A Box of Bones: Guest blog post

Today's review has been submitted by Grade 6 student Bronte L.

Written by Marina Cohen
Roaring Brook Press
978-1-250-17221-1
288 pp.
Ages 8-12
May 2019

In Marina Cohen’s book A Box of Bones, the main character, Kallie, is very logical and intelligent for her age, yet she lacks imagination. When her beloved grandfather takes her to the Festival of Fools, she doesn’t enjoy it as much as the other visitors do. During the Festival, a faceless man in a fedora gives Kallie a wooden box. Later, she figures out that the box is a puzzle. Against her father's advice, she starts solving the puzzle, and uncovering secrets. Finally she finds the right combination and unleashes something that seems like magic.

While Kallie tries to figure out what’s happening to her world, Liah, a young bone carver, goes on a long journey with her master to sell bone carvings to the empress.  On the journey, she ends up accidentally wrecking a valuable cup that her master made.  She tries to hide this fact from her master along the way.  Although Kallie and Liah's worlds are far apart in time and place, their stories connect in many ways. 

A Box of Bones by Marina Cohen is great for readers in Grades 4-8 seeking a book full of adventure and suspense. It's a book on developing friendships and uncovering family secrets. The large font, short chapters and 281 pages makes it great for a light read. The cliff hangers will make you stay up past your bedtime. The emotional description is fantastic.

Out of ten, I would give A Box of Bones an 8. I loved how the two worlds intertwined. Trying to put together all of the clues and secrets made me feel like a sleuth. All of the characters are original and interesting, their back stories are emotional and deep. Both worlds had their share of drama and suspense. This book gives the reader many chances to draw connections and imagine a new and exciting world.  Once you read this book, you will be drawn into the magic of it all.

~ Bronte L.

Just Lucky

Written by Melanie Florence
Second Story Press
978-77260-104-6
248 pp.
Ages 13-18
September 2019

Though the beginning of her life was less than stable, born of a gambling-addicted mother (hence Lucky’s unusual first name) with a crack habit, much of Lucky Robinson’s fifteen years were spent in a loving home with her grandparents. But, when her grandmother’s dementia advances rapidly after Grandpa’s death, Lucky’s life takes a staggering turn that disconnects her from the support and security she's always known.

Though Lucky is aware that Grandma’s forgetfulness is becoming serious, she is unprepared for the fire Grandma accidentally starts. But at the hospital, the Children’s Aid Society is called to take responsibility for the underage Lucky as Grandma receives care. Sadly even a phone call to her ghost of a mother brings nothing except clarity that Lucky is well rid of a woman more concerned about her boyfriend and the proceeds from the potential sale of Lucky's grandparents' house. As such, Lucky begins the complex journey into the foster care system.

Her first foster placement is with the hyper-religious Mary and Robert Wilson and their teen son Bobby. Lucky tries to be accommodating, submitting to Mary’s requirements for chaste dress, the saying of grace before meals and homeschooling. But a threat within requires Lucky defend herself both with a knife and with the truth to those who refuse to acknowledge inappropriate behaviours by those entrusted with her care. The consequence is that child care worker Cynthia drags victimized Lucky to a second home.

With her new living accommodations with foster parents Sarah and Edward and teens Jake and Charlie, Lucky begins to feel a little luckier. Though home is more stable and welcoming, Lucky must contend with racism and bullying at school at the hands of Elyse who has her sights on Jake and sees his interest in Lucky as competition. Victimized again for being Indigenous, and for defending Charlie, a boy from the Dominican, Lucky is expelled, steering her to yet another foster family but also to the school she attended with best friend Ryan.

Though Lucky continues to hold onto the hope that she will be reunited with her grandmother who has both good and bad days, when Grandma is moved to a care facility, Lucky starts to wonder whether she has any luck at all and may ever again have a place of home where she will feel safe.

Melanie Florence who touched us with her award-winning picture books Stolen Words (Second Story Press, 2017) and Missing Nimâmâ (Clockwise Press, 2015) takes a simple germ of an idea–that of a child in foster care–and makes it in bigger story, as it should be. Entering foster care is a life-altering experience from which some children may or may not recover.  As in her earlier picture books about residential schools and missing and murdered Indigenous women, the story is simple but the message monumental. Not all lives are easy and picture perfect and Lucky's certainly is not. Not all foster homes are great or horrible.  Not all foster families are caring, though that is their mandate. Lucky's story evolves from a tragedy that snowballs into overwhelming disaster. Though I’m sure, as the saying goes, it could have been far worse, Lucky's story, which is one of trial and hardship, does end with some semblance of good fortune and contentedness, perhaps even hope for a happy ending.

