The Cold Little Voice

Written by Alison Hughes

Illustrations by Jan Dolby

Clockwise Press

978-1-988347-11-0

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

February 2019

Listening or not listening to the voices in your head is a skill that we develop with time, practice and experience. Telling the difference between valuable instinct and unproductive doubts is crucial and The Cold Little Voice is all about helping children know how to silence a negative one.

From The Cold Little Voice by Alison Hughes, illus. by Jan Dolby

The purple-haired child in The Cold Little Voice could be any child. It's a child whose bad-tempered blue voice, like a black cloud raining on a child's joy, points out anything that might be perceived as a weakness.

It points out that I bite my nails, laugh too loudly, trip when I run upstairs, talk too much, blush, cry too easily, make smacking sounds when I chew, sing off-key, get the hiccups too often, and have sloppy writing.

From The Cold Little Voice by Alison Hughes, illus. by Jan Dolby

The child plugs their ears and tries not to listen but sometimes that voice is far too insistent.  In response, the child stops being who they are.

I become small and still and grey.
And not me.

Fortunately, a new voice, a warm voice of yellow is heard, encouraging the child to look for goodness in cuddles with creatures, in the sun in the blue sky and in a supportive community. And if that cold little voice tries to speak again? Well, the child pities it and soothes it until it can become a big, warm, kind voice that whisper-shouts affirmations and helps turn others' cold little voices into big warm ones too.

From The Cold Little Voice by Alison Hughes, illus. by Jan Dolby

Just like the warm voice that sends positive messages and encouragement, The Cold Little Voice, the book, is transformative, inspiring light from dark thoughts and support rather than isolation.  Alison Hughes, who has helped children deal with anxious thoughts in her picture book The Creepy-Crawly Thought (2019), recognizes that there are voices in most of us that tell us that we're not good enough as we are and that these voices prey on our insecurities and fears. But Alison Hughes doesn't just negate those thoughts. She helps transform them into positives and reassurances.

A voice that says:
"You can do it!" 
or "Who cares if it's silly – 
you're having fun!" 
or "Everybody makes mistakes!"

Similarly, Jan Dolby, who illustrated Lucky Me (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2018) and Gabby, Wonder Girl (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2016) among others, brings that metamorphosis to her artwork. From the sombre blues and greys of the cold, little voice to the yellows and lime greens and pinks of the warmth of good thoughts, Jan Dolby carries young readers from a dark place to one of hope.

Negative thoughts that become doubts and apprehension cannot always be silenced immediately. But The Cold Little Voice will be very reassuring to children as they learn that it is possible to influence those thoughts to becoming good ones that can boost not belittle.

From The Cold Little Voice by Alison Hughes, illus. by Jan Dolby

I Didn't Stand Up

Written by Lucy Falcone

Illustrated by Jacqueline Hudon

Clockwise Press

978-1-98834-706-6

32 pp.

Ages 5+ (really all ages)

December 2018

In the aftermath of World War II, a Protestant pastor in Germany, Martin Niemöller, popularized a poem called "First They Came" about the abuses enacted by the Nazis upon different groups of people like socialists, trade unionists and Jewish people and how many would not stand up to protect the innocent. Using that text as a model, Lucy Falcone wrote I Didn't Stand Up about not standing up to school bullies who target those they see as different. It's a lesson in compassion and courage to defy oppression and persecution.

From I Didn't Stand Up by Lucy Falcone, illus. by Jacqueline Hudon

The book begins with

First they went after Jamal.
But I'm not black –
so I didn't stand up for him.

It continues with similar verses about Duncan who is targeted as a geek, Shyanne who is poor, Mariana who is an immigrant, Jason who is gay, Aisha who is Muslim and wears a headscarf, Liam who uses arm crutches, transgendered Alexis and overweight Marvin, And then they come after the narrator. Finally the child wants to be part of that larger group that might support them. Fortunately they do.

The text is minimal but says so much about how little it takes for a bully to select a victim and for bystanders to do nothing. Lucy Falcone wallops the reader with the intensity of each situation, seemingly innocuous but always devastating to the victim. The weighting is in Jacqueline Hudon's illustrations, depicting large-eyed victims of bullies who harm with words and actions.

