May 30, 2022

Hungry for the Arts: Poems to Chomp On

Written by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming
Illustrated by Peggy Collins
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
978-1-55455-466-9
32 pp.
Ages 5-8
March 2022

From the creative team that brought us Hungry for Math: Poems to Munch On and Hungry for Science: Poems to Crunch On comes a new book of lively poetry based in the arts of drama, music, dance and visual arts. 

From Hungry for the Arts: Poems to Chomp On by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming, illus. by Peggy Collins
Colour-coded to organize the poetry which can span several pages–orange for dance, green for drama, turquoise for music and purple for visual arts–authors Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori-Sherritt-Fleming take young readers onto the stage and into the studio to find ways to express themselves. They are encouraged to...

Munch on motion
Chomp on play.
Chew on chants.
Eat ARTS all day!
And to...
Choose buffets or a-la-carte.
Music,
  dance,
    drama, 
      art!
From Hungry for the Arts: Poems to Chomp On by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming, illus. by Peggy Collins

There's the poem called "Those Cats Can Play" which has a quartet of felines improvising with a variety of notes and "A Little More Forte" in which an elephant and a house mouse must learn about forte, piano, decrescendo and crescendo. In the dance poems, identified by the orange dot in the corner of the first page, some dinosaurs disco, tango and hip hop their way across the dance floor ("Dinosaur Dance Floor") while in "The Whammy-Roo" a child in a wheelchair introduces her friend to her new dance.
From Hungry for the Arts: Poems to Chomp On by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming, illus. by Peggy Collins

In the drama poems that include  "When I'm" and "A Dramatic Ride" kids try out movements, improvise with costumes and perform, imaging themselves as anything from a roller coaster to a tiger and a pirate. And the poems based in the visual arts are just as colourful and entertaining, encouraging young readers to think about textures and shapes and create from found objects. In the thirteen poems in the book, Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming introduce children to new terms–a snappy glossary summarizes this new vocabulary–and encourage them to explore the different art forms with some playful poems that may or may not rhyme.

From Hungry for the Arts: Poems to Chomp On by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming, illus. by Peggy Collins
Peggy Collins, whose book Harley the Hero recently won the Forest of Reading's Blue Spruce Award, brings the joy of making art to the page. Her own artwork bursts from the story in an explosion of life through her use of colour and shape and line. There are no wallflowers in Hungry for the Arts. Every poem is animated with animals and children, robots and activity. As the creators make art, through their singing, their dancing, their performance and their displays, readers will learn from the words and the play.

We've munched on poems, crunched on poems and now we get to chomp on them too. With the rhythm of the music, the step of a light foot, a stroke of a brush and a flourish on a stage, Kari-Lynn Winters, Lori Sherritt-Fleming and Peggy Collins take us into the places where children get creative and express themselves in whatever art form speaks to them, and we're there to applaud all their efforts.

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May 27, 2022

Sun in My Tummy

Written by Laura Alary
Illustrated by Andrea Blinick
Pajama Press
978-1-77278-241-7
32 pp.
Ages 5-8
April 2022
 
What might you see in a bowl of oatmeal? Sure, there will be the cereal and the milk and perhaps, as in this child's bowl, some lovely blueberries. But, if you look a little closer, you'll see the seeds that grew, the bushes that caught the sun's energy, and a cow "munching sweet green grass, that grew in soil, watered by rain, that came from clouds, formed by oceans, warmed by the sun." There's a lot of sunshine and goodness in that bowl of oatmeal and it all ends up in this child's tummy.
From Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary, illus. by Andrea Blinick
Just as she was snug in her bed, a child thinks about oat grains that grew deep in the earth to produce the oats that are basis for the oatmeal her mother is making for their breakfast. With the sun, both she and the grains awoke, thirsty and hungry.
From Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary, illus. by Andrea Blinick
What follows is a look at how the oats grew with the sun and the rain. And those lovely blueberries? The magic that we know of as photosynthesis happened in order to produce the plant that would produce the berries.
The leaves of that blueberry bush 
caught the sun energy and used it 
to break apart gases in the air.
Then they put the pieces back together
to make something new: sugar.
Food from thin air!
Laura Alary then speaks to the pollination and life cycles and with each cereal ingredient she helps children connect the natural world with the deliciousness in their food. Too many children and adults have a disconnect between what they eat and where it came from. They either don't know about milk cows and grains and fruit and how they are raised or cultivated or harvested or cannot see the connection between farms and how the food gets into the stores from which we often buy. By associating the sun of our environment with the warmth in our belly from hearty food, Laura Alary relates science concepts like photosynthesis, energy and life cycles with the familiar events like waking in the morning, having breakfast, and growing. Connecting the familiar with the unfamiliar is always an important means to forge learning.
From Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary, illus. by Andrea Blinick
Like Laura Alary whose earlier picture book, What Grew in Larry's Garden (2020), focused on the outdoors, Andrea Blinick takes her artwork into the natural world to shine. As it did in Outside, You Notice (2021), Andrea Blinick's illustrations bring the sunshine and the rain and the animals and plants to flourish with energy. Whether that energy is solar or metabolic or spiritual, it carries the importance of sustaining life in its many forms and Andrea Blinick's art which is a combination of gouache, coloured pencil, collage and chalk pastel gives the text of that message the brightness and textures of that life and energy.
 
Perfect for STEM lessons about plants and life cycles, Sun in My Tummy will brighten any classroom or library and help young children understand how the sun in their tummies, whether oatmeal or another cereal, got there.

