Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing (A Shepherd & Wolfe Mystery, Book 3)

Written by Angie Counios and David Gane

Your Nickel's Worth Publishing

978-1-988783130

480 pp.

Ages 15+

2018

Regina authors Angie Counios and David Gane introduced their teen protagonists Tony Shepherd and Charlie Wolfe in Along Comes a Wolfe (Your Nickel's Worth, 2016) when Tony's girlfriend disappeared and the two went sleuthing. Now in their third book, Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing, a finalist for the John Spray Mystery Award of the Canadian Children's Book Centre's book awards, the two teens are in their senior year of high school and trying to respect Detective Gekas's request that they try to keep out of police business. But there's a serial killer on the loose and the two can't seem to stop themselves from investigating, especially after it becomes personal.

While Tony's family includes parents celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, supportive older siblings Heather and Jodi and countless family and close friends akin to family, Charlie's is more of a black hole. Though treated like a son by the Shepherds, Charlie tends to keep himself at a distance, that is until he is evicted and comes to live with them and attend school with Tony.

School becomes the focal point for the two boys and Charlie definitely seems to be fitting in. He comfortably hangs with Tony and his best friend Mike, makes new friends, and seems to catch the eye of several girls. When Tony is convinced that Detective Gekas wants their help in investigating the brutal murders of three seemingly-unrelated persons, the boys pursue leads left by a manipulative killer who feels compelled to retaliate against them when they get too close. But, as the title suggests, not all are as they seem and the deadliest character may be hiding in plain view.

Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing is a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller as Tony and Charlie attempt to uncover a serial killer. Even as author Angie Counios and David Gane alternate the story from the boys' perspective with that of the twisted killer, it was impossible to predict the criminal's identity. With a plethora of twists and turns and a multitude of characters, Wolfe in Shepherd's Clothing is as involved a read as it is a thrilling plot. Still Angie Counios and David Gane tie things up effectively without being frivolous or simple–no one likes solving a mystery easily– even leaving readers hanging with a teaser about the elusive Charlie for their next Shepherd & Wolfe Mystery book.

2020 Forest of Reading® Nominated Titles Announced

On Tuesday, the Ontario Library Association announced its 2020 (that's nominated in 2019 but awarded in 2020) nominated titles for the Forest of Reading book award programs. It's always an exciting time of year for readers and authors and illustrators and publishers and teachers and librarians...but this year the announcement will be even more special as a new look for the Forest of Reading is implemented. It's clean and fresh and heralds a new season of reading with a new award, Yellow Cedar. With ninety titles nominated, I've broken them down into three posts on CanLit for LittleCanadians Awards page or you can visit the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading page at http://www.accessola.org/web/OLA/Forest_of_Reading/Nominated_Lists/OLA/Forest_of_Reading/Current_Program_Year.aspx

Blue Spruce Award™
(JK-Grade 2, picture books)
 Current nominees posted here

Silver Birch Express Award®
(Grades 3-4, fiction, non-fiction)
Current nominees posted here

Silver Birch Fiction Award®
(Grades 3-6, fiction)
Current nominees posted here

Yellow Cedar Award (New!)
(Grades 4-8, non-fiction every year)
Current nominees posted here
   

Red Maple Award™
(Grades 7-8, fiction every year)
Current nominees posted here

White Pine Award™
(Grades 9-12, fiction)
Current nominees posted here

Le prix Peuplier
(picture books, less text, simpler subject matters, perfect for read alouds)
Current nominees posted here
   

Le prix Mélèze (formerly Le prix Tamarac Express)
(shorter chapter books maximum 100 pages or more mature picture books, larger text with pictures, simpler vocabulary and verb tenses)
Current nominees posted here
 

Le prix Tamarac
(chapter books from 100 to 250 pages, smaller text with little or no illustrations, more complicated verb tenses and vocabulary)
Current nominees posted here

Let the Forest begin! 

2019 CCBC Canadian Children's Book Awards: English-language Winners announced

Last night the winners of English-language Canadian Children's Book Centre Book Awards were announced at a gala in Toronto.  MCed by Kim's Convenience Appa, actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, the event celebrated an auspicious collection of titles by Canadian authors and illustrators, all worthy nominees, selected by hard-working juries. Congratulations to all nominated authors and illustrators and, of course, especially to those winners of these awards. (The French-language awards will be presented on November 7th in Montreal.)

