A Flower is a Friend

Written by Frieda Wishinsky

Illustrated by Karen Patkau

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-280-6

36 pp.

Ages 3-6

May 2023

Many will be enjoying their gardens this summer whether through their labours or just sitting in the glory that is a collection of blooms and greenery. But Frieda Wishinsky makes us look a little more closely into her garden to see the flowers and their friends.

From A Flower is a Friend, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illus. by Karen Patkau

Page after page of glorious digital art by Karen Patkau brings us up close to the rose and zinnia, cornflower, magnolia, and irises to see the blooms in their bold colours and their dazzling forms. But it's the association with their flower friends that needs to be seen. With each blossom is an insect or a bird, mammal or reptile, or something else, that interacts with the flower.

From A Flower is a Friend, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illus. by Karen Patkau

Frieda Wishinsky and Karen Patkau reveal a variety of mutualistic relationships, with Frieda Wishinsky giving us the ideas and spirit and Karen Patkau giving us the colour and form. There is the periwinkle-hued morning glory with its visiting dragonfly, the mouse in a tulip, and a bat calling upon the crocuses. And in her dual text, one that stipulates what the flowers do and a subtext that has young readers ponder the relationships, Frieda Wishinsky invites children to look more closely and consider how pollination happens, how a flower can draw animals to it, and how both plant and animal can benefit each other.

Spread our perfume.

 

How could a spider 

help the Queen of the Night flower?

 

From A Flower is a Friend, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illus. by Karen Patkau

A Flower is a Friend will be a lovely book for teaching STEM with regards to the growth and changes in plants and the interrelationships of living things. Even though the story is appended with notes on each animal and its role related to the plants, it's the inquiry lessons about these interactions that will fuel discussions and learning.

Coupled with Karen Patkau's illustrations, A Flower is a Friend transforms from creative non-fiction to gorgeous coffee table book that any reader would love to peruse. Her art is created of shapes so curvaceous and colours so vibrant that the garden could be a surreal landscape of the imagination. But Karen Patkau is such a pro at digital illustration that her flowers could almost be photographs. (Her art of the roses almost fooled me into thinking it was a photo.)

 

We know friendships go both ways, and these flowers and their friends demonstrate that they do, helping each other to the benefit of both. There is science behind it, but A Flower is a Friend shows us that there is also great beauty with that science.

A Family for Faru

Written by Anitha Rao-Robinson

Illustrated by Karen Patkau

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-096-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

October 2020

 

After Tetenya and his mother discover a young rhino alone on the savannah, the young boy helps search for other rhinos to be family for the orphaned Faru. As they trek past giraffes and vervet monkeys, guinea fowl and more, "the entire savannah spreads out below in greens, golds, and browns" and the two companions call and listen and search. But after a cool off in a pond of mud and waterberries for lunch, the two settle down for a nap in the shade of a jackalberry tree.

 

From A Family for Faru by Anitha Rao-Robinson, illus. by Karen Patkau

But when they are awakened by hunters, nay poachers, Tetenya's quick thinking and liberal application of the red-staining waterberries to Fatu's horn saves the little rhino from attack. Even better is the sound of other rhinos to which Fatu is drawn. Though the adult rhinos are safely enjoying a drink at a watering hold under the protection of armed soldiers, it is hard for the two friends, almost brothers, to part company.

 

From A Family for Faru by Anitha Rao-Robinson, illus. by Karen Patkau

Anitha Rao-Robinson's story is one of friendship and compassion but also conservation as her final note about "Rhinos" elucidates. I don't want to know what really happened to Faru's mother but, judging by the machete in the poacher's hands, it was potentially tragic. It's reassuring not only that Faru was found and offered security with Tetenya and his mother but that they were able to protect him from dangerous hunters while they searched together for a rhino family with whom he might belong.

Anitha Rao-Robinson's text evokes the camaraderie of rhino and boy in their companionable activities, whether it be collecting waterberries or hiking or resting and it's Karen Patkau's extraordinary digitally-rendered art that takes us to the savannah. Whether conjuring the acacia and jackalberry trees or the wildlife of Fatu and Tetenya's home or the warmth of the grasslands habitat with her organic shapes and earthy colours, Karen Patkau's illustrations take young readers to a land where a rhino can be protected by a boy and the bad guys can be thwarted by a clever child and a handful of berries.

From A Family for Faru by Anitha Rao-Robinson, illus. by Karen Patkau

Triceratops Stomp

Written and illustrated by Karen Patkau

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-079-6

32 pp.

Ages 2-5

For release July 2019

For children with an enduring love of all things dinosaur and of evocative text of sound and action, Triceratops Stomp will inspire countless readings with nonstop interaction. It maybe not the quietest of bedtime reads but Triceratops Stomp is certainly a picture book destined to become an action adventure of a different class.

From Triceratops Stomp by Karen Patkau

A clutch of seven dinosaur eggs begins the story with "Tap-tap. Peck-peck. Crack. Crack. Crack." After the babies hatch, under the watchful eye of a parent, making their first vocalizations of "Chirp-chirp! Cheep-cheep! Peep-peep-peep!" they learn to feed in the greenery of lush ferns and horsetails and among other prehistoric creatures. But when a voluminous roar is accompanied by "Thud-thud. Thud-thud. STOMP. STOMP. STOMP." and a T-Rex appears, Triceratops mother is ready to defend her brood and chases their potential attacker away with her ferocity. Safely back home, they rest. "Snuggle-snuggle. Sigh-sigh. Snore. Snore. Snore."

