The Yellow Leaves Are Coming

Written by James Gladstone

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Red Deer Press

978-0-889956834

32 pp.

Ages 4-9

November, 2023

 

While some may think that reviewing a book titled The Yellow Leaves Are Coming in November, after many of our leaves have already fallen, may be ill-timed, the story within tells another story. That story starts now, as indicated by this first line:

The yellow leaves are coming, thought the last leaf just fell.

From The Yellow Leaves are Coming, written by James Gladstone, illustrated by François Thisdale

As a young boy and an even younger girl stand out in the grayness of a cool day, they watch a single yellow leaf fall. But as they walk away, accompanied by one of François Thisdale's ubiquitous animals, they anticipate the next seasonal change. They wait and watch as the empty branches do.

From inside they watch the snow come.

I see it falling, growing thick on a hundred cold arms

reaching out for a warm, winter-coat friend.

As the grayness of winter, still magical, passes into the melting season with old leaves revealed to return some colour, the children are again wearing bright rain gear.  Then kids are outside playing baseball without coats and the trees are festooned with green leaves. Even on the balcony of the children's plex, clay pots are again filled with greenery and flowers. And François Thisdale ensures that there's always animal to watch over the seasonal scene, from a black-and-white cat to a rabbit, a butterfly, and blue jay.

From The Yellow Leaves are Coming, written by James Gladstone, illustrated by François Thisdale

The seasons may be changing, with summer transitioning to a return to school and ultimately the return of the yellow leaves, but James Gladstone continues to give us a sensory experience of seeing, hearing, and feeling. He reminds us with every poetic revelation, of the kids listening to the soft rustle of new leaves, slopping through the melting, or watching old leaves floating down curb rivers. And everything will be familiar to many Canadian children, from feeling the weather changing, watching the natural world transform, and altering their own clothes and activities with those changes. But more than telling us about those changes, James Gladstone, who has always blended science with storytelling in a compelling way (see Turtle Pond and A Star Explodes: The Story of Supernova 1054), makes us feel the seasons' changes.

From The Yellow Leaves are Coming, written by James Gladstone, illustrated by François Thisdale

The illustrations have been created by artist  François Thisdale, a recent finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration (French language) for Boucar Diouf's book Le Bourlingueur de Matungoua. Blending drawings with photographs and acrylic painting as well as digital art, François Thisdale makes the illustrations both surreal and very personal. He makes us look closely but just as fittingly he makes us see the big picture. It's quite extraordinary. By giving us both the perspective from the children and of the children, François Thisdale evokes time and place while helping us see and feel what the children might. 

Our own yellow leaves are mostly on the ground now here in southern Ontario but, like the seasons that come and go and come again, I trust that they will appear again. No matter where young readers may be situated, they will recognize the cycle of seasons and nature, and anticipate the next, personalizing what they see just as James Gladstone and François Thisdale have done in The Yellow Leaves Are Coming.

Anna Maria & Maestro Vivaldi

Written by Jan L. Coates

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-645-2

32 pp.

Ages 6-9

2022

 

Though a fictionalized account of the relationship between historical persons Anna Maria dal Violin (also known as Anna Maria della Pietà) and composer Antonio Vivaldi, Anna Maria & Maestro Vivaldi is a telling story of a child's musicality and a mentorship that galvanized it.

From Anna Maria & Maestro Vivaldi by Jan L. Coates, illus. by François Thisdale

An orphan at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, Anna Maria is guided by the school's music director, Maestro Vivaldi. While other girls laugh at her ways, the child finds family and friendship, as well as her voice, in her violin through the music she sees as colours and textures. As a synesthete –"Music paints beautiful colours for me, and shapes"–Anna Maria is encouraged by Vivaldi who calls it a rare gift. Though she is only eight, he places her in the exclusive orphan choir called the Figlie del Coro. Ignoring the disapproval of the older musicians, she thrives, following his instructions–"Let your bow dance delicately, like a bee sipping nectar"–and pours herself into her music.

