The One About the Blackbird

Written by Melanie Florence

Illustrated by Matt James

Tundra Books

978-1-774882665

40 pp.

Ages 4–8

October 2025 

 

I don't know which song is the one about the blackbird, but I've been humming Paul McCartney's song from the Beatles' White Album ever since I read this picture book, and I could see why it had such an impact on young Jack. This is the story of Jack and the music that imbued his family life, and the connection he made with it and his grandfather. 

From The One About the Blackbird, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Matt James

Jack recalls being a kid with music all around at home, whether his grandfather was playing one of his many instruments—sax, guitar, trumpet, keyboard, drums—or spinning an LP from his extensive collection. The day his grandfather agrees to teach him to play the guitar, especially his favourite song, the one about the blackbird, Jack is thrilled. But, playing the song as well as his grandfather does not come instantly.

He struck the strings wildly, almost dropping the guitar at the loud, tuneless BROOOONG that honked out of the instrument. (pg. 15)

From The One About the Blackbird, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Matt James

Though it is hard, Jack perseveres and can finally play the song and others. And when he is older and leaves home, Jack plays for crowds worldwide. 

 

When Jack returns home, his grandfather has forgotten how to play that favourite song and even that he'd given his old guitar to Jack. But, when Jack plays the song for him, reconnecting the two to each other and their past, his grandfather remembers it as "the one about the blackbird."

 

Earlier this week, I reviewed a book about music bridging generations, and now we have another about the power of song to connect across time. But Melanie Florence, whose earlier picture books emphasize connections between young people and their Indigenous family (e.g., Missing Nimâmâ, 2015, Stolen Words, 2017, and Kaiah's Garden, 2024), makes music the bond between a grandfather and their grandchild. First, that bond comes from the grandfather sharing his love of music with a child, and then a grown man reminding his elderly grandfather of that bond. Regardless of who was teaching about the music, the message that, "If it was easy, everyone would do it" is repeated, both encouraging and uniting. Melanie Florence helps us see that change does not mean loss, just a reconfiguration that can be just as rich as the original.

From The One About the Blackbird, written by Melanie Florence, illustrated by Matt James

Matt James, illustrator of award-winning books including I Know Here (Laurel Croza, 2010), The Northwest Passage (Stan Rogers, 2013), and When the Moon Comes (Paul Harbridge, 2017), gets deeper into that relationship with his acrylic artwork that also includes textured elements. Whether the boy is hanging out with his grandfather, struggling to hold a guitar, or showing his grandfather how to move his fingers into position, Matt James makes us feel the effort of their attachment. The emotion in their struggles and their joys jump from the page, reflected in their faces, their body language, and their actions. 

 

Like the blackbird of that song, the boy, and later young man, learned to fly. He learned to take flight in song and in life, gathering knowledge at the feet of one who knew how. And when that knowledge wanes, as happens with time and age, that grandson helps his beloved grandfather hear the song again.

Rock

Written by Laurel Croza

Illustrated by Matt James

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-948-7

44 pp.

Ages 3-6

March 2025 

 

There is a rock on a beach. Spotting it, a seagull swoops down to claim it, hoping for a morsel of food. The gull is disappointed when he tries to snatch it and so begins a dialogue about the nature of the rock. In stark text with sweeping illustrations, Laurel Croza and Matt James, the collaboration who brought us the award-winning I Know Here and From There to Here, initiate a simple but profound examination of the concept of self.

 

From Rock, written by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James

 

The gull, chagrined that the rock is not what he expected, asks, "What do you think you are?" The only response he receives is, "I am a rock." To every query and claim, suggestion and threat that the gull makes, the rock stays true to itself and repeats, "I am a rock."

From Rock, written by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James

First the gull discounts the rock's claim and suggests it's more like a pebble or a stone. But then the seagull asserts that it really doesn't matter what it calls itself, it is vulnerable and trivial. The rock is threatened with being dropped in the water, and then eroding away to insignificance, or becoming just one of the multitudes of negligible rocks on the beach. 

I am telling you,

you are nothing

special.

Still the rock just says, "I am a rock."

From Rock, written by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James

 

Throughout the exchange, a child has been on the beach playing. A final illustration suggests that the rock is a rock and one that is special in its own way. 

