The Secret of the Ravens

 

Written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao

Clarion Books

 978-0-35-865011-9

272 pp.

Ages 8-12

November 2023

Reviewed from ebook

 

In the Kawumiti Kingdom. twins Elliot and Liza are homeless and scour trash heaps for things to sell. When a boy tells them about capturing marked ravens who bestow upon them missions to earn coins, the twins are all in. Using a shoplifted book of magic, the twins undertake their first task: to collect eggs from the fairy-bluebird. After several additional missions, they head to Capital City looking for shelter but learn quickly how the poor and derelict are mistreated there, all on the orders of King Tavon. They do meet Seb, a royal apprentice, who tries to encourage them to apply for the same program, but Elliot will have none of it.

From The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao

When the two go after the active venom of a titan snake, Liza is injured, and no one will help them without payment, so Seb takes them to a mage in the forest who does not charge. Isra, who was rumoured to have fought in the Human-Ryven War a century earlier, agrees to help but she can only create an antidote if they acquire the egg of a crowned eagle, a black lily, and jadeite. And so, as Liza remains with Isra in her cave, Elliot and Seb pursue the elusive ingredients she requires.

From The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao

But the ingredients are more elusive than they realize. The egg may be tricky but possible, but Seb learns from his friend and commander, Leya, that the black lily is extinct, and jadeite is so rare that perhaps only Queen Reyna has a necklace with it.

From The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao

And so, the  two boys, one a disciplined apprentice with friends in the castle and the other a brother with limited magic skills but a desperation to help his sister, must work together, never knowing whom they can trust, perhaps not even each other.

From The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao

The Secret of the Ravens is Winnipeg's Joanna Cacao's debut as both author and illustrator, and, judging by the open ending of this story, it will not be her last. She's got lots more story to tell, whether it's about a family that needs reuniting or a family that needs to be created–there is a very subtle spark between Seb and Elliot–or because of the historical clash between the Humans and Ryvens. And there's always magic to be learned and to be worked.

 

Family is paramount here, though by creating a new world in which Humans mistreated Ryvens, in which magic and mages are common, and in which unusual species like the titan snake and black lily exist, Joanna Cacao has blended the familiar with the fantastic. The twins and Seb look like any young people, as are their challenges to survive and thrive. But the other elements take the story to a different level. With ease, Joanna Cacao has given us a world in which the supernatural is natural and magic–documented in an appendix to the story–can make things happen. Her art gives us both that reality and the fantastic, depicting characters who look like us but can teleport between locations, castles and forests of extraordinary beauty and detail, and snazzy and brassy magic with spells cast with words like Sumabog and Pakawalan. (Interestingly, casting spells use words that seem to reflect Joanna Cacao's Filipino heritage.)

From The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao

I don't know when readers will be returning to the Kingdom of Kawumiti but return we must to discover whether Isra will be successful in seeing her own family again, whether Elliot survives a deadly pact he has made, and whether Liza, Seb and Elliot will be reunited. Oh, and there's also the little matter of justice for the Ryvens and retribution for King Tavon and Queen Reyna. So, there's lots more story to be told and read and imagined.

Endgame: The Secret Force 136

Written by Catherine Little

Illustrated by Sean Huang

Plumleaf Press

978-1-738898244

32 pp.

All ages

October 2023

This is a picture book. But Endgame: The Secret Force 136 is more than a picture book. It's a story within a story with another story. There's an intergenerational story which segues into a story from World War II that is framed by the playing of a game of Chinese chess that is depicted as an actual battle in illustrations. It may sound complicated and yet it all works.

From Endgame: The Secret Force 136, written by Catherine Little, illus. by Sean Huang

A child regularly visits his great-grandfather Tai Gong with his mother and is gifted with his elder's Chinese chess set on his tenth birthday. The boy enjoys learning the new game, called Xiangqi or elephant chess, with its two battling armies of generals, advisers, elephants, chariots, cannons, and soldiers, but he can never win over his Tai Gong.  Tai Gong advises him:

“You have to plan ahead, Alex,” Tai Gong replied. “As I have told you many times, slow down and plan your strategies. Focus on the big picture.”

From Endgame: The Secret Force 136, written by Catherine Little, illus. by Sean Huang

During one visit, Tai Gong shows Alex some faded photographs he keeps in his wallet. The photos show groups of men, some in uniforms, and Tai Gong says he needs to tell Alex about the stories of these photos. As he recalls discrimination he and other Chinese Canadians endured, many still felt the need to fight for their country during World War II. Though they were rejected initially, when the enemy occupied much of Southeast Asia, they were accepted into Secret Force 136 for special missions. And though he speaks of dangerous situations, Alex's tai gong is convinced it was all worth it because of the progress that happened upon their return. It was all about the endgame, something he hopes to impart to his great-grandson as they play Xiangqi.

