Way Off Track (A Nansi Graphic Novel)

Written by Carl Brundtland

Illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1004-1

152 pp.

Ages 8-12

May 2025 

 

Nansi has always been a runner and she's good at running. She even dreams of being known as the fastest person alive. But just because she's good at running doesn't make her a generous winner or even a smart competitor.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Not surprising that Nansi's overconfidence in her running leads her to make some poor choices. After all, what can it hurt to overeat or stay up late when she's got natural talent, or so Nansi thinks. But when she loses a preliminary race to her rich classmate Tania, Nansi is dazed. Convinced Tania's win is due to her new shoes, Endorphics Beta Fly 4.7U, Nansi is determined to get a pair. Problem is that the shoes are over $300. 

 

Though she comes up with some impossible schemes, getting a job seems like her best option, and her Jamaican Granny sets her up with her friend known as Auntie Berry to work in her salon. With a month to go before the all-school track meet, Nansi is committed to her part-time job, though her friends Ayesha and Angela just think Nansi needs to train better. 

When an opportunity to attend a training event pops up, Nansi has to figure out a way to be in two places at the same time. With a little blackmail and some clever disguising, Nansi pulls it off, or so she thinks. But, she has a lot of learning to do, and not just with respect to her running, if she is to succeed and focus on what's really important.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

This is Carl Brundtland's debut graphic novel and he packs a lot into it. First and foremost is a child with a skill for running but who still needs to learn to see beyond herself. Nansi gets into a lot of trouble because she thinks she is a better runner than everyone else and doesn't need to work for it. Even after she loses a race, she never takes any responsibility for that loss, attributing that loss to a pair of shoes. (Later she dreams of an interaction with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who reminds her that, "No shoes make the runner."; pg. 132) Instead of focusing on training and learning skills to help her improve her running, she schemes to take advantage of her brother's relationship with a girlfriend he's not supposed to have.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Carl Brundtland also brings us into a family that is rich in affection and Jamaican culture. (I might recommend that you read Granny's and Auntie Berry's speeches aloud to get the full nuance of their Jamaican patois, suffused with wisdom and affection.) From the food to the sibling relationships and the kids' relationship with Granny, Way Off Track brings us into both the familiar and the uncommon, for some of us. So middle-grade readers will know a Nansi and a Tania and Nansi's brothers and grandmother and will understand why Nansi wants to excel, though maybe not her attitude about her skills. But, like them, she learns when she's mistaken about something and finds the way to make things right for herself and others. (Of course, guilt plays a big role in compelling her to do better.) By giving us Nansi' story both on and off the track, Carl Brundtland makes her a whole person, with whom the readers can identify.

From Way Off Track, written by Carl Brundtland, illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Artist Claudia Dávila has illustrated a number of graphic novels (e.g., Child Soldier, ThunderBoom) as well as  picture books (e.g., Fast Friends, Friends Find a Way!) and non-fiction books (e.g., The Canadian Kids' Guide to Outdoor Fun) and, with each project, she achieves the right attitude of gravitas, information, social justice or humour that is required. In Way Off Track, Claudia Dávila's artwork, which has been digitally created, keeps the boldness of youth and of the talented while making it a true middle-grade story of kids who want to fit in and do well. I'm most impressed with how Claudia Dávila suffuses Nansi with her attitude and ego but also her agitation when things don't go to plan. Especially charming are Nansi's imaginings and dreams of her and her friends as Powerpuff-like girls.

 

It looks like Carl Brundtland is poised to write more Nansi graphic novels–the spine is labelled with a large "1"–so whether the Grade 7 girl has more lessons to learn at home or school or whether her friends, distinct in their own passions and skills, become the stars of their own stories, it is too soon to tell. Regardless Carl Brundtland, along with Claudia Dávila, has given us a fresh new character from which readers can learn as they laugh. And I bet that Granny will always have something good cooking on the stove.

Sam

Written by Eric Walters

DCB

978-1-770867949

228 pp.

Ages 9-14

May 2025 

 

She was strong. She didn't give up. She didn't take crap from anybody. I liked that. And all she really wanted was a place to call home. I understood that better than I even would have wanted. (pg. 133)

 

The "she" of whom fourteen-year-old Sam Reid speaks is Anne of Green Gables, and, along with support from a select group of new acquaintances, the boy with red hair and a matching temper has a lot to learn and especially from L. M. Montgomery's 1908 fictional character.

