Sparks!

Written by Ian Boothby

Art by Nina Matsumoto

Color by David Debrick

Scholastic (Graphix)

978-1-338-02946-8

200 pp.

Ages 7-10

February 2018

Knowing the universal acceptance of dogs as heroes, a cat named August invents a robotic dog suit in which he and feline friend Charlie undertake daring rescues like saving babies from wells, children from tornadoes, and families from fires. The suit also helps keep August from touching the grass (a major phobia since an escape outdoors as a kitten led him to nasty testing at an animal lab) and keeps the cats anonymous from prying reporters and those who might disturb their comfortable lifestyle. However, unbeknownst to them, an evil genius in the guise of a baby named Princess is setting up accidents that require the rescue dog dubbed Sparks to leap into action.  It seems Princess believes that Sparks might be the dog that other animals, under the baby's control, would follow, allowing the heinous alien-infant to conquer the world.

From Sparks! by Ian Boothby, art by Nina Matsumoto

Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto, best known as veteran creators of The Simpsons comics, will delight middle graders with this hilarious graphic novel of cats banding together to achieve heroic deeds and fighting an evil baby.  Readers will be tickled by all the characters: clever inventor August, who plays the stock market and buys a house; Charlie, who lives life with enthusiasm and has a fondness for frolicking and attention;  Steve-O, the hyper-chattering squirrel; and the storytelling robotic litter box.  Even Princess who transmits pain via agony pants worn by her pseudo-parent minions is priceless as the koala hat-wearing brain who still needs diaper changes and naps.  Princess is as controlling and scary as any human baby, albeit with creepier toys, and it's so satisfying when (spoiler!) her errant ways are chastized by her real parents.

From Sparks! by Ian Boothby, art by Nina Matsumoto

Sparks! is a fun read that fights stereotypes of cats being self-absorbed, dogs being the heroes, and babies being innocent and safe. Moreover, it provides a sad commentary on the media that creates stories, not just reports them, and the ease with which they manipulate the stories.  In fact, Sparks! is really a story that turns the concept of control on its head.  Of course, young readers might not pick up on all those messages from author Ian Boothby but they'll love the story and Nina Matsumoto's bold graphics that blend the real with the fantastic.  It's obvious Nina Matsumoto knows cats well (a photo of the real August and Charlie in the dedication attests to this).  She gets the joy of rolling in the grass or the pose of the classic butt-lick perfect but then gives an imaginative angle to the technological wizardry and provides vigorous splashes of action and disaster.  The compulsory Zzzzzap! and Ka-Pow with an occasional Ssshhlorp!, Fa-dunk and Sproing add that touch of comic book flavour that kids will enjoy.

From Sparks! by Ian Boothby, art by Nina Matsumoto

I'm pleased that Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto (who will be attending this year's Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May) have left the cat flap open for a sequel to Sparks! as I'm sure the amazing duo of August and Charlie have more acts of heroism on which to embark, whether as themselves or in the costume of their canine superhero.

Timo Goes Camping

Written by Victoria Allenby

Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-040-6

48 pp.

Ages 5-8

March 2018

It's wonderful to see a new Timo story from Victoria Allenby and illustrated by Dean Griffiths.  This early reader series tugs at my heart with each new story as the rabbit Timo learns new life lessons alongside his friends Bogs, Hedgewick, Rae and Suki.

Suki, the squirrel with the ideas, decides the group of friends should go camping.  Though Timo feels that adventures are "messy and unsafe and not at all sensible," he goes along with the plan.  However, he looks for advice at the Toadstool Corners Library, where it "smelled like paper and ink and comfort," finding good advice in a book called Camping is Fun.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

Setting out on their adventure, Timo puts his new skills to use in knotting rope, making a fire, and recalling all the lessons about canoeing and orienteering and more.  But, when little things go wrong, like a tent that won't go up or a dunking in the lake, most of the group enjoys a chuckle, though Suki's teasing and name-calling becomes tiresome to Timo who finally has to call her out on it.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