From Endgame: The Secret Force 136, written by Catherine Little, illus. by Sean Huang

There is a history lesson in Endgame: The Secret Force 136, and Catherine Little provides extensive historical notes about the racial discrimination Chinese Canadians faced, about the Secret Force 136 including bios of several of the team's members, and about the impact of the Chinese Canadian war effort. While her focus may be on the history, as shared through a boy's interaction with his great-grandfather, she also embeds in the playing of the ancient game of Xiangqi which she also highlights in her appended notes. This could have been a very dry exposé of a WWII special operation but by tying the story of the strategies employed in a game of chess with the memories of an elderly Chinese Canadian, Catherine Little makes the story more personal. This is his story, and he speaks of it because he knows of it. And he learned valuable lessons for war but also for life but now he can share that strategizing so that his great-grandson may also benefit.

The realism of the child's interactions with his great-grandfather and his Tai Gong's experiences are depicted well in the lush paintings of Saskatchewan artist Sean Huang who takes readers from a contemporary setting to that of World War II and also to a time when warriors wore lamellar armour and carried spears. Because the story is one based in history, it's appropriate that Sean Huang maintains that realism so that a young reader might visualize their own interaction with a grandparent, or asking about the past, or looking to understand who is in photos. (The illustration of the Tai Gong's hands and the photographs is so lifelike that it will be immediately familiar and evocative of age and nostalgia.)

Players of chess and other games often speak of the endgame as the final stage and Alex learns about the perspective he must take to have a successful endgame. But his Tai Gong knows that there are many endgames in life, those final steps that can lead to success, to progress, and to resolution. His life has had many endgames and while they may or may not have always felt triumphant, they were surely noteworthy, if not for him then for others.

Shizue's Path

Written by Mark Sakamoto

Illustrated by Rachel Wada

HarperCollins

978-1-44346-459-8 

48 pp.

Ages 5-8

September 2023

 

You need to know your darkness to know your light.

This is a story from history of history. It's a history too many lived and one which should not have happened and should never happen again. Still, it is a story of resilience and courage that arose from discrimination.

From Shizue's Path, written by Mark Sakamoto, illus. by Rachel Wada

Shizue, now an elderly woman, welcomes her granddaughter to hear her story. Though her memory may be less than reliable about some things, Shizue remembers vividly her father heading out to fish and worrying about his safe return. He always reassured her.

When I am on the water, I am the water. I am clear. I am flowing. I am finding a path forward. Someday you will, too.

But then everything changes with the onset of World War II.

A war from far across the ocean washed up on our new country’s shore. 

First came the anti-Asian leagues and their protests. Then Japanese Canadians had their homes and businesses taken away and Shizue's family was relocated to the prairies. It was years before Shizue was able to return to school, and longer, not until after the war, before the family was able to return home. Still, it was not the same.

From Shizue's Path, written by Mark Sakamoto, illus. by Rachel Wada

Again, Japanese Canadians were being threatened, this time with deportation to Japan. Shizue, now a young woman attending the University of Toronto, finally saw that there were those, particularly Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, who would speak against the unfair treatment of Japanese Canadians and promote messages of peace, not hate. She took from them lessons of compassion and courage that set on her own true path.

From Shizue's Path, written by Mark Sakamoto, illus. by Rachel Wada

Mark Sakamoto, author of Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents, an adult fiction book that won the CBC Canada Reads in 2014, has taken a personal story–that of his aunt–and made it one of calm triumph over adversity. Shizue learned well from her father about seeing her path, to follow "Shikata ga nai" (trans. "It cannot be helped; you must carry on.") and from others like Rabbi Feinberg to create her own ripples of courage and compassion, wisdom and goodness. The stories of Japanese Canadian internment are plentiful, each providing a different perspective and context–see Mira and Baku, Naomi's Road, Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1941 and Stealing Home for just four examples–and Mark Sakamoto gives us yet another one, taking young readers along Shizue's Path from childhood to young woman and grandmother. And he gives us her story with a poetry of depth of emotion and wisdom. He makes her story beautiful, even in its darkness, just as artist Rachel Wada does.

