When the Wind Came

Written by Jan Andrews

Illustrated by Dorothy Leung

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0339-5

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

June 2022

 

When the Wind Came is a story of reminiscences. Its narrator, a pig-tailed child who loves to read, recalls how life was on their family farm. It may be a different time, with a mother pulling out weeds by hand and with an earthen root cellar for storing food, but its story is one for all time. 

From When the Wind Came by Jan Andrews, illus. by Dorothy Leung

Living on a farm, a child remembers her father tending the cattle, her mother weeding with a baby playing on a blanket nearby. She also remembers that baby brother whimpering endlessly while she reads beneath a tree. And then the wind comes and everything changes.

I remember my mother

grabbing up my baby brother.

I remember her running 

with him in her arms.

 

I remember my father opening

the door to the root cellar.

She remembers the darkness and the silence, and then coming out to witness the destruction of that wind. 

Our home was gone

when we came out.

From When the Wind Came by Jan Andrews, illus. by Dorothy Leung

As they attempt to retrieve anything that might have survived, her mother cobbles together some food, and it is the child's job to clean the dishes.

I don't know why I did it.

I wasn't even thinking.

Maybe I was crying.

Maybe tears were running down my cheeks.

What she did was make bubbles.

We may hear of devastating storms more nowadays because of media reporting and people sharing on social media but those catastrophes have always been there and those who've endured them do just that. They endure. They pick themselves up and get on with things. Even with unfathomable destruction and losses, they try to go on. They find food and do dishes and maybe even have a laugh before they leave it all behind. And Jan Andrews takes us into their family and their pain and their tenacity. She makes us feel the child's frustration with a wailing baby, the force of the storm, and the ruination of their home. She also gives us a family living off the land, accepting nature's unpredictability, and always showing resilience.

The youngCanLit world lost a literary legend when Jan Andrews passed unexpectedly in 2017. She could write it all: picture books, middle grade, short stories, and young adult novels. She was always a storyteller (first president of the Storytellers of Canada) who'd won the Silver Birch Express Award in 2012 for When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean, was awarded the Order of Canada, and was nominated for multiple Governor General's Literary Awards. Even five years from her passing, we have another extraordinary tale of resilience housed in a story of tragedy. The storm that brings the wind and destroys the family farm is pivotal but it's the response to that catastrophe that is the true story. It's a story of seeing beyond the dark, finding a lightness in that gloom. The wind may have brought destruction and despair but it also revealed that which was there all along: resilience. It was creating sparkles of joy from soap, bubbles that entertained and distracted and changed nothing and changed everything. From something little during something monumental, faith for a future was found.

Dorothy Leung is a new pencil (and paint) creator in children's book illustration and she impresses with her take on this important story. The vastness of the farm setting, the force of that storm, and the normality of a family's response are all evident through her use of colour and shape. The contrast of the dryness of those fields and the power of that destructive wind is almost tactile, and definitely convincing. She has fortified Jan Andrews's story with her art.

We will continue to hear about devastating weather and its impact on communities but Jan Andrews and Dorothy Leung's picture book shows us that, when the winds come, there will always be stories to tell of resilience and possibility.

Celebrating author Jan Andrews and To See the Stars

Celebrate the life of author and storyteller

Jan Andrews

and her final young adult novel

To See the Stars

Written by Jan Andrews
with drawings by Tara Bryan

Running the Goat Books & Broadsides

978-1-927917176
156 pp.
Ages 13+
February 2019

on

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

5 - 7 p.m.

at

A Different Booklist

 Cultural Centre  

779 Bathurst Street

Toronto, ON

There will be tributes, readings, and refreshments

Presented by Toronto Storytelling Festival,

A Different Booklist and CANSCAIP

This event is a celebration of Jan Andrews but, as readers will certainly want to pick up a copy of her final book, here is the blurb about To See the Stars:

In her deeply affecting final novel, acclaimed children's writer and storyteller Jan Andrews gives us Edie Murphy, an indomitable and engaging heroine on the cusp of womanhood. The novel moves from Edie's remote Newfoundland outport to St. John's, and finally to New York City's Lower East Side. Against the backdrop of the history-making "Uprising" of 1909, when 20,000 garment workers went on strike for better working conditions, and the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911), Edie begins to find her own voice, hone her already-strong will, and learn about the true nature of home. A celebration of the strength of women and the power of community. 

