The Deepest Dig

 

Written by Mark David Smith

Illustrated by Lily Snowden-Fine

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-419-1

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

August 2021

What can come from a little curiosity and some brain power and brawn? A whole lot of treasure. Even if no one believes, at first.

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

Caden is a child with a curious mind. When he and his dog find something poking out of the backyard, he eliminates all the things it is not: not a root, not a post, not a stone. His neighbour Martha encourages him to dig deeper. His scientific brain asks questions and considers his options. While he does ask his parents as he proceeds to dig, they both dismiss his inquiries.

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

First shovelling and then with the use of Martha's truck winch, bits and pieces are excavated. Even when he tells his teacher what he'd found, Caden is dismissed (later compelling Mr. Clerkson to eat his words, or rather his hat). Because Martha recognizes that, "It's only a treasure if it's put together," Caden gets to work. 

 

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

This time when his parents see his efforts, they have a lot less to say–they are speechless–and it's Caden who puts together what the next steps should be to get the woolly mammoth skeleton witnessed by all.

It's been awhile since I've reviewed a story by Mark David Smith. I'd been quite impressed by his middle-grade novel Caravaggio: Signed in Blood (Tradewind, 2013) and still am but now also with a picture book that promotes curiosity and endeavour. Of course it's a child who discovered a skeleton. They're the ones who aren't focusing on their bills and their work and household chores. Mom or Dad probably had already rolled over it or around it with their lawn mower, oblivious to its importance. Caden, on the other, got down and looked at it. Really looked at it. This is scientific inquiry at its best. In order to see more, he makes a plan and digs it out. Then putting together what he learns in class and through his own efforts, he assembles a find worthy of a museum. (That's where it ends up according to the newspaper article that concludes the story.) Martha and his parents may have had to be there to get him further along in his inquiry but it was all driven by Caden, and his efforts should be applauded.

From The Deepest Dig by Mark David Smith, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

Lily Snowden-Fine, whose artwork I only recently reviewed for the first time (Kimmy & Mike, 2021), uses vibrant colours and scale to emphasize the daring and magnitude of Caden's endeavour. Readers are taken from the outdoors where the tree, red truck and bushes are large to when they are overshadowed by the skeleton Caden puts together. It's quite incredible but Lily Snowden-Fine makes us feel the enormity of what he has accomplished. Moreover, her diversity of characters will let all children imagine that they too could dig up a dinosaur.

The Deepest Dig encourages children to dig deep, whether it's into their curiosity, science, research or any passion. They may not always get the support they deserve at first but perseverance and determination can go a long way to unmasking a hidden treasure. Ask Caden. He did.

Kimmy & Mike

Written by Dave Paddon

Illustrated by Lily Snowden-Fine

Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

978-1-927917398

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

March 2021 

I'm sure siblings Kimmy and Mike have had some pretty extraordinary adventures on the sea but even I find it hard to believe how a simple fishing outing could become a round-the-world trip of danger and folly. But that's a tall tale for you. See what you believe in this narrative poem and tall tale from Newfoundland and Labrador's Dave Paddon.

It has often been said, and I can't disagree,

That there's no one as tough as our folk of the sea.

But two of the toughest, if the rights was known,

Were Kimmy and Mike, who lived in Belloram.

So begins the tale of Kimmy and Mike who go fishing on order from Mom to "Get something for the pot!" Unfortunately, their best fishing spot lands them only a few sculpins and kelp so they scull around the Gulf and the Straits and elsewhere before deciding they need to cross the pond i.e., the Atlantic Ocean.

From Kimmy & Mike by Dave Paddon, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

Not only do they cross the ocean, they pass through two hurricanes, declaring the 90-knot winds and 60-foot waves to be "a bit of a lop", and catch a small submarine and a squid with 60-foot arms and a 30-foot head. But, throwing both back, they head southward towards the Cape of Good Hope where they encounter a 100-mile iceberg which they cleave with an axe, before Kimmy fights off some pirates single-handedly.

From Kimmy & Mike by Dave Paddon, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

Then there's the merman named Saul and a visit to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii before their mother finds them. Having taken out their father's old punt, she's been doing her own fishing and intends to continue on, sending the twins home.

She said, "Get on home out of it, through the Panama Canal,

And make your father his tea–you know he's not well.

I'm just going to dart 'round Cape Horn while it's light

And stop into Rio for bingo tonight."

From Kimmy & Mike by Dave Paddon, illus. by Lily Snowden-Fine

The twins eventually make it back home, after a stop at the Galapagos and tunnelling beneath the Panama Canal, while their mother, having won a jackpot in Rio and salting and drying her plentiful catch, returns the next morning.

Readers will finish the rhyming story of Kimmy & Mike with a smile upon their faces, envisioning the twins' exploits and the extent of their travel. (This would be a fun geography lesson, especially when coupled with math to determine the probability of this all happening in one day.)  It could even become a ballad if set to music, with its rousing story, melodic nature of ups and downs, highs and lows, and big moments. Add a fiddle, an accordion and maybe an ugly stick and you got a kitchen party going. With this tall tale of fisherfolk, Dave Paddon takes us to Newfoundland and Labrador, to the people who have stories to tell, who use a language of their own (I had to look up several of the words like crousty, stage and sooky in the "Glossary" provided) and try to outdo each other with their tongue-in-cheek stories.

With Lily Snowden-Fine's gorgeous gouache artwork to complement Dave Paddon's story, though, Kimmy & Mike goes beyond just a folk tale. It may have the whimsy that is often associated with folk art but there is a refinement in Lily Snowden-Fine's lines and shapes that make each illustration a work of art, stark but refined, colourful and resonating with the spirit of the Newfoundland and Labrador. 

In the tradition of the recitations, which Dave Paddon discusses in his "Afterward," Kimmy & Mike's fishing adventure would win any kitchen storytelling contest, for its rhyme, plot and artwork. I only wonder what Kimmy and Mike, and their mother, will get up to next time because, you know, there will be another story to tell.