Vancouver's Rachel Wada's first illustrated book, The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden (written by Heather Smith), won the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award for 2020, and her success with showing the weightiness of the story with the beauty of people and place is again evident in Shizue's Path. The gravity of Shizue's family's situation because of the anti-Asian racism and the lightness that comes with reading, family, and evidence of kindness are all demonstrated in Rachel Wada's art. She uses line and colour effectively to take us on that journey of adversity and comfort, through darkness into light, triumphant with wisdom and compassion.

Just as Shizue learned from her father and others about how to be resilient and show compassion, so will young readers for whom internment may or may not be an unknown concept. Shizue's Path demonstrates that Shizue could move through hardships and take important lessons from those who had the courage to share.

We Belong Here: Interview with author Frieda Wishinky and illustrator Ruth Ohi

We Belong Here

Written by Frieda Wishinsky

Illustrated by Ruth Ohi

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-9403-7

32 pp.

Ages 6-8

October 3, 2023

Reviewed here 

 

 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of reviewing an important picture book, We Belong Here, about intolerance and kindness. Today, I have the good fortune of sharing with readers a bit more about the book and the creative process through this Q & A with its author Frieda Wishinsky and illustrator Ruth Ohi.

 

Helen Kubiw:  Whether it be the 1950s, the setting for We Belong Here, or now, there are always those who distrust others who are different, whether in their appearance, their cultures, their faith, language, or something else. Why do you think this still hasn’t changed?

Frieda Wishinsky:  That’s an important question. I think some people are afraid or uncomfortable with anyone who is different because they haven’t had the experience of getting to know them. I grew up in New York City where there were always people around from different cultures and backgrounds. I felt comfortable and curious about that difference. I loved the diversity of food, customs and experiences but I think that some people who live in places which lack diversity, feel afraid of what and who they don’t know.

 

Ruth Ohi:  We have a long way to go, but I feel it has changed: I believe there’s been progress. I’d like to see the interest in making things better continue to grow the way I think it already has.

HK:  I suspect those children who demonstrate intolerance, including those in the book, are often doing so from observing their own families expressing that same bigotry. While We Belong Here demonstrates the value in getting to know those who are different, how do think it’s possible for those children to rise above their learning when they’re seeing the worst at home?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  I hope this story and friendship of Eve and Mark will help kids and their families appreciate that although we are different, we are also alike. No one likes being called mean names. Everyone wants to feel appreciated. And being in touch with people from different cultures makes life richer and better. Being open to change and new people makes us less fearful and happier. 

 

 

 

HK:  The note at the end of the book suggests that the book came about through discussions that you had about your family histories. Once you decide that this was going to become a book, how did the collaborative process work?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  Over two years ago Ruth and I had coffee and shared our family histories. We talked about how Jewish and Japanese people faced discrimination after the war. I said, "If I can figure out how to write that theme of connection and help as a picture book, would you illustrate it?”  Ruth said yes. Now all I had to do was write the story. Not so easy! The story couldn’t be about adults. It had to focus on kids.

     It took me over a year and a half to figure out how to create a story about two kids from different places and cultures who help each other in difficult times.
     When I finally felt pretty good about my text, I passed it on to Anne Shone at Scholastic. Anne had worked on many books with both Ruth and me. Anne liked what I’d written but made some suggestions. After more revision, the text was approved by everyone at Scholastic. Ruth could now begin to illustrate.

     I didn’t see the story with its art till it was almost a finished book. Ruth and I did have a few discussions about historical accuracy, tomato sauce vs. beets, and adding in a carved wooden sculpture but we worked separately.
     Seeing the finished book was a delightful surprise. I loved how Ruth added evocative and touching art to the story and theme. I think her art highlighted and elevated my words. 

Ruth Ohi:  Once Frieda’s manuscript was accepted by Scholastic Canada, she and I communicated through our editor, Anne Shone. I read the text many times so that the characters could move about in my imagination for a bit. I then created page breaks and tiny thumbnails to see how action and pacing could work. I researched the 1950s to immerse myself in the time and sent research elements and resulting rough layouts to Anne. Sketches were drawn and redrawn many times with feedback, until approvals were given to begin final art.

Rough sketch by Ruth Ohi from We Belong Here

 

HK:  I appreciate the fact that both of you were able to contribute familial background history to the story of We Belong Here. I like that, by bringing the two together through Eve and Mark, you were able to produce a story of discrimination defeated by kindness. But, in your own family stories, did kindness always conquer the unfairness of intolerance?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  During the early days of World War Two, my mom met the wives of two Polish Generals when they were all jailed by the Russians as political prisoners. (My mom’s offense was a German sounding last name) These women, Yadviga and Zhosha, treated my mom as a sister, although they came from different religions and backgrounds. The three of them helped each other survive the harshness of a Russian prison for two years. Yadviga and Zhosha also promised my mom that if they were released, they would make sure she was released too. When the Russians changed their political alignment, the Polish women were released, and they got my mom out of jail the next day. Yadviga and Zhosha then opened a children's home in Russia for kids whose parents had been sent to Siberia. My mom worked there till the end of the war.  My mom was a natural storyteller and told me what happened to her in those terrible years. I never forgot the kindness and humanity of these two women.