This lovely series of early readers returns an innocence and humility to children's early readers that we haven't seen since Peter Rabbit and Frog and Toad.  There are valuable lessons about friendship and self-acceptance and learning.  But, even more, Timo allows children to share in his learning about friendship and interacting with others, as well as the importance of reading.  From his first book, Timo's Garden (2015), and his second, Timo's Party (2016), the rabbit is learning how to deal with friends and his own insecurities which he is always able to put aside when he takes the opportunities to learn and gain insight from his experiences.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

As in all three of the Timo books, Victoria Allenby has made her characters so distinct that their roles in this camping adventure make perfect sense.  Hedgewick is named Chief Chef, Rae is Head Engineer, Bogs is the Toad of Tunes, Suki is the navigator (though more like the one who tells everyone where to go and what to do), and Timo is labelled the camp librarian.  Each has assets that makes the group work effectively, though I'm partial to Timo who wisely finds answers in books.  For an author to create a story rich in characters, atmosphere, plot and positive messages is an astounding achievement for any book but extraordinary for an early reader.  

The story is brought to visual life by Dean Griffiths' artwork, with its textural richness of setting and scene.  Dean Griffiths, whose art illustrates among others Bad Pirate (by Kari-Lynn Winters, Pajama Press, 2016) and Tweezle into Everything (by Stephanie McLellan, Pajama Press, 2013), knows how to adapt his style for an early reader, balancing the story, not becoming the story as it may, and rightly so, in picture books.  

Together Victoria Allenby and Dean Griffiths have made Timo Goes Camping a book that any child would love to take on their own camping adventure, as guide (see the illustration below about using a compass), insurance or pleasant diversion.

From Timo Goes Camping by Victoria Allenby, illus. by Dean Griffiths

⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺

Pajama Press has published a delightful readers' guide for Timo Goes Camping which is available for free download at http://pajamapress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Timo-Goes-Camping_ReadingGuide1.pdf

Fania's Heart

Written by Anne Renaud

Illustrated by Richard Rudnicki

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-057-5

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

March 2018

When a little girl finds an old heart-shaped book wrapped in a lace handkerchief hidden in her mother's dresser, she could not have imagined the horrors her mother would share and the joy and courage that decades old keepsake memorialized.

Words have power.

There are words that injure and words that heal.

Then there are words that can save your life. 

From Fania's Heart by Anne Renaud, illus. by Richard Rudnicki

When a young Sorale discovers that small fabric-covered booklet of heart-shaped pages that open like wings, her mother finally tells the child the truth about the number tattooed on her arm and the origins of the keepsake.  Her mother, Fania Landau Fainer, reveals that she was a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp and that the heart was a birthday gift constructed by the young women who were like sisters to her.  Fania tells Sorale of the horrific life in the camp, including the near starvation, the grim living conditions, the forced labour and the mistreatment.  And she tells her what happened for her 20th birthday.

"...I told my friends I would soon be an old lady, since my twentieth birthday was fast approaching." 

"But twenty is not old," I said.

"Twenty can be a lifetime.  We were all so worn and rope-thin.  People did not live to be old in that place," said my mother.

From Fania's Heart by Anne Renaud, illus. by Richard Rudnicki

In a small cake of scraps of bread rations, Fania's friends hide the special heart-shaped booklet in which they wrote messages of encouragement and wishes for freedom outside of the camp.

"Their words saved me."

Fania's Heart is a true story.  It is Sorale's story of learning at about age 9 (in 1955) about her mother's incarceration at Auschwitz and an act of defiance and love that gave Fania the courage and determination to survive.  That solitary memento is now an exhibit at the Musée Holocauste Montréal (Montreal Holocaust Museum) which will host the book launch for Fania's Heart this weekend.  Not since Second Story Press's publication of Hana's Suitcase (named the Ultimate Silver Birch Book in 2014) will a story of a historical artifact of the Holocaust touch readers with such sadness and humanity.  Author Anne Renaud who effortlessly weaves stories based on history (including the recently reviewed Mr. Crum's Potato Predicament) reveals so much about a mother's relationship with her child and her past, as well as about her own courage and fortitude that Fania's Heart could be envisioned as an illustrated documentary, not just a piece of creative non-fiction to inform and enlighten. Like the little heart that represents so much more than the few words inscribed on pages created out of sacrifice and secrecy, Fania's Heart is a token of appreciation, realistically but emotionally illustrated by Richard Rudnicki, from a time of war atrocities and a time of familial safety.