Retrieved from http://runningthegoat.com/to-see-the-stars/ on February 26, 2019.

Trio of youngCanLit authors appointed to the Order of Canada

On December 30, 2016, the Governor General of Canada, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, announced 100 new appointments to the Order of Canada.  I am pleased to recognize and congratulate three youngCanLit authors who were named amongst the honourees.  They are:

Jan Andrews

author of picture books, short stories, fiction and young adult including

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley (Great Plains Teen Fiction, 2013)

When Apples Grew Noses and White Horse Flew: The Tales of Ti-Jean (Groundwood, 2011)

Rude Stories (Tundra, 2011)

The Twelve Days of Summer (Orca, 2007)

The Auction (Groundwood, 2007)

Winter of Peril: The Newfoundland Diary of Sophie Loveridge, Mairie's Cove, New-Found-Land 1721 (Scholastic Canada, 2005)

Very Last First Time (Groundwood, 1987)

Deborah Ellis

author of numerous fiction and non-fiction books, including

The Cat at the Wall (Groundwood, 2014)

Moon At Nine (Pajama Press, 2014)

Looks Like Daylight: Voices of Indigenous Kids (Groundwood, 2013)

My Name is Parvana (Groundwood, 2012)

True Blue (Pajama Press, 2011)

No Ordinary Day (Groundwood, 2011)

I am a Taxi (Groundwood, 2006)

The Heaven Shop (Groundwood, 2004)

Parvana's Journey (Groundwood, 2002)

The Breadwinner (Groundwood, 2000)

Jacqueline Guest

author of historical fiction and contemporary fiction including

Fire Fight (Book Publ. Co., 2015)

The Comic Book War (Coteau Books, 2014)

Outcasts of River Falls (Coteau Books, 2012)

Ghost Messages (Coteau Books, 2011)

Hat Trick (Lorimer, 2010)

Secret Signs (Orca, 2006)

Belle of Batoche (Orca, 2004)

Lightning Rider (Lorimer, 2000)

Short Stories Collections of youngCanLit: Book list

Not every reader or student is interested in reading full-length novels, and short stories offer the perfect alternative, with shorter reads that pack a punch in fewer pages.  Just as picture books are certainly not easier to write just because they are shorter (a caution to those wannabe writers who are convinced anyone can toss off a picture book!), short stories are definitely not lesser works of story-telling.  In fact, I defy anyone to write a short story, with adequate character development and plotting to sustain the attention and interest of readers of youngCanLit.  It can be a daunting challenge that not everyone can meet.  Thankfully, these 53 books of short stories and excerpts from novels demonstrate the strength of this type of writing in Canada, though I would like to see more published.  And I believe that these books, for all reading levels though many are for young adults, are valuable tools for teaching everything from history to writing to humour or just allowing readers to see themselves in their reading.

Check the recommended ages for which these short stories collections have been published, and I trust that all young readers and teachers will find something here to satiate their reading appetites.

101 Ways to Dance 
Written by Kathy Stinson
Second Story Press
150 pp.
Ages 12-15
2006
Fourteen stories about the joys and anxieties of sexual anticipation.

All Sleek and Skimming: Stories
Edited by Lisa Heggum
Orca Book Publishers
240 pp.
Ages 14+
2006
Stories by Gil Adamson, Diana Aspin, Gary Barwin, Martha Brooks, Ivan E. Coyote, Brian Doyle, Anne Fleming, Lee Henderson, James Henegan, Sheila Heti, Susan Kernohan, Carrie Mac, Derek McCormack, Janet McNaughton, Joe Ollmann, Michel Rabagliati, Stuart Ross, Arthur Slade, Susannah M. Smith, Ania Szado, Madeleine Thien and Tim Wynne-Jones

Apples and Angel Ladders: A Collection of Pioneer Christmas Stories
Written by Irene Morck
Illustrated by Muriel Wood
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
80 pp.
Ages 8-11
2001
Six stories emphasize Danish-Canadian pioneer traditions

Back of Beyond: Stories of the Supernatural
Written by Sarah Ellis
Simon & Schuster
144 pp.
Ages 11-15
1997
Twelve stories involving the supernatural.

