June 03, 2023

Swept Away: Ruth Mornay and the Unwanted Clues

Written by Natalie Hyde
DCB
978-1-77086-689-8
200 pp.
Ages 8-12
April 2023 
Reviewed from advance reading copy

When 63-year-old Beatrice Payens is swept away in the Teeswater River, her 11-year-old friend and next-door neighbour Ruth Mornay is grief-stricken and perplexed. Why would Bea, head of the Teeswater River Embankment Rehabilitation Society and diligent advocate for signage warning Pinkerton residents about the danger of getting too close to the water's edge, be so negligent? Something doesn't add up for Ruth. 
 
Things get weirder when Hugh Rolls and his young son Saul move in next door, inheriting the house from their Aunt Bea, though Ruth knew Bea had no relatives. Ruth has even more questions. Problem is, all Ruth has are questions. Troubled by weird dreams of drowning and a paltry trio of bequests–a weird water sprinkler head, some old, embroidered gloves and an ugly picture of flowers made from human hair (yech!)– Ruth starts looking for clues and suspects among her fellow residents of Pinkerton (population 134). With Saul as her secret ally, Ruth works at putting the clues together, when she isn't running after her escaped Rhode Island Red hen, Dorcas.
 
The best mysteries are the ones you don't know are mysteries. Ruth suspects something is amiss, but she doesn't really know that Bea didn't just slip into the water accidentally. But, like a puzzle with only a few pieces, Ruth starts slowly. And she thinks and speculates, and she asks questions, and she watches. With Saul, another keen observer and solver of mysteries, Ruth learns there really is much more to Bea's story and her own. That's why Swept Away is so fulfilling as a read. Not only does Ruth figure out what happened to Bea–even putting herself in danger–she learns more about herself and her family in the process. She could never have guessed that pursuing a hunch she had about Bea's disappearance could lead her to a new friend, some family history, and an important discovery about herself. Better yet, writer Natalie Hyde, who has authored outstanding middle-grade novels like Up the Creek (2021), Mine! (2017), and Saving Arm Pit (2015), blends a strong plot with an assortment of unique characters, and a touch of humour. A mystery is always an alluring story but add to it a child with six older brothers and no access to computers, a delinquent but clever hen, a wandering pig, townspeople like the town snoop Mrs. Gorgonzola and Ruth's tedious non-best friend Emily Parsons, and you get a whodunit with twists and turns but also laughter. Natalie Hyde always slips in some subtle humour to add a layer of fun. 
Four years ago at the Fall Fair, Mrs. Parsons–Emily's mom–had to be restrained by committee members when she learned Mrs. Gorgonzola's red pepper jelly had beaten hers. She claimed Mrs. Gorgonzola stole her recipe, which was her grandmother's, and passed it off as her own. Mrs. Gorgonzola said Mrs. Parsons shouldn't flatter herself, that the only thing the Parson red pepper jelly was good for was to oil her furniture. (pg. 81)
Often Ruth's observations about her small town are what give us the most humour, like the red pepper jelly debacle or the purported theft of Mrs. Gorgonzola's ugly green neon lava lamp. It's what's really happening in Pinkerton; it just happens to be funny too.

See if you can figure out this whodunit but, even if it comes as a surprise, especially what it means for Ruth, you'll enjoy visiting Pinkerton, a not-so-sleepy small town, a hot bed of secrets, and a playground for a miscellany of farm animals.

June 01, 2023

The Remembering Stone

Written and illustrated by Carey Sookocheff
Groundwood Books
978-1-77306-589-2
40 pp.
Ages 3-6
March 2023

Sometimes a stone is more than a stone. Sometimes it's a memory, sometimes it's a connection, and sometimes it's an opportunity.