From Fania's Heart by Anne Renaud, illus. by Richard Rudnicki

Fania's Heart: Book launch (Montreal, QC)

The Montreal Holocaust Museum
(current home of the historic object highlighted in the book) 

and 

Second Story Press

host

the book launch 

for 

Fania's Heart

Written by Anne Renaud

Illustrated by Richard Rudnicki

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-057-5

32 pp.

Ages 7-10

March 2018

on

Sunday, March 25, 2018

2 p.m. Guided tour of museum
3 p.m. Reading by author Anne Renaud and book signing

at

The Montreal Holocaust Museum
5151 ch. de la Cote-Ste-Catherine
Montreal, QC

Here is the blurb about this lovely illustrated true story–which I will review tomorrow–as posted on the publisher's website:

A tiny birthday card, crafted against all odds within the confines of Auschwitz.

Ten-year-old Sorale discovers a tiny heart-shaped book among her mother’s belongings. Its pages are shaped like four-petaled flowers, upon which are written words in languages Sorale does not understand. Who wrote these words? Where did the heart come from? Why has her mother never mentioned this tiny book before? 

Fania’s Heart reveals the true story of the crafting of the heart, against all odds, within the confines of Auschwitz, and of the women of immeasurable resilience, courage, and loyalty who risked their lives for Sorale’s mother, their friend.

Retrieved from https://secondstorypress.ca/kids/fanias-heart on March 21, 2018.

Eden Mills Writers' Festival: 2018 Poetry Contests for young people

Eden Mills Writers' Festival, one of Canada's foremost literary festivals, will be celebrating 30 years of wonderful readings by and discussion panels with Canadian authors of literature.  But the Eden Mills Writers' Festival offers more than an extraordinary contingent of authors whose words fill our idyllic valley just outside of Guelph. It also hosts a number of writing contests, two of which target children and young adults.

For each contest, a Canadian resident may submit one poem no longer than a single page by the May 30, 2018 deadline.  All details regarding the entry form, prizes, and submission are posted at https://edenmillswritersfestival.ca/contests/.

For elementary students, young writers may enter one of three age categories:

• Primary (Grades 1 to 3)
• Junior (Grades 4 to 6)
• Intermediate (Grades 7 to 8)

For high school students, teens may submit their poem to one of two age categories:

• Junior Teen (Grades 9 and 10)
• Senior Teen (Grades 11 and 12)

If you are a teacher in Canada or know of a young person who loves to write poetry, please encourage them to submit a piece (only one poem of maximum one-page length per person) by the deadline of May 30, 2018.  This is a great way to get young people in Canada writing purposefully and showcasing their burgeoning talents, with a chance to win $25 (for children) or $50 (for teens).

See you at the Festival!

Blue Rider

 

Written and illustrated by Geraldo Valério

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-981-2

44 pp.

Ages 4-7

March 2018

At first glance, Blue Rider might appear to be a story about a blue horse and a child with a book. But Blue Rider, like the early 1900s art movement–Der Blaue Reiter–it honours, is more about a rejection of the norms and finding new worlds of expression, whether through art or story.

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

This is the story of one young child living in a sombrely coloured city, just one face in one room in one building in a city rife with buildings. 

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

Even when they leave the building, the child is but one among the throngs hurrying, talking, using cellphones, bustling, bustling, bustling. Then the child spots a book, a book with a blue horse on the cover, in an opening amidst the crowd.  They grab it and take it up to their room.