From I Didn't Stand Up by Lucy Falcone, illus. by Jacqueline Hudon

The prevalence of yellow throughout the book can't help but be noted. Yellow, like most colours, has dual symbolism. It can represent enlightenment, as from the sun's light, as well as warmth. But, as with traffic lights, it is the colour of caution, and negatively it has also been used to signify cowardice and betrayal. I like to think that like the children in I Didn't Stand Up, the colour yellow evolves, becoming activated to do something positive.

From I Didn't Stand Up by Lucy Falcone, illus. by Jacqueline Hudon

Lucy Falcone is already known to middle-graders as L. M. Falcone with her award-winning fun and spooky reads like Walking with the Dead (Kids Can Press, 2005) and The Midnight Curse (Kids Can Press, 2010). So it's highly appropriate that Lucy Falcone has chosen a different moniker for her first picture book and one so impactful with its message of social justice and community. With I Didn't Stand Up, illustrated by Jacqueline Hudon who created the artwork for Bye, Bye, Butterflies (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012) and Charlie's Dirt Day (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2015), Lucy Falcone has opened up a new window of writing for herself while shedding light on the damage of being a bystander to bullying and the need to step up and forward for all.

Bent Not Broken: Madeline and Justin

Written by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Clockwise Press

978-1-4998-347-03-5

224 pp.

Ages 13+

March 2017

Lorna Schultz Nicholson's first two One-2-One books, Fragile Bones: Harrison & Anna (2015) and Born With: Erika & Gianni (2016), introduced high school students in the Best Buddies program.  In those books, students with autism and Down syndrome partnered with other teens who volunteered to provide physical and/or emotional support.  But, better than the support, they share friendships that grow and establish a community that reaches beyond the school.  Bent Not Broken is the newest book in the series, providing an uplifting tale that demonstrates the inarguable successes of the Best Buddies program.

Fourteen-year-old Madeline used to be faster, smarter, more accomplished than her twin Becky.  Then, at age eight, Madeline had an accident when the two were out on their bikes. Now Madeline feels defined by her brain damage that causes her to speak very slowly, to have regular meltdowns and experience wildly crazy emotions and to struggle in school.  Though Becky has been obliging her for years, still being one of the few who knows how to help Madeline when her emotions take over and she begins to hit herself about the head, Becky has found a new set of friends whom she begins to emulate though they are rude and engaged in inappropriate behaviours.  

Fortunately, Madeline has some positives in her life that ease much of her anxiety about her sister and her own vulnerabilities.  She gets to spend time with her Best Buddy, a senior named Justin ("I liked him because he didn't feel sorry for me; he just liked me"; pg. 16) who in turn finds being with Madeline helpful in coping with the death of his autistic sister who succumbed to an eating disorder.  Moreover, Madeline volunteers at a horse therapy barn where she once received therapy by spending time with the miniature horses.

The barn is Madeline's salvation and even becomes a haven for Justin and his mother, both finding some healing amongst the horses.  But Becky is less enthused now about fulfilling her own volunteering commitment there.  In fact, she begins to use the barn as an opportunity to sneak away with her friends and starts to take advantage of Madeline's affliction to benefit herself.  Though Madeline sees herself now as the weaker of the twins, she begins to achieve some wonderful successes socially and creatively while Becky begins a descent into dangerous circumstances.  Luckily, Madeline discovers she has the courage to step up and be there for her sister as Becky had been for her. 

Lorna Schultz Nicholson's books in the One-2-One series attest to the strengths we all have even when dealing with physical or mental trials, and that's why Bent Not Broken is the very best of titles and the very best of stories.  The imagery of something being bent not broken, like a willow bough, is a powerful one.  Being bent does not mean weak.  Think of bentwood furniture.  It's still strong, just in a different configuration than wood is typically used.  So too is Madeline after her accident and resulting brain injury but also Justin after his sister's death, his mother with her depression, Becky with her guilt, and Madeline's parents with their marriage.  None of them are the same.  All have been reshaped by circumstances.  Still there is resilience, the need to persevere and accept new postures.