The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family

Written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali

Illustrated by Hatem Aly

Little Brown Books for Young Readers

978-0-31651-900-7

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 2019

Rites of passage are important in many cultures though the nature of those rites can differ significantly or share commonalities. Many rites include those as a young person enters puberty and adulthood. For Faizah's older sister Asiya, it's the first day she will wear the hijab regularly, including to school. At home, Mama and Faizah are so excited as twelve-year-old Asiya chooses the  brightest blue, "The color of the ocean, if you squint your eyes and pretend there's no line between the water and the sky." But how will their schoolmates react to the princess Faizah sees in Asiya?

From The Proudest Blue, written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali, illus. by Hatem Aly

When Faizah's classmate asks, she explains that it's a scarf, recognizing that it's like "the sky on a sunny day. The sky isn't a whisper. It's always there, special and regular." But, though Asiya is excited, Faizah is worried for her, especially when some boys laugh at her sister.

From The Proudest Blue, written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali, illus. by Hatem Aly

Faizah is perplexed. The blue hijab is sky and water, strong and important, and these children do not understand. While Asiya and her friends ignore the taunts of the boys, Faizah remembers all the advice her mother had given them.

Don't carry around the hurtful words that others say. Drop them. They are not yours to keep.

From The Proudest Blue, written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali, illus. by Hatem Aly

Muslim American Olympic fencer and social justice activist Ibtihaj Muhammad tells a personal story of starting to wear the hijab to school and the bullying that she endured because of the way she chose to express her faith. More importantly, she gives voice to a common experience of being ridiculed for being different or perhaps just not understood. Asiya and Faizah's mother–as did Ibtihaj Muhammad's mother as indicated by her author's note–prepared her daughters well for this rite of passage. Though she cannot control what others think or say, she does strengthen their pride in the wearing of the hijab and understanding for those who might attack from ignorance. With Canadian author S. K. Ali as her co-author, Ibtihaj Muhammad tells her story with charity and honesty and eloquence.

Illustrator Hatem Aly, Egyptian-born and New Brunswick-residing, has a repertoire that ranges from pen-and-ink editorial illustrations to comics but here his digitally-rendered art, textured with ink washes and pencil on watercolour paper, adds a brightness to a child's story. The bullies are depicted as shadows, their faces never seen, appropriate for senseless oppressors. And for Faizah and her family and compassionate classmates? The colours, like that of Asiya's blue hijab, are radiant, filled with warmth and encouragement.

From The Proudest Blue, written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali, illus. by Hatem Aly

The Proudest Blue, like the hijab of Ibtihaj Muhammad, S. K. Ali and Hatem Aly's story, has depth and consciousness of what it means to be Muslim, what it means to wear the hijab and what it means to be proud of faith and self-expression.

Ruby's Hope: A Story of the Girl in the Most Famous Photograph of the Depression

Written by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Sarah Dvojack

Page Street Kids

978-1-62414-818-7

40 pp.

Ages 6-10

September 2019

In 1936, photographer Dorothea Lange would take a picture at a pea-pickers' camp in California and capture a time, an existence, a struggle that would become the iconic "Migrant Mother" piece of art. Though it would be decades later that Florence Owens Thompson and her children would become known as the subjects of that photograph, Monica Kulling brings us a fictionalized account of the background of those captured forever as the face of the Great Depression.

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

Ruby's Hope begins with the little girl's family leaving Oklahoma after the economic tragedies of the late 1920s and early 1930s. With the stock market crash in 1929, followed by the drought that brought dust storms and the ruin of farms, seven-year-old Ruby's parents decide that, unlike the thistle that persevered in the field, they needed to move on, hopeful of a better life in California.

It sometimes seemed to Ruby that Ma pushed hope to its limits.

First the family–Ma, Pa, older siblings Leroy and Viola and babies Katherine and Norma–took to the lettuce fields. But when they head to the pea fields for the next round of picking, they run out of gas and a frost kills the crop, leaving the family desolate in a camp of migrant workers similarly unsettled. Pa and Leroy head to town to earn any kind of money, while

Days passed and food dwindled.

Ruby's hope dwindled too.

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

When a lady photographer comes to the camp to take images of the migrant farm workers for the government, Ruby brings her to see her mother. Though reluctant–"I don't see what good they'll do. We need gas to leave this place. We need food, not photographs"–Ma agrees, swayed that perhaps they might convey to others how hard the migrant workers' lives are. 