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

Opening that book and seeing that magnificent blue horse charging across the page similarly plunges the child into new worlds of colour and bold lines and shapes and new landscapes.  Page after page, the blue horse is transforming, its mane effervescing into comets of colour and audacious shape, morphing into its scenery, illuminating, animating and revitalizing all.  Finally the horse and the scene almost become one, a mix of brightness and bliss.  At that point, the child is seen mounted on the racing horse, while the dull room is transformed with new forms of colour.

Blue Rider is a wordless picture book, the story told solely through Geraldo Valério's illustrations.  What the reader takes from the plot of the book and its artwork is very personal.  Blue Rider may pay homage to Der Blaue Reiter, the avant-garde art movement that focused on distorted abstractions and gave intensity and movement through form and colour, but it’s also about the value of going outside of societal norms to embrace new opportunities and ways of seeing.  It gives the message that conformity may be soul stifling and that, when possibilities present, it is important to seize them as they provide chances to move into new worlds and enhance life. The book the child discovers takes them away temporarily but permanently enhances their world and consequently those of others to one of colour and vivacity. As all readers and art lovers know, art–written, visual and more–can give life and soul to those lost in mass existence, just as a book does for a child in Blue Rider.

From Blue Rider by Geraldo Valério

The Better Tree Fort

Written by Jessica Scott Kerrin

Illustrated by Qin Leng

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-863-1

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

March 2018

Tree houses offer children a refuge from the everyday, a place to dream and create, to escape and grow, and to be whomever they choose, imaginary or their true selves.  But imagine if the building of that tree fort and sharing of it was a shared experience between father and son.  How much better is that true fort than a castle in the sky?

From The Better Tree Fort by Jessica Scott Kerrin, illus. by Qin Leng

 When Russell and his dad move to a new house with a massive maple tree in the backyard, the child suggests they build a tree fort.  Russell’s dad is obviously not a handy man with wood and tools and it takes many trips to the lumber and hardware store and much guidance from others for him to construct the tree fort.  Though it doesn’t have the special features Russell had in his plans like a balcony, slide, skylight and basket for hauling, Russell declares it to be perfect.

From The Better Tree Fort by Jessica Scott Kerrin, illus. by Qin Leng

Then, three houses down, a construction crew marches in and constructs a larger and more elaborate tree fort with all the bells and whistles.  Russell makes the acquaintance of Warren, the boy whose father had ordered the plans and hired the crew, and is invited in to view the spectacular house in the tree.  But is it really a better tree fort than Russell’s?

From The Better Tree Fort by Jessica Scott Kerrin, illus. by Qin Leng

Jessica Scott Kerrin’s message is not really about tree forts.  It’s about relationships, specifically a father and son relationship, and how nothing–not something bigger, better, bolder–could ever compensate for that unique connection and special bond.  Russell’s dad is not the kind who would pay someone to make his son’s dreams come true.  He’s the kind who tries to do it himself, no matter how arduous the task or clumsy and unimpressive the results.  This father and son don’t need to bling out a tree fort when they can enjoy the simple pleasures of peanut butter and jam sandwiches , birding from the open window, or sleeping in bags on the floor.  Warren has no idea no much he’s missing in his “better” tree fort.

I have reviewed numerous books illustrated by Qin Leng and she continues to astound me with the astuteness of her artwork for interpreting the text.  In The Better Tree Fort, Qin Leng’s ink, watercolour and pencil crayon illustrations lend an innocence of task and purpose to the story, making the building of the fort by father for son an intimate endeavour.  The construction of Warren’s turreted tree fort lacks the tenderness of relationship.  Not surprising, when Russell’s dad acknowledges that “There will always be a better tree fort,” Russell knows that it’s his father that is the best component of all.

From The Better Tree Fort by Jessica Scott Kerrin, illus. by Qin Leng

Where's Bunny?

Written by Theo Heras
Illustrated by Renné Benoit
Pajama Press
978-1-77278-043-7
24 pp.
Ages 1-3
March 2018

Author Theo Heras and illustrator Renné Benoit's very young brother and sister from Hats On, Hats Off and Baby Cakes have returned in a story about getting ready for bed and the routines involved with that evening ritual.

