January 29, 2013

Stained: Upcoming release from Cheryl Rainfield


On November 19, 2013, 
  STAINED 
the newest young adult novel
 from author Cheryl Rainfield 
and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
will be released.  

Cheryl Rainfield,
author of the heart-wrenching, trauma-ridden YA fiction
Scars
 Westside Books
248 pp.
Ages 14+
2010

Hunted
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
316 pp.
Ages 13+
2012 
 
Parallel Visions
A Teen Psychic Novel Book 1
Rain and Sun Press
146 pp.
Ages 13+
2012  

brings readers another compelling read

STAINED
In this heart-wrenching and suspenseful teen thriller, sixteen-year-old Sarah Meadows longs for "normal." Born with a port-wine stain covering half her face, all her life she’s been plagued by stares, giggles, bullying, and disgust. But when she’s abducted on the way home from school, Sarah is forced to uncover the courage she never knew she had, become a hero rather than a victim, and learn to look beyond her face to find the beauty and strength she has inside. It’s that—or succumb to a killer.
Sometimes you have to be your own hero
(cover tag line)

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Cheryl Rainfield writes about her upcoming book:

Like I did with SCARS and HUNTED, I drew on some of my own experiences of bullying, abuse, and trauma to write STAINED and to give it greater emotional depth. Like Sarah in STAINED, I experienced abduction, imprisonment, periods of forced starvation, mind control, and having my life threatened. And like Sarah, I tried hard to fight against my abuser, keep my own sense of self, and escape. I hope readers will see Sarah's strength and courage, and appreciate her emotional growth as she reclaims herself.
- Cheryl Rainfield -
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On January 21, 2013, Cheryl Rainfield uploaded the following book trailer for STAINED 

Published on January 21, 2013 by Cheryl Rainfield on YouTube 

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So time to mark your calendar:
 November 19, 2013
 for
STAINED
by Cheryl Rainfield

Young adult suspense is just a few months away

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January 28, 2013

Witchlanders

by Lena Coakley
Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster
978-1-4424-2005-2
400 pp.
Ages 12+
2011

The border between the Witchlands, the home of the Witchlanders, and the Bitterlands, the home of the Baen, seems inconsequential compared to the hostility between the two peoples.  While the fair-haired people who honour the Goddess and the twin prophets Aata and Aayse pay tithes to the witches of the coven, the Baens (reviled as "blackhairs") honour Ka and revere the black magicians, all male.  And now, regardless of the treaty between the Witchlanders and the Baen, a war is brewing.

In the Witchlands, Mabis, mother of Ryder and his younger sisters Skyla and Pima, is known for throwing the bones and using maiden's woe to assist her with visions.  Though she speaks of an assassin coming from across the border (but tells the coven that a monster would come out of the ground and swallow whole farms), Mabis cannot summon the witches to action.   In fact, when human-like monsters made of dirt destroy their farm, and the witches blame Mabis, Ryder is determined to cross the border and find the Baen who has started the troubles. 

Meanwhile, in the Bitterlands, another young man, Falpian, has been sent away by his father instead of preparing for battle with the other men.  Though he is told to continue his mourning for his twin brother Farien and prepare himself for a mission detailed in a scroll, Falpian suspects it has more to do with Father's disappointment in his inability to work magic with song.  Surprisingly, Falpian locates an ancient stone from which he is able to sing, ostensibly harmonizing with his echo, and make magic.

When Falpian discovers an unconscious Ryder, the two young men attempt to resolve the discrepancy between what they each know of the other's people and their affinity to each other.  This discrepancy continues to spur Falpian and Ryder through assassination attempts, deceptions, attacks by the dirt monsters, capture, rescue and confusion, learning that all is not what it seems or has been portrayed.

Lena Coakley has created a phantasmagorical world of people rife with prejudices and bitterness borne of history and manipulation.  Although magic is created with harmonizing song, their land growing hicca and maiden's woe, and their societies based on unique features, the characters are sadly familiar to our own.  And, even though Falpian finally relents that "There are no sides" (pg. 377), the nature of the conflict in Witchlanders unravels and regenerates both in familiar and unexpected ways.  Though Lena Coakley has not confirmed a sequel to Witchlanders, its final scene serves to achieve a gratifying conclusion while setting up the premise upon which a promising sequel can build.

A great book trailer for Witchlanders uploaded by Lena Coakley to YouTube on July 12, 2011 can be seen on CanLit for LittleCanadians Book Trailers here.