Though the story of Florence Owens Thompson and her family may not be as Monica Kulling envisions it–her Author's Note and discussion of How the "Migrant Mother" Came to Be provide more details about the facts as known–it accurately depicts a family on the move for work, eking out a living wherever possible and carrying on through drought, dust storms, frost and more. I like that Monica Kulling gives the story to Ruby who, while quite young, knows the hardship of leaving the only home she'd known and the worries of her parents and still keeps hope in her heart. Though her words are heavy with worry, hunger and poverty, I suspect the story would have been far harsher if written from the perspective of Ma, Pa or an older sibling. 

From Ruby's Hope, written by Monica Kulling, illus. by Sarah Dvojack

Still, the tragedy in the family's story is pervasive in Ruby's Hope. It's like the dust clouds that spread across prairies and plains: oppressive, stifling out air and sun, and crushing.  American artist Sarah Dvojack's pencil drawings coloured digitally extend that feel of hardship. The earthiness of the family's circumstances, environmental and economic, are conveyed in her lines and colours. From the actions of her characters, in the slump of their shoulders, of the dirt of their clothes and bodies, and the landscapes of their situation, Sarah Dvojack embeds the art with the burdens of the time and place.

Ruby's Hope: A Story of the Girl in the Most Famous Photograph of the Depression may be a fictionalized account of that image but its accuracy comes from the awareness of how people like Ruby's family laboured through horrific circumstances and how change can be be inspired with the right attention.

Migrant Mother, Photograph by Dorothea Lange (Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/50989)

Spin

Written by Colleen Nelson

Dundurn

978-1-45974-496-7

296 pp.

Ages 12-15

August 2019

 

Fifteen-year-old Delilah Doucette, affectionately called Dizzy by her father Ray and brother Lou, has had music around her her whole life. Her dad once toured as a saxophone player and now owns a record store called The Vinyl Trap. And her mother? Her mother is the famous singer Georgia Waters. Or at least Georgia Hay is, giving birth to both Lou and Dizzy before she chose to abandon them with Ray and embrace a life of touring and celebrity. Since leaving when Dizzy was one-year-old and Lou was four, Georgia has only seen them once in fourteen years. Still,

She might have escaped us, but we couldn't escape her. (pg. 10)

While Lou, already graduated from high school and working at the store, promoting it on social media and arranging special events, struggles with what he wants to do with his life, Dizzy is still in school and knows what she wants. For her, it's all about spinning and mixing music. The store may be an anchor for both, but for Lou it feels like it may drown him while for Dizzy, it's her foundation. And for Ray, it gives him the opportunity to continue with his music, sharing it with others, jamming with friends Donnie, Rudy, Barney and Big Tom, and providing for his family.

After Dizzy opens for DJ Erika at one of the store's Friday Night Spin DJ nights, she is advised to tell a story with her music to make more of an impact. Unbeknown to her family, she uses some private and forgotten recordings from when Ray and Georgia were first together in a mix that she uploads to her Mixcloud account. That mix and a choice to see Georgia in concert in the city leads Dizzy to turn her back on a promise she and her brother had made to their father to never reveal their mother's identify.

As both Dizzy and Lou search for the path that is right for them, Dizzy through her music and potential connection with her mother and Lou slipping into university English lectures and crushing on a fellow student Olivia, Ray tries to hold onto his love of music in any way he can and do what is right for his children. Whether that will be with or without Georgia will depend on how things play out.

Telling the story in Spin through the voices of Dizzy, Lou and Ray, Colleen Nelson creates one firmly rooted in perspectives. Three family members are all looking at the same circumstances–the abandonment of the family by the mother–and revealing different takes on her and her choices. From curiosity to anger, resignation and confusion, the Doucette family sees Georgia as an enigma. Whether she's as Lou sees her...

Georgia had had her chance ten years ago and she'd left us on the table. Forgotten leftovers from a life she didn't want. (pg. 33)

...or the potential celebrity mom that Dizzy craves or the love Ray once had, Georgia has chosen to be what she wanted and not necessarily what others wanted of her. And how they have reacted to her choice is what makes Spin a great story of family. It's not a straightforward story but then most families aren't.  They're complicated and messy and nurturing and debilitating in their own ways and Colleen Nelson knows this. (Read The Fall, 250 Hours, Finding Hope, and Blood Brothers for a good sampling of great stories about family.) Colleen Nelson excels at putting families in all their configurations out front and exposed, never judging their frailties or flaws, only revealing for the purpose of demonstrating that

It's how you go forward from your past 

that makes you who you are. (pg. 138)

Whether teen or adult, child or parent, the characters in Spin, including secondary characters like the homeless Leroy and Dizzy's best friend Maya, do move forward, choosing to advance their own stories with the spin they've selected for themselves, all courtesy of Colleen Nelson's dynamic text and powerful narrative.