 

Ruth Ohi:  My Dad was one of the first Japanese Canadians to be allowed to teach in Toronto. He was also a guidance counsellor. Leafing through photos, he’d tell me stories about his wonderful students and the staff that he worked with then and throughout his career.

 

 

HK:  How much of the story includes actual events that took place, like the shop, the rock, and the taunts, and how much is fictionalized but based on stories told within the family?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  The core of the story, that a Jewish family helps a Japanese family, is true. The rest is fiction. We did incorporate elements from our lives in the book though. For example, I was an imaginative kid who loved climbing up on some rocks in a NYC park. My dad carved a beautiful crane out of wood. My dad was a baker and made rugelach.

 

 

HK:  For each of you, what was the hardest part of creating this story?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  The hardest part for me was taking a true story and a general theme and creating a picture book that was universal and kid focused.

 

Ruth Ohi:  One of the hardest parts for me was also one of the most interesting as I had the chance to research the 1950s: fashion, cars, buildings, packaging, life in general. Anything I illustrated needed to actually exist. Everyone helped: Frieda sent family photos, my art director Andrea sent some men’s hairstyles, and Anne found a cake plate that inspired a spot illustration.

 

 

HK:  While many of your picture books, like Fox and Squirrel have important messages about compassion, empathy, emotional support, your books generally have a light-hearted innocence to them that veils those important lessons. How did you approach illustrating We Belong Here knowing that a story of children coping with discrimination could not be couched in sweet and colourful animal characters?

 

Ruth Ohi:  I think Frieda’s story has a sweet innocence as well. My author/illustrated picture books have a lot in common with We Belong Here as they tend to focus on the role of empathy. When finding friends who look different from you, it doesn’t always matter from a young child’s perspective whether it’s an animal or not. I love that there are so many different ways of viewing the world for a child to choose from. My book Scribble is a celebration of what makes us different. Three very different looking shapes (Circle, Square & Triangle), with the help of a non-shape friend, discover how much you can accomplish using your differences. Fox and Squirrel is a celebration of what makes us alike. The series is based on two very physically different animals who discover that they have a lot in common i.e., they both need to eat and sleep and like to play.
     Looking back, I think my author/illustrated stories reflect my childhood – someone who looked very different from everyone else in their class (I also wore a metal back brace for over four years for my scoliosis) and was figuring out their place in the world. I never set out to teach a lesson when I write a story, but do enjoy hearing that they help kids and spark conversations about empathy.

 

 

 

HK:  I know that We Belong Here is not your first picture book of a fictional account of a historical event. Your own Kenta and the Big Wave (2013) deals with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and Joy Kogawa’s Naomi’s Tree (2008) deals with the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WW2. How do you approach illustrating a book of historical relevance and are there certain challenges you need to address?

 

Ruth Ohi:  Like Frieda’s story, research was required for both. The interiors and houses in Kenta and the Big Wave came from photos taken during my visits to Japan with my Dad and then later with my husband and my own kids. Kenta’s dog is the Ohi’s Shiba Inu that my daughters got to walk. It was an honour to illustrate for Joy and great to finally meet her at the launch, do a library session together and hear her say that she loved my illustrations. She is so gracious and kind. I feel very lucky in the authors I’ve been able to illustrate for.

 

 

 

HK:  I had thought it was unusual for an author and an illustrator to query a book together (unless the author is the illustrator). How did you get the publisher to accept a submission with both text and illustrations?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  We were lucky that we’d both published a bunch of books with Scholastic and we’d both worked with Anne Shone. Scholastic knew our work and we were happy this story resonated for them. Plus it’s great that I’m Jewish and Ruth’s background is Japanese so we could bring each of our cultures into the story authentically.

 

 

HK:  Do you see a follow-up book or perhaps a companion book that takes the perspective of an older Eve and Mark as teens or as parents themselves, or perhaps a story of a different kind of discrimination experienced by others?

 

Frieda Wishinsky:  I hadn’t thought of a follow-up book, but I’d love to do another book with Ruth. Now all I have to do is think of a story that she might like illustrating!

 

Ruth Ohi:  I’d love to illustrate another Frieda story. Anyone who gets to illustrate one of her manuscripts is very lucky indeed.