 

Laurel Croza may let the seagull do most of the talking in Rock but it is the rock's few words that are the most impactful. Just as in life, there are those who taunt and threaten, bully and ridicule and do so with bravado and nastiness. The gull thinks it's more powerful and significant, but it has no substance. It's all talk and bluster. Is it threatened by the quiet strength of the rock that will not cower or renounce its identity? Who knows. But what Laurel Croza makes clear is that self-confidence is not the same as exaggerated self-opinion. It can be a quiet acceptance of self and identity, knowing who you are, regardless of what others tell you or suggest to you. The rock has a foundation of strength that comes from the certainty of its identity.

 

While Laurel Croza's words are few–there are whole double-spreads without text–Matt James's artwork speaks volumes. Done in acrylic and ink on acetate, wood, masonite and cardboard, Matt James fills in the story. From the gull eyeing the rock and then the pain when he tries to grab it, to the gull's bravado while surrounded by other gulls, Matt James shows how the loud and obnoxious get all the attention, even when being nasty, while the stoic rock remains cool and resolute. On that expansive beach that stretches along a huge body of water and under an ever-changing sky, it is only the shadow of the rock that changes.

 

Rock is a powerful story of self-awareness and -confidence. It's about staying true to your identity regardless of those who question it or object to it. It's about being a rock when others want you to be wobbly jelly or melting ice cream, both of which I'm sure the gull would've preferred.

 

🪨🪨🪨🪨🪨

 

The official launch of Rock is taking place in Toronto on March 9th. Details are found below. 

Join author and illustrator

 

Laurel Croza and Matt James

 

for the launch of their newest picture book

 

Rock

 

on Sunday, March 9, 2025

 

at

 

1-3 PM

 

at

 

Queen Books

914 Queen St. East

Toronto, ON

416-788-5053

https://shop.queenbooks.ca/events

 

The book launch will include a story time reading and book signing.

 

🪨🪨🪨🪨🪨

The Funeral

Written and illustrated by Matt James

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-908-9

40 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2018

Funerals always mean something different to those attending. There are those who are overwhelmed with grief and others who treat it as a social event. There are some for whom the funeral is just part of the cycle of life. But what does a funeral mean to children, particularly for the very young?

When Norma's mother's gets the phone call that her Uncle Frank has passed, she is saddened. Norma knows she should be too–in fact, she practises her sad face in the mirror– but attending a funeral for Norma means getting the day off school and seeing her favourite cousin Ray. 

Though Norma and Ray follow their parents' directives and participate in the process that is the funeral–the procession, the church service, a reception–they are young and find ways to focus on other things: the smell in a mother's purse, a giraffe stuffie, the dancing dust mots, the music and the other funeral attendees. They have questions but their natural inclinations are to participate in life. The two slip outside into the graveyard and natural world, feeling the freedom that comes from being able to move and observe and explore.

From The Funeral by Matt James

Though Norma recognizes that Uncle Frank died because he was really old, she still ponders what his death means to those around her. In the end, she recognizes that "I think Uncle Frank would have liked his funeral."

There are many books that help discuss end of life with children but never have I seen one that honours how children see death and the funeral process as aptly as Matt James's The Funeral. It is just one funeral and it's not every child's response to a funeral but it is very honest and real. Perhaps it's a book for parents to recognize that children may be part of the grieving process, without grieving as their elders might, and their ways are appropriate for them. I'm pleased that the parents and others don't chastize the children for being disrespectful for playing outdoors or being inattentive to all the rituals (though Norma does recognize "how looong they sat on those hard seats, with all that talk about God and souls, and not very much talk about Uncle Frank.")

From The Funeral by Matt James

The story in The Funeral is carried by Matt James's illustrations, the same acrylic-and-ink artwork that won him a Governor General's Literary Award for Northwest Passage (Groundwood, 2013). The art is raw, not necessarily neat and tidy, but, just like life, it is buoyant and energetic and hopeful even during times of great sadness.  With its colour, its lines and its words, The Funeral celebrates the spirit of those who lived and those who love life.

When the Moon Comes

Written by Paul Harbridge

Illustrated by Matt James

Tundra Books

978-1-101-91777-0

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 2017

In a land so inescapably and inhospitably cold, hockey is the chance of life, and an affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive. – Stephen Leacock

With Stephen Leacock's words prefacing the book, readers can anticipate a book of cold and ice which only hockey can warm to life.  This is our Canada.