The two never-named children (making it easy for any and every child to see themselves in the story and embrace the routines of healthy bedtime practices) know it is time for bed and begin to fulfil their rituals as listed in a "Bedtime Checklist" posted on the book's endpapers. First, they pick up their toys and put them away. Though the text includes the question "Where's Bunny?" young readers will be able to spot the rabbit nestled in a wagon. Next, it's bath time with play time in the warm water that "tickles toes" alongside a rubber ducky and a squirty sheep before washing hair, towelling off and ensuring Bunny is nearby. He is. Then bedecked in the softest of hooded plush robes, the two brush their teeth whilst Bunny watches on. (A second checklist on the back endpapers provides links to dental associations for proper techniques.)

From Where's Bunny? by Theo Heras, illus. by Renné Benoit

Then it's pajamas on, into bed, storytime and singing a song, all only with the big sister (who can't be more than 5) helping her little brother. A final hug and kiss and little brother is off to dreamland snuggling his own soft charge to his cheek.

Theo Heras makes her text simple and readable for those just learning to decipher books, and it is sweetly appropriate for a concept book about bedtime routines. Many concept books tend to be flat, emphasizing only the concept in the simplest of texts. Thankfully Theo Heras does more than just assert a concept. There is a story here, one of sibling affection and a young child's bond to his stuffed animal, that is elevated with Renné Benoit's artwork. The children are so beautiful and angelic with their bright faces and cowlicked hair, and their surroundings are as soft and inviting to the reader as to the children. From Bunny with his carrot-topped hat and the towels and robes and bedcovers, Renné Benoit draws readers into the warmth of the children's home and lives and asks them to stay for a bit.

From Where's Bunny? by Theo Heras, illus. by Renné Benoit

Another invitation that is extended to readers comes by way of Pajama Press's unique picture book format for the very young: a padded cover with rounded corners, and extra-heavy paper. It has been a winner since its first use. More embraceable than the board books typical for the very young, these softly padded books make for a sweet tactile experience to reading. If the affection so captivated in Renné Benoit's watercolour and digital artwork could extend beyond the siblings, it would be sure to include their books. Like the words and the art of Where's Bunny?, the book says, "Hug me" and the very young will be sure to oblige at least once before lights out.

From Where's Bunny? by Theo Heras, illus. by Renné Benoit

Sleepy Bird

Written and illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

Scholastic Press

978-1-338-15785-7

32 pp.

Ages 3-5

March 2018

It's late.  Why isn't Bird sleeping?!

From Sleepy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Bird is not sleepy, or so he thinks.  He wants to play and party and seeks out each of his animal friends to keep him company.  Each one tells him it's bedtime and recommends a sleep aid like hugging a blankie (that from Fox), or reading a bedtime story (Beaver), snuggling with a stuffie (Rabbit), singing a lullaby (Raccoon) or counting sheep (obviously from Sheep).  But he poohpoohs their suggestions, storming off like he often does (remember, he was Grumpy Bird in his first book).

From Sleepy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

But, after a little while, he is reduced to tears and questioning empathically "WHY SHOULD I GO TO SLEEP?"  His friends, ever faithful, come running and support their dear friend with all the recommendations they'd made earlier, helping their feathered companion find a way to dreamland.

From Sleepy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

What parent doesn't know the child who will not go to sleep?  In fact, they will recognize the crankiness, protestations, and eventual winding down of a little one, and their own ploys used to help a child fall into slumber.  Undoubtedly they will also recognize some comments made by Bird's friends, especially "I thought he'd NEVER fall asleep," as proclaimed by Fox.  But it's Bird's responses that always have me laughing. (I think, Jeremy Tankard, there's a Funny Bird in your future.) Bird's replies to his friends, ever escalating in their intensity, include "Blankie shmankie", "Are you TRYING to give me nightmares?" and to Sheep's suggestion of counting sheep: "HOW CAN YOU GET SLEEPY COUNTING TO ONE?"