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May 25, 2022

2022 Forest Kid and Teen Committees Summer Reading Lists

In early May, selected young readers who'd applied to participate on the sixth annual Forest Kid Committee (for ages 9-13) and the fourth Forest Teen Committee (for ages 14+) came together online to talk books.  From their discussions, which were interspersed with visits from award-winning Canadian authors including Angela Ahn, Basil Sylvester, Teresa Toten, Heather T. Smith and June Hur, these young people produced three extraordinary lists of recommended titles to keep everyone reading Canadian over the summer.  These are their recommendations for their peers in the Silver Birch, Red Maple and White Pine reading programs of the Forest of Reading®.


Happy summertime reading!
•••


Silver Birch Readers 
(Ages 8-12, Grades 3-6)

 
Beatrice and Croc Harry
Written by Lawrence Hill
HarperCollins
Ages 9-12

Children of the Fox (Thieves of Shadow, Book 1)
Written by Kevin Sands
Penguin Random House
Ages 8-12
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Crosswood (Faerie Woods, Book 1)
Written by Gabrielle Prendergast
Orca Book Publishers
Ages 9-12
 
 
 
 
 
 
Escape to Witch City 
Written by E. Latimer
Tundra Books
Ages 10+
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Gryphon's Lair (A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, Book 2)
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Puffin Canada
Ages 10-14  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Living with Viola 
Written and illustrated by Rosena Fung
Annick Press
Ages 9-12
 

Lone Runner 
Written by Dirk McLean
James Lorimer
Ages 10-13
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray 
Written by Jess Keating
Illustrated by Lissy Marlin
Scholastic
Ages 8-12  

 
Oh My Gods! 
Written by Stephanie Cooke and Insha Fitzpatrick
Illustrated by Juliana Moon
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Ages 8-12 


Operation Do-Over 
Written by Gordon Korman
Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 
Ages 9-12
 

Pink, Blue and You! Questions for Kids about Gender Stereotypes
Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel
Anne Schwartz Books
Ages 4-8

Stealing Home 
Written by J Torres
Illustrated by David Namisato
Kids Can Press
Ages 9-12 

 
 
 
 
The Street Belongs to Us 
Written by Karleen Pendleton Jiménez
Illustrated by Gabriela Godoy
Arsenal Pulp Press
Ages 8-12


Sunny Days Inside and Other Stories
Written by Caroline Adderson
Groundwood Books
Ages 8-12 


Valley of the Rats 
Written by Mahtab Narsimhan
DCB 
Ages 9-12








 
Red Maple Readers
(Ages 12-14, Grades 7-8)

The Delusionist
Written by Don Calame
Candlewick Press 
Ages 13-16
 

Eight Days
Written by Teresa Toten
Scholastic Canada 
Ages 10-14
 

Heart of Flames (Crown of Feathers #2)
Written by Nicki Pau Preto
Simon & Shuster
Ages 12-18
 

Hunting by Stars (A Marrow Thieves Novel)
Written by Cherie Dimaline
Penguin Random House Canada 
Ages 12-18
 

Iron Widow
Written by Xiran Jay Zhao
Penguin Random House Canada
Ages 14+
 

Lessons in Fusion
Written by Primrose Madayag Knazan
Great Plains Publications 
Ages 13-17
 

Mountain Runaways
Written by Pam Withers
Dundurn
Ages 12-15
 

On the Line
Written by Paul Coccia and Eric Walters
Orca Books Publishers
Ages 9-13
 

The Red Palace
Written by June Hur
Feiwel & Friends 
Ages 13-18
 

Rescue at Lake Wild
Written by Terry Lynn Johnson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Ages 8-12
 

The Undercover Book List
Written by Colleen Nelson
Pajama Press 
Ages 9-12
 

Zara Hossain is Here
Written by Sabina Khan
Scholastic Canada
Ages 14+
 






White Pine Readers
(Ages 14-18, Grades 9-12)



Aetherbound
Written by E. K. Johnston
Penguin Random House
Ages 14-17
 

Blood Donor
Written by Karen Bass
Orca Book Publishers
Ages 12-17


A Dark and Hollow Star
Written by Ashley Shuttleworth
Simon & Schuster
Ages 14-18


Hana Khan Carries On
Written by Uzma Jalaluddin 
HarperCollins Canada
Ages 15+
 

 

 


Hunting by Stars (A Marrow Thieves Novel)
Written by Cherie Dimaline
Penguin Random House Canada 
Ages 12-18
 

If I Tell You the Truth
Written by Jasmin Kaur
HarperCollins 
Ages 14-17
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Iron Widow
Written by Xiran Jay Zhao
Penguin Random House Canada
Ages 14+
 

The Junction
Written by Norm Konyu 
Penguin Random House
Ages 15+
 

The Last Time I Saw Her
Written by Alexandra Harrington
Nimbus Publishing
Ages 12-16
 

The Project
Written by Courtney Summers
Wednesday Books
Ages 12+
 

The Red Palace
Written by June Hur
Feiwel & Friends 
Ages 13-18
 

The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad
Written by Natasha Deen
Running Press Kids 
Ages 13+
 

The Upside of Falling
Written by Alex Light
HarperCollins Canada
Ages 14-17
 

The Wild Ones
Written by Nafiza Azad
Simon & Schuster
Ages 14+
 

Wrong Side of the Court 
Written by N. H. Khan
Penguin Random House Canada
Ages 12-17


 

 

 

The book lists are posted on the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading website:

And there are lovely posters too (Forest Kid Committee: https://forestofreading.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/01-Kid-Committee-Poster-2022-FINAL.pdf; Teen Committee: https://forestofreading.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/03-Teen-Committee-Poster-2022-FINAL.pdf) to help keep everyone reading Canadian this summer.




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