Separate illustrations from When the Moon Comes 

by Paul Harbridge

 illus. by Matt James

The children in When the Moon Comes anticipate the coming winter, but it's all about the hockey.  November may still find ducks on the beaver flood in the woods but December finally brings the cold snap that causes it to freeze.  They're already envisioning being on the ice but Arthur suggests they must wait for the moon. When the snow finally comes, dumping it on town and country alike, and the lunar cycle progresses until the full moon, the children make their way after school to the place of dreams and action.

From When the Moon Comes 

by Paul Harbridge

 illus. by Matt James

Their long trek is rewarded with a fire that warms their skates and their anticipation as they take turns clearing the "magic ice."

It is dark, dark now, and the face of the sky is freckled with stars.  But on the far side of the flood, the sky is brighter behind the trees. The moon is rising.
     When the moon comes, we glide out onto the ice we have claimed.  It is marvelous ice, as good as any we have known.

From When the Moon Comes 

by Paul Harbridge

 illus. by Matt James

In several wordless pages of Matt James' extraordinary art, the children skate and play and are stars in their own arena.  It is only when the puck disappears into the snow that Arthur, the voice of reason, suggests it is time to end the game.  The game may be set aside but the magic at the fire, drinking tea and toasty sandwiches, is just a new play before heading home.

Our wet pants freeze solid in the cold, and we walk clanking like knights in armor, lances over our shoulders, hoods like helmets around our faces. 

The story ends with the children warm and slumbering at home while the moon with its promise of more hockey accompanies their sleep.

Paul Harbridge's story of late night hockey on a frozen beaver flood is as magical as the ice.  His words of anticipation and emotion are subtle but reverent, packed with feeling.  Like the world hidden beneath the snow and ice, there is a story of expectation from the past and of the future that underlies what is at its core a tale of shinny.  Artist Matt James, whose work I've admired in Northwest Passage (Groundwood, 2013), The Stone Thrower (Groundwood, 2016) and From There to Here (Groundwood, 2014), enriches Paul Harbridge's text with acrylic and India ink illustrations that convey the awe and appreciation of the children for their landscape and their activity.  There may be darkness and frigid temperatures but there is warmth and camaderie and action.  With many strokes of pen and paint, Paul Harbridge and Matt James take all readers to a place of inhospitable iciness and hospitable hockey that can only be witnessed and fully appreciated When the Moon Comes.

When the Moon Comes: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

I know Canadians and those who love hockey will be anticipating the upcoming winter season.  

What better way to prepare than with this newest picture book from Tundra Books?

When the Moon Comes

Written by Paul Harbridge

Illustrated by Matt James

Tundra Books

978-1-101917770

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 2017

launches

on

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

7-9 p.m.

at

The Dakota Tavern

249 Ossington Avenue

Toronto, ON

Both author Paul Harbridge and illustrator Matt James will be at the launch

Details about the event were posted on the event's Facebook page:Both Paul Harbridge and Matt James will be on hand to speak briefly about the book and sign copies. Books will be sold on site by the incredible Another Story Bookshop (315 Roncesvalles Avenue). Following the signing The Très Bien Ensemble (http://thetresbienensemble.com/), featuring Matt James on guitar and vocals, will perform a short set. It promises to be more fun than an honest-to-goodness game of shinny.

From Penguin Random House Canada website at http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/251515/when-moon-comes#9781101917770:

In this atmospheric story, a group of kids play hockey on a frozen lake by moonlight. At once nostalgic and timely, this is a gorgeous book that will speak to readers young and old.

The beaver flood has finally frozen--perfect ice, without a bump or a ripple. For the kids in town, it's Christmas in November. They wait, impatiently, for the right moment. 

Finally, it arrives: the full moon. 

They huff and puff through logging trails, farms, back roads and tamarack swamps, the powdery snow soaking pant legs and boots, till they see it--their perfect ice, waiting. 

And the game is on.

From When the Moon Comes 

by Paul Harbridge 

illus. by Matt James

The Stone Thrower

Written by Jael Ealey Richardson

Illustrated by Matt James

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-752-8

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

For release May 2016

Though The Stone Thrower only came out this month, this picture book that honours Jael Ealey Richardson's father, Chuck Ealey, a famous African American football player who was undefeated in his home country but made a name for himself in the CFL, will surely become earmarked for booklists of significant youngCanLit for February, Black History Month.

