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."

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

by E. K. Johnston
CarolrhodaLab
978-1-4677-105504
306 pp.
Ages 12+
2014

Once upon a time there was a sixteen-year-old boy named Owen Thorskard, who was the son of two dragon slayers and nephew of one of the most famous dragon slayers of the late 1980s, Lottie Thorskard.  Though this is Owen's story, it could not have happened if: 1) his parents, who had experienced horrific experiences fighting dragons in the oil-rich Middle East, had not separated, his mom returning to Venezuela; 2) his aunt Lottie and her wife Hannah, a smith who forges all their swords and weaponry, hadn't offered to help raise Owen; and 3) Lottie hadn't been badly injured fighting a dragon off the Burlington Skyway, cutting short her urban career and compelling her to choose to live in the rural community of Trondheim, bringing Owen's dad Aodhan, Hannah and Owen with her.  Oh, of course, also if Owen hadn't met Siobhan McQuaid, musician and composer extraordinaire and his math tutor, and asked her to become his bard.  Without teen Siobhan to tell his story, there would never be The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim.

Pg. 303 The Story of Owen Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

While Siobhan becomes acquainted with Owen and his family and is introduced to the mechanics of dragon fighting, she tells of her experiences, both honestly to the reader and in true story-teller fashion to the media, elevating the cause for the need for dragon slayers in less urban communities. (Most dragon slayers, after they complete their mandatory service for the Oil Watch, end up getting lucrative contracts with large corporations or join the Royal Canadian Mounted Dragon Slayers rather than serving small centres without big budgets.)  When Siobhan and Owen are approached by a conspiracy theorist named Archie Carmichael in adjacent Saltrock, the two start to look into the possibility of a dragon hatching ground on Manitoulin Island which would explain the increase of attacks. With the help of Archie's daughter, Emily, and Owen's family, they establish a Guard at school to train teens in dragon fighting/slaying (though dragon slayers are typically legacy positions) to assist the few dragon slayers around and to devise a plan to locate and destroy this potential source of dragons.

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim is a history of dragons and dragon slayers wrapped up in the story of a boy who would follow in his father's, mother's and aunt's footsteps and become a dragon slayer extraordinaire.  But it’s also the story of Siobhan finding her musical voice to compose a symphonic story for Owen’s actions.

This was it, I realized.  This was what I had to make other people feel, even if they didn’t get to see it like I had.  I could already hear the first whispers, the line of brass and the faltering drums of the dragon’s dying hearts. This was something I could do. (pg. 144)

Through Siobhan’s eyes and ultimately through her music–I wonder if E. K. Johnston has any plans for sharing the music composed to accompany Owen’s story–readers will be taken into an alternate history and a world in which dragons must be slain and carbon, fire and smoke draw the creatures to attack.   There is so much in The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim that it defies my inclusion of all in this simple review.  But all readers, particularly those participating in the Ontario Library Association’s White Pine reading program in which The Story of Owen is a nominee, will be grabbed by the completely unique premise for the book, E. K. Johnston’s exceptional characters, and an ending that is hardly formulaic and definitely startling.  And I’m sure that they will be as primed to read E. K. Johnston’s follow-up book, Prairie Fire, released earlier this year, as I am.

Catla and the Vikings

Written by Mary Elizabeth Nelson

Orca Book Publishers

pbk: 9781459800571

ebook: 9781459800588

191 pp.

Ages 9-13

2012

Catla is only 13 years of age but she must decide whether she will accept an offer to marry the bossy pedlar, Olav, who cares little for any ideas except his own.  This is the decision she is mulling over while collecting plants on the heath away from her village of Covehithe in Northumbria.  But, after detecting vast smoke from the village, that deliberation is quickly put aside as she runs to Covehithe to observe the village being burned by Vikings, a.k.a Nord-devils, and the villagers being herded towards the goats' pen.  Daughter of the headman, Athelstan, and former warrior Sarah, Catla gathers her courage to seek help in Aigber, the village a day's walk away.

Though she fears goblins, fairies, wolves and barrow ghosts, in addition to getting lost, Catla unknowingly distracts herself by raging against the vicious Nord-devils and by pitying herself for being the one left to help the village.  Luckily, after resting at the standing stones overnight, she chances upon Sven, a young man from Covehithe, returning from York.  Companionably Sven and Catla make their way to Aigber, but not before encountering a group of Norsemen themselves heading to Aigber but by water.

Once Catla and Sven reach Aigber and convince Hugh, the headman, about the veracity of their tale, they help that community prepare to shelter mothers and children in a hill fort while planning to defend and even capture the Norsemen who attack.  Only once Aigber is safe will they move on to rescuing Covehithe from the Vikings.

In the mind-bargaining that often accompanies tragic circumstances, Catla promises herself that she will marry Olav if her family is saved.  But her interactions with Sven and the equitable relationship she witnesses between Hugh and his wife, Edith, suggest that there are men who value the ideas and contributions of women, and Catla is both fascinated and appreciative of these attitudes.  In her efforts to help Covehithe, Catla is empowered to see beyond the attitudes of her father and the customs he acclaims.

Mary Elizabeth Nelson's story of Catla and the Vikings is rich in the essences of 11th century England.  The tangible attributes of the houses' roof thatch, to the beer and drinking horns, and the weaponry and clothing are woven through the text, providing a background of authenticity and lushness to Catla's and Covehithe's stories.  But it's the language of her characters at which Mary Elizabeth Nelson excels.  I don't want to be a gull (i.e., so trusting and naive) but the descriptive names for common objects or events (e.g., "short-shadow meal" for lunch; "Longest Day celebration" for the Summer Equinox) harmonize with the setting of Catla and the Vikings while enhancing the historical account (fictional, of course) of modest communities defeating invasions by their infamous foes.  If Mary Elizabeth Nelson is encouraged to follow up Catla and the Vikings (and there are so many directions she could take that sequel), she will find her stories successfully filling a middle grade niche that doesn't plunge or even cusp into the young adult realm.