There's a reason Bent Not Broken was selected by young readers as one of the ten titles recommended for Red Maple readers on the first  Summer Reading List of the Forest Kid Committee.  These young people could appreciate a book that spoke to them about being strong and compassionate regardless of the struggle.  Bent Not Broken, like the earlier books, speaks to the best of us and makes us want to be better, which we can be.

By the Time You Read This

Written by Jennifer Lanthier

Illustrated by Patricia Storms

Clockwise Press

 978-1-988347-05-9

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2017

By the Time You Read This, this book will probably be out and I’ll have missed its launch, but, hey, what can you do? At least it’s not the devastating news like that which the arm cast-addled Oscar pens to his former friend Sam, beginning with “To my mortal enemy, By the time you read this….” He then proceeds to itemize all the play things he is dismantling or putting the kibosh on in light of their conflict: the Scientific Experiment of Glorious Doom; their Indestructible Fortress of Fiendishness; their Epic Battle of Giant Robots versus Alien Insects; the Magical Zoo of Mystical Creatures; the Neverending Novel of Awesome Adventures; the Precarious Portal for Intrepid Explorers; and the Time Travel Tower of Ultimate Power.  It seems Sam laughed when Oscar fell when skateboarding.

But all that anger dissipates when Sam finds Oscar and apologizes for laughing, not realizing he’d hurt himself.  Recalling all the fun things they had done together, Oscar relents, asking Sam if she’d like to sign his cast.  With that, the two surrender to their friendship and get back to the business of serious play.

From By the Time You Read This 

by Jennifer Lanthier 

illus. by Patricia Storms

Though Oscar is initially vehement in his new enemy-ship with Sam, as denoted by his powerful words and the decisiveness of his actions, he is not immune to a little empathy and an apology.  It’s amazing what a small step of humility and voiced regret can do to turn things around, especially in a childhood friendship.  Children are forever making friends and dissolving friendships on a whim, justifiably so or not.  It’s evident that, in By the Time You Read This, even anger and disappointment can be fleeting and resolved amicably with just a few words.  Jennifer Lanthier’s text demonstrates the depths of friendship in Oscar and Sam’s imaginative play, especially in their super-duper partnership in taking on the world.  How could Oscar and Sam not stay friends?

From By the Time You Read This 

by Jennifer Lanthier 

illus. by Patricia Storms

Patricia Storms, who can illustrate both tender books like Never Let You Go and playful picture books like The Ghosts Go Spooking, lends an energetic atmosphere to By the Time You Read This, portraying the spirit of children in her boldly-coloured cartoons and in the little details in signage (e.g., "Oscar + Sam ONLY, No Parents Allowed, No Brothers Either") and toys.   Kids will laugh themselves silly over the creatures in the Magical Zoo of Mystical Creatures, like the Farting Fur-Tail and Lionisaurus Rex, and probably recognize a few of their own toys within the pages of By the Time You Read This. They’ll definitely see themselves in the book.  This is a important as young readers need to know that friendships sometimes fall apart but can be reconstructed, sometimes with just a little bandage of kind words.  And even though By the Time You Read This ends with Oscar and Sam reconciled, back at play in their Planetary Pirate Ship, they might still have another falling out.  Such are the nature of friendships when you’re close to someone and care about what they feel and do. But, with a smile and a little play (perhaps the board game on the inside of By the Time You Read This' s cover), all might be forgiven.

Born With: Erika and Gianni

by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Clockwise Press

978-0-9939351-7-6

231 pp.

Ages 13+

March 2016

Clockwise Press launched its young adult series One-2-One with Fragile Bones: Harrison and Anna (2015), also by Lorna Schultz Nicholson, focusing on the relationship between two teens in the Best Buddies program, a world-wide organization that aims to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities integrate successfully  into their communities. Born With features two other teens, both with a love of musical theatre: Erika, a fourteen-year-old born with Down Syndrome and Gianni, a teen who’s struggling with his sexuality.  This is their story, a powerful one for their trueness of thought, action and self-appreciation.