• • • • • • •

Many thanks to 

author Frieda Wishinsky and illustrator Ruth Ohi 

for the privilege of asking them questions 

about their new book We Belong Here. 

As a story, it has great depth in its history and its lessons, 

and both Frieda and Ruth have brought insight and heart to it.

I hope this interview shares all that with you, my readers.

• • • • • • •

We Belong Here

Written by Frieda Wishinsky

Illustrated by Ruth Ohi

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-9403-7

32 pp.

Ages 6-8

October, 2023  

 

Eve Bloom hated being called a greenhorn especially since, although she'd been born in another country, she'd lived here since she'd been little. She often found solace, and the privacy to cry, at a special place on a high rock in the park.

From We Belong Here, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Ruth Ohi

When a new boy, Mark Nakamura, comes to her school, he is ridiculed for being Japanese. Eve goes to his defense to stop the bullies and takes him to her special rock. In gratitude, he gives her a small turtle he'd carved. Together the two enjoy imaginative storytelling and talk about their families. They became fast friends, spending time at the back of Eve's parents' store, Bloom's Delicious Foods, and at Mark's apartment. 

From We Belong Here, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Ruth Ohi

But then Mark's father, a craftsman with wood, loses his job at the factory because a customer didn't want a Japanese man to make his furniture. Moreover, Eve's parents are shaken when a faulty shelf almost injures a customer who threatens that no one will shop there with a new market opening nearby. By bringing their families together, both the Blooms and the Nakamuras get what they need: support, work, customers, and the welcome that says they are appreciated in their community.

From We Belong Here, written by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Ruth Ohi

We Belong Here may seem like a simple story of children and families of two different cultures, Jewish and Japanese, helping each other to be accepted by their community. But, because of Frieda Wishinsky and Ruth Ohi's back stories, We Belong Here is a much bigger story and one of great historical and contemporary relevance. The need to belong and be accepted is universal. And to not be accepted because of arbitrary qualities like place of birth, religion, language, physical differences, and such is unacceptable. But, differences are what create us and bond us. They improve our lives by opening our minds and our hearts. And with that comes understanding, compassion, and harmony. When Frieda Wishinsky and Ruth Ohi brought Eve and Mark and their families together, they could confront the prejudice both head on and discreetly. Whether challenging those who mistreat a classmate or supporting someone by hiring them for a work project, these efforts remind everyone that strength and courage come with compassion, not force.

This is a story borne of deeply personal stories. As readers will learn tomorrow in my interview with Frieda Wishinsky and Ruth Ohi, their connections are very real and make the story even more personal. But the way they tell the story, readers will not be left with remembering the nastiness but instead smell the rugelach in Eve's family's store, feel the smoothness of Mark's carvings, and appreciate the coming together of people to shop, to work, to play. Through Frieda Wishinsky's sincere words, I hear friendship, and through Ruth Ohi's art, I see kindness in a different time. Together they are melded into one story, one lesson in compassion, and one to uplift and reassure that intolerance can be overcome.

 

• • • • • • •

 

For a little something extra about We Belong Here, check back tomorrow for my interview with author Frieda Wishinsky and illustrator Ruth Ohi.

• • • • • • •

Thrive (The Overthrow, Book 3)

(If you haven't, I encourage you to read Bloom and Hatch, Books 1 and 2 in The Overthrow series, first. You'll want to know the whole story. Really.)

 

Written by Kenneth Oppel

HarperCollins

978-1-4434-5691-3

404 pp.

Ages 10-14

May 2021

 

First there were the black grasses, strangling vines and pit plants (Bloom, 2020). Then came the eggs that developed into mosquito birds, giant water striders and horrific mega-worms (Hatch, 2020). Now, in the conclusion to Kenneth Oppel's The Overthrow trilogy, the cryptogens themselves are coming to invade. But will they succeed in overthrowing humans for the planet?

Being a teen is hard enough but, for Anaya, Petra and Seth who have dealt with strange allergies and physical ailments all their lives, things have gotten a lot stranger since learning that they have cryptogenic DNA that has given them extraordinary powers but also unconventional bodies. Anaya is a runner, with unusual body hair and claws. Petra has an affinity for swimming and has scaly skin and a tail. Seth is a flyer with razor-sharp wings and a powerful sound weapon. During the horrific experimentation on the kids and others like them at the hands of the nasty Dr. Ritter, they learned that they are able to telepathically communicate with each other and Anaya was able to connect with the cryptogen she calls Terra. 