Alice has brought a stone for show-and-tell. Of course, her classmates see it as a stone. A rock. A piece of earth. Though she has lots of stories about using it to trick her dad or as a shape for tracing, it's the memory of skipping stones with her grandpa that is most important. Her grandpa knew how to skip stones and pick out the perfect ones. When he'd found this perfect stone, Alice had kept it in her pocket, probably for their next outing but perhaps because she didn't want to give it up to the water.
From The Remembering Stone by Carey Sookocheff
But when her grandpa got sick and passed away, the stone became something more.
From The Remembering Stone by Carey Sookocheff
The response to her show-and-tell stone may not have been what Alice expected but, when she realizes she's lost her stone on the playground, her classmates understand how important it is to her and they all start looking. They find a lot of stones, though not her special stone. Still, her new stones become something more too.
From The Remembering Stone by Carey Sookocheff
Carey Sookocheff's story is as deceptively simple as her illustrations. It may appear only to be about a girl and a stone which connects her to her grandfather. But Carey Sookocheff uses that stone as a bridge beyond that intergenerational relationship and allows Alice to see that it is both something special and something ordinary. The stone's value is what she places on it. It can remind her of her grandpa or help make new connections with her classmates or it can be just a skipping stone. Regardless of what the stone or stones have been or become, they have meaning, even when they're gone. 

The Remembering Stone truly becomes Carey Sookocheff's story because she illustrates it. Using acrylic gouache and graphite, she embeds the story in reality. Her art is clean and smooth and gives a calmness to being with others. It's the reality of going to school, participating in show-and-tell, spending time with a grandparent, and losing a grandparent. It's all about what a child might experience so it will speak to many children. But, while the story connects with young readers, it will also give them an opportunity to see that there are opportunities beyond the obvious. A skipping stone becomes a memory first but then it transforms both in its presence and in its absence. It's a remembering stone even when it's not.

May 29, 2023

2023 Willow Awards: Winners announced for the Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice Awards

The winners of the SaskEnergy Willow Awards, Saskatchewan's Young Readers' Choice Awards, were announced last week at Perdue School in Perdue, Saskatchewan.  Readers in Kindergarten to Grade 9 read and then voted on the titles in their award category, and young readers announced the winners. Videos and announcements are detailed at the Willows' website here
 
Congratulations to the  
winners of the three Willow Awards!


The winner of the Shining Willow Award, selected from those books written for youngest readers, those in Kindergarten to Grade 3, is...

The Strangest Thing in the Sea: And Other Curious Creatures of the Deep
Written by Rachel Poliquin
Illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler
Kids Can Press
Reviewed here
 




The winner of the Diamond Willow Award, selected from those books written for readers of Grades 4 to 6, is...

Children of the Fox 
 (Thieves of Shadow, Book 1)
Written by Kevin Sands
Puffin Canada
 
 



The winner of the Snow Willow Award, selected from those books written for readers in Grades 7 to 9, is ...

Under the Iron Bridge
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press



May 28, 2023

2023 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards: Winners announced

On May 26, 2023, the Ontario Arts Council announced the winners of the 2023 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards as selected by two juries of young readers at Jesse Ketchum Junior and Senior Public School.

A jury of four students in grade 4 selected the recipient of the Children’s Picture Book Award, and a jury of grade 8 students selected the winner of the Young Adult / Middle Reader Award.

Congratulations to both winners and to the juries for their auspicious selections!
 

Winner of the
 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz 
Children’s Picture Book Award
 
This is the Boat That Ben Built
Written by Jen Lynn Bailey
Illustrated by Maggie Zeng

Pajama Press
978-1-77278-242-4
32 pp.
Ages 5-8
2022 
 
 • • • • • • •
 
Winner of the
 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz 
Young Adult / Middle Reader Award 
 
Road of the Lost
Written by Nafiza Azad
Margaret K. McElderry Books
978-1-534484993
336 pp.
Ages 14+
2022
 

May 27, 2023

2023 Forest Kid Committee Summer Reading Lists

In early May, selected young readers who'd applied to participate on the seventh annual Forest Kid Committee (for ages 9-13) came together online to talk books.  From their discussions, which were interspersed with visits from award-winning Canadian authors Paul Coccia and Kathy Kacer, these young people produced two extraordinary lists of recommended titles to keep everyone reading Canadian over the summer.  These are their recommendations for their peers in the Silver Birch and Red Maple reading programs of the Forest of Reading®.