January 26, 2013

The New Normal

by Ashley Little
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-459-80074-8
222 pp.
Ages 12+
Release date March 2013
Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy


This is my reality.  I was sixteen and being hunted by a drug dealer.  My hair was falling out and my sisters were dead and my parents were broken and there wasn't a goddam thing I could do about any of it. (pg. 28)
This is The New Normal for teen Tamar.  And the drug dealer bit is the very least of her worries. Really. She can handle that and she does.  But the other repercussions of her twin sisters' deaths (in a car accident while driving with drunk boys who played road chicken) - her hair and her damaged parents - are not as easy to handle.

It's only been a few months since the death of her younger sisters and Tamar and her family have been falling apart.  Neither of "the parents" have worked since the accident.  Mom throws herself into yoga and more yoga.  Dad spends a lot of time in his bathrobe on the couch. And Tamar has been losing her body hair, in clumps, while she sleeps, on towels.  Though she keeps up her routines, attending school and playing with the chess club, false eyelashes and hats or bandanas are now part of her style.  Keeping it a secret has been manageable; her dad hasn't even noticed and her mom knows but tosses it off.   But when her friend Roy Lee, a Grade 12 student in the chess club, pulls at her bandana and reveals her lack of hair (luckily this happens away from school), Tamar tells him of her mysterious hair loss.  Fortunately Roy who cares for Tamar is more concerned about her health than her appearance.

Tamar continues to find ways to manage: looking for a job to help pay for a wig;  auditioning for the school production of The Wizard of Oz and earning the role of Auntie Em; starting to go out on dates with Roy; and working at the Cruisy Chicken.  Of course, she can't predict that the play's Dorothy would bully her about her sisters and tell Tamar she's not good enough for Roy, then pull off her wig and get Tamar suspended from school.  Or that Dad would fall off the roof and injury himself and need extra care.  Or that Mom would decide to take off for six weeks to study yoga and meditation at a retreat on an island off the BC coast.  But Tamar has a good head on her shoulders (even if it is becoming hairless), recognizing that, after an especially terrifying situation,
"the whole experience had made me feel lucky to be alive, and I hadn't felt that way in a long, long time." (pg. 213)
Even though Tamar and Roy are in their mid-teens, The New Normal is a great middle-grade novel, having less of the urgency and edginess of young adult novels.  Ashley Little has found the means to knit the grief of loss with the innocence of first love, both times of confusion.  With that first love, Tamar doesn't even realize that she's starting to care for Roy, that he has asked her out, or that there are others who see them as a couple.  Similarly, Tamar isn't sure about expressing her grief.  She continues to have flashes of memories, tender or nasty, of her sisters, but in many respects she is suppressing that grief, unlike the parents who are inundated with it.  For Tamar, that grief can only come out as a physical symptom, but it allows her to see her sisters' deaths in a different context and as part of a bigger picture.  It goes beyond the sadness and anger and lets her continue to live.  She might not embrace The New Normal but she knows it is what it is and doesn't try to make it otherwise.  Her parents should have paid attention to her a little sooner. 

January 25, 2013

International Holocaust Memorial Day: Book List II


To commemorate the International Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27, CanLit for LittleCanadians has compiled a list of picture books, novels, young adult fiction, and non-fiction that focus on the victimization of millions of people during World War II.  This second book list includes only non-fiction related to the Holocaust.  As stated in the previous book list, let us support this very simple but profound intent:
 
   Never again  


Non-fiction

Faces of Courage: Young Heroes of World War II
Written by Sally M. Rogow
Granville Island Publishing
162 pp.
Ages 11-15
2003

Resistance

Faye the Freedom Fighter
Written by Sharon Jennings
Second Story Press
200 pp.
Ages 9-15
2011

Poland, resistance
Hana's Suitcase
Written by Karen Levine
Second Story Press
120 pp.
Ages 9-12
2002


Terezin, Auschwitz, Holocaust education, Hana Brady

 
Hana's Suitcase Anniversary Album (A Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers)
Written by Karen Levine
Second Story Press
176 pp.
Ages 9-13
2012


Hiding Edith: A True Story (A Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers) 
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
151 pp.
Ages 9-11
2006

Escape, France

Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport
Written by Deborah Hodge
Tundra Books
64 pages
Ages 10+
2012

Kindertransport, rescue


To Hope and Back: The Journey of the St. Louis (A Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers) 
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
204 pp.
Ages 9-13
2011