From Anna Maria & Maestro Vivaldi by Jan L. Coates, illus. by François Thisdale

When the Maestro takes her to see Marco Ricci's landscape paintings, to witness the inspiration for his latest poems which would become his Four Seasons, he decides Anna Maria will be the soloist for the concertos. And when she ultimately performs the masterpiece, her music paints each season as an image rife with colours and textures and heart. She is no longer alone; she has a famiglia musicale.

From Anna Maria & Maestro Vivaldi by Jan L. Coates, illus. by François Thisdale

Historical fiction does not often take a picture book format though it is an inspired configuration for blending the real with the fabricated. We know that Nova Scotian author Jan L. Coates builds her story on the real Vivaldi and Anna Maria but embeds it in speculation of the child's synesthesia–seeing colours and shapes with the music–and Vivaldi's mentorship of her. By allowing Anna Maria's music to grow and her gift to be nurtured, Vivaldi elevates his music along with the child. Anna Maria dal Violin may be known in musical circles, but Jan L. Coates introduces her here as a child with challenges. By focusing on her humble beginnings as an orphan without family, Jan L. Coates inspires young readers to find their passion, ignore the detractors and focus on that which brings joy and accomplishment. Anna Maria had to find her family in her music and she does so successfully, with Vivaldi's help.

I have always said that there is an ethereal quality to François Thisdale's illustrations. He blends acrylic painting and drawing with photography and digitally creates sublime artwork that may be grounded in reality, here in an 18th century Venice, but it has a heavenly nature with its filmy backgrounds. There may be a very real basilica and a charming tuxedo cat ever present, but Anna Maria's music takes her life into the celestial. Her feet may be planted on a patterned floor or rug but, when she sees the music which François Thisdale helps us see, she and her story are elevated to greater heights.

Anna Maria dal Violin may or may not have had synesthesia but her musicality which was nurtured by her relationship with Maestro Antonio Vivaldi is not in question. The two musicians may have been inspired in different ways but, in Jan L. Coates and François Thisdale's story, they will forever be linked as protégée and master, or rather Maestro, and their story will remain as colourful and textured as the music Anna Maria voiced.

A World of Mindfulness

From the Editors & Illustrators of Pajama Press

Text by Erin Alladin

Illustrations by Suzanne Del Rizzo, Carmen Mok, Tara Anderson, Sue Macartney, Gabrielle Grimard, François Thisdale, Rebecca Bender, Miki Sato, Aino Anto, Amélie Dubois, Emma Pedersen, Andrea Blinick, Tamara Campeau and Scot Ritchie

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-138-0

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

November 2020

 

Our world needs more mindfulness. With all the strife and worries, we need to become aware of the present, appreciate the now and bring calm. A World of Mindfulness will help all of us, but especially children, find that.

From A World of Mindfulness, illustration by François Thisdale

Fourteen illustrators provide artwork to complement Pajama Press editor Erin Alladin's words. The text is sparse but impactful, from the first lines, "I am here. I know who I am" through acknowledging one's presence even with eyes closed ("I can hear birds and breezes and a dog barking. Even with my eyes closed, I know where I am") and acceptance of the stresses as normal ("Sometimes my mind is like a mixed-up swirling snowstorm. It isn't right or wrong–it's just how I feel."). The text acknowledges, accepts, instructs and quiets.

From A World of Mindfulness, illustration by Suzanne Del Rizzo

For  each message, another illustrator from a selection of artists whose work has graced picture books from Pajama Press gives colour and life to Erin Alladin's words. From François Thisdale's mixed media illustration of a boy taking in his urban surroundings with eyes closed, to Suzanne Del Rizzo's textured polymer clay artwork that also adorns the cover, the art of A World of Mindfulness is striking and unique.

