Kaboom!: Blast Off

Written by Jay Odjick

Illustrated by KC Oster

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9836-3 

142 pp.

Ages 8–12

February 2026 

 

Zack seems like a regular kid. He likes riding his bike and imagining himself as a superhero. He is lured by ads for the snack Choco Pops and the energy drink Splurge and is impressed with the fabulously rich like Konstantin Pierce. Compared to his boring parents who sell refrigerators, Pierce looks pretty exciting. But there seems to be another story that the imaginative Zack does not know. While he believes his parents are at a trade show and he's staying with his Auntie Jess, his mom and dad, calling each other Shadowbird and Greywolf, are working for F.U.S.I.O.N. as true superheroes, currently stopping those who steal ancient artifacts. As for Konstantin Pierce, he's more villain than entrepreneurial genius.

From Kaboom!: Blast Off, written by Jay Odjick, illustrated by KC Oster

Pierce is looking to extort world powers by controlling the weather and he's concerned that F.U.S.I.O.N. agents are going to get in the way. He arranges for them to be eliminated. Not surprising that Zack is shocked when flying robots and a masked man come and take his parents and aunt away. Thankfully his parents have a household security system to protect Zack and he, along with a cute robotic dog rejected by Pierce, are whisked to his parents' underground headquarters where he virtually meets Tana a.k.a. Teknik from New Zealand. Tana/Teknik explains that, like his parents and her Māori father, she is an agent of F.U.S.I.O.N., the First Universal Secret Indigenous Operatives Network, which is tasked with working against any threat to Indigenous Peoples, cultures, and ways of life.

From Kaboom!: Blast Off, written by Jay Odjick, illustrated by KC Oster

So, as Zack and his new robot sidekick Rusty poke around his superhero parents' secret den, Pierce is threatening the U.N. even though he realizes that a thumb drive with the activation codes is missing. But, after finding a special Lycra suit fit for a superhero, Zack, who becomes known as Kaboom, works to help get his parents back and thwart Konstantin Pierce and his villainous henchman and drones. 
 

Looks like there's a new superhero in town as Blast Off! is just the first book in the new Kaboom! graphic novel series. Zack a.k.a Kaboom is a little impetuous, a lot funny, and kind of sweet, and he's a character whose adventures middle graders will want to follow. Jay Odjick, who'd previously illustrated Robert Munsch's Bear for Breakfast / Makwa kidji kijebà wìsiniyàn (2019), gives us a story in which a kid becomes a hero. But Jay Odjick also blends Zack's story with Indigenous superheroes from around the world—Māori, Inuit, Nahua, Khalka, and Algonquin appear in Blast Off—and the importance of doing good. Still Kaboom!: Blast Off is not a story that is told to preach or convey messages of how to live. It's about superhero fun with lots of humour, like when Zack starts pushing buttons he shouldn't or when he mishears Tana when she says kinetic and he hears Connecticut. With Zack just being Zack and Jay Odjick getting all the voices just right for all his characters, Kaboom!: Blast Off entertains completely.

From Kaboom!: Blast Off, written by Jay Odjick, illustrated by KC Oster

But, without the artwork of KC Oster, a new illustrator for me, Kaboom!: Blast Off just wouldn't be the hit it is. I like the style of this Ojibwe-Anishinaabe comic artist, who previously did the art for Rabbit Chase (written Elizabeth LaPensée, 2022). Their graphics are not cluttered, focusing on Zack and the other characters, keeping the details for lively interactions like altercations with the bad guys and fight scenes. And by not limiting their palette of colours, KC Oster makes the art exciting and lavish.

 

An Indigenous superhero organization, a kid hero, a robotic dog, and operations to stop the bad guys sounds like the kind of graphic novel that middle-grade readers will latch onto. I think Kaboom! has just made a dynamite arrival.

We Are the Medicine (Surviving the City, Vol. 3)

Written by Tasha Spillett

Illustrated by Natasha Donovan

Coloured and lettered by Scott B. Henderson

HighWater Press

978-1-77492-110-4

64 pp.