Refugees

The Underground Reporters (A Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers) 
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
155 pp.
Ages 9-13
2004

Czech Republic, underground newspapers, ghettos

 
What is the Pink Triangle?
Written by Ken Setterington
Second Story Press
196 pp.
April, 2013

Persecution

Whispers from the Camps
Written by Kathy Kacer and Sharon E. MacKay
Puffin Canada
151 pp.
Ages 10-15
2009

Narratives, survivors
Whispers from the Ghettos
Written by Kathy Kacer and Sharon E. MacKay
Puffin Canada
134 pp.
Ages 11+
2009

Narratives, survivors living in Canada, ghettos

Whispers in Hiding
Written by Kathy Kacer and Sharon E. MacKay
Puffin Canada
173 pp.
Ages 11+
2009

Narratives, survivors living in Canada



January 24, 2013

International Holocaust Memorial Day: Book List I

During World War II, the Nazis persecuted and killed millions of people belonging to groups they deemed inferior or dangerous.  Six million victims of the Holocaust were Jews and an additional eleven million victims were Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Romas, the mentally and physically disabled, homosexuals and transexuals, and religious dissidents.

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  January 27 coincides with the liberation of the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. To help enlighten young Canadian readers to the nature of the Holocaust, for the sole purpose of preventing such bigotry and hatred from ever occurring again, I offer two book lists to support the teaching of the tragedy of the Holocaust.

As we often note on Remembrance Day (November 11), let us support this very simple but profound intent:

   Never again.   

Picture Books

The Secret of the Village Fool
Written by Rebecca Upjohn
Illustrated by Renée Benoit
Second Story Press
32 pp.
Ages 8-10
2012

Poland, kindness, hiding, courage




Juvenile Fiction

After the War
Written by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada

144 pp.
Ages 12-14
1996

Post-war migration


Clara's War (A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
198 pp.
Ages 12-14
2001 

Terezin

Daniel's Story
Written by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada

144 pp.
Ages 9-12

1993

Germany, Poland, resistance
The Diary of Laura's Twin (A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
202 pp.
Ages 11-14
2008

Poland, bat mitzvah, memories

Goodbye, Marianne: A Story of Growing Up in Nazi Germany
Written by Irene Watts
Tundra Books
105 pp.
Ages 9-12
1998 

Berlin, Kindertransport, Hitler Youth


Goodbye, Marianne
Written by Irene N. Watts
Illustrated by Kathryn E. Shoemaker
Tundra Books
128 pp.
Ages 9-12
2008

Graphic novel, Berlin, Kindertransport, Hitler Youth


Greater than Angels
Written by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada

144 pp.
Ages 11-14

1998

France, deportation, refugee camp

Guardian Angel House
Written by Kathy Clark
Second Story Press
228 pp.
Ages 10-14
2009

Budapest, refugees
Hero
Written by Martha Attema
Orca Book Publishers
131 pp.
Ages 7-10
2003

Netherlands, refugees

Honey Cake
Written by Joan Betty Stuchner
Illustrated by Cynthia Nugent
Tradewind Books
92 pp.
Ages 8-10
2007

Denmark, resistance, Underground

In My Enemy's House
Written by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada
168 pp.
Ages 11-14
1999

Poland, disguise
The Night Spies (A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
197 pp.
Ages 10-13
2003

Czechoslovakia, resistance 

The Old Brown Suitcase: A Teenager's Story of War and Peace
Written by Lillian Boraks-Nemetz
Ben-Simon Publication
148 pp.
Ages 10-15
1994

Poland, post-war migration to Canada

The Orphan Rescue
Written by Anne Dublin
Illustrated by Qin Leng
Second Story Press
124 pp.
Ages 9-12
2010

Poland, orphans, factory work


Pieces of the Past : The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948 (Dear Canada)
Written by Carol Matas 
Scholastic Canada
168 pp.
Ages 9-12
Feb 01, 2013 

Memories, refugees, Poland


Remember Me
Written by Irene Watts
Tundra Books
184 pp.
Ages 10-15
2000 

Kindertransport, England

The Righteous Smuggler (A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)
Written by Debbie Spring
Second Story Press

160 pp.
Ages 10-12
2005

Netherlands, deportation, smuggling, resistance

The Secret of Gabi's Dresser
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
128 pp.
Ages 9-12
1999 