From A World of Mindfulness, illustration by Miki Sato

Whether trying to permeate the text with the calm resulting from mindfulness or the wish to find joy or the angst that compels a need for mindfulness, the illustrators complete the messages of enlightenment and support in their medium of choice. There are coloured-pencil drawings, cut-paper art, digital illustration and more. As diverse as the ways to attain mindfulness, the illustrators of A World of Mindfulness explore the concept with their own form of creativity.

From A World of Mindfulness, illustration by Emma Pedersen

When Pajama Press came out with its first collaboratively-created picture book, A World of Kindness, it impressed all with its poignant messages and stunning and varied artwork. It ushered readers through recognizing the need for kindness, especially when faced with unkindness, and how to be kind. A World of Mindfulness similarly takes the reader on a journey of discovery, of how to find the calm within, of focusing on moments and tasks and of immersing oneself in the experience that is. Whether for quality of life or therapy, mindfulness works and so does A World of Mindfulness.

From A World of Mindfulness, illustration by Scot Ritchie

Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez

Written by Christiane Duchesne

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-089-5

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

September 2019

Who is Mister Rodriguez? Where has he gone? These are two questions that the children of a charming coastal town are asking about the exceptional elderly man in the navy swing coat and red scarf. In the end, though, all that matters is that he is happy wherever he has ended up.

From Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez by Christiane Duchesne, illus. by François Thisdale

Each day, a group of children, the narrators of this tale, watch for Mister Rodriguez. But on one Monday, they watch him pause and look at his feet and realize the day is going to be different.

From Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez by Christiane Duchesne, illus. by François Thisdale

When a dove lands upon his foot and he attaches a very fine thread to her foot, the children notice. The next day the man seems to float just above the street while carrying a goldfish in its bowl upon his head. The following day, an old sheepdog approaches him and he transports the dog down the street in a wicker sled, again levitating above the ground. On Thursday, Mister Rodriguez ties wings to the back of a limping cat. On Friday, he rests upon a piano that appears on the street. And on Saturday, Mister Rodriguez does not appear and the children look for him. Finally the elderly man reappears floating far above them, accompanied by the fish, the cat, the dove, the dog and the piano. Knowing he would never return, they leave him a message in the sand.

From Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez by Christiane Duchesne, illus. by François Thisdale

Though the children did not weep for their loss of Mister Rodriguez, knowing that he was happy, I wept. I wept for an extraordinary man whose time had come to pass to the other side but who eased the passage of others with him. Though there is much for young readers to interpret about Mister Rodriguez and his existence on this plane and the next, they will appreciate the richness he brought to the lives of children who took pleasure in "seeing" him walk through or above the street, his cap low on his forehead, his bright red scarf a beacon of his brightness and his overcoat light billowing "as if he had clouds under" it. Christiane Duchesne's text leaves open what the children actually see and what actually happened to Mister Rodriguez but still laces it with the heartfelt emotion of a dear friend's passing.

From Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez by Christiane Duchesne, illus. by François Thisdale

Because of the surreal, perhaps supernatural, texture of Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez, François Thisdale's illustrations, created with acrylic and digital media, have the perfect blend of the ethereal and the realistic. The foggy coastal town is ghostly with its overhanging mist and crashing waves and a man who may be intangible. Still François Thisdale allows us to see how the children see Mister Rodriguez: walking, helping, guiding, living and not. He is a sympathetic and intriguing character, both down-to-earth and elevated.

Picture books about death and dying are plentiful and all aim to help children understand loss and grief. But Bon Voyage, Mister Rodriguez presents the concept of death in a wholly unique fashion, leaving open what happens after we leave the physical world. Mister Rodriguez, along with a lovely assortment of companions, may transition from one world to the next under the watchful of a group of children but it's evident that his life is far greater than just a physical presence in this world.

The Birdman

Written by Troon Harrison

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Red Deer Press

978-0-88995-506-6

48 pp.

Ages 8+

October 2018

While The Birdman is an illustrated biography, more picture book than non-fiction text, similar to several I've reviewed in the last few weeks, the illustrations of François Thisdale, an artist of inimitable skill, blends the realistic with the ethereal and elevates Troon Harrison's story of abolitionist and birder Alexander Milton Ross (1832-1897) from storybook to art book.