From Triceratops Stomp by Karen Patkau

While Triceratops Stomp is a playful read that will teach sounds that accompany actions like breaking out of an egg, eating plants, and sleeping, it goes beyond that in both text and art. It portrays the natural history of Triceratops with respect to babies, feeding, defence and family, as well as physical features. In fact, though a fictionalized story, Triceratops Stomp is also information book by including a page about the other genera of dinosaurs depicted in the story such as Alamosaurus, Dromaeosaurus, Corythosaurus and Pterosaur, as well as an end paper that shows the relative sizes of a variety of dinosaurs against humans. Still Karen Patkau is first and foremost an artist and her stylings in Triceratops Stomp elevate it from information book to art. Created with digital media, Karen Patkau gives Triceratops babies cuteness and authenticity, and generates landscapes lush in greens and detailed animal morphologies sufficient to instruct but never straying from captivating and entertaining.

From Triceratops Stomp by Karen Patkau

Whether you choose Triceratops Stomp as a science teaching tool, as a story to enhance language with its onomatopoeic foundation or as a fun read to share with young dinosaur fans, you can be sure to hear "Read. Read. Read. Again. Again."

One Hungry Heron

by Carolyn Beck

Illustrated by Karen Patkau

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-361-7

32 pp.

Ages 3+

October 2014

If you're fortunate to have a cottage near water or access to a marshy area or pond, One Hungry Heron should accompany you and your littlest ones on your next trek there in off-winter seasons.  Carolyn Beck's newest book, expertly illustrated by Karen Patkau who excels at capturing the natural world in digitally-created collages, helps guide the eyes of children who are learning their numbers to see the heron, catfish, dragonflies, beavers, water walkers, snakes, frogs, snails, ducks and turtles and their interactions across the pond.

Carolyn Beck uses rhyming text to count each animal, from the solitary heron amongst the cattails to the ten tiny turtles on a log, as well as using evocative descriptors and action words to lend texture to each animal's double-spread.

Nine paddly ducks
dabble in the reeds.
They flap and quack
and snack on weeds. (pg. 20)

Although One Hungry Heron is a counting book, for numbers 1 through 10, there's a complete turnaround when the rain comes, and zero is introduced, with the assortment of animals amalgamated in a final image.

Coupled with the distinct textures and subtle colours within the vegetation, water and substrates of Karen Patkau's collages, One Hungry Heron is a fluid visual and auditory composition linking outdoor scenes familiar to many Canadians with basic counting by one's, forwards and back. 

A Good Trade

by Alma Fullerton

Illustrated by Karen Patkau

Pajama Press

978-0-9869495-9-3

32 pp.

Ages 5+

Release October 1, 2012

Alma Fullerton, one of my favourite writers of novels in verse (e.g., Libertad, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008; Burn, Dancing Cat Books, 2010), has applied her formidable craftsmanship to create a text light in word count but powerful in message. The story of A Good Trade features a young Ugandan boy Kato whose daily routine has him waking at dawn to collect the day's water at the local well.  Carrying two jerry cans, Kato skips, races and treks to the borehole where he joins other children in filling the cans.  On his return journey, he glimpses into an aid worker's truck and the routine of Kato's day takes on a new spirit and task.

Kato's story could be a sombre one, considering that for his whole life Uganda has been in the midst of a civil war in which children were abducted and terrorized to fight for the rebel forces. But, while not ignoring the presence of armed soldiers, A Good Trade accepts the unrest and horror as only one aspect of Uganda.  There are also the gardens, hills, trails, fields with cattle, and villages with neighbours and children.  And those who offer help.  Alma Fullerton emphasizes the hope that accompanies that aid and the touching gratitude of a young boy, while smoothing the wrinkles of Kato's life to remain a textured canvas of many threads: some thicker, some brighter, some coarser, others frail.

And Karen Patkau's illustrations are the embodiment of that texture, in mosaics of bold colours and angular shapes, recreating Kato's Uganda as a rich landscape.  While Karen Patkau has illustrated many books (e.g., One Watermelon Seed, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008; Creatures Great and Small, Tundra, 2006) and has had her artwork recognized with awards, nominations and honourable mentions, I believe that the pairing of Alma Fullerton's text with Karen Patkau's art style in A Good Trade is inspired.  It's almost as if Karen Patkau's art was destined to evoke the landscape and story of Uganda.  Her sultry skies alone capably recreate the shimmering heat of an African day. 

Whatever forces, human or supernatural, that brought together these two artists, one of words and the other of graphics, knew exactly what they were doing.  There's gratitude all around here: from Kato, from picture book lovers, from compassionate readers.

*     *     *     *     *

By bringing together Alma Fullerton and Karen Patkau, Pajama Press, which was only established in April 2011, continues to impress me with the quality of the titles it publishes. I'm starting to feel like a groupie, promoting great book after great book like True Blue by Deborah Ellis; Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan's Rescue from War by Marsha Skrypuch; and Don't Laugh at Giraffe by Rebecca Bender.  The only one I've missed reading is No Shelter Here: Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs by Rob Laidlaw and that's only because I'm too much of a wuss about animal non-fiction.  Continue to look for reviews of Pajama Press' books here at CanLit for LittleCanadians and at your bookstore.