Happy summertime reading!
•••


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

Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort of) 
Written and illustrated by Kathleen Gros
HarperCollins
304 pp.
Ages 8-13
2022


Apartment 713 
Written and illustrated by Kevin Sylvester
HarperCollins
240 pp.
Ages 8-12
2022
 

Berani
Written by Michelle Kadarusman
Pajama Press
224 pp.
Ages 8-13
2022
 

Clan 
Written by Sigmund Brouwer
Tundra
256 pp.
Ages 9-12
2020


Enemies (Berrybrook Middle School, Book 4)
Written and illustrated by Svetlana Chmakova
JP (Yen Press)
224 pp.
Ages10+
2022


Ghostlight 
Written by Kenneth Oppel
Puffin
400 pp.
Ages 10+
2022


Houston, Is There a Problem? (Teen Astronauts, Book 1)
Written by Eric Walters
Orca Book Publishers
256 pp.
Ages 9-12
2021


Imhotep of Ancient Kemet
Written by Ekiuwa Aire
Illustrated by Simbarashe Langton Vera and Anastasia Kkyrpenko
Our Ancestories
44 pp.
Ages 4-12
2022

Killer Underwear Invasion!: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories 
Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel
Chronicle Books
104 pp.
Ages 8-13
2022


Rabbit Chase 
Written by Elizabeth LaPensée
Illustrated by KC Oster
Annick Press
120 pp.
Ages 8-12
2022


Seekers of the Fox (Thieves of Shadows, Book 2)
Written by Kevin Sands
Pajama Press
224 pp.
Ages 8-13
2022


Spell Sweeper
Written by Lee Edward Fodi
HarperCollins
368 pp.
Ages 8-12
2021
 

The Superteacher Project 
Written by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada
304 pp.
Ages 9-12
2023


Until Niagara Falls
Written by Jennifer Maruno
Dundurn
168 pp.
Ages 8-12
2020
 

Weird Rules to Follow
Written by Kim Spencer
Orca Book Publishers
192 pp.
Ages 9-12
2022
 








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


The Bones of Ruin
(Bones of Ruin, Book 1)
Written by Sarah Raughley
Margaret K. McElderry
496 pp.
Ages 14+
2021
 

The Book of Us
Written by Shane Peacock
DCB
216 pp.
Ages 13+
2022
 

Delicious Monsters
Written by Liselle Sambury
Margaret K. McElderry
512 pp.
Ages 14+
2023
 

The Everlasting Road
(The Floraverse, Book 2)
Written by Wab Kinew
Tundra
272 pp.
Ages 12-17
2023
 

Hazel Hill is Going to Win This One
Written by Maggie Horne
HarperCollins
230 pp.
Ages 8-12
2022
 

Hidden on the High Wire
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press
216 pp.
Ages 9-12
2022 
 

I Got You Babe
Written by Paul Coccia
Orca Book Publishers
120 pp.
Ages 9-13
2023
 

Names in a Jar
Written by Jennifer Gold
Second Story Press
336 pp.
Ages 8-12
2021
 

Made in Korea
Written by Sarah Suk
Simon & Schuster
336 pp.
Ages 12+ 
2022
 

Me Three
Written by Susan Juby
Puffin
224 pp.
Ages 10+
2022 
 

Pirates of the Southern Seas
(Tell No Tales, Book 1)
Written by Sam Maggs
Illustrated by Kendra Wells
Amulet Books
160 pp.
Ages 10-14
2021
 

Unravel 
Written by Sharon Jennings
Red Deer Press
200 pp.
Ages 12-18
2021


A Venom Dark and Sweet
(The Book of Tea, Book 2)
Written by Judy I. Lin
Feiwel & Friends
352 pp.
Ages 13-18
2022


Willpower
Written by Marty Chan 
Orca Book Publishers
112 pp.
Ages 9-12
2022
 

Winterkill
Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Scholastic
288 pp.
Ages 8-13
2022
 
 

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