Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past

Written by Claire Eamer

Illustrated by Drew Shannon

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-731-6

32 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2018

In another life, I did research on the historical record trapped in peatlands in Alberta. Most people would be fascinated to learn that deep within the plant material there are records of volcanic eruptions from thousands of years ago, deforestation and agriculture in the surrounding areas, and more.  Claire Eamer, prolific writer of non-fiction including Inside Your Insides: A Guide to the Microbes That Call You Home (Kids Can Press, 2016) and What a Waste! Where Does Garbage Go? (Annick Press, 2017), brings similar information from the past as it is trapped in frozen water from glaciers, permafrost, and more, now being revealed with the global warming of the Earth's air, ground and water.

Starting with explanations about global warming and how the Earth acts as a greenhouse, Claire Eamer then focuses on specific circumstances under which clues from the past become revealed. There is the 4300 year old stick with a bit of feather and sinew found in ice patches in the Yukon alongside 2400 year old caribou dung, revealing the first organic evidence of the hunting atlatl, a stick used to throw darts. There are more archaeological clues from Norway, spurred on by the Yukon finds, of large groups of people using scaring sticks to funnel herds of reindeer for easy hunting. In 1999, the mummified body of Kwädąy Dän Ts'ìnchį, meaning "long-ago person found", was discovered at the edge of a melting glacier in BC, providing evidence of his age, food eaten, and clothing worn, as well as his ancestry through DNA. The famous Iceman, Ötzi, found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, is also discussed, as are the Scythians in the permafrost of the Altai Mountains of Asia, the Incan children of Llullaillaco, sacrificed to the gods and buried high in the Andes, and the cave-lion cubs and mammoths discovered in Siberia and Russia.

From Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past by Claire Eamer, illus. by Drew Shannon

 All these discoveries further our understanding of the people and animals who inhabited these areas, hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of years ago. With contemporary testing and advances, like radiocarbon dating, and biochemical and DNA analyses, more and more can be learned about them and their world, which Claire Eamer recognizes is our world too.

 "The past is us." (pg. 29)

Drew Shannon, a Toronto illustrator, provides realistic depictions of how these people and animals might have lived, giving context to the circumstances of the artifacts and bodies recovered. A photograph for each story is usually provided but Drew Shannon's illustrations help the reader see beyond the science and into the lives of those left behind and now being exposed. Coupled with information boxes, a glossary, a timeline and references for further study, Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past becomes a well-organized and informative read that still draws the reader in with its compelling stories of lives lived before, useful for teaching the science of climate change or history and archaeology.

From Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past by Claire Eamer, illus. by Drew Shannon

Hannah and the Magic Eye

Written byTyler Enfield

Great Plains Teen Fiction

978-1-927855-68-3

165 pp.

Ages 8-12

April 2017

“…taking her on a tour through the last three-thousand years of Israel’s major religions–from Judaism, to Islam, and lastly to Christianity–all of them locked together by a shared history in this solitary, enchanted city and a magical ring once worn by its wisest king.” (pg. 135)

Think The Da Vinci Code for middle-graders and you have Edmonton author Tyler Enfield’s Hannah and the Magic Eye.  Entombed in archaeology, a secret society and secret codes, it's a thriller which takes place in Jerusalem, one of the oldest and historically richest cities of the world.

Twelve-year-old Hannah travels from her home in Brussels, Belgium to visit her famed archaeologist grandfather, Henri Dubuisson, in Jerusalem.  When she arrives and Henri is not there to meet her, she only has a cryptic note he’d sent her to guide her.  She discovers a secret online message from her Grandpa Henri about a treasure beyond her wildest dreams and a secret society called the Cancellarii in search of the same treasure. Convinced Henri has been kidnapped and attempting to avoid several nefarious characters who attempt to follow her and grab her, Hannah, with the help of a Palestinian boy who likens himself to George Clooney, uncovers an ancient journal by ancestor Julien Dubuisson.  Hannah and Clooney must decipher the seven illustrations within, using a camera and a lot of ingenuity about historic sites in Jerusalem and environs, if they are to decipher the mysterious treasure map and discover a treasure that once belonged to King Solomon and save her grandfather.