The Starlight Claim: Q & A with author Tim Wynne-Jones

 The Starlight Claim

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones

Candlewick Press

978-1-5362-0264-9

240 pp.

Ages 13+

September 2019

On September 10, 2019,  Tim Wynne-Jones's newest YA thriller, The Starlight Claim, was released and I reviewed it here on CanLit for LittleCanadians.

As the book will launch over the next few weeks here in Ontario including tonight in Toronto, I had the pleasure of interviewing author Tim Wynne-Jones about his book.

Enjoy the writing revelations Tim Wynne-Jones shares with us here about The Starlight Claim.

HK:  The Starlight Claim is an action-packed novel that includes characters from your earlier book The Maestro. However, rather than following The Maestro’s protagonist Burl, you chose to focus on Nate, Burl’s sixteen-year-old son. Why choose to make The Starlight Claim an intergenerational sequel?

TWJ:  A great question and one that made me laugh. For years readers have asked me what happened to Burl, since I leave it kind of hazy at the end of The Maestro. They also often want to know what happened to Burl’s evil dad. Mostly, they hope something awful! So what took me so long to write a sequel? Life – that’s what. Anyway, by the time I finally got around to writing this book, it had been twenty-four years – long enough for Burl to have a sixteen-year-old of his own. And I couldn’t resist letting Nate (named after the Maestro, himself, of course) brave his way up to Ghost Lake, alone. 


HK:  The Maestro was published in 1995. How difficult was it to write a sequel over 20 years after the original book? Were there some obstacles that you found impossible to overcome?

TWJ:  Some books are harder to write than others, taking two or three years. This book was the other kind. I was SO happy to return to the same magical setting as The Maestro, with the added dimension of making it late winter. This story not only addresses what happened to Burl and his dreadful father but also looks at a true story about my own “Ghost Lake” and the ramifications of a haunting tragedy. It was a dream to write, full of built-in conflict and very high stakes.


HK:  At its heart, The Starlight Claim is all about conflict: conflict within, as Nate struggles with his guilt over a friend’s death; conflict with others, as he eludes criminals and grapples with family dramas; and conflict with a landscape of epic beauty and unyielding hurdles.  Surprisingly, though Nate is dealing with all those tensions, he is an amazingly grounded young man. He is smart enough to accept fear but keeps his head and more than survives.  How did you conceive of him, especially knowing where his father came from?

TWJ:  Well, first of all, thank you for your kind words. Luckily, Nate is his father’s son and if you know Burl, you know what a resourceful soul he was, even as a kid. And Nate has all the savvy and inner strength of his father. And I do have to add, here, that he’s modeled on a good friend who has been kind enough to let me fictionalize his own story. Make no mistake, this is a work of fiction, but Nate’s grounded personality is very much a reflection of a real person. The person I’d most want to have handy if I was ship wrecked on a deserted island!  


HK:  While Nate is very much in the present, dealing with nefarious characters in a remote setting, struggling for his own survival, the past is everywhere.  It’s in the history of the camp, in his knowledge of his grandfather and in his memories of his friend Dodge.  What does The Starlight Claim tell us about the role of the past in the now and perhaps in the future?

TWJ:  The past is always with us. And I think never more so than when we lose someone that matters a great deal to us. Especially if you have to grapple with the fear of your own complicity, real or imagined, in the tragedy. It seems fitting, somehow, that as Nate travels up to the lake, burdened by a sorrow even heavier than the pack on his back, he should venture into the world of the past, so to speak, where his grandfather lurks. He says at one point, while he’s on the train heading up to the family camp that he’s travelling backward through his father’s history, stop by stop. So you’ve put your finger on an underlying theme.   


HK:  Japheth Starlight advised Burl in The Maestro that “You made the mess–you clean it up. That’s the way you become master of your own destiny” and it seems all the men in Burl’s family demonstrated that they learned this lesson to various degrees, even the repugnant Calvin Crow. How do you think Cal finally recognized this wisdom?

TWJ:  When readers talk to me about Calvin Crow they just about growl. That makes me so happy; the truth is -- I think any writer will tell you – writing the “bad guy” is so much more interesting than writing any other character. Cal is my “favourite” bad guy! That said, he’s human. Aren’t we all! So, I needed to find what made him tick. There is nothing so shallow as a bad guy who is just plain bad. We are all motivated by things that happen in our lives. There was something of this in a monologue of Cal’s in The Maestro and I wanted to expand upon it. I think that novels are often about redemption. I wanted to give him another chance.
    