 

This connection has lead to the arrival of a ship, at the conclusion of Hatch and the beginning of Thrive, from which a trio of rebel cryptogens have emerged. Terra, who is a runner and scientist as well as pilot, is accompanied by another scientist, a swimmer for whom Petra uses the pronouns ze and zir, and a flyer who was a military leader, hence their moniker of him as the general. Together the three cryptogens had formed an alliance, and a rebel movement of several hundred was established to overthrow the flyers who have used their sound power to keep runners and swimmers enslaved to them. 

The rebels admit that Anaya, Petra and Seth, as well as the other hybrid children, had been implanted with DNA to help produce a virus to destroy the flyers' ability to use sound as a weapon and thus to help them defeat their oppressors. Now the rebels have come to earth to retrieve that hidden DNA.

 

While Petra helps the swimmer to get materials needed to repair their ship and Anaya works with Terra to develop the virus, Seth worries for Esta, a hybrid flyer such as himself, with whom he'd bonded at Dr. Ritter's bunker facility. Learning that Esta, like most hybrid cryptogens, is being detained at an internment camp, Seth sneaks out to rescue her and ends up captured along with Esta and others by the primary ship of invaders. Now Seth has to decide whether he agrees with Esta who believes the cryptogen commander, a flyer, really has their best interests at heart, or whether a rebellion against the flyers is necessary to stop the oppression of the runners and swimmers and an invasion of earth.

Kenneth Oppel pounds out his story of an alien invasion and rebellion with little respite for the reader, just as there was none for the trio of teens who are thrown from one alarming situation to the next. Even before the initial arrival of terrifying plants and menacing creatures, Anaya, Petra and Seth have had to manage their physical stresses. Now with the menace of extraterrestrials, they have to balance being seen as both threats and saviours, and doing what they can, what they want to and what they'd rather not. There's always some new threat with which they must deal and, as they are punched with pressure after pressure, as each new creature and knowledge is revealed, Kenneth Oppel takes the reader with them. As such, Thrive is an intense read, throwing the reader along with the story's characters, from one dangerous situation to the next, manoeuvring on a flying platform, being swallowed by a wall, fighting off a wolverine squid or plunging through the atmosphere in a pod with limited oxygen. The action is relentless and it's not until the very end that Kenneth Oppel lets us know how The Overthrow, the series and the operation, actually turns out. I won't give away the ending but I will reassure that the wild ride that is Thrive leaves room for a sigh and a promise for resolution.

He was half human, half cryptogen, but for the first time in his life, he was starting to feel whole. (pg. 404)

• • • • • • •

The Overthrow (a.k.a. Bloom Trilogy) 

Bloom (2020)

Hatch (2020)

Thrive (2021)

Road Allowance Era (A Girl Called Echo, Vol. 4)

Written by Katherena Vermette

Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson

Colour by Donovan Yaciuk

HighWater Press

978-1-55379-930-6

48 pp.

Ages 10-14

April 2021

 

In the aftermath of the Northwest Resistance, the focus of the third book in Katherena Vermette's A Girl Called Echo graphic novel series, the accidental time traveller Echo returns to 1855 to join her ancestors and other Métis and witness the execution of Louis Riel and the sustained persecution and discrimination of her people.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Though Louis Riel had advocated for the Métis' rights to land granted to them, most scrips entitling them to land in the Red River area have not been honoured. So Echo joins them in returning to Manitoba, hopeful that the agents now set up would ensure that land deeds would be issued to them.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

But the discrimination that they have faced all along continues, with their scrips only exchanged for a few dollars and provisions. So the Métis head to Ste. Madeleine where they hope they might rebuild their community.

Time slipping back to the present, Echo's teacher speaks of the unsettling of the Métis and their need to squat on unused Crown lands called road allowance land. Later, though they'd lived there for decades, they are often driven off with violence. Echo's anger at the injustice is palpable though her friend Micah sees the fortitude of their people who were able to withstand so much and still survive.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Still she witnesses much destruction and sadness as the Métis are displaced and then refused the opportunity to buy the land on which they had built lives. 

We are the free people, mon amie. We built this place and we will always be here. No matter what they have done to us, we're still here. We know we will survive. (pg. 38)

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

Her existence reminds them of that survival, with her ancestors pointing out that they are always within her as there is "blood memory, bone memory" (pg. 29) of their sorrows and their strengths. "Go home and be the future" (pg. 40) is what she is told.

The story of the Métis is heartbreaking, as Echo has learned from her time slips into the past. History class and homework rile her, as they should for anyone with a sense of justice. But Katherena Vermette doesn't just let Echo wallow in anger or distress. She helps her accept that anger as valid but see the strength of her people and the change that has happened for each generation. 