Ages 12–18

August 2024

 

The Indigenous teens that Tasha Spillett introduced in the first two books in her Surviving the City series, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, are set to graduate from high school and they're thinking about their futures. But how can they look forward when the remains of 215 children are revealed at a former residential school in BC? What future is there when the injustices of the past continue to be disclosed, and discrimination and wrongs persist in new forms?

From We Are the Medicine, written by Tasha Spillett, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, coloured and lettered by Scott B. Henderson

Now that Dez has accepted themself as a Two-Spirit person and is in a relationship with Kacey, and Miikwan is dating Riel, the teens are enjoying stronger connections with others and in their community. But when the unearthing of hundreds of unmarked graves of children at a former residential school makes the news, the impact on the teens, particularly Riel, is palpable. Speaking in their school's sharing circle with Elder Geraldine, they express their fears, dismay, hurts, and anger. Miikwan wants to help Riel as he lashes out, but Elder Geraldine recognizes the "We have a right to feel angry. We just have to find something to do with that energy so it doesn't harm us or anyone else." (p. 10)

From We Are the Medicine, written by Tasha Spillett, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, coloured and lettered by Scott B. Henderson

With Riel trying to find a way to turn his anger into something healing, they come up with the idea of a powwow for people to gather safely–it's still a time of masking and social distancing–to honour those whose young lives were taken from them. But when Riel is drawn to a protest nearby and his Afro-Indigenous cousin Ginebig follows him, it's Ginebig who is accosted by the police, as is Riel who comes to his defense. It is there, in jail, that Riel, after dreaming of the spirits of those children from the residential school, realizes that they themselves are the medicine for healing.

From We Are the Medicine, written by Tasha Spillett, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, coloured and lettered by Scott B. Henderson

Tasha Spillett takes on a lot of important social justice issues in We Are the Medicine, including residential schools, truth and reconciliation, police violence, monuments that are reminders of systemic racism, and more. It's a lot. But, just as they are issues that Indigenous people have been forced to experience historically and now, Tasha Spillett blends them authentically for these teens, who come from different places and narratives. Some are reminded of their own losses, like Riel whose brother Wayne was murdered by the police, or Dez whose beloved Granny had endured abuse at a residential school. They are understandably confused and angered and stymied by questions about why things have happened and are still happening, and how to make a difference and heal. The healing, for the past and for now, is imperative for them if they are to have a future for themselves and for others to make for themselves.

It's a new day. Let's do something good with it. (p. 15)

 

Natasha Donovan's illustrations, coloured and lettered by Scott B. Henderson, honour the characters in their diversity. Their experiences, at school, in relationships, with family and in the city, are distinct and reveal how they approach challenges and injustices. They may be different, but none are wrong. Natasha Donovan lets us see these teens in their struggles and their joys, from the harshness of police violence, told in sharp shapes and crushing colours, to the spirits who watch over the kids in muted blues. There's real darkness and sorrow in the news of the graves of residential school children and joy and colour in powwow regalia and in the gardening of medicinal plants. Natasha Donovan's art sets the mood and serves Tasha Spillett's story.

Dez and Miikwan and their friends carry heavy loads of history, family, fears, and abuse. The city has not made it easy for them. But their supports are growing, and they are finding ways to move forward, though never forgetting their pasts or that of their ancestors. Fortunately, they will heal and they will survive because the medicine comes from them.

 • • • • • • •

 

Surviving the City series

Surviving the City (2018)

From the Roots Up (2020)

We Are the Medicine (2024)

 

This is What I've Been Told / Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan

Written and illustrated by Juliana Armstrong

Medicine Wheel Education

978-1-989122693

40 pp.

All ages

May 2021

Juliana Armstrong, a member of Nipissing First Nation and a teacher of Anishinaabemowin Language and Culture, brings her heritage, both in her message and her art, to young readers in This is What I've Been Told / Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan.

From This is What I've Been Told / Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan by Juliana Armstrong

Reflecting the Woodland Art style in line and colour and symbolism, Juliana Armstrong's picture book takes young readers on a journey of learning by sharing with them the lessons she was taught.  