HK:  As the story progresses, the reader realizes Dodge, the friend whose death Nate is  haunted by, is not the person Nate has held him up to be in his memory.  Moreover, Cal has his own issues with how he remembers things with his own son. What do their stories tell us about the capacity for memory to reflect something other than reality?

TWJ:  These are profound questions, Helen, thank you. One of the fondest wishes any writer can have is that the reader who cares to dig deep will find things to think about. I will defer to the wonderful English writer, Aidan Chambers, who has said this: “My personal conviction is that we are not changed by our experience, as common wisdom has it. What changes us are the stories we tell about our experience…” This is important: it’s not that we “make up stories” about our lives and therefore fictionalize them – another word for lying! It’s more to the point that we shape the experience into something tellable. We all do it. Have you ever had the experience of telling someone a family story within earshot of a sibling, who immediately jumps in and says, “That’s not the way it happened!”? That’s what I’m talking about; we see the world from our point of view. The delight of being a writer is imagining all kinds of points of view. 


HK:  The Maestro was a middle grade novel written for young readers ages 11 and older whereas The Starlight Claim is recommended for a slightly older audience, 13+. What in this new book prompted the publisher to propose that The Starlight Claim is more appropriate for a YA audience?

TWJ:  I’m not privy to that kind of decision-making, but I would guess it’s the addition of hardened and violent criminals to the mix. I think that any eleven-year-old who loves adventure stories will love this book – I sure would have when I was that age. And to be frank, they’ve probably seen a lot worse characters, in movies that get a PG rating. 


HK:  I could see continuing Burl and Nate’s stories, perhaps Burl’s after The Maestro but before The Starlight Claim, and both of their stories after The Starlight Claim. Would you consider this and why or why not?

TWJ:  Hmm, that’s a good question, as well. I’d have to say it’s unlikely, at this point. I don’t naturally steer toward sequels. That said, I’ve written two trilogies in my life: The “Zoom” picture books and my Rex Zero middle grade novels. They lent themselves really well to follow-ups. It took me twenty-five years to write a sequel to The Maestro. Maybe in another twenty-five years… But I never say never.

Many thanks to Tim Wynne-Jones
for again gracing CanLit for LittleCanadians with an interview
and providing insights into his newest novel and its writing.

Thank you also to publicist Winston Stilwell
for facilitating this endeavour.

••••••••••••••••••••

Best wishes to Tim Wynne-Jones on The Starlight Claim,
a story that I'm sure will capture all readers,
whether fans of thrillers or YA or great literature of any genre.


(And don't forget tonight's launch in Toronto and also in Kingston and Ottawa. Sadly Perth's was yesterday. Details here.)

Goodnight, World

Written and illustrated by Andrea Lynn Beck

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-4865-8

32 pp.

Ages 2-6

September 2019

It's not always easy for children to see beyond their own worlds. Not everyone gets an opportunity to travel and experience how others live firsthand. But that should not limit their understanding or ability to feel compassion. In Andrea Lynn Beck's newest picture book, a child wonders about other children around the world who too are heading to bed, recognizing that they will be both very different and still similar.

From Goodnight, World by Andrea Lynn Beck

A child who lives with his family on a sailboat is preparing for bed and looking up at the sky and questioning whether other children are looking up and seeing the same stars. He thinks about those on different continents–his room houses a number of geographical instruments like a map, compass, globe and sextant to fuel this attention–and the structures they might live in and the furniture upon which they sleep.

From Goodnight, World by Andrea Lynn Beck

In lovely rhyming text that melds innocence with curiosity, Andrea Lynn Beck presents a global appreciation of all children as they settle in for the night under domes or roofs with goats, in caves, on boats, in high-rises or buildings made of mud and straw. The boy imagines wonderful landscapes far and wide, high and low, and the children often reading, sometimes playing, before sleep under a common celestial feature. 

As the illustrations in her earlier picture book Good Night, Canada demonstrate, Andrea Lynn Beck's pencil crayon and paint on watercolour paper artwork is bright and fresh and reflective of a child's perspective and reality. She invites readers into a child's room, to cuddle with a stuffie and dog, and to dream of other lands and children. And for those who want to learn a little more about the homes shown throughout the book, Andrea Lynn Beck shares stories about each, including how she created the book to show how our world is our home.

Our world is so big, and sometimes so small...

It is our home, goodnight to us all.