 

Scott B. Henderson's illustrations take us smoothly between past and present, clearly depicting a contemporary Echo and her immediate family and friends versus her ancestors in their settings of prairie scenes of wagons and tipis, and dismal government buildings like courts and land offices. There is an authenticity in his characters that acknowledge the hardships but allude to the joys and colour of Métis culture. Coloured by Donovan Yaciuk, there is a sense of brightness at the edges of the past and the present that lay bare much about what was and is.

From Road Allowance Era by Katherena Vermette, illus. by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk

This is the way to learn history, from those who lived it and those who came from them. Though the horrors of the past might offer extraordinary teachable moments, they also point forward, to a future that offers more hope with each generation. The present may still be troubled with discrimination as land claims continue to be challenged but, as Scott B. Henderson's final illustrations shows us, Echo has her family, past and present, behind her.

• • • • • • •

The whole series A Girl Called Echo offers unique opportunities to teach and learn about Métis history. I encourage teachers to examine the whole series.

Pemmican Wars (2017)

Red River Resistance (2018)

Northwest Resistance (2020)

Road Allowance Era (2021)

Kid Sterling

Written by Christine Welldon

Red Deer Press

978-0-889956162

432 pp.

Ages 10+

August 2020 

If Sterling Crawford had a soundtrack to his life, it would be ragtime and the blues. It would lift him up and mirror his lows, get him through the tough times and celebrate the highs. It would remind him of trains and rivers, work and family. And he would be known to the music world as Kid Sterling.

In the early 1900s, Sterling Crawford is just a ten-year-old boy living in New Orleans with his Momma and his seventeen-year-old brother Syl, shining shoes on Basin Street and dreaming of playing his horn for the King, Buddy Bolden.

...the notes from Buddy's cornet were cannonballs that shook Sterling's bones, the tone clear and pure, teasing and lusty, till he felt himself lifted up and away, a catfish on a hook. (pg. 19)

As much as Sterling wants to play music and learn how to write it, life is not as straightforward as he might wish. Even recognizing the threats and discriminatory limitations imposed on him by his black heritage, Sterling dreams of more, just as Syl does. But Syl who has instructed Sterling to never reveal them to be brothers, whether to pass himself off as white or to simply protect Sterling, goes beyond playing drums to make a better life. He works for a local gangster, gambles, and involves himself in other nefarious activities, even stealing money that Sterling had been saving for a new horn. With a strained relationship, Sterling and Syl head to Plaquemine for a cousin's birthday celebration and a musical gig for Syl. But everything shatters when Syl is forced to protect them from assault by a white man. The two separate and only Sterling returns to New Orleans where he is eventually arrested for assault.

Being sent to Captain Jones's Colored Waifs Home for Boys, Sterling feels like it's the end of the road for him.

A distant bugle sounded the end of the day. He figured his whole life was just like that bugle–out of tune. All his young life, his mother had sung to him, called him in to supper, to chores, to his bedtime. As he waited for sleep, he conjured the sound of her rich voice, humming those bluesy tunes to wrap him in safety and love. But memories brought him no comfort. Tonight, he had only loneliness and sour notes to call him to slumber. (pg. 233)

Still, Sterling learns more about himself and about music, even how to "...make some harmony out of the sour" (pg. 287). And there is a lot of sourness that pervades Sterling's life. Bad things, like notes on the wind, keep finding their way to him. He makes the best choices he can given the circumstances. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And sometimes it doesn't matter. In the end, it's still his story, and Christine Welldon tells it with authenticity and compassion.

Because Christine Welldon's background is as a non-fiction writer (e.g., Everyone Can Be a Changemaker, Reporter in Disguise, The Children of Africville, and Lifelines: The Lanier Phillips Story), you can be assured that Kid Sterling is a carefully and thoroughly researched book. Though Sterling himself is a fictionalized character, Buddy Bolden, Clarence Williams, Captain Jones and Armand Piron as well as others (Christine Welldon provides background on them at the conclusion of her book) were very real men who shaped Sterling's life and undoubtedly those of real individuals. But by embedding a fictionalized young African American boy in a true representation of New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century, Christine Welldon can build her story on him and his world without limitation. She can tell of the horrific racial discrimination from Sterling and his peers' perspectives, seeing how justice was served up based on the colour of skin. She can weave in the music of the day and how it was played and learned and disseminated. She can reveal how fear could dry up the music for Sterling, and how fear for self, family and friends impacted living.