From This is What I've Been Told / Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan by Juliana Armstrong

They will learn Anishinaabemowin words for Grandmother and Grandfather, and nouns like clan, drum, strawberry, and medicine and fire. Several double-spreads relate to the good-hearted way and how to tell someone to stop talking, and words for living a good life and giving knowledge. Finally, Juliana Armstrong discusses identify and heart. These are some of the words Juliana Armstrong learned and now shares.

Throughout my life, I will follow in the footsteps of my Gookmis, learning the ways of our people. I will pick the same berries she picked. I will gather the same medicines and flowers she gathered. Speak the same language she spoke to me, and I will carry the Seven Grandfather Teachings she taught me.

Juliana Armstrong's words are filled with family and tradition and they take us into her culture and her heritage. There is a solemnity of purpose that takes this learning from the entertainment of much education today to one of reverence. Her respect for those who have taught her and passed along life lessons is tangible. Whether in the emotional content of her words or the glorious lines and shapes of her illustrations, Juliana Armstrong celebrates that knowledge.

From This is What I've Been Told / Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan by Juliana Armstrong

For learners of Anishinaabemowin or those who understand that awareness of Indigenous cultures and language is imperative to becoming a truly inclusive and diverse world, This is What I've Been Told / Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan is a gentle introduction that welcomes and guides.

Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know

Written by Brittany Luby

Illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

Translated by Alvin Ted Corbiere and Alan Corbiere

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-326-3

44 pp.

All ages

March 2021 

Written in Anishinaabemowin and English, this gorgeous picture book lets readers accompany a child and her grandmother as they take in the small and tremendous wonders of the natural world as it transforms in each season.

Beginning with Aaniish ezhi-gkendmaanh niibing? or How do I know summer is here?, the pair travel by canoe to pick blueberries. There is the Loon on the water and the green Luna Moth in the birch trees, bumblebees and fireweed in blossom, and hot sand. This summer outing ends with...

Mii maanda ezhi-gkenmaanh niibing.

This is how I know summer.

From Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know by Brittany Luby, illus. by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

In the fall, grandmother and child, with an enthusiastic dog, walk the shore and forest to witness the cattails swelling, and animals like the Red-Winged Blackbird, Black Bear and Mallard, before picking orange mushrooms.

From Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know by Brittany Luby, illus. by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

Winter comes and, with the hot cereal, warm coats and boots for the child and her grandmother, come the animals outdoors responding too. The Deer strip the cedar trees, the Mouse finds shelter inside and the Woodpecker, Blue Jay, and Fox do their own winter thing.

From Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know by Brittany Luby, illus. by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

Finally comes spring with the black ice softening, the green shoots peeking out of the snow, a Gull roosting, the dog having puppies and the spring Peeper singing, "Good night, little one."

 

Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know is such a sensory read of words and art. I may not be able to appreciate the Anishinaabemowin text (as translated by father and son Alvin Ted Corbiere and Alan Corbiere of M'Chigeeng First Nation) for its quality of sound and rhythms but Brittany Luby's words in English saturate the reader with the experience of being outdoors and savouring the textures and colours of the natural world in its transformations through the seasons. Whether she speaks of the plants or the animals, the weather or the sky, Brittany Luby, who is of Anishinaabe descent, draws us into the wholeness of the season, sharing its quietness and roar, subtlety or outburst, as nature chooses, as seen from a special intergenerational relationship.

When insects billow black from the trees,

and the sun slips into an orange dream.

The power of her words are matched wholeheartedly by the dynamic intensity of Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley's artwork. A member of Wasauksing First Nation, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley depicts the world of land and sky, animals and plants in a woodland style, digitally rendered with vibrant colours and shapes outlined with dark lines. The illustrations have a two-dimensional feel but are lush in form and hue that are both calming and energized, lending a naturalness to the story.

From Mii maanda exhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know by Brittany Luby, illus. by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

For those who understand Anishinaabemowin, there will be another layer of story to Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know to which I am not privy. Still, with only the English text and artwork accessible to me, Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh/This is How I Know is a triumph of art, literal and graphic, that invites readers to use all their senses to appreciate the splendour of nature through the seasons.