Goodnight, World will definitely be added to my Read a Book of Bedtime booklist for its comforting take on a child's end of day reflection and wonder about the world and its children.

🌎🌏🌍🌎🌍

A French-language edition, Bonne nuit autour du monde, will also be released by Scholastic Canada this month.

The Starlight Claim

Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick Press
978-1-5362-0264-9
240 pp.
Ages 13+
September 2019

Nathaniel Crow is a sixteen-year-old boy who is looking forward to a few days away at his family's remote cabin during March break. Though he and friends Dodge Hoebeek and Paul Jokinen had planned this trip a year ago, having been well-schooled by Nate's father Burl how to work and repair the snowmobile, to clear snow from the solar panels, what to do if they encounter any trouble, and more, the trip becomes a solo endeavour of survival and gumption for Nate, one that will bring him face-to-face with his past in more ways than one.

From the onset of The Starlight Claim, Nate is tormented by nightmares of his friend Dodge who is presumed dead after he with younger brother Trick and father Art Hoebeek had attempted to cross a lake in November to deliver a propane fridge to their neighbouring cabin. With Dodge missing and haunting his dreams with guilt about Nate not joining them and perhaps preventing their dangerous venture, and Paul getting grounded, it's only Nate who goes up to the Crow camp, hopeful of perhaps finding Dodge or just proving himself more gutsy than he feels.

But when Nate arrives at the camp, an arduous journey by the Budd Car train and snowshoe, he discovers a couple of scary dudes making themselves at home in the Crow cabin. He can't even head up to the abandoned shack of old miner Japheth Starlight–the only spot where cell connectivity is possible–because it's evident they're using it for the same purpose. Instead Nate holes up in the Hoebeek camp and, discovering Dodge's drone, attempts to send a message home via an airborne cell phone, while planning his escape to catch the Budd Car the following day.

By this time tomorrow night, he'd be sleeping in his own bed. All he had to do was hang tight. Nothing was going to go wrong. Nothing else. (pg. 75)

Sadly, Nate's plans are thwarted by a third man, arriving by snowmobile, who advises Nate not to go near the Crow cabin, and takes away his skis and snowshoes. Though the lout who hides behind his mask tries to help Nate out somewhat, he's holding back some secrets and seems to know more about Nate, the two men and even Dodge than he will admit. That is, until Nate reveals what he has learned through his own surveillance and observation. Then it's a cat-and-mouse game for Nate to evade some ruthless criminals and stay safe while putting to rest a few ghosts.

Though The Starlight Claim refers to characters from Tim Wynne-Jones's Governor General award-winning middle-grade novel The Maestro (1995), it can be considered both a stand-alone story and an intergenerational sequel. It may follow the story of the son of The Maestro's protagonist and draw on a history that has impacted, though not limited, its main characters, but The Starlight Claim is still Nate's story. With Burl–whose own survival is told in The Maestro–as Nate's virtual mentor, reminding the teen how to handle most indoor and outdoor difficulties, Nate plays a steady hand and head throughout The Starlight Claim. He is his father's son and a young man who deserves to persevere.

"You remember yourself, son," Burl had said... (pg. 129)

Though most of the story takes place over the course of just a few days, it is peppered with memories of Nate and Dodge's time at the lake and what is known to have happened to Dodge and his brother and father. In this way, Tim Wynne-Jones reminds us how much our past experiences create our present. But never, never, never is it suggested that our pasts determine how our lives will turn out. If that was the case, Burl would have been an abusive father, an inconsiderate husband, and worse, and Nate would have learned the same from his dad. Instead we meet an incredible young man who is clever and resourceful and compassionate and makes very good choices, unlike Dodge and Burl's father.

The thriller aspect of Tim Wynne-Jones's The Starlight Claim will hook young adult readers with its bad guys and good guys and those who walk the blurred line between the two, while others will be grabbed by the mystery embedded in a family drama. Regardless of why they pick it up, teens will be riveted by the psychological journey of Nate as he balances what he knows, what he's been told and what he learns as he confronts an unyielding northern Ontario winter landscape and those who seek to claim what is not rightfully theirs.

Look for my interview with author Tim Wynne-Jones next Monday (September 16, 2019) as he answers questions about The Starlight Claim, creating an intergenerational sequel, and the power of the past and memory.

Harvey Comes Home and Spin: Double book launch (Winnipeg, MB)

Join author

 Colleen Nelson

for the launch of her two newest books

Harvey Comes Home

Written by Colleen Nelson
Illustrations by Tara Anderson
Pajama Press
978-1-77278-097-0
224 pp.
Ages 8-12
September 2019

Reviewed here

and

Spin

Written by Colleen Nelson

Dundurn

978-1-45974-496-7

296 pp.

