Starlight.

The apartment investment, development and management specialist is distributing thousands of free copies of Priya’s Pets to residents across its Canadian portfolio through events, programming and welcome packages, with the goal of fostering a stronger sense of belonging among younger tenants.,

“Distributing the books directly to those residents really helps bring that sense of belonging to life in a real tangible way that, I think, mirrors what Jackie is trying to project as well,” said Kohn. “I truly believe that these books have helped residents, especially the children and the families feel seen and represented.

“I think that really is a theme, when we’re talking about the impact you have on these communities or impact you have on people’s lives. I think that it helps these children and the families. It really sparks conversations together. It’s creating that shared experience.”

The book has also contributed to positive engagement at Starlight’s resident events, with people fully engaged as apartment inhabitants see themselves in the book, Kohn added.

“People are truly engaged and interested in the book and see themselves, and it helps reinforce that sense of pride in their communities and what they call home,” she said.

Burns sought to do a second book with Starlight because the first one showed how meaningful such stories can be for children and families residing in rental-apartment communities.

“There’s so many kids growing up in apartments and condos in Canada, and I believe they deserve to see their lives reflected in children’s literature and I believe that there’s a gap right now that isn’t being served,” said Burns in an interview. “Starlight really shared that idea with me, so it’s been a great partnership to work on this series with them.”

The two Starlight projects and Burns’ separate 2019 book The Condo Kids, published with Cadillac Fairview, were inspired by the author’s positive experiences raising two, now-teenage son in a GTA condominium.

“I wanted kids who are growing up in high-rises and multi-family communities to see themselves in the books they’re reading because, right now, most [children’s] books are centered in a house on a tree-lined street with a white picket fence,” said Burns. “But that’s not the reality for most, or a large percentage of, Canadian children. When I was looking for kids’ books to read to my boys when they were younger, I used to ask at the bookstore and they didn’t have anything to offer me. I really felt as if my boys and kids who are like them could really benefit from from seeing their own experiences in books.”

Starlight, she said has helped her expand on her goal of getting as many books as possible into the hands of as many kids as possible across the country.

“They’ve donated thousands, first with Ivan’s Garden of Hope and now with Priya’s Pets. to kids all over all over Canada,” Burns noted. “That’s so fulfilling to me as a writer, but also as a mother.”

The two Floor Friends-series books are not available for sale in bookstores, but Burns donates complimentary copies when appearing at events related to The Condo Kids at Indigo locations.

Starlight and Burns do not plan to publish a third book in the series.

Pictured: Author Jackie Burns’ new children’s book, Priya’s Pets.

Photo: Courtesy of Starlight Investments