From his birth in the town of Belleville, Upper Canada and through his childhood, Alexander Milton Ross was brought up to appreciate and love the outdoors. He probably would have been a naturalist if not for an incident in which his parents gave food and shelter to a group of escaping slaves and the young boy was shocked to learn of the tragedies of their lives while admiring their courage and determination to seek freedom.

Alexander never forgot the suffering he saw in the eyes of those former slaves. He though about how a bird could fly free but a person could be bought and sold, beaten and whipped.

From The Birdman by Troon Harrison, illus. by François Thisdale

Following his mother's belief that "The most worthy ambition is to alleviate people's suffering", Alexander studied to become a doctor, while meeting abolitionists and reading Uncle Tom's Cabin which turned him onto helping slaves reach freedom.  When he finished his medical studies, he travelled to Virginia and Tennessee where he met with slaves secretly to help them on their journeys, including providing them with items needed and teaching them a bird call as a signal to find help. When he became a wanted man for his work, he escaped to Canada, still helping a woman whose slave owner intended to marry her off, and learning firsthand the true terror of escape.

From The Birdman by Troon Harrison, illus. by François Thisdale

But Alexander Milton Ross would not diverted from his mission to help slaves escape to Canada. Now undercover as an ornithologist interested in the collection and classification of birds, Alexander got permission from wealthy plantation owners in states like Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky to roam their lands, giving him the opportunity to secretly talk to the field slaves about the Underground Railroad and provide them with the information needed to flee to safety. He soon became known to all as the Birdman.

Troon Harrison tells multiple anecdotes of Alexander's helping slaves escape as well as the tale of his own imprisonment–he was released when an escaping slave returned claiming that he hadn't escaped but was only late in returning because of a sprained ankle–all supporting Alexander Milton Ross's mother belief that it was important "to leave the world some better than you found it."

Alexander Milton Ross's story is a tense read because of the circumstances of those he intended to help and the danger in which he placed himself. I suspect there are more and more stories from which Troon Harrison could have drawn but, by focusing on the man's beginnings and his love of the natural world to help him achieve much in aid of escaping slaves, his story is well told. And for those who want to learn more about the man, Troon Harrison provides an extensive historical note, timeline and bibliography to help. (I also recommend Caroline Pignat's Governor General award-winning novel in verse The Gospel Truth (Red Deer Press, 2015) in which Alexander Milton Ross plays an integral role.)

Troon Harrison weaves these events about Alexander Milton Ross's life into a compelling narrative of a compassionate man of action while François Thisdale's artwork gives the story depth. Look for the birds on almost every double-spread illustration of an outdoor scene. There's the oriole and the brown thrasher, the bluebird and the killdeer, and many more. They are all flying free or untethered, offering hope of a heaven in a new land where freedom might be found. In a fusion of drawing and painting and digital imagery, François Thisdale melds the natural world with historical realism and enhances the text of Troon Harrison by acknowledging the efforts of abolitionist Alexander Milton Ross while reminding young readers that sometimes courage is needed for worthwhile change to happen.

From The Birdman by Troon Harrison, illus. by François Thisdale

A World of Kindness

from the Editors and Illustrators of Pajama Press

(including Ann Featherstone, Brian Deines, Tara Anderson, Wallace Edwards, François Thisdale, Kim La Fave,      Manon Gauthier, Dean Griffiths, Suzanna Del Rizzo and Rebecca Bender)

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-050-5

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

October 2018 

Whether a child dealing with a mean classmate, nastiness on social media, or world leaders striking out at others, it's evident that our world needs more kindness. But being kind is not always inherent; sometimes, often, it needs to be taught or even inspired. As Aesop affirmed, "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is every wasted." Let us be kind.