Ages 12-15

August 2019

 on

Saturday September 14, 2019 

at

7:00 p.m.

at

McNally Robinson Booksellers

Grant Park in the Atrium 

Winnipeg, MB

For middle-grade readers, Harvey Comes Home is all about dogs, forgiveness and coming home. Read my review here or Pajama Press's synopsis about this book from

https://pajamapress.ca/book/harvey_comes_home/:

An adventurous West Highland Terrier follows his nose a little too far from home and becomes desperate for a helping hand. But when he’s taken in by a young boy volunteering at a retirement home, it just might be Harvey who does the helping.

A dog’s world is a world of scents, of adventure. When a runaway West Highland Terrier named Harvey wanders out of his old life guided only by his nose and his heart, lives begin to converge.

Austin, a young volunteer at the Brayside retirement home, quickly finds that the audacious Harvey inspires Mr. Pickering, a bitter resident coping with memory loss, to tell stories of his childhood. Moved by the elderly man’s Dust Bowl recollections of grinding poverty and the perseverance of his friends and family, Austin begins to trade his preconceived notions for empathy. But is it enough to give him the resolve to track down Harvey’s original owner?

Supported by striking illustrations from acclaimed artist Tara Anderson, Colleen Nelson immerses readers in a rich and unflinchingly human tale of struggle and hope—all inspired by one curious dog.

Spin, for young adults, is described as follows on Dundurn's website at https://www.dundurn.com/books/Spin:

An aspiring teenage DJ must learn how to navigate life when people find out that she's the daughter of a famous singer. 

Fifteen-year-old Delilah “Dizzy” Doucette lives with her dad and brother above their vintage record store, The Vinyl Trap. She’s learning how to spin records from her brother’s best friend, and she’s getting pretty good. But behind her bohemian life, Dizzy and her family have a secret: her mom is the megafamous singer Georgia Waters. When this secret is revealed to the world, Dizzy’s life spins out of control. She must decide what is most important to her — the family she has or the family she wants.

 •••••

Details about this weekend's launch can be found at McNally Robinson's website at https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-17565/Colleen-Nelson----Book-Launch

2019 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards: Finalists announced

On September 5th, the Canadian Children's Book Centre, our nationally-renowned authority on all things related to youngCanLit, announced the finalists for the 2019 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards. (See their website announcement here.)

The eight major children's book awards, which will be awarded at two invitation-only galas in October and November, include:

• TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award ($50,000) Sponsored by TD Bank Group;
• Le Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse ($50,000) Sponsored by TD Bank Group;
• Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award ($20,000) Sponsored by A. Charles Baillie;
• Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction ($10,000) Sponsored by the Fleck Family Foundation;
• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($5,000) Sponsored by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Bilson Endowment Fund;
• John Spray Mystery Award ($5,000) Sponsored by John Spray of Mantis Investigation Agency;
• Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000) Sponsored by Amy Mathers' Marathon of Books; and
• Le Prix Harry Black de l’album jeunesse ($5,000) Sponsored by Mary Macchiusi

There is also the Fan Choice Award/Choix du public littérature jeunesse which invites young readers of ages 5-12 to to choose their favourite book from the titles shortlisted for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and Le Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse.  Voting takes place between September 5 and October 3 for the English contest (https://www.cbc.ca/fanchoice/) and September 8 to October 6 for the French contest (https://ici.radio-canada.ca/concours-choixdupublic/).

Here are the short lists for each award category, as announced by the Canadian Children's Book Centre:



TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

After Life: Ways We Think About Death
Written by Merrie-Ellen Wilcox
Orca Book Publishers
88 pp.
Ages 9-12
2018

Ebb & Flow
Written by Heather Smith
Kids Can Press
232 pp.
Ages 9-12
2018
Reviewed here

Mustafa
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 4-8
2018

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
Written by Jonathan Auxier
Puffin Canada
368 pp.
Ages 8-12
2018

They Say Blue
Written and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 3-7
2018









Le Prix TD de littérature pour l'enfance et la jeunesse canadienne

Anatole qui ne séchait jamais
Written by Stéphanie Boulay
Illustrated by Agathe Bray-Bourret
Éditions Fonfon
80 pp.
Ages 10+
2018

Jules et Jim, frères d’armes
Written and illustrated by Jacques Goldstyn
Bayard Canada
60 pp.
Ages 9+
2018

Moi, c’est Tantale
Written by André Marois
Illustrated by Julien Castanié
Éditions de l’Isatis
55 pp.
Ages 11+
2018