 

Sam may be a smart kid, but it doesn't stop him from letting his temper get the better of him. When confronted with a shopkeeper trying to rip $10 off of him and having to stand up against the high school's quarterback, who ends up with a broken nose, Sam knows he should have kept his cool. But things get worse when Sam is accosted in a school bathroom and fights back, leaving Cody, the quarterback, with a concussion.

...there's no question that I have a temper, but that's only because people are always doing things to provoke me. (pg. 9) 

With no family–his parents were killed in a car crash by a drunk driver four years earlier–and foster parents who don't want him back, he is sent to the Johnson Juvenile Center, a detention facility for those younger than 18 who were awaiting trial or those already convicted and serving sentences less than 18 months. Sam would be at the Johnson Juvenile Center, a.k.a. the Gables, for at least 5 weeks while he is assessed before heading to court. While his social worker Jenna Williams is keen to help, his court-appointed lawyer Mr. Turner is challenged, especially when additional charges of fraud and theft are brought by the shopkeeper, and everyone seems disappointed that the local football hero would be out of commission. 

At the Gables, Sam must deal with a nasty guard Mr. Roberts who insists on calling Sam "Red" and is just waiting for the chance to write him up for poor behaviour, bad attitude, and more. There's also a convicted "long-timer" Bruce who seems to have it out for Sam after an innocent mistake of sitting at the wrong dining table ends with Sam shooting off his mouth again.

Why did people keep coming at me and why wasn't I smart enough to shut up and move on when they did? (pg. 64)

Thankfully Sam has some good people on his side trying to help him be the best version of himself. There's his roomie Nigel, a smaller guy who is in for throwing a chair at someone; Mrs. Martinez, their English teacher; Kate, a kind-hearted guard; and his psychologist, Dr. McEnny. Now if Sam could only stop seeing everything and everyone as a threat or a challenge and use his smarts–and he is very intelligent–to help himself. 

Sometimes smart can't overcome circumstances, situations, and tragedy. (pg. 128)

Things start to change for Sam when Mrs. Martinez assigns Nigel and Sam each a book on which they will prepare a report, and Sam gets Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, hoping he'll find some interesting parallels with his own life. If he can just get past his outrage and humiliation, especially when he sees that Anne is a redhead like he is, Sam may be able to use his potential and discover his strength to find hope.

 

For lovers of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, the parallels between Anne's life and that of Sam will be evident, even though their differences in time and circumstances are significant. (In fact, an assignment Sam completes for Mrs. Martinez focuses on these very parallels.) Eric Walters is very subtle in his homage to Montgomery and her red-haired character, though his "Author's Note" suggests an extraordinary depth of admiration for the author and her book. This is abundantly evident in his appreciation for her words–quotes from Anne of Green Gables are cited often and always fitting–and the themes of persevering life's challenges and finding hope against tragedy and adversity. Eric Walters makes us believe in Sam. The young teen may not be completely likeable at the beginning of Sam but he's a kid who has had a lot of hard knocks. His temper, which may or may not be as a result of his circumstances, and I don't mean the colour of his hair, is an entity with which he has a relationship, good or bad. It's in his learning about that anger and his recognition that he has been able to keep it in check that almost releases him from it and allows Sam to grow. While he initially thinks Anne is almost delusionally optimistic, he too starts to acknowledge the positives of things that once appeared to only be difficult. 

Sam has had a tough life, bouncing from foster homes and receiving homes, never being offered a true home since the death of his parents. But, as horrific as going to a juvenile center must be, the Gables becomes a place of salvation for Sam, as Green Gables was for Anne, helping him acquire a support system as tough as any loving family and teaching him the strength he has always had to overcome that which seems formidable. With kind souls and kindred spirits, Sam's life goes beyond "a perfect graveyard of buried hopes" as Anne declares at the beginning of Anne of Green Gables, to one of possibilities.

2025 Forest of Reading® winners announced

Over the past week, the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading®, a readers' choice book award program, announced the winners at its annual Festival of Trees at Harbourfront in Toronto and virtually.