Thoughtfully illustrated by Governor General award-winning artist Matt James, The Stone Thrower is “a story about a kid who lived in hard times, a kid who had a big dream that seemed almost impossible.”(pg. 2) It’s the story of Chuck Ealey, beginning with his birth to a poor, hard-working mother in 1950 Portsmouth, Ohio where segregation and racism would seem to be the norm. Though her own education was minimal, his mother ensured that her son understood that, like the trains that ran through their neighbourhood, he shouldn’t stop until he got where he was going, and that was out of the North End and completing his education.

These same trains became a source of victorious inspiration to him as he regularly tossed stones at the cars, aiming for the large letter N on the side, practising over and over again until he could always hit his target. Applying this same determination, focus, and practice at school and at football, Chuck was able to see beyond the hardships he and other African American youth faced at the time and was able to achieve great things, including winning every game as quarterback for his high school.

Jael Ealey Richardson may tell more about her father’s story in the note at the conclusion of the picture book, as she does in her adult book The Stone Thrower: A Daughter’s Lessons, A Father’s Life (Thomas Allen, 2012), but The Stone Thrower focuses on but a snippet of Chuck Ealey’s successes in meeting the challenges of being a black youth. By setting a goal and aiming for it repeatedly, even when faced with cruelty and disrespect, Chuck Ealey achieved much.

From The Stone Thrower by Jael Ealey Richardson, 

illus. by Matt James

Matt James, whose artwork has enhanced his own Northwest Passage (Groundwood, 2013) and I Know Here and From There to Here by Laurel Croza (Groundwood, 2010 and 2014, respectively), sets a gritty tone to The Stone Thrower, with his roughened outlines and coarse watercolours. There’s nothing saccharine about this story or the art and that’s the way it should be. Both emphasize the hardship and the courage, strength and perseverance, and the achievement. The Stone Thrower is a story of grit, visual and inspirational, in its truest form.

YoungCanLit Who's Who: Illustrators H-Q, List II

Here's list # 2 for this second round of youngCanLit illustrators:

Kellen Hatanka

Jacqueline Hudon-Verrelli

Matt James

Brooke Kerrigan

Dayal Kaur Khalsa

Jon Klassen

Julie Kraulis

Eliska Liska

Mike Lowery

J. Lum

Elly Mackay

Patsy MacKinnon

Isabelle Malenfant

Cyndi Marko

Luc Melanson

Nicholas Oldland

Paola Opal

Pierre Pratt

Check yesterday's listing for Illustrators A-G, List II.

The Pirate's Bed: Book Launch (Toronto)

Join author Nicola Winstanley 

and 

illustrator Matt James 

for the launch of their new picture book

The Pirate's Bed

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-616-3

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

March, 2015

on Sunday, March 29, 2015

2:00 p.m.

at

Another Story Bookshop

315 Roncesvalles Avenue

Toronto, ON

416-462-1105

Call or email (books@anotherstory.ca) to reserve your autographed copy

The blurb, retrieved from the RandomHouse site at http://www.randomhouse.com/book/228423/the-pirates-bed-by-nicola-winstanley#blurb_tabs, tells this of the book:

"A pirate is sleeping snug in his bed, dreaming pirate dreams, when a great storm comes up at sea. The pirate sleeps on, but his bed is awake and scared of the thunder and the angry waves. Tossed this way and that, the ship finally crashes, sending the pirate to a tropical island and his bed off to sea.
     At first, the bed is overjoyed. It's free from smelly feet, snoring and scratchy wool. It floats in the now peaceful water, meeting friendly gulls and playful dolphins and basking in the sun. But soon the little bed begins to feel like something is missing..."

From There to Here

by Laurel Croza

Illustrated by Matt James

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-365-0

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

For release May 2014

The little girl in I Know Here (Groundwood, 2010), Laurel Croza and Matt James' first book together and the 2011 winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, recollects all the wonderful attributes of her home in northeastern Saskatchewan.  After father's work on a dam there is complete, the family would be moving to Toronto, and the young girl was anticipating that move and what she would miss of her home.  Now the little girl and her family have arrived in Toronto and, in poetic observations, she compares their life "there" to their new life "here", in From There to Here.

Of course, it is so easy for the young girl to still see all the positives of her former home and how different everything is in Toronto.  From her father's job, to the type of roads, the buildings, time with family, the vegetation, the sky–everything is different.  

"It's different here, not the same as there."  