In fourteen double-spreads of text and image, the editors and illustrators of Pajama Press spark discussions about how kindness can manifest and how we should examine our own actions for kindness. Starting with "Are you kind?", the book asks questions while suggesting ways of being kind. From "Do you wait your turn?" and "Will you help someone younger...or older?" to "Are you gentle with animals big...and small?" young readers are asked to look within for evidence of their own kindness.

From A World of Kindness, illustration by Kim La Fave

From A World of Kindness, illustration by Tara Anderson

Children see how to be kind while being asked about being kind. Ideas about saying "Please" and "Thank you" and "I'm sorry" are demonstrated as important, as are sharing, helping, being supportive and compassionate. A World of Kindness covers the simplest acts of thoughtfulness and yet makes the significant and critical point that "a little kindness grows into a world of kindness."

From A World of Kindness, illustration by Manon Gauthier

The text of A World of Kindness is endearing and straightforward, and will work well with young preschoolers and children in primary grades. But it's the illustrations, some from already published works and some original art, that will carry the message. Children will see kindness in the hugs, the sharing, and the love that seasons these pages. (There are different heart shapes throughout the book, reminding us what is at the heart of kindness.) The illustrations, like Suzanne Del Rizzo's amazing polymer clay book cover art, depict all children and are aimed at children's experiences with animals, peers, siblings, elders, and parents, and include those during all seasons in Canada and in other global locales including Sri Lanka (Kim La Fave's art from When the Rain Comes), Tanzania (Brian Deines's illustration from In a Cloud of Dust), and Jordan (Suzanne Del Rizzo's art from her My Beautiful Birds). A World of Kindness shows kindness in its own inclusivity.

A World of Kindness will undoubtedly be used as a tool for teaching and instilling kindness, especially as Pajama Press has provided a downloadable poster (https://pajamapress.ca/resource/a_world_of_kindness_extra_content/) and teaching guide (https://pajamapress.ca/resource/a_world_of_kindness_teaching_guides/) on its website. Moreover, with all royalties going to Think Kindness, a project that aspires to inspire kindness in schools and other communities, purchasing A World of Kindness is a win-win for all.  But, at its heart, A World of Kindness is a compendium of beautiful messages in words and art to help make our world, starting with our youngest readers, a place of graciousness and goodwill.  With such benevolence, this picture book will triumph with purpose.

Poetree

Written by Caroline Pignat

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Red Deer Press

978-0-889954922

32 pp.

All ages

June 2018 

When Caroline Pignat and François Thisdale, powerhouses in word and art, come together, you know that the result will be powerful and extraordinary and Poetree is.

From Poetree by Caroline Pignat, illus. by François Thisdale

From germinating seed to young shoot and sapling and then flowering and fruiting and more seeds, Caroline Pignat shares intimate glimpses of trees and their communities through the four seasons. For each season, a two-line verse introduces the life activity portrayed. Spring is introduced with...

A sleeping seed begins to grow
     shoots and roots in the ground below. (pg. 2)

Spring is thus announced and given life with acrostic poems about seeds germinating and the onset of roots and shoots, and leaves and flowers. Summer has us feeling the breeze and the rain, and witnessing the promise of a nest (beautifully described as "nature's nursery") and the activity of a variety of insects.  Fall takes us to the bounty of harvest, particularly apples, and the changing colours and falling of leaves. 

From Poetree by Caroline Pignat, illus. by François Thisdale

Though you might be forgiven for expecting the book to end with Winter, which is advanced with...

Beneath a blanket, frosty white,
     the old tree sleeps long winter's night. (pg. 22)

and poems about snow, bareness, exposed rings of fallen trees and snow, it is not the end of Poetree. Caroline Pignat, in her infinite wisdom and artist's eye, knows that ...

Somehow each ending is not the
End,
Even
Death
Scatters new beginnings.
(pg. 31)

I hope Caroline Pignat and François Thisdale will forgive my tardiness in reviewing their elegant book of verse and artistry but I think that Poetree shouldn't be lost in summer reviews when teachers are not necessarily purchasing books for classroom and school libraries. Poetree needs to be in all libraries for lessons on the seasons and acrostic poetry and life cycles in nature and for evoking the beauty of our enduring and fragile environment.