Here are this year's winners and honour books for each reading program, as voted by young readers from JK to Grade 12.

 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Winner

The Lost Stick
Written and illustrated by Anoosha Syed
PRHC Viking Books

Honour Books:

Harold the Iceberg Melts Down
Written by Lisa Wyzlic
Illustrated by Rebecca Syracuse
RAI Feiwel and Friends

 

Mandeep's Cloudy Days
Written by Kuljinder Kaur Brar
Illustrated by Samrath Kaur
Annick Press

 

Winner

Lost and Found: Based on a True Story
Written and illustrated by Mei Yu

Union Square Kids

Honour Books:

Ghost Girl

Written by Brooke Carter
Illustrated by Alyssa Waterbury
Orca Book Publishers

Dragon on the Loose
Written by Marty Chan
Illustrated by Grace Chen
Orca Book Publishers

Winner

 

The Legendary Mo Seto
Written by A.Y. Chan
Aladdin

 

Honour Books:

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams
Written and illustrated by Graham Annable
First Second

Iggy Included
Written by Deborah Kerbel
Scholastic Canada

Winner 

Four Terrifying Tales 

 (Haunted Canada: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1)
Written by Joel A. Sutherland
Illustrated by Hannah Barrett, David Bishop, Matt Salisbury, and Jenn Woodall
Scholastic Canada

Honour Books:

The Longest Shot: How Larry Kwong Changed the Face of Hockey
Written by George Chiang and Chad Soon
Illustrated by Amy Qi
Orca Book Publishers

The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning
Written and illustrated by Afua Cooper
Plumleaf Press

 

Winner

40 Days in Hicksville
Written by Christina Kilbourne
DCB

Honour Books:

The Cricket War
Written by Tho Pham and Sandra McTavish
Kids Can Press

Tig
Written by Heather Smith
Tundra Books

Winner

The Space Between Here and Now
Written by Sarah Suk
Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins)

Honour Books:

Where the Dark Stands Still
Written by A. B. Poranek
Margaret K. McElderry Books

 

Sweetness in the Skin
Written by Ishi Robinson
HarperCollins

Winner/Lauréat

Hugo
Écrit et illustré par Catherine Braun-Grenier
Fonfon

 

 

 

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

Si j’avais su
Écrit et illustré par Geneviève Després
Les 400 coups

Dernière heure: La déconfiture du lièvre
Écrit par Robert Soulières
Illustré par Sans Cravate
Fonfon

Winner/Lauréat

Le cumulus machinus
Écrit par Ugo Monticone
Ilustré par Orbie
La courte echelle 

 

Honour Books/Livres distingués: 

Ntangu
Écrit par Malika Tirolien
Illustré par Kiara Thompson
Fonfon

Blanche comme un drap
Écrit par Chloé Varin
Illustré par Rémi Allen
Fonfon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winner/Lauréat

L’homme aux araignées
Écrit par Jocelyn Boisvert
La courte échelle

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

Le manoir Hillcrest
Écrit par Sandra Dussault
Illustré par Martin Côté
La courte echelle

Lili Jade 01: Pro des animaux
Écrit par Audrée Archambault
Illustré par Simone Duchesne
Éditions de la Bagnole
 

 

Congratulations to everyone!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Our Ancestors' Kitchen

Written by Willie Poll

Illustrated by Shaikara David 

Annick Press

978-1-77321-962-2

36 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2025 

 

Our ancestors teach us that there are memories in our meals.

There is magic in our cooking.

There is culture in our food.

 

So begins Willie Poll's story of a child learning at the stove of her grandma. With each dish comes a story and an invitation to witness how their ancestors lived and her own memories of her Grandpa and her community.

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

First they cook the minoomin (wild rice) and the girl begins to see a different scene within the kitchen. She can smell the water in which the wild rice grows, and she can hear the frogs, and see her ancestors on the water harvesting the rice. 