Nos héroïnes: 40 portraits de femmes québécoises
Written by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette
Illustrated by Mathilde Cinq-Mars
Éditions Marchand de feuilles
96 pp.
Ages 9+
2018

Qui va bercer Zoé?
Written by Andrée Poulin
Illustrated by Mathieu Lampron
Éditions Les 400 coups
32 pp.
Ages 7+
2018







Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

Africville
Written by Shauntay Grant
Illustrated by Eva Campbell
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2018
Reviewed here

The Funeral
Written and illustrated by Matt James
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 4-7
2018
Reviewed here

Mustafa
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 4-8
2018

Seb and the Sun
Written and illustrated by Jami Gigot
Ripple Grove Press
36 pp.
Ages 4-7
2018

They Say Blue
Written and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 3-7
2018








Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction

After Life: Ways We Think About Death
Written by Merrie-Ellen Wilcox
Orca Book Publishers
88 pp.
Ages 9-12
2018

Bat Citizens: Defending the Ninjas of the Night
Written by Rob Laidlaw
Pajama Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2018
Reviewed here

Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes
Written by Wab Kinew
Illustrated by Joe Morse
Tundra Books
40 pp.
Ages 5-9
2018
Reviewed here

Trash Revolution: Breaking the Waste Cycle
Written by Erica Fyvie
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press
64 pp.
Ages 8-12
2018

Turtle Pond
Written by James Gladstone
Illustrated by Karen Reczuch
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2018
Reviewed here






Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People 

Don’t Tell the Enemy
Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Scholastic Canada
184 pp.
Ages 10-14
2018
Reviewed here

The Journey of Little Charlie
Written by Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic Canada
234 pp.
Ages 9-12
2018
Reviewed here

Miles to Go
Written by Beryl Young
Wandering Fox Books
224 pp.
Ages 10-14
2018

Piper
Written by Jacqueline Halsey
Nimbus Publishing
176 pp.
Ages 10-12
2018

The Sound of Freedom (Heroes Quartet, Book 1)
Written by Kathy Kacer
Annick Press
286 pp.
Ages 9-12
2018

John Spray Mystery Award

Aftermath
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Penguin Teen
384 pp.
Ages 12-18
2018

Call of the Wraith (The Blackthorn Key, Book 4)
Written by Kevin Sands
Aladdin
512 pp.
Ages 10-14
2018

The Case of the Firebane's Folly (Tank & Fizz, Book 4)
Written by Liam O'Donnell
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Orca Book Publishers
256 pp.
Ages 8-11
2018

Sadie
Written by Courtney Summers
St. Martin's Press
308 pp.
Ages 14+
2018
Reviewed here

Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing (Shepherd & Wolfe, Book 3)
Written by Angie Counios and David Gane
Your Nickel's Worth Publishing
480 pp.
Ages 15+
2018







Amy Mathers Teen Book Award

Aftermath
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Penguin Teen
384 pp.
Ages 12-18
2018 

Easy Prey
Written by Catherine Lo
Amulet Books
352 pp.
Ages 14+
2018

A Girl Like That
Written by Tanaz Bhathena
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers
369 pp.
Ages 14+
2018
Reviewed here

The House of One Thousand Eyes
Written by Michelle Barker
Annick Press
354 pp.
Ages 14+
2018
Reviewed here

Learning to Breathe
Written by Janice Lynn Mather
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
336 pp.
Ages 14+
2018









Prix Harry Black de l'album jeunesse

Mémé à la plage
Written by Rhéa Dufresne
Illustrated by Aurélie Grand
Éditions Les 400 coups
32 pp.
Ages 5+
2018

Mon lit de rêve
Written by Gilles Tibo
Illustrated by Mathilde Cinq-Mars
Éditions de l’Isatis
32 pp.
Ages 4+
2018

On a un problème avec Lilou la loutre
Written and illustrated by Orbie
Éditions Fonfon
32 pp.
Ages 5+
2018

Le pelleteur de nuages
Written by Simon Boulerice
Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Groupe d’édition la courte echelle
32 pp.
Ages 5+
2018

Qui va bercer Zoé?
Written by Andrée Poulin
Illustrated by Mathieu Lampron
Éditions Les 400 coups
32 pp.
Ages 7+
2018




Hosted by the Canadian Children's Book Centre and TD Bank Group, the Canadian Children's Literature Awards will celebrate great Canadian children's books and present the winners of the awards on the evenings of October 15, 2019 and November 7, 2019 in Toronto and Montreal, respectively.