The Little Red Shed

Written by Adam and Jennifer Young

Illustrated by Adam Young

Breakwater Books

978-1-55081-833-8

24 pp.

Ages 3-7

May 2020

In this allegory about the need for diversity and acceptance of all, a little red shed is excluded by the other maritime sheds for looking different. Timely, poignant and relevant.

The little red shed was once white, like all the other sheds, but she has turned red and the other sheds think this is wrong.

From The Little Red Shed by Adam and Jennifer Young, illus. by Adam Young

She feels excluded and tearful. Even more distressing is the fact that, though she feels like she is the same shed she has always been, she is now ashamed of how she looks and takes herself off, boarding the Ocean Queen boat for the anonymity of the sea.

From The Little Red Shed by Adam and Jennifer Young, illus. by Adam Young

There a humpback whale welcomes her, delighted in her colourfulness, telling her that, "Well, nothing would be beautiful if we all looked the same." Feeling hopeful and befriended, she returns home and proclaims her self-acceptance to the others, demonstrating the value of differences and emboldening them to change.

What was once a bundle
without colour or hue
was now a RAINBOW
vibrant and true.

From The Little Red Shed by Adam and Jennifer Young, illus. by Adam Young

From worry and despair through compassion and hope and finally self-appreciation and diversity, The Little Red Shed offers a lesson for young children to accept themselves as they are, not as others decide they should be. It's an important lesson but a difficult one, as the little red shed realizes, first being ashamed for her differences and exiling herself to avoid the discrimination she feels. Newfoundlanders' Adam and Jennifer Young make sure the text is minimal, enough to carry a story, choosing words that are absolute in their power and naturalness. From declaring the little red shed to be "wrong" to her feeling "sad and alone" to something that is "beautiful" and finally being given the moniker of the "brave little shed" when she is no longer distinguished by her colour. The voice of the story is ideal for young children, helping them understand that differences are not a curse but a gift.

With Adam Young's bold and colourful art, the story is carried from the darkness and despair of stormy blues through the hope of green and ending with the vibrancy of the rainbow of sheds and water and landscape. There is so much movement and emotion in Adam Young's illustrations that the story of the little red shed becomes an odyssey of self-discovery and colour that every reader can and will appreciate.

The Moon King

Written and illustrated by Cara Kansala

Breakwater Books

978-1-550818185

36 pp.

Ages 2-7

February 2020 

Newfoundland author and artist Cara Kansala brings the energy of her Maritime home to a story about The Moon King whose dancing unintentionally unleashes the night and its many stars across the land.

From The Moon King by Cara Kansala

In rhyming verse that carries the story like a milky way of celestial elements, Cara Kansala tells of the Moon King's distress at releasing the stars of the night sky onto the land.

They settled on the rocky cliffs 
and tip-toed into caves.
Some drifted into firths and fiords,
some waltzed upon the waves.

The Moon King watched the landscape bloom
with the faintest, starry light.
The sea glowed like a streetlamp,
he had tipped over the night!

In her dazzlingly coloured acrylic paintings, Cara Kansala depicts the Moon King's desperation to return the stars to the heavens, with the help of wildlife woken from slumber. There is the Arctic hare, the moose, the black bear, the fox, wolves and even a whale who are enlisted to help gather the stars before a flock of red birds fly them back up to the night.

From The Moon King by Cara Kansala

And all the birds in all the land,

they each plucked out a star

and flew them back up to the night

where dreams and wishes are.

From The Moon King by Cara Kansala

Though young children will be lulled to sleep with this bedtime story's rhythm, the energy in Cara Kansala's artwork may invigorate them to investigate more closely. There may be a blue, black and turquoise night sky background peeking out from behind each illustration but those brilliant stars and menagerie of Newfoundland fauna urge closer scrutiny. You'll get your little ones to bed eventually but I suspect that it may take several repetitions of The Moon King's reading before it will happen readily. Fortunately with the stars back where they belong, their sleep will be filled with goodness and light.