Caroline Pignat has the poet's sensibilities and command of words to convey content and feeling without the verbiage. I recommend any of her books, but particularly her Governor General award-winning YA novel in free verse and my favourite, The Gospel Truth (Red Deer Press, 2014), to relish further the finesse she demonstrates in Poetree. Pairing her verse with the art of award-winning François Thisdale is inspired.  François Thisdale, whose art illustrated picture books including The Stamp Collector (by Jennifer Lanthier, from Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2012) and Missing Nimâmâ (by Melanie Florence, from Clockwise Press, 2015), combines drawing and digital images to produce evocative scenes of fresh landscapes and micro views and underground perspectives. It's inspiriting to see how insignificant humans are–a lone man is occasionally seen in the background–to the unfolding of life in the natural world.

From Poetree by Caroline Pignat, illus. by François Thisdale

A masterful exploration of arboreal life from beginning to end and to new again through the four seasons, Poetree sustains the reader with verse and art as dramatically as the earth does our natural world.

The Spirit Trackers

Written by Jan Bourdeau Waboose

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-92708-311-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

November 2017

It's been far too long since the CanLit world has welcomed a book from Jan Bourdeau Waboose, a First Nation Anishinaabe of the Ojibway Bear Clan of northern Ontario.  Adding to her stunning collection of picture books which includes SkySisters, Morning on the Lake and Firedancers, Jan Bourdeau Waboose's telling tale of Ojibway traditions and the relationship between children and their uncle is breathtakingly illustrated by François Thisdale, award-winning artist of The Stamp Collector, Missing Nimâmâ, and French Toast.  The Spirit Trackers is a magnificent story in words and art, melding together First Nations and an intergenerational relationship with legends and spirits and the wonder of children.

Illustration by François Thisdale 

used in The Spirit Trackers by Jan Bourdeau Waboose

Two cousins are awed by the stories told by their uncle of their clan, the Moose Clan, and their heritage of extraordinary trackers but it's the story of the Windigo that truly captures their attention.  His story of the Wandering Night Spirit of Winter is a warning to the boys. 

"Watch out for the Windigo on a winter night.  It has a heart of ice, and its teeth are like steel.  It will eat anything in its way!" 

"Even the best Trackers disappear in Windigo's footsteps."

In the night, the boys are awakened by a Thump! Bang! and, upon seeing a black shadow cross the window, are convinced the Windigo has visited their uncle's house.  The next day, however, evidence in the snow and on a tree compel the two to put their tracking skills to work.  But far from the house, hearing a sad cry that "slices the air like a trapper's knife" the two are immobilized with terror.  It may not be the Windigo but the boys demonstrate the aptitude in tracking and their reverence for the natural world, especially for an animal they know to honour.

Jan Bourdeau Waboose infuses her atmospheric text with the companionship of family and an appreciation for traditions and legends of First Nations. Because of that, an occasion of storytelling becomes more; it becomes a lesson in caution and curiosity and heritage. Tom and Will are apt students at their Uncle's knee, listening, hearing and learning.  Resplendent in snow, the frigid medium of trackers, The Spirit Trackers is an appropriate visual and textual read for the winter season.  Artist François Thisdale makes sure that his illustrations transport readers to that frosty season and to a life of snowshoes, moosehide clothing, and ravens.  Combining photographs, drawings and paint with digital imagery, François Thisdale lends a supernatural essence to the story, perfect for a pair of boys already spooked by their disquietude about the Windigo but determined to follow the path of their tracker ancestors into the unknown winter stillness shattered by a haunting cry.

Illustration by François Thisdale 

used in The Spirit Trackers by Jan Bourdeau Waboose

Whether you believe in the Windigo is irrelevant.  The boys believe, as does their Uncle, and in the stillness and cold of winter, it's a story, like The Spirit Trackers, that has much to teach.