TD Canadian Children's Literature Award: Winner

Ebb & Flow

Written by Heather Smith

Kids Can Press

232 pp.

Ages 9-12

2018

Reviewed here

Fan Choice Award: Winner

They Say Blue

Written and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

Groundwood Books

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

2018

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award: Winner

Africville

Written by Shauntay Grant

Illustrated by Eva Campbell

Groundwood Books

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

2018

Reviewed here

Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction: Winner

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 : Winner

The Journey of Little Charlie

Written by Christopher Paul Curtis

Scholastic Canada

234 pp.

Ages 9-12

2018

Reviewed here

John Spray Mystery Award: Winner

Sadie

Written by Courtney Summers

St. Martin's Press

308 pp.

Ages 14+

2018

Reviewed here

Amy Mathers Teen Book Award: Winner

The House of One Thousand Eyes

Written by Michelle Barker

Annick Press

354 pp.

Ages 14+

2018

Reviewed here

The Three Spartans: Book launch (Vancouver, BC)

New publisher Crwth Press

is launching its newest middle-grade novel

praised by

 youngCanLit authors

 Eric Walters as
"A great read! You’ll feel like you’re with them in the battle. Go Spartans Go!"

and

 Arthur Slade as
"This is a smart, funny story that cleverly sneaks in a history lesson. The action scenes are epic and the characters really shine."

The Three Spartans

Written by James McCann

Crwth Press

978-1-7753515-4-2

160 pp.

Ages 9-12

October 2019

It launches on

Thursday, November 7, 2019

7 p.m.

at

Kidsbooks

2557 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC

From the publisher's website at https://www.crwth.ca/thethreespartans/:

Twelve-year-old Arthur loves his summers in Birch Bay, a quirky seaside village where he spends all of his time with his best friend Lea. They play video games together, hang out at the beach and explore on their bikes.

This year is different, though. First, Arthur learns it will be Lea’s last summer in Birch Bay. Then their freedom is threatened by the Immortals, the swim team who torments all the local kids.

Lea and Arthur decide to take a stand. Using their video-game network, they gather a small army of kids who’ve had enough of the Immortals.

Armed with paintball guns and shields made of garbage can lids, the Spartan army takes on the Immortals. Their goal is control of a treehouse, but the prize is knowing they stood up for themselves.

A humorous retelling of the Greek battle of Thermopylae, The Three Spartans is a story of friendship and belonging and of standing up for what’s right—even when the odds are against you.

Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act

Written by Nicola Winstanley

Illustrated by Marianne Ferrer

Annick Press

978-1-77321-324-8

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

October 2019 

Mel and Mo are twins and, as much as they love each other, they like different things. One likes the rain, the other sun. One likes getting up early, the other late. And as they grow older, their differences increase until all they do is disagree. When they choose careers, Mel takes over the family umbrella business and Mo performs on a high-wire with multiple poodles as part of the Sunny Sea-Side Circus.

From Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

But, with time, things change. They always do. Mel's umbrellas and Mo's act both fall out of fashion, regardless of their efforts to adapt. It isn't until the twins come together to reinvent themselves and their product or act that they find a way to be successful, still different but now in balance.

From Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

Nicola Winstanley, whose picture book How to Give Your Cat a Bath (Tundra, 2018) is currently nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award, always takes a light touch to important stories. Here we have non-binary twins who are the same but very different. Their differences define them. But when their choices become limiting, it is only by finding common ground that the two can continue to let their differences shine. Neither Mel nor Mo is expected to give up on themselves to "fit" into what their sibling or society deems appropriate for twins. Nicola Winstanley gives them the space to grow their creativity for creating a product or an entertainment but also the wisdom to recognize when collaboration would be beneficial.

From Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act by Nicola Winstanley, illus. by Marianne Ferrer

Similarly Marianne Ferrer balances the similarities between the two siblings with their differences. With one creating colourful umbrellas of wild shapes and the other astounding with high-wire acrobatics, Marianne Ferrer places the emphasis on the twins' differences, though still recognizing their similarities in hair styles and by dressing them similarly when young. I have been a big fan of artist Marianne Ferrer since reviewing Racines (Monsieur Ed, 2016). From that, my first French-language book review, I've been enthralled by her pencil and watercolour illustrations that employ a subtlety of colour and balance the whimsy with the sensible.

Mel and Mo's Marvelous Balancing Act may be about twins who want to be individuals whose differences are accepted as relevant, but it's also about knowing when to bring those differences into proximity for collaborative creativity. It's a fine balance that Mel and Mo are able to find and celebrate, as we all should.

Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild

Based on the song of The Wardens

Illustrated by Lia Golemba

Red Barn Books

978-1-9991087-0-0

24 pp.

Ages 4+

August 2019 

Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild is an Albertan labour of love. Red Barn Books is a new publisher out of Carstairs, The Wardens are based in Banff, and illustrator Lia Golemba hails from Airdrie. It's not surprising that the picture book has a regional flavour of the mountains and the West, though outdoor lovers everywhere will be intrigued by the story, and the artwork and cowboy fans will be charmed.

From Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild, based on the song of The Wardens, illus. by Lia Golemba

Based on the song "Government Cowboy," The Wardens, a trio of musician-wardens Scott Ward, Bradley Bischoff and Ray Schmidt, recount in ballad storytelling the life of national park wardens. From preparing their horses to helping with search-and-rescues and monitoring wildlife and the natural wonders of our mountain parks, these Rocky Mountain Rangers tell of the complexity and affection they have for their vocation. Though the story's text, a version of The Wardens's song, is explicit in colourful details of their daily activities, the story is appended with a description of the nature of their jobs, a list of expressions used, a picture glossary of mountain flora and fauna, and a map of the parks of the Canadian Rockies. Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild is a complete package of narrative and learning.

From Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild, based on the song of The Wardens, illus. by Lia Golemba

The artwork of Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild by illustrator Lia Golemba exemplifies the ruggedness of the song and terrain, blending earthy colours and strong lines and shapes, with textures of wood grain and twisted rope across many double-spreads. Based on her lino block prints which are then digitally remastered, Lia Golemba instills the story with another layer of organic storytelling. I love the choice of colours and the integration of cragginess with softness, mirroring the hard and dangerous work with the affection the cowboys have for their endeavours.

While some may see Rocky Mountain Rangers: Guardians of the Wild as a regional story depicting a landscape of and a pursuit embedded in the Rockies, it is more than that. It's a Canadian story of a land to be guarded by those who understand its heartbeat so that it may be sustained for all who live on it and those fortunate to visit.

Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round

Written by Rosanna Battigelli

Illustrated by Tara Anderson

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-092-5

24 pp.

Ages 3-6

September 2019

Get ready for some Halloween festivities with Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round and engage young children in the Halloween holiday with only the fun and delight, and none of the fear or creepiness so pervasive in the celebrations of older trick-or-treaters.

Whether you're a parent or teacher, you'll know of the annual October visit to the pumpkin patch to pick out a perfect pumpkin or two for Halloween night.  In lively rhyming verse of two word phrases that always begin with the word "pumpkin", Rosanna Battigelli welcomes the reader to participate in the sensory experience of that pumpkin path visit  and the subsequent carving of the jack-o'-lantern (instructions for "You Can Carve a Jack-o-Lantern Too!" are included on the endpapers), without the travel or the mess.

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Then, just as so many children will be doing on October 31st, the felines of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round prepare for their costumed foray into the neighbourhood for a bit of trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin mask,
pumpkin dare,
pumpkin candy,
pumpkin scare!

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Finally they return home to a snack, a story and bed.

So many children love Halloween for the dress-up and the candy but little ones rarely get into the scary aspects of the day and, for those many children, Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round is a perfect holiday read. Its light rhyme will get children repeating the text, first predicting and ultimately reading, with its metrical melody of syllabic fun. Rosanna Battigelli has pitched her first picture book perfectly for the very young, ensuring a fun read that invites them to take on their own reading.