Erika and Gianni both audition for the school’s musical Grease. While Erika is thrilled to get selected to sing and dance in the chorus for three songs, Gianni is disappointed to get slotted for the comedic role of Eugene, losing the coveted lead role of Danny Zuko to the more athletic but less talented Richard.  Also cast are Erika and Gianni’s friend Sonya, as Sandy, and a boy named Bilal to whom Gianni is secretly attracted.

Gianni is determined to be stellar in the role of Eugene and to help Erika rehearse her lines and steps, ensuring that both will be successful.  But the two teens have more on their plates than singing and dancing. Erika’s father has ALS and his condition is worsening, and, though she takes her responsibilities for him very seriously, all she wants is for him to see her dance.  On the other hand, Gianni is coming to terms with his sexuality and what he wants out of life, convinced he already doesn’t fit his father’s dream for him, and that he can’t be himself until he is able to graduate from high school and leave his big Italian family.  But secrets have a way of becoming revealed, especially when Erika has been tutored in not keeping secrets, even if they are someone else’s personal business.

Born With takes on the monumental task of showcasing characters living with aspects of their lives over which they have no control: a genetic disorder, and sexual orientation.  Erika has a great understanding and acceptance of the strengths and limitations of her genetic disorder, and works to meet her needs, advocating for herself while celebrating in her own successes.

Sometimes people don’t think I can be serious or that I can learn things, but I can–I can do lots of things after I’m serious and listen. And focus. Focus. (pg. 9)

Likewise, Gianni has compassionate insight into Erika but he has yet to accept himself, confused over his sexuality, still processing what he is feeling and with whom to share that secret.

Tonight Erika’s honesty was creating chaos in my life.  But, seriously, what difference did it make who I was in the school musical?  That was a relatively little issue in comparison to the rest of my life. (pg. 190)

Both Erika and Gianni must navigate how others feel about them and make them feel, while dealing with family, friends, peers, ignorant bullies, and others.  The high school years are tenuous enough but Erika and Gianni have struggles that many of us could not imagine, and yet they dare to be themselves and are able to thrive.  By wrapping their stories in the joyful musical that is Grease, another story about being true to oneself, Lorna Schultz Nicholson has written an inspirational and triumphant story of acceptance in Born With: Erika and Gianni.

Clockwise Press: Fall Book Launch (Toronto)

Canada's newest publisher for young people

Clockwise Press

Turning young readers into lifelong readers 

with the right book, at the right time

is having a

Fall Book Launch 

for

Missing Nimama

by Melanie Florence

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Clockwise Press

978-0-9939351-0-7

32 pp.

Ages 8+

October, 2015

Reviewed here

and

Stay Strong: A Musician's Journey from Congo

by Natalie Hyde

Clockwise Press

978-0-9939351-2-1

141 pp.

Ages 12-16

August, 2015

on

Monday, November 30, 2015

 at 6:30 p.m.

at

Mabel's Fables Bookstore

662 Mount Pleasant Road

Toronto, Ontario

(416) 322-0438

Authors Melanie Florence and Natalie Hyde 

will be in attendance 

(and undoubtedly available for signing books)

and

there will be mulled wine, gingerbread and cake!

RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/clockwisepress/

Missing Nimâmâ

Written by Melanie Florence

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Clockwise Press

978-0-9939351-0-7

32 pp.

Ages 8+

October, 2015

Missing Nimâmâ is a stunning accomplishment in story telling, though a story that shouldn’t have to be told because no mother should go missing and be lost to a little girl who would grow up without her.  Reading Missing Nimâmâ (nimâmâ is Cree for my mother) is like exposing an wound and it hurts.

Missing Nimâmâ is told in two voices,  distinguished both on the page and with the font.  The first voice is that of Kateri, a young girl, who lives with her nôhkum (grandmother) and dreams and longs for nimâmâ who is one of the lost Indigenous women whose disappearances have been shamefully ignored.  The second voice, in italicized text, is an ethereal one, that of Kateri’s mother, who calls her daughter kamâmakos, her beautiful little butterfly, and who watches over her as she goes to school, is loved by her nôhkum, grows into a young woman, marries and becomes a mother herself.  With every milestone, Kateri wishes for her mother to be with her, occasionally sensing her spiritual presence, while her mother appreciates all that her daughter has become, reassurring her that,

“I’m here, kâmamakos.