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

Next, Grandma is cooking meat, and the child sees the kitchen transformed with the colours of fall and animals stocking food for winter, and she remembers hunting with her Grandpa. That meat brings memories of finding mooz (moose) with their moose calls, and the tradition of giving thanks with prayer and asemaa (tobacco) after the mooz's "spirit danced into the sky." As important is the sharing of the meat with their Elders so that they might also care for their community. Their cooking together continues with maple syrup (zhiiwaagamizigan) and sunchokes (ashkibwaa) and blueberries, each bringing memories of time with her Grandpa and with the lives of their ancestors. And when the family and friends gather to eat, their ancestors join them.

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

Willie Poll, a Métis writer from Sault Ste. Marie and now of Prince Edward Island, reminds us of the importance of food to culture and to connecting us with those who came before us. Whether we learned to cook the foods from their hands or how to harvest the ingredients from age-old practices, those culinary experiences are almost bred in the bone. And when connected to our ancestors, the experiences are almost spiritual, as this child recognizes in the richness of the memories and the awareness of her heritage. With each ingredient and dish, she is transported to places she has been and to people she may have never met. But still the sensory experiences of those foods have become a part of her, to share with others now and forever.

 

Shaikara David, an Indigenous Mohawk from Akwesáhsne, uses her double-spread illustrations to bridge the contemporary with the past seamlessly. On a single spread, the child and her grandmother cook in a modern kitchen which transitions to an outdoor setting of trees and water and include Woodland-style artwork on blue backgrounds for animals and more. (See the rabbit, fox, squirrel and birds in the illustration below.) Shaikara David creates an organic connection between the present and the past almost effortlessly but still with some whimsy like the presence of the water rising beneath the kitchen table upon which a frog sits.

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

Many of us know that connection with our heritage and our ancestors through food but Willie Poll and Shaikara David help us to see the one that comes through an intergenerational relationship and into a culture with which most of us are unfamiliar. Moreover, in her author's note, Willie Poll wants readers to think about Indigenous Peoples and their connection with the land, as well as other cultures and their connection to food and the land. It's a relationship that is borne from acknowledgement and appreciation, enduring generations even as things change around us.

Just a Minute!

Written by Josée Bournival

Illustrated by Luke Ives

CrackBoom! Books (Chouette Publishing)

978-2-89802-605-8

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2025 

 

How long is a minute? If you ask an adult, they will say 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour. But for children, it can be measured by what can happen in that time, good or bad. So, a minute can seem like an eternity or a flash, depending on how they are feeling.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

Josée Bournival, well-known Quebec radio and TV host as well as author of adult and children's books, examines the concept of a minute from the perspective of different children. As diverse as the children and the families is the variety of ways to see a minute. First she looks at times when a minute seems like a long time, from waiting in line for a washroom or being told to wait when wanting something from an adult or when you can't fall asleep.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

But then there are those times when a minute just isn't long enough, like when playing with friends or getting a cuddle from your mother or watching a sunset. In those cases, time just flies by.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

Finally, a minute can be long enough to do things like brush your teeth or walk across the road and even change your whole life, like the moment you meet a new baby in the family. Sometimes we lose minutes through anger and arguing, but also through daydreaming. Ultimately, though, "when we line them up, one after the next, minutes make up our lives."

Whatever you way you look at a minute, good, bad, or neutral, it's time that comes and goes and brings with it something from which we learn, gain comfort, emote, interact, and so much more, all of which go into making our lives fuller. Josée Bournival covers the concept of a minute not as a unit of time but as a dimension of living, never judging or grumbling about time spent in any activity and always recognizing the fullness of a life that is both brimming with moments of different qualities.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

Montreal's Luke Ives ensures that all those moments of minutes of play and affection, learning and stressing are included but always with gentleness and good nature. Even standing in a line for a portable toilet does more than draw attention to the uncomfortable child, showing us people living their lives in moments of biding their time, either patiently or impatiently. His cartoon images keep the message light and amusing, always familiar in their circumstances and recognizable in the children's sentiments.

 

It may take you more than a minute to read Just a Minute! but whether a young child reading for themselves or an adult reading aloud to a child, the minutes spent reading this picture book will be worthwhile and completely satisfying.

 🕐🕑🕒🕓🕔🕕🕖🕗🕘🕙🕚🕛

 

A French-language version, Une (petite) minute!, is also available.

Une (petite) minute!

Written by Josée Bournival

Illustrated by Luke Ives

CrackBoom! Books

978-2-89802-572-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2025