Illustrator Tara Anderson's bio shares that she has cats at home and perhaps that explains why she knows these feline wonders so well, anthropomorphizing them into playful children of diversity. They vary in colour and size, expression and activity and present the enjoyment of a special day spent with family and friends. Her artwork, coloured pencil and acrylic glaze on watercolour paper, emphasizes the bright oranges and complementary purple of the pumpkins and the night, exuding playfulness and caring. Her characters are adorable, the days and night comforting, and the action enthralling.

Young children may not know that costumes and jack-o'-lanterns were originally used to ward off spirits on All Hallows' Eve but they do know the joy of pumpkin picking and carving and dressing up and procuring oodles of candy and, with Rosanna Battigelli and Tara Anderson's picture book, they can do so on many nights before and after October 31st.

From Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round by Rosanna Battigelli, illus. by Tara Anderson

Small in the City

Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-198-6

40 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2019

On October 2, the Canada Council for the Arts announced its finalists for the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards, and Small in the City was one of the nominated titles for the English-language children's book illustration. This is Sydney Smith's fourth nomination–he and JonArno Lawson won in 2015 for Sidewalk Flowers (Groundwood, 2015)–and this one is all the more distinct as Small in the City is his first picture book as author and illustrator.

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

Though the cover makes a young child who looks out of a streetcar window larger than life, minimizing the buildings reflected in the glass, Sydney Smith's illustrations show a child peripheral to the city. They look out over the streets of people doing and buildings standing. When they leave the streetcar, they are dwarfed by everything in the busy city. People march past looking at their feet or their phones. Sounds of taxis and car horns and construction and sirens are loud and scary. It's almost too much.

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

But as the child ventures through the cold streets and snowflakes begin to fall, they know how to be a part of that city. They know which alleys to avoid and wonderful places to hide or climb or enjoy the steam from a dryer vent. As they walk from the busyness into a neighbourhood of trees and yards, local stores and houses, and a park, this child gives advice about where safety can be found. Soon enough the reader will observe that the child has posted salmon-pink notices to posts and fences and doors. The child may be small in the city but a lost cat is even smaller. Still, with the flurries becoming snow squalls with near whiteout conditions, the child reaches home, convinced that "You will be all right."

From Small in the City by Sydney Smith

Sydney Smith's artwork, created with ink, watercolour and gouache, journeys with the child from a dark-toned city centre through neighbourhoods infused with colour to a home blanketed in the lightness of peace and contentment. It's a Toronto of commerce and community, movement and stability, and this child lives in it and of it. They may be small but they are not insignificant and as they walk closer and closer to home, their presence becomes more meaningful.

Being small in the city is a perspective most adults have forgotten. It's seeing the heart of the city as it is, free of interpretation and expectation but infused with perception. As such, Small in the City is a story of a child for children and most certainly for those who have ever lost a pet. This could have been a sad story of loss and fear but Sydney Smith makes it one of resilience and hope, expectation and common sense. It's seeing shelter and warmth, food and comfort where adults might only see trees and shrubs, a dryer vent, the fishmonger and a church ledge. It's perspective as perception that makes Small in the City effusive in community and family and takes the reader from the obscurity to the light of home with its happy ending.

The Stone Rainbow

Written by Liane Shaw

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-108-4

272 pp.

Ages 13-18

September 2019

Liane Shaw introduced her characters Ryan and Jack to YA audiences in her novel Caterpillars Can't Swim (Second Story Press, 2017), telling the origin story of their accidental friendship and Jack's acceptance of his sexuality. Though only a handful of others in his life, including his mom, Ryan's mom. Ryan's friend Cody and Jack's counselor Matthew, know that Jack is gay, he has capitulated that expressing that sexuality in the small town of Thompson Mills is unlikely.

This town is so small that being different usually means you're flying solo. (pg. 61)

In The Stone Rainbow, Jack meets the new guy at school, Benjamin Lee, and Jack is smitten. The new vice-principal's son is beautiful and kind and Jack doesn't know what to do. He's used to hiding in his "caterpillar camouflage" (pg. 8) and now the idea of putting himself out there, expressing his interest in anyone, especially a young man who may or may not reciprocate that interest, is terrifying.  Staying a caterpillar, on the other hand, is familiar, even if stifling.