No stops for deep breaths on this adventure.  Tyler Enfield has plotted a story so intricate and action-packed that young readers won’t have time to take breaks to learn about the historic details woven into the story (though they will surely be googling King Solomon, the different quarters of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock after finishing the book).  Clever Hannah is like a young Indiana Jones with her loyal sidekick Clooney who gets her both into and out of trouble.  With Hannah’s code-breaking skills and historic knowledge along with Clooney’s familiarity with their exotic location, Hannah and the Magic Eye is a thrilling course of intrigue that captivates and captures, inviting young readers to travel with Hannah and Clooney on their adventure, even on camel back. And judging by the conclusion of Hannah and the Magic Eye, they have a subsequent treasure hunt in Cambodia with Hannah and Clooney assisting Henri, all courtesy of Tyler Enfield's elaborate plotting and savvy for telling an exciting middle-grade story.

Attack of the Toga Gang

by George Bowering
Dancing Cat Books
978-1-777086-442-9
170 pp.
Ages 10-13
May 2015

Thank you, George Bowering, for bringing laughter and humour and wordplay into my life at this time.  I needed a good laugh and Attack of the Toga Gang provided it aptly.  And for teachers who want to bring poetry, courtesy of officiando George Bowering, former Poet Laureate of Canada, into a humourous plot perfect for middle-graders that includes a variety of hats, peculiar foods, Ancient Rome, a mysterious ring, and lessons on individualism, Attack of the Toga Gang has it all.  It is a complete hoot: funny, clever, poetic, and mysterious.

It all starts when a group of Grade 7 students from Major Douglas Middle School start a poetry club.  In addition to our narrator, Harry Fieldstone, lover of miscellaneous hats and really weird drinks, there is Neville Neatby, leader and innovator; Viv Lemieux, she of the booming voice and copious red hair; Feet Corbishley, lover of bpNichol and sandles-wearing daughter of hippies; and new kid Norm Nakamura-McNamara, who is still to be determined.  The kids meet up at various cafés and diners around town to share the poetry that they’re writing and discuss the nuances of it.

I can’t remember much about Viv’s poem except it was short and to the point and had a zebra in it.  Any time you put a zebra in a poem, you are going to have people remembering it. That’s my advice to all you young poets out there.  Put a zebra in your poem.  Or a kangaroo. (pg. 6)

In between their poetry sessions, going to an odd assortment of  B+ movies and school, Harry likes to play at archaeologist, digging at sites slated for construction.  At one site, he discovers a old ring enscribed with the letters SPQR and, taking it to their wizened university astronomer friend, Professor Purzelbaum, Harry learns that its origin is Ancient Rome.  More importantly, it was the Kauderwelsch ring, that had been imbued with special powers for the wearer who manipulated it a certain way.  The ring had been destined to be used for promoting human progress and well-being.  But then it was taken by the Toga Gang, and they would be determined to possess it again.

Now the kids have to find the means to evade those of the Toga Gang, who seem to manifest in different groupings, while Harry learns of the ring’s mighty powers: invisibility, speed, jumping prowess, mind-reading, etc., each on its own day of the week.  Be prepared for regular eruptions of chuckles as the distinctive group of kids rhyme and reason their way through the muddled subplots of their lives.

For those middle-grade readers who aren’t into the budding romances of YA and enjoy a good laugh at no one’s expense, Attack of the Toga Gang will entrall.  George Bowering’s light-hearted storytelling will delight readers, even old ones like myself, with his play on words, his poetry and prose, and comical take on kids’ being themselves.  Within his droll perspective, George Bowering has a lot to say about poetry, and young people, and life in general.

Then he read from a piece of foolscap paper, and I have to admit that it was pretty good.  I can’t remember the poem off by heart, but it had a goldfish in a blender in it.  And I especially liked the part about the human heart bouncing down a long flight of stone steps.  For centuries poems have had hearts in them, but I had never imagined one so clearly. (pg. 23)

But don’t look for deep insight in Attack of the Toga Gang because that’s not it’s purpose, though a wise teacher would find a valuable read-aloud resource within.  Attack of the Toga Gang is amusing entertainment of the written word and a joy to read.