I’ve never left you. 

When you feel me with you, I’m there. 

You’re never alone.

Your mother is still watching over you.”

(pg. 17)

But like far too many of the Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, Kateri’s nimâmâ is only a spiritual presence in her daughter’s life and it will be years before Kateri will get the phone call telling her of her mother’s fate.  It is not a happy ending, and there are no happy endings for these women or their families.  But Melanie Florence still allows for Kateri and vicariously for her mother to find some happiness.

Missing Nimâmâ is heartbreaking.  It’s soulful and breathtakingly painful, and all the more so because of Melanie Florence’s free verse text. Never have I read free verse so aptly applied in a picture book.  Melanie Florence, an Indigenous writer, has demonstrated a powerful skill at creating rhythmic emotions with words.  The tugs at the heart are aching for the story they tell and the artistry with which François Thisdale tells it.

The matching of François Thisdale’s art with Melanie Florence’s text is wondrous.  As poignantly as he used mixed media (digital and drawn images) in earlier texts (The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012; That Squeak by Carolyn Beck, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2015), François Thisdale fluidly bridges the concrete world of a little girl and her nôhkum with the ethereal one of her mother.  His choice of colours and the ability to enrich stark outdoor scenes of yards and forests and simply furnished indoor rooms create ghostly landscapes that epitomize the shadows of a girl's longing for her mother, a mother lost but never, never forgotten.

Missing Nimâmâ is a haunting story of lives lost and lived and shared, beautifully rendered in words and art.  Expect to see this one on award lists in the near future.

Fragile Bones: Harrison & Anna

by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Clockwise Press

978-0-993935107

217 pp.

Ages 13+

March 15, 2015

When the Best Buddies Program, a world-wide organization that aims to help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities integrate successfully into their communities, comes to his high school, fifteen-year-old Harrison Henry is instructed by his mother and encouraged by his older brother Joel to attend.  A high-functioning autistic, Harrison has OCD tendencies and a relentless focus on bones and diseases, making him the target of ignorant classmates.  But his partnering with Anna Leonard, a high-achieving senior who hopes to beef up her resumé for university (and med school) as well as become better acquainted with the Best Buddies chapter president and new student Justin, presents Harrison with a plethora of new opportunities, some welcome.

Fragile Bones is a lot about learning to deal, with others, with one's family, with one's own needs and wants.  Anna is a considerate young woman who is astute about interacting with Harrison, though even she has much to learn.  Harrison, who needs many reminders about appropriate responses and actions, is doing his fair share of learning, though he doesn't always interpret new information correctly, occasionally too literally. (Harrison's thoughts about kissing and a Halloween dance are especially ardent and very funny.) Anna and Harrison may be very different, as are Justin and Alan and other minor characters in Fragile Bones, but Lorna Schultz Nicholson ensures that they are all normal, just unique, and acceptance of these differences is the norm.

Lorna Schultz Nicholson's Fragile Bones: Harrison & Anna is an auspicious premiere for Clockwise Press and its One-2-One series, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Christie Harkin and Solange Messier.  I think they're well on their way to meeting their mandate "to publish high-quality young adult and children’s books featuring themes of diversity and global awareness" (Clockwise Press, March 16, 2015) Congratulations to Clockwise Press and Lorna Schultz Nicholson on Fragile Bones' positive contribution to youngCanLit and its furthering the building of supportive communities. Well done.

Fragile Bones: Book Launch (Toronto)

Join new publisher

 Clockwise Press

and

author

Lorna Schultz Nicholson

for the launch of her new upcoming young adult novel
and Clockwise Press' first book

Fragile Bones: 
Harrison & Anna

by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Clockwise Press

978-0-993935107

217 pp.

Ages 13+

Released March, 2015

on

    Thursday, April 2, 2015
World Autism Awareness Day

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

at 
    Geneva Centre for Autism 

112 Merton Street

Toronto, Ontario

M4S 2Z8

Lorna will be there 
to read a short excerpt, 
answer questions, and 
sign copies. 
RSVP here