Benjamin, on the other hand, is not willing to stay in the closet. When they are assigned an art project that reflects something of social and personal significance, he creates a massive rainbow of coloured stones on plywood. He honours and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community with the myriad of messages on the stones that reflect the rainbow's symbolism. Though Benjamin is pretty much out, his art project rouses all the nastiness that Jack had already witnessed in his town. But when Benjamin is attacked, Jack decides to focus on something positive that might help Benjamin as well: a Pride parade. Fortunately, Jack discovers that there's a whole lot more support for him and Benjamin and a Pride event than he could ever have imagined.

Though The Stone Rainbow is a story of acceptance of self and others, it is also a tragic story that depicts the reality for those who may be perceived as different. There is violence and hate and masks. Jack knows what it is to come out–as he did to his mother in Caterpillars Can't Swim–so he still feels compelled to hide his sexuality from his peers and others, fearing their reactions, and shielding his true self and expression of that self. Even with supports from Ryan and others, it's not until Jack meets Benjamin that he is able to shed that chrysalis to reveal the butterfly he was meant to be. It is both "terrifying and wonderful" (pg. 239) and Jack recognizes he "could be as beautiful as I want to be because no one cares if a butterfly is a boy or a girl. It's just a pretty part of nature that everyone accepts." (pg. 242)

With her diverse cast of characters, Liane Shaw demonstrates that differences make a community richer, though there are the unenlightened who still need to learn this lesson in compassion and tolerance. If The Stone Rainbow teaches us anything it's that it's the blending of all into a spectacular prism of life that makes our world complete and beautiful.

If everyone just decides to treat everyone else with kindness, it all goes away. Intolerance, disrespect, racism, homophobia, misogyny, bullying, and all the other horrible words we've had to invent to find a way to label the endless crap people seem to feel the need to throw at each other...all wiped out by one simple command. Be kind. (pg. 214)

2019 Governor General's Literary Awards: Finalists sannounced

Today, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the finalists for the highly prestigious Governor General's Literary Awards.

The seven categories of books, both in French and English, for which awards are given are:

• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Young People's Literature (Text)
• Young People's Literature (Illustration)
• Drama
• Translation

Congratulations to the finalists 

of all the awards
and I present here those nominees of

works for young people.

English-language: Young People's Literature (Text)

Break in Case of Emergency
Written by Brian Francis
HarperCollins

Cold White Sun
Written by Sue Farrell Holler
Groundwood Books

Girl of the Southern Sea
Written by Michelle Kadarusman
Pajama Press
Reviewed here

Stand on the Sky
Written by Erin Bow
Scholastic

The Grey Sisters
Written by Jo Treggiari
Penguin Teen

English-language:  Young People's Literature (Illustration)

Albert's Quiet Quest
Written and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Tundra Books

Birdsong
Written and illustrated by Julie Flett
Greystone Books

How To Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps
Written by Nicola Winstanley
Illustrated by John Martz
Tundra Books

King Mouse
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Dena Seiferling
Tundra Books

Small in the City
Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books

 French-language: Young People's Literature (Text)

Au carrefour

par Jean-François Sénéchal

Leméac Éditeur

Dans le coeur de Florence
par Lucie Bergeron
Soulières éditeur

L'albatros et la mésange
par Dominique Demers
Éditions Québec Amérique

Mon coeur après la pluie
par Pierre Labrie
Soulières éditeur

Où est ma maison?
par Édith Bourger
Les éditions du soleil de minuit

French-language: Young People's Literature (Illustration)

Contacts
par Mélanie Leclerc
Mécanique générale

Jack et le temps perdu
par Stéphanie Lapointe
Illustrée par Delphie Côté-Lacroix
Quai no 5, Les Éditions XYZ

L'escapade de Paolo

par Lucie Papineau

Illustrée par Lucie Crovatto

Les Éditions de la Bagnole

Laurent, c'est moi!

par Stéphanie Deslauriers

Illustrée par Geneviève Després

Fonfon

Le pelleteur de nuages

par Simon Boulerice

Illustrée par Josée Bisaillon

la courte échelle

Winning titles will be announced 

on October 29, 2019

and 

presented on a later date at Rideau Hall.