Czechoslovakia, memories, hiding

Stolen Child
Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Scholastic Canada
154 pp.
Ages 8-12
2010

Ukrainians, Lebensborn, memories
Making Bombs for Hitler
Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch 
Scholastic Canada
186 pp.
Ages 8-12
2012

Ukrainians, Ostarbeiter, persecution
Tell No One Who You Are: The Hidden Childhood of Régine Miller
Written by Walter Buchignami
Tundra Books 
185 pp.
Ages 9-13
2008

Belgium

Turned Away: The World War 11 Diary of Devorah Bernstein, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1941 (Dear Canada)
Written by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada
199 pp.
Ages 10-14
2005

Escape, immigration to Canada

We Are Their Voice: Young People Respond to the Holocaust (A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)
Edited by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
232 pp.
Ages 10-13
2012


 


Young Adult

Kanada
Written by Eva Wiseman
Tundra Books
264 pp.
Ages 13 +
2006

Auschwitz

My Canary Yellow Star
Written by Eva Wiseman
Tundra Books
232 pp.
Ages 14+
2001

Hungary, Raoul Wallenberg

Flames of the Tiger
Written by John Wilson
Kids Can Press
176 pp.
Ages 11-17
2003


Germany, Hitler Youth, propaganda
The Thought of High Windows
Written by Lynne Kositsky
Kids Can Press

175 pp.
Ages 11-14
2004

Germany, escape, Underground



A second book list  for International Holocaust Memorial Day will be posted tomorrow.

January 21, 2013

Gabby

by Joyce Grant
Illustrated by Jan Dolby
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
978-1-55455-250-4
32 pp.
Ages 3-6
January 2013

Look at this little cutie!  Could it be a junior Pippi?  No, this little one is Gabby and she is much more grounded and responsible, although still imaginative.

This sweet little girl is responsibly tidying up her room of its toys and books when a falling book deposits its letters every which way but inside the tome.  Fortunately, the very clever letters find their way to appropriate settings: a C on the carpet, an A on an armchair, a T on the table.  And by using those three letters, Gabby creates a very funky CAT.  Then, by retrieving different letters, Gabby is able to feed the CAT.  But when the letters B-I-R-D come together and mayhem ensues, Gabby puts her letter-building skills to work and makes things P-E-R-F-E-C-T (my word, not hers).

Joyce Grant's light-hearted text may demonstrate the fun to be had with building words but with Jan Dolby's cutie Gabby and the joyous letters, the story is more than an alphabet lesson.  Letters become toys with which to play, bend, imagine, build and delight.  They're fun! I dare any child to read this book and think that they are being taught about the alphabet and vocabulary building. And teachers and parents will love the joy that Gabby exudes putting her letters together.  With the "Fun Gabby Activities" put together by author Joyce Grant and illustrator Jan Dolby at the end of the book, children can learn how to draw Gabby, make ribbon words or play a memory game.  There is even more fun to be had at the author's website http://joycegrantauthor.com/ 

I recommend that young readers open the toy box that is Gabby (the book, not the girl) and play with the action-figures called letters.  By bringing learning into the realm of play, Gabby will more than meet expectations, learning and otherwise.

January 15, 2013

Viking Tales: A YoungCanLit Book List


On the last Tuesday of January, the largest Viking festival, Up Helly Aa, is held in rural Shetlands.  This festival, known as a fire festival, celebrates the Norse heritage of the Shetland Islands and involves a procession with a full-sized replica of a Viking galley ship, complete with shields and weaponry, that is set ablaze.
Procession at Uyeasound Up Helly Aa
 © Copyright Mike Pennington
What better way to participate in Up Helly Aa from Canada than by immersing oneself in the various fiction and non-fiction that includes elements of Viking history or mythology.  The following thirty-six titles present a varied sampling of such tales from our rich youngCanLit. (And, if you're teacher, these present an excellent way to integrate your social studies lessons with books by Canadians.)