Be Afraid!: Tales of Horror
Edited by Edo van Belkom
Tundra Books
184 pp.
Ages 11+
2000
Fifteen scary stories by authors including Robert J. Sawyer, Monica Hughes, Tim Wynne-Jones, Ed Greenwood, Nancy Kilpatrick, Joe R. Lansdale, Ed Gorman, Steve Rasnic Tem and Richard Laymon.

Becoming Fierce
Edited by Allister Thompson
Fierce Ink Press
205 pp.
Ages 13+
2014
Ten stories by Chris Benjamin, Ben Boudreau, Gerard Collins, Alison DeLory, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Patti Larsen, Cale Liom, Chad Pelley, Lee D. Thompson and Jo Treggiari tell of becoming fierce so as to release them from the holds of fears, bullies, confusion, family, drugs, and even country.
Reviewed here

Beginnings: Stories of Canada's Past
Edited by Ann Walsh
Ronsdale Press
227 pp.
Ages 12+
2001
Fourteen fictional historical vignettes by Ann Walsh, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Beverley Brenna, Constance Horne, Margaret Thompson, Anne Metikosh, Carolyn Pogue, Margaret Florczak, Jean Rae Baxter, Catherine Goodwin, Victoria Miles, Susan Lee, Laura Morgan and Cathy Beveridge.

The Blue Camaro 
Written by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
160 pp.
Ages 12-15
1994
Ten short stories dealing with youth and their problems and concerns.

The Blue Jean Collection 
Edited by Peter Carver
Thistledown Press
240 pp.
Ages 12-15
1992
Nineteen stories selected from a national writing contest.

The Book of Changes
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Puffin
160 pp.
Ages 8-12
1997
Seven stories about change.

Boys' Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers
Edited by Tim Wynne-Jones
Penguin Canada
320 pp.
Ages 9-14
2001
Twenty stories and excerpts from novels by authors including Sarah Ellis, Martha Brooks, Tim Wynne-Jones, Monica Hughes, Brian Doyle, Ken Roberts, Richard Scrimger, Jordan Wheeler, John Cuthand and William Bell.

A Christmas to Remember: Tales of Comfort and Joy (Dear Canada)
Edited by Sandra Bogart Johnston
Scholastic Canada
241 pp.
Ages 9-14
2009
Eleven stories of historical short fiction that revisit characters from the Dear Canada books including those of Carol Matas, Maxine Trottier, Julie Lawson, Sarah Ellis, Perry Nodelman, Jean Little, Karleen Bradford and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

City of the Dead
Written by Sharon Stewart
Red Deer Press
240 pp.
Ages 12+
2002
Dark stories to scare and terrify.

Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls
Edited by Deb Loughead and Jocelyn Shipley
Sumach Press
192 pp.
Ages 12+
2012
Fifteen stories of girls navigating puberty and adolescence by Kellee Ngan, Wendy A. Lewis, Claire Tacon, Ann Sutherland, Lisabeth Jackson, Jennifer Filipowicz, Karen Krossing, Robin Stevenson, Marce Merrell, Amanda Hartley, Ev Bishop, Patricia McCowan, Anne Ptasznik, Anna Warje and Valerie Hunter.

Close Ups: Best Stories for Teens
Edited by Peter Carver
Red Deer Press
223 pp.
Ages 14+
2000
Stories by Bonnie Blake, Rick Book, Martha Brooks, Anne Carter, Gillian Chan, Brian Doyle, Sarah Ellis, Bernice Friesen, Linda Holeman, Jillian Horton, Sheley A. Leedahl, Alsion Lohans, R.P. McIntyre, Kevin Major, Kathy Stinson, Budge Wilson and Tim Wynne-Jones.

The Complete Chronicles Of Avonlea 
Written by L. M. Montgomery
Wilder Publications
350 pp.
Ages 8-12
2010
Stories from The Chronicles of Avonlea and The Further Chronicles of Avonlea, all based in the town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island.

The Courtship 
Written by Budge Wilson
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
160 pp.
Ages 13-17
2003
Nine short stories about the trials and tribulations of life.

Dark Times 
Edited by Ann Walsh
Ronsdale Press
184 pp.
Ages 12+
2005
Twelve stories about young people’s experience of loss and grief with contributions by Sarah Ellis, Lee Maracle, Alison Lohans, Diana Aspin, Carolyn Pogue, Gina Rozon, Jessie Mae Keller, Libby Kennedy, Donna R. Gamache, Patricia McCowan, Betty Jane Hegerat and Carrie Mac.