Laurel Croza's clean text emphasizes the simple thought processes of the girl as she navigates her mindset from the country to her new urban setting.  It's succinct but progressive.  And illustrator Matt James, who won the 2013 Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration, emphasizes with elegance the differences between the "there" and the "here", never making one look better than the other, just different but similar.  Matt James juxtaposes the colours and lines of trees with bed-frames and windows blinds, or the northern lights and the street lamps, with such refinement. As in any great picture book, the text should be complemented by the illustrations, as Laurel Croza and Matt James have done so easily in From There to Here.   They found the means to endow memories and new experiences with the quality of perspective, effortlessly taking the reader on a smooth journey From There to Here.

2013 Governor General Literary Award winners announced!

Today, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the winners of the prestigious Governor General Literary Awards for 2013 including those in the two (English) Children's categories.

Congratulations to all the award winners and nominees for being recognized for their contributions to enriching our collection of phenomenal youngCanLit.

This year's winners in the two (English) Children's categories are: 

For Children’s Text:

The winner is 

Teresa Toten 

 

for her book  

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

Doubleday Canada/Random House of Canada

978-0-385678346

255 pp.

Ages 14+

August, 2013

Reviewed here on August 15, 2013.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten is a transformative, high-energy novel that vibrates with the creativity of both the writer and main character. Adam struggles with OCD (obsessive‑compulsive disorder) and a troubled family life. His group therapy becomes an unlikely source of love and friendship. A powerful story with brilliant language and unexpected moments of humour. 

(Jury comments retrieved from

 http://canadacouncil.ca/en/council/news-room/news/2013/the-ggreat-books-of-2013)

For Children’s Illustration:

The winner is

Matt James 

for his book  

Northwest Passage

Text by Stan Rogers

Illustrated by Matt James
Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-153-3

56 pp.

All ages

September 2013

Reviewed here on July 17, 2013. 

Matt James’s unique illustrations set our imaginations soaring as they steer us through Stan Rogers’ famous ballad, Northwest Passage. The ink and acrylic paintings explode with raw effects and vivid colour, sometimes settling to small ice-blue vignettes. Each page is descriptive of the search that obsessed much of the world for hundreds of years.

(Jury comments retrieved from

 http://canadacouncil.ca/en/council/news-room/news/2013/the-ggreat-books-of-2013)

Northwest Passage

by Stan Rogers

As seen by Matt James
Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-153-3

56 pp.

All ages

September 2013

Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage...
                                                             – Stan Rogers, 1981

And so begins a journey.  A journey of  explorers to find a northern route to Asia.  A journey for singer-songwriter Stan Rogers to discover the multitude of pulse points of our nation. And yet another journey.  That of Matt James, award-winning illustrator of I Know Here (Groundwood, 2010), in his visual interpretation of the Stan Rogers' 1981 song that many believe may be the epitome of a Canadian ballad.

Ballads are perfect for wrapping up history in story-telling, and the selection of Northwest Passage for an illustrated book is inspired.  Matt James' acrylic paintings easily transport the reader from the beautiful but dangerous iridescent turquoise waters of the Arctic through the snow-clad or barren lands of the tundra and our mountainous regions.  There are sightings of narwhal, snowshoe hare, polar bear, bear and buffalo.  There are crisp cold nights, and bright sunny days, overcast skies and impenetrable fogs. There are the travellers on old sailing ships, the coureurs de bois and Aboriginal People in canoes, First Nations on horseback, Canadians in planes and musicians in Rogers' yellow touring van.  And there are those points in history and the characters who gave substance to the ballad: Sir John Franklin, David Thompson, Alexander Mackenzie, and others, all included in the double-spread titled, "A Gallery of Explorers."

Matt James' selection of Northwest Passage is all the more profound for the number of young readers who will never get to experience Stan Rogers' talent first-hand.  But, though thirty years have passed since Rogers' death, Matt James has refreshed his memory with eloquence and colourful passion.  Northwest Passage, the book, will have Canadians such as myself revisiting the song, over and over and over again, while introducing younger readers to Stan Rogers' legacy, hopefully compelling them to search out his music and biographic information at the Stan Rogers and Fogarty's Cove website http://stanrogers.net/ or elsewhere.

While no young reader wants to hear this, I believe that Northwest Passage will be a unique teacher resource for melding language and music with Canadian history, supported by the wealth of additional content about the First Arctic Peoples, the explorers, especially Franklin's expedition, and the European settlement of Canada.