Picture Books
Erik the Viking Sheep
by Elizabeth Creith
Illustrated by Linda Hendry
Scholastic Canada
32 pp.
Ages 2-7
1997

 

My Great-great-great-great-great-grandfather...was a Warrior
by Riccardo Francaviglia
Illustrated by Margherita Sgarlata
Lobster Press
24 pp.
Ages 4-8
2003


Chapter Books
Yikes! Vikings! (Canadian Flyer Adventures #4)
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
83 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007


The Curse of the Viking Grave
by Farley Mowat
McClelland & Stewart
256 pp.
Ages 9+
1987


Out of the Dark
by Welwyn Wilton Katz
Groundwood Books
176 pp.
Ages 11-14
1995


Betrayed: The Legend of Oak Island
by Christopher Dinsdale
Napoleon
292 pp.
Ages 10+
2009


The Dream Carvers
by Joan Clark
Puffin Canada
240 pp.
Ages 11-15
1997




The Face in the Flames (The Adventures of Wordsy & Jessica series)
by David Boyd
Rubicon Publishing
97 pp.
Ages 11 to 14
1989




Catla and the Vikings
by Mary Elizabeth Nelson
Orca Book Publishers
191 pp.
Ages 9-13
2012


Dragon Seer
by Janet McNaughton
HarperCollins
325 pp.
Ages 11-14
2009


Dragon Seer's Gift
by Janet McNaughton
HarperCollins Canada
282 pp.
Ages 10+
2011


The Feathered Cloak (Trilogy of the Tree, Part 1)
by Sean Dixon
Key Porter
143 pp.
Ages 10-13
2007


The Winter Drey (Trilogy of the Tree, Part II)
Sean Dixon
Key Porter Books
221 pp.
Ages 10-12
2009



Draugr (Northern Fright series, Book 1)
by Arthur Slade
Orca Book Publishers
144 pp.
Ages 10-15
1997 
Teachers can download a free study guide for this book from the author's website
 
The Haunting of Drang Island (Northern Fright series, Book 2)
by Arthur G. Slade
Orca Book Publishers
160 pp.
Ages 10-15
1998
A study guide for this book is available from author Arthur Slade's website
 
The Loki Wolf (Northern Fright series, Book 3)
by Arthur Slade
Orca Book Publishers
192 pp.
Ages 10-15
2000 
A study guide for this book is available from Arthur Slade's website 

Kingdom of Trolls (A Middlegate Book)
by Rae Bridgman
Sybertooth
288 pp.
Ages 10-14
2011


Stolen Away
by Christopher Dinsdale
Napoleon
229 pp.
Ages 10-12
2006





Young Adult
Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck
by Joan Clark
Macmillan
418 pp.
1994


The Fetch (The Runestone Saga, Book I)
by Chris Humphreys
Alfred A. Knopf / Random House of Canada
357 pp.
Ages 13+
2006


Vendetta (The Runestone Saga, Book II)
by Chris Humphreys
Alfred A. Knopf / Random House of Canada
322 pp.
Ages 13+
2007


Possession (The Runestone Saga, Book III)
by Chris Humphreys
Alfred A. Knopf / Random House of Canada
369 pp.
Ages 13+
2008


The Sinclair Saga
by Mark Finnan
Formac
154 pp.
Ages 13+
1999


Under the Mound
by Cynthia Heinrichs
Be Read/Simply Read Books
455 pp.
Ages 11-15
2011




Viking Quest
by Tom Henighan
Dundurn
120 pp.
Ages 12-15
2001


Viking Terror (Book 2)
by Tom Henighan
Dundurn
180 pp.
Ages 12-15
2006







Non-Fiction
Adventures with the Vikings (Good Times Travel Agency)
by Linda Bailey
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2001


Beowulf
by Welwyn Wilton Katz
Illustrated by Laszlo Gal
Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre
63 pp.
Ages 10+
1999


Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast
by Natalie Hyde
Illustrated by Matt Hammill
Owlkids Books
48 pp.
Ages 9-11
2012


Explorers Who Made It...or Died Trying
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Bill Dickson
Scholastic Canada
155 pp.
Ages 12-14
2011


First Folks and Vile Voyageurs (Hilarious Canadian Histories)
by Claire Mackay
Illustrated by Bill Dickson
Scholastic Canada
169 pp.
Ages 10-13
2001


Life of the Ancient Vikings (Peoples of the Ancient World)
by Hazel Richardson
Crabtree
32 pp.
Ages 9-13
2005


Science Detectives: How Real Scientists Solved Six Real-Life Mysteries
by Editors of Yes Mag
Illustrated by Rose Cowles
Kids Can Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2006


The Vikings (Discovering Canada)
by Robert Livesy
Illustrated by A. G. Smith
Stoddart
90 pp.
1989


Vikings: Dress, Eat, Write, and Play Just Like the Vikings (Hands-On History)
by Fiona Macdonald
Crabtree
32 pp.
Ages 8-11
2008