But, as clever as the text is and as pertinent as its theme, Sleepy Bird will grab readers and non-readers with its bold and colourful illustrations.  Jeremy Tankard's wacky characters are as familiar now as Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and Mo Willems's Elephant and Piggie and we love everything about them: their vibrant colours, coarse lines and clean shapes as well as their expressive poses and faces. What is more is that Jeremy Tankard's landscapes of splatterings of flowers, rocks, and trees amidst enormous ground-level stars and a moon provide a surreal contrast to a very commonplace story i.e. putting a reluctant child to bed.

So, the next time you have to help little ones find their way to rest, grab those blankies and stuffies and read Sleepy Bird.  I can't assure you that they'll go to sleep but you'll at least enjoy the attempt until they decide for themselves that sleep is best.

The Marrow Thieves

Written by Cherie Dimaline

Dancing Cat Books/Cormorant

978-1-77086-486-3

231 pp.

Ages 14+

2017

Poisoning your own drinking water, changing the air so much the earth shook and melted and crumbled, harvesting a race for medicine. (pg. 47)

This is the world in which Frenchie is trying to survive.  After his father had gone with the Council to the Southern Metropolitan City, hopeful of enacting some change, and their mom passed, it was just Frenchie and his older brother Mitch evading the Recruiters, truancy officers seeking Indigenous people to place in their new version of residential schools.  Seems that, though all were highly impacted by the stresses of water shortages, climatic shifts and conflict, non-Indigenous people lost the ability to dream and sought out Indigenous Peoples for their bone marrow as a source for that ability.  What actually happened in the schools, though, was the stuff of rumours and nightmares.

When Mitch sacrifices himself to the Recruiters to save Frenchie, the teen heads north and joins a  group headed by a man named Miigwans and the Elder Minerva, along with teens Chi-Boy and Wab, twelve-year-old twins Tree and Zheegwon, and a young boy Slopper and seven-year-old RiRi.  Along with a new arrival, Rose, the mixed group of Cree, Métis and more, from the east coast and the west lands and everywhere in between, work to stay safe, learn "old-timey" skills like hunting and homesteading but also language which has been lost.  Each comes with their own creation story, framing their lives with the scars of their histories and the jewels of their heritage.  How they will outrun their pasts and those who seek to harm them while making some future in a world gone terribly wrong can only be told by those telling the story and dreaming.

While the environmental degradation alone could result in the dystopia of The Marrow Thieves, it is but a fraction of the agony of the world Cherie Dimaline has created.  It is a world that has gone beyond decline and into catastrophic collapse.  The heinous racism against Aboriginal Peoples coupled with the carnage perpetrated against them is terrifying but not unfamiliar.  By telling this story in a dystopian world set decades into the future, Cherie Dimaline tells much more about the past.  Still, within that horror, there is a wisdom of self and others, a pocket of compassion and understanding that might be the only hope.

"...running only works of you're moving towards something, not away. Otherwise, you'll never get anywhere." (pg. 217)

Moreover, Cherie Dimaline tells it with such depth of feeling and imagery that The Marrow Thieves becomes a lyrical epic.

Out here stars were perforations revealing the bleached skeleton of the universe through a collection of tiny holes. And surrounded by these silent trees, beside a calming fire, I watched the bones dance.  This was our medicine, these bones, and I opened up and took it all in. And dreamed of north. (pg. 9)

The accolades for The Marrow Thieves have been robust and far-reaching.  They include winning the 2017 Governor General for Young People's Literature and the 2017 Kirkus Prize; a nomination for the Forest of Reading's White Pine Award; selection as The Globe and Mail Best Book; and most recently selection for CBC's 2018 Canada Reads battle of the books. The Marrow Thieves deserves each honour and more as does its creator Cherie Dimaline for weaving a cautionary story of sorrow and history with a future that still has a sliver of reverie.

Sugar and Snails

Written by Sarah Tsiang

Illustrated by Sonja Wimmer

Annick Press

978-1-77321-005-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

March 2018

Though many nursery rhymes have some dark meaning behind them,  I like to think the old English nursery rhyme about boys being made of “frogs and snails and puppy dog tails” and girls being made of “sugar and spice and everything nice” was an innocent poem people may have used to poke fun at the differences between boys and girls.  Then again, maybe not.  But Sarah Tsiang takes the sexism out of that nursery rhyme and shows us that boys and girls can be just about anything they want to be.