❅❅❅❅❅❅

The illustrations included in this review are derived from illustrator François Thisdale's Facebook page at Thisdale illustration.

French Toast

by Kari-Lynn Winters

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-006-2

32 pp.

Ages 6+

November 2016

Although National French Toast is celebrated on November 28, I thought that reviewing this inspirational picture book on that day would trivialize its significant message.  And since my family enjoys French toast, the food, on Christmas morning, I opted to celebrate the book’s publication closer to that celebration, one similarly wrapped in inclusivity, culture, love and family.

While out for a walk with her grandmother, Nan-ma, Phoebe is called “French Toast” by kids from school.  Obviously humiliated, the little girl clarifies to the blind woman that she is called that because the colour of her skin is “Like tea, after you’ve added the milk.” (pg. 10) But Nan-ma sees that as “Warm and good” which gets Phoebe wondering since the label doesn’t usually make her feel good, just as “I don’t feel good when strangers at the mall comment on my ringlets or ask me about my accent.” (pg. 11)  This begins a discussion about the colour of Phoebe’s mother’s skin, usually identified as white, but which Phoebe recognizes more like stirred peach yogurt, filled with sweetness and goodness.  She sees her father as warm banana bread and her Nan-ma like maple syrup, and then others as cinnamon honey and toasted coconut. Meanwhile, as they walk, a girl from school engages Phoebe, surprising her by calling her by name. Finally Phoebe takes to heart the guidance she has taken and likewise given, flavouring her life, her family and herself with optimism.

From French Toast 

by Kari-Lynn Winters 

illus. by François Thisdale

French Toast starts out as less about the food and more about labelling but Kari-Lynn Winters, with illustrator François Thisdale (most recently awarded the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award), turns the story around to be about the goodness of food and relationships that nourish us.  Kari-Lynn Winters, who can do fun and whimsical (e.g., Good Pirate, Pajama Press, 2016) as well as serious and meaningful (e.g., Gift Days, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012), impresses with her splendid foray into understanding and acceptance of skin colour, diversity and multiculturalism (Phoebe’s family is Haitian) and one that warms the heart and fills the belly with virtue and affection.

From French Toast

 by Kari-Lynn Winters 

illus. by François Thisdale

Kari-Lynn Winter’s story could only have been paired with the artistry of François Thisdale who illustrated the memorable The Stamp Collector (Jennifer Lanthier, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012) and That Squeak (Carolyn Beck, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2015). François Thisdale, whose artwork is a magical blend of drawing and painting with digital imagery, balances the reality of Phoebe and her grandmother’s relationship and emotional situations with a dream-like landscape. His colours and textures fuse so many elements that the book becomes more art than merely a child’s picture book. And then there are the images of glorious food that cultivate nourishment for the soul, inspiring Phoebe and her grandmother, and anyone who reads the book, to see family and skin colour from a fresh perspective.

French toast may not be part of your holiday buffet but French Toast should definitely be on everyone’s bookshelf and story-telling list for the holidays and every day of the year when acceptance is vital i.e., always.  It feeds the spirit and bakes up multiple servings of compassion and open-mindedness, helpings we should all scoop out enthusiastically.

From French Toast

by Kari-Lynn Winters 

illus. by François Thisdale

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.

That Squeak

by Carolyn Beck

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-293-1

40 pp.

Ages 6-10

September 2015

With Once Upon a Line (Wallace Edwards, Pajama Press, 2015) and Some Things I've Lost (Cybèle Young, Groundwood Books, 2015), That Squeak makes a trifecta of outstanding youngCanLit picture books being released within the month, truly supportive of the idea that we've entered a new golden age of illustrated books (see an upcoming Quill & Quire examining this issue).