Dead Man's Gold And Other Stories
Written by Paul Yee
Illustrated by Harvey Chan
Groundwood
104 pp.
Ages 11+
2003
Ten ghost stories of Chinese immigrants struggling to make new lives in North America.

Feeding at Nine
Written by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
187 pp.
Ages 14+
2006
Fourteen short stories about adolescence.

First Times
Edited by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books
191 pp.
Ages 11-15
2007
Fourteen stories by Martha Slaughter, Curtis Parkinson, Susan Juby, Alan Cumyn, Susan Adach, Ted Staunton, Richard Scrimger, Gillian Chan, Bill Habeeb, Nancy Hartry, Bill Richardson, Tim Wynne-Jones, Marthe Jocelyn and Sarah Ellis.

Fractures: Family Stories
Written by Budge Wilson
Penguin Canada
195 pp.
Ages 13-17
2002
Twelve stories about families and dealing with family issues.

Garbage Creek and Other Stories 
Written by W. D. Valgardson
Groundwood Books
132 pp.
Ages 8-12
1997
Eight short stories involve children coming to terms with a variety of problems.

Girls’ Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young readers
Edited by Sarah Ellis
Puffin
360 pp.
Ages 9-14
2002
Twenty stories and excerpts from novels by a variety of Canadian authors including Cora Taylor, Jan Hudson, Kit Pearson, Deborah Ellis, Joan Bodger, Jean Little, Teresa Toten, Joan Clark and Linda Holeman.

Glory Days and Other Stories 
Written by Gillian Chan
Kids Can Press
118 pp.
Ages 12-15
1996
Stories about high school.

God Loves Hair
Written by Vivek Shraya
Illustrated by Juliana Neufeld
Arsenal Pulp Press
110 pp.
Ages 14-17
2014
Twenty-one stories about sexuality, gender, racial politics, religion, and belonging.

Golden Girl and Other Stories 
Written by Gillian Chan
Kids Can Press
119 pp.
Ages 12-15
1994
More stories about high school.

Henry Chow and Other Stories
Edited by R. David Stephens
Tradewind Books
134 pp.
Ages 14-17
2009
Stories of Asian Canadian writers Annie Zhu, Kwai-Yun Li, Marty Chan, Evelyn Lau, Kellee Ngan, Tony Wong, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Paul Yee, Hanako Masutani, Kagan Goh, Taien Ng-Chan, Linda Mah and Kentaro Ide.

How We Were
Written by Teddy Jam
Illustrated by Ange Zhang
Groundwood Books
64 pp.
Ages 8-13
2008
Four illustrated stories of Canada in the past century.

Laws of Emotion 
Written by Alison Lohans
Thistledown Press
208 pp.
Ages 14+
1993
Eleven short stories that deal with young people’s emotions.

Leslie McFarlane’s Hockey Stories
Written by Leslie McFarlane
Edited by Brian McFarlane
Key Porter Books
138 pp.
Ages 10-12
2005
Four hockey stories from 1930s Canadian towns.

Lord of the Fries and Other Stories
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Groundwood books/Douglas and McIntyre Ltd.
208 pp.
Ages 10-14
1999
Seven stories perfect for middle grades.

Lunch with Lennon and Other Stories
Written by Deborah Ellis
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
169 pp.
Ages 12-17
2008
Ten stories dealing with drugs and addictions.

Metis Spirits
Written by Deborah L. Delaronde
Pemmican Publications
106 pp.
Ages 8-10
2006
Six short stories with time travel or ghost elements to them.

Notes Across the Aisle 
Edited by Peter Carver
Thistledown Press
188 pp.
Ages 12-15
1995
Seventeen stories from the 1994 cross Canada Young Adult Short Story Competition.

Opening Tricks 
Edited by Peter Carver
Thistledown Press
177 pp.
Ages 12+
1998
Thirteen humourous stories from Cheryl Archer, Karen Krossing, R.P. MacIntyre, Eric Nicol, Jacqueline Pearce, Diana C. Aspin, Sharon Stewart, Beverley Brenna, Shelley A. Leedahl, Barry Mathias, Janice Scott, Jennifer Taylor and Ed Yatscoff.