From Sugar and Snails

by Sarah Tsiang 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

Sugar and Snails begins with an embroidered piece of stitchery with the old rhyme on it, and then page by page a grandfather unravels that saying for his grandchildren after the boy wonders about sweet boys such as himself.  The elderly man suggests a myriad of things boys and girls could be as he pretends to recall how the rhyme goes.  But as he suggests things, the grandchildren recognize that they just don't fit.  She doesn't like dresses, and he doesn't like frogs.  There's rocks and butterfly socks, rain boots and whales, and even dirt and lemon dessert.  Any of these could be assigned to either child or both.  It's an equal opportunity rhyme of a menagerie of delights, which ends with the grandfather proclaiming to them, "Dangnamit, I give up.  What in the heck are you made of?" and the stitches of the embroidery being unravelled by little hands.

From Sugar and Snails

by Sarah Tsiang 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

Sarah Tsiang makes Sugar and Snails a wacky speculative poem that attempts, amusingly though foolishly, to differentiate between boys and girls.  But it's German artist Sonja Wimmer's surreal illustrations that bring that outrageousness to the forefront.  Sonja Wimmer, who illustrated Belle DeMont's wonderful I Love My Purse (Annick, 2017), lends wonderful fluidity and connectedness between the children and that which might define either of them, with a frisson of humour and folly. 

From Sugar and Snails

by Sarah Tsiang 

illus. by Sonja Wimmer

If Sugar and Snails teaches us anything, it's that labelling is restrictive and inappropriate, and children, girls, boys or non-binary, should just be themselves, no matter what an old rhyme proposes.

Lucky Me

Written by Lora Rozler

Illustrated by Jan Dolby

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

9781554554102

32 pp.

Ages 8-12

February 2018

I always loved those posters that would communicate a single message in different languages, whether it be Welcome, Hello or Thank you.  Lucky Me is like an expanded and illustrated version of the Thank You poster, sharing the many events for which children might express gratitude in various languages.

The text of Lucky Me is a series of statements about experiences for which children in Canada might be  grateful, whether it be treasures big and small, being able to ask question, tasty pancakes , another candle on a birthday cake, playing in the snow, or having a friend by your side.  For each, the term for “thank you” is giving in another language, identifying how to pronounce it as well as the language used.  Lucky Me is like an international thesaurus of thanks.

From Lucky Me 

by Lora Rozler 

illus. by Jan Dolby

With 32 languages covered (English, Armenian, Romanian, Greek, Japanese, Tagalog, Hebrew, Cree, Spanish, Portuguese, Somali, Mandarin, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Arabic, Hindi, Swahili, Tamil, Vietnamese, Korean, Hungarian, Russian, Albanian, Italian, Persian, Cantonese, Punjabi, German, Turkish, Urdu and French), Lora Rozler has covered most continents and the children from the diverse cultures within though the children are very much ensconced in a Canadian setting.  Still children will see themselves outdoors, at home, at school and the many places they experience life.  Jan Dolby, whose gave life to Joyce Grant’s Gabby in Gabby (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013) and her follow up books (Gabby Drama Queen and Gabby Wonder Girl) energizes Lora Rozler’s text with children who are lively and effusive in their activities alone and with others.  They’re open to life and can see the worth in all their experiences.

From Lucky Me 

by Lora Rozler 

illus. by Jan Dolby

While I might have liked to have seen more children who appreciate the quiet of contemplation rather than always activity, the wide variety of experiences and ways of saying thank you demonstrate that we all have much for which we should be grateful and a single book would probably never be enough.  Fortunately, Lora Rozler and Jan Dolby have given children a very, very good start to seeing all for which they could be exclaiming “Lucky Me.”  

From Lucky Me 

by Lora Rozler 

illus. by Jan Dolby