There is no trivial writing or illustration here.  There is a subtle darkness behind That Squeak which draws the reader in from page one.  Two boys, Jay and Joe, on their bikes–Jay's with "that squeak"–spend considerable time exploring and delving in the places beyond town and the farmlands, to the woods and the pond therein. "Our place."  But there comes a time when Jay is gone, killed, and his bike remains abandoned and locked up to a school fence, decaying in the elements of the seasons.  But the new boy, Carlos, doesn't know the bike's history or Joe's friendship with Jay or what happened to Jay and his questions and interest in the bike have Joe erupting.

Everything explodes at once.  I hear the sound of your name bounce off the brick wall of the school  Inside my ribs, big and aching sobs suck and heave like tidal waves.  There's snot everywhere.  And so many tears that I can't see anymore. (pg. 22)

It's not until Joe can see beyond his anger and his grief that he opens himself up to learning of Carlos' own story and the two can deal with their hurts together, recognizing the importance of cherishing some things, even a squeak.

Wow.  That Squeak is not a trivial story or a childish read.  It covers important issues of friendship and death, grief and anger, and acceptance and memory.  And Carolyn Beck writes it with the gravity it deserves.  Readers, younger and older, will recognize the solemnity of the story, and François Thisdale's deep illustrations reflect that weightiness.  Just as he capably conveyed the power of words from a cell-bound writer in the award-winning The Stamp Collector (Jennifer Lanthier, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012), François Thisdale effectively uses painting with digital drawing to deliver colour and line blended just as a friendship can be with sorrows and secrets.  And that's what Carolyn Beck and François Thisdale have done in That Squeak: melded depth and lightness together, in words and images.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Carolyn Beck will also be attending the Eden Mills Writers' Festival on Sunday, September 13, 2015.  It's definitely becoming a go-to event for lovers of youngCanLit!

The Stamp Collector

by Jennifer Lanthier

Illustrations by François Thisdale

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-218-4

32 pp.

Ages 8+

2012 

"A darkly luminous tale about the power of stories, and the bonds of empathy they can weave." - Yann Martel

(cover blurb endorsement for The Stamp Collector)

There is an art to writing blurbs on books and Canadian author Yann Martel (Life of Pi, Vintage Canada, 2002) has produced the epitome of a succinct but comprehensive, precise and genuine book blurb for Jennifer Lanthier's first picture book, The Stamp Collector. It is as perfect as the book itself.

The Stamp Collector tells the story of two boys, ostensibly in China: one who grows up in the countryside drawing upon the richness of words in his reading and then in his writing; and the other who lives in the desolation of a neighbourhood in the shadow of a prison, enthralled by a found stamp that promises worlds and adventures beyond. When old enough, both boys take on jobs to help their families: the writer continues to write of the land dying and the need for change while he works in a factory, and the city boy takes a job as a prison guard. The factory owners, fearful of the writer's skill in promoting hope through action, enlist the help of "the grey men who run the village" and the writer is arrested and sent to the prison where the other young man works.

"The boy who became a writer" is prevented from writing and interacting with others, and knows nothing of the letters of encouragement sent to him from those touched by his writing. But "the boy who became a guard" is instructed to file the letters away, although he admires the beautiful array of stamps that "are like seeds blown by powerful winds from all corners of the world. Like wishes." Though he knows that he must not break the rules, the guard finds the means to offer as well as accept hope.

Jennifer Lanthier's previous novels (The Mystery of the Martello Tower, HarperTrophy Canada, 2007 and The Legend of the Lost Diamonds, HarperTrophy Canada, 2008) pegged her as a middle-grade mystery writer but The Stamp Collector has catapulted (emphatically, if one doesn't regard catapulting as definitive enough) her work into the realm of life-changing social justice writing. While some authors may seem restricted by the limited text of picture books, Jennifer Lanthier has found the means to extend her writing beyond the words themselves. Just as "the boy who became a writer" was able to exert his influence beyond but still from within his prison, Jennifer Lanthier writes between the lines, offering far more insight, empathy and compassion than suggested by the simple text. And with the enhancement of her text by François Thisdale's blended illustrations of drawings and paintings with digital imagery (see http://www.thisdale.com), the message that words have the power to offer hope and freedom is enduring.