Paradise Cafe and Other Stories
Written by Martha Brooks
Thistledown Press
110 pp.
Ages 12+
1988
Fourteen stories about teens.

Rude Stories 
Written by Jan Andrews
Illustrated by Francis Blake
Tundra Books
88 pp.
Ages 6-9
2010
Eight irreverent stories from around the world.

A Season for Miracles: Twelve Tales of Christmas (Dear Canada)
Edited by Sandra Bogart Johnston
Scholastic Canada
256 pp.
Ages 8-13
2006
Twelve stories of historical fiction from Dear Canada authors by Jean Little, Kit Pearson, Michelle Trottier, Gillian Chan, Sarah Ellis, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Julie Lawson, Karleen Bradford, Janet Lunn, Carol Matas and Sharon Stewart.

Secrets
Edited by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra
184 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005
Twelve stories by Susan Adach, Anne Carter, Gillian Chan, Nancy Hartry, Marthe Jocelyn, Julie Johnston, Dayal Kaur Khalsa, Loris Lesynski, Anne Gray Sarndal, Martha Slaughter, Teresa Toten and Elizabeth Winthrop

Some of the Kinder Planets
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Groundwood Books
136 pp.
Ages 10-13
2000
Nine stories full of humour, surprise, fear and wonder.

Stories at the Door
Written by Jan Andrews
Illustrated  by Francis Blake
Tundra Books
80 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
Fun stories based on tales from around the world.

Take the Stairs
Written by Karen Krossing
Second Story Press
184 pp.
Ages 12+
2003
Fourteen stories of limitations experienced by inner-city teens who live at 64 Wilnut Street.  A teacher's guide is available http://karenkrossing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/take-the-stairs-teachers-guide.pdf

Takes: Stories for Young Adults
Edited by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
152 pp.
Ages 15 +
1996
Fourteen short stories present a character’s take on an unfamiliar or negative experience.

A Time for Giving: Ten Tales of Christmas (Dear Canada)
Edited by Sandra Bogart Johnston
Scholastic Canada
216 pp.
Ages 8-13
2015
Ten stories as epilogues to the Dear Canada books of Jean Little, Barbara Haworth- Attard, Sarah Ellis, Susan Aihoshi, Norah McClintock, Karleen Bradford, Janet McNaughton, Carol Matas and Ruby Slipperjack.

Toxic Love (originally Saying Goodbye, 1995)
Written by Linda Holeman
Tundra Books
184 pp.
Ages 10+
2003
Stories about love and the various ways it can express itself.

Traveling On Into the Light and Other Stories
Written by Martha Brooks
Scholastic
146 pp.
Ages 12+
1994
Eleven stories about teens facing adversity.

Up All Night
Edited by R.P. MacIntyre
Thistledown Press
160 pp.
Ages 15+
2001
Fourteen stories from Thistledown’s young adult short story competition.

Weeds and Other Stories 
Written by Jacqueline Pearce
Thistledown Press
208 pp.
Ages 13-16
2003
Twelve stories about teens and their relationships with others.

What Happened This Summer
Written by Paul Yee
Tradewind Books
178 pp.
Ages 13+
2006
About the turbulent lives of Asian-Canadian youth.

What If...?: Amazing Stories
Edited by Monica Hughes
Tundra Books
208 pp.
Ages 10+
1998
Stories that answer and ask, “What if?” by Alison Baird, Edo van Belkom, Lesley Choyce, Joan Clark, Charles de Lint, Sarah Ellis, Marcel Gagné, Priscilla Galloway, James Alan Gardner, Monica Hughes, Jason Kapalka, Eileen Kernaghan, Alice Major, Robert Priest, Jean-Louis Trudel and Tim Wynne-Jones.

When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean
Written by Jan Andrews
Illustrated by Dušan Petričić
Groundwood Books
72 pp.
Ages 7-10
2011
Three stories based on Ti-Jean, Quebec’s traditional folktale hero (or perhaps anti-hero would better describe him).

When I Went to the Library: Writers Celebrate Books and Reading
Edited by Debora Pearson
Groundwood Books
128 pp.
Ages 8-12
2002
Nine stories about books and libraries and reading by authors Sarah Ellis, Budge Wilson, Ken Roberts, Celia Barker Lottridge, Jean Little, Ken Setterington, Paul Yee, Marc Talbert and Tim Wynne-Jones.