If his life were like a music book of stories, Sterling felt as strong as the spine that bound and divided it down the center. One part was finished, its pages full. The rest contained empty notation lines, waiting to be filled. (pg. 406)

If Kid Sterling was a piece of music, it would be a hymn of pain and promise, hope and struggle. But that hymn should portend better, for Sterling and others whose lives were never given full voice. Let that new song stay true now and forever.

Howdy, I'm John Ware

Written by Ayesha Clough

Illustrated by Hugh Rookwood

Howdy Books (Red Barn Books)

978-1-9991087-8-6

48 pp.

Ages 6-11

January 2020

John Ware, born into slavery around 1850, was a man of strong character and fortitude, who parlayed hard work and his skills as a cowboy into a life of accomplishment in present-day Alberta.

From Howdy, I'm John Ware by Ayesha Clough, illus. by Hugh Rockwood

Though accounts of John Ware's early life are spotty, it is known that, after the abolition of slavery, he was hired on as a ranch hand, earning a reputation as a hard worker. Working as a cowboy on cattle drives, John Ware helped move cattle from the southern US to the north. It was one drive in 1882 that brought cattle from Idaho to the foothills near Calgary and landed John Ware north of the border and into the country that would become his home.

From Howdy, I'm John Ware by Ayesha Clough, illus. by Hugh Rockwood

Regardless of his accomplishments as a cowboy, John Ware still suffered the discrimination of a black man in the predominantly white world of ranching. Nevertheless, his skills and good nature would ultimately win over those who'd seen only his skin colour, recognizing him as an outstanding man of integrity and determination.

From Howdy, I'm John Ware by Ayesha Clough, illus. by Hugh Rockwood

There are stories of extraordinary courage and strength and the legends about John Ware covered everything from wrestling steers, lifting a cow, walking on the backs of bulls and be able to ride anything. In addition to John Ware's accomplishments as a cowboy, he became a rancher, starting with a small herd, marrying, and growing his family and his ranch into a fine life. Upon his death, his funeral was "the largest that young city (Calgary) had ever seen" with ranchers calling him the finest gentleman, a good soul and an incredible horseman.

From Howdy, I'm John Ware by Ayesha Clough, illus. by Hugh Rockwood

Ayesha Clough tells John Ware's story as he might recount it, sharing how others saw him or what they knew of him while expressing his own surprise, pleasure and sadness with life's milestones. His attitude to the animals is especially poignant.

     I connected with animals. Like me, they had to work for a master. But there was no need for fear and violence.

     I cared about them, showed them love and respect. They, in turn, gave their best for me. (pg. 23)

Appended with photos, a timeline and notes for educators, Ayesha Clough helps ensure that John Ware's story is remembered. Though his accomplishments have been recognized with a number of place names like Mount Ware and John Ware Ridge as well as several buildings, this picture book will serve to introduce him to young children.  He achieved so much as a cowboy and, with decency and hard work, created a life of goodness for himself and his family and, with comic book artist Hugh Rookwood's illustrations to focus on the occasions of the cowboy's life, both challenging and impressive, John Ware's story becomes accessible to all young readers. 

It is fitting that two Albertans, Ayesha Clough and Hugh Rookwood, should honour another Albertan, John Ware, a cowboy who dealt with racial discrimination and achieved respect and admiration from all, by telling his story in Howdy, I'm John Ware. It's a story I hope all will read.

••••••

Giveaway!

I have a free copy of Howdy, I'm John Ware for giveaway from publisher Red Barn Books. 

For your chance at this giveaway,
just leave a comment below about why you'd like a copy of the book.
I'll do a random draw at 6 p.m. EST on June 29, 2020.

Good luck, readers! 

••••••

The Little Red Shed

Written by Adam and Jennifer Young

Illustrated by Adam Young

Breakwater Books

978-1-55081-833-8

24 pp.

Ages 3-7

May 2020

In this allegory about the need for diversity and acceptance of all, a little red shed is excluded by the other maritime sheds for looking different. Timely, poignant and relevant.

The little red shed was once white, like all the other sheds, but she has turned red and the other sheds think this is wrong.

From The Little Red Shed by Adam and Jennifer Young, illus. by Adam Young

She feels excluded and tearful. Even more distressing is the fact that, though she feels like she is the same shed she has always been, she is now ashamed of how she looks and takes herself off, boarding the Ocean Queen boat for the anonymity of the sea.

From The Little Red Shed by Adam and Jennifer Young, illus. by Adam Young

There a humpback whale welcomes her, delighted in her colourfulness, telling her that, "Well, nothing would be beautiful if we all looked the same." Feeling hopeful and befriended, she returns home and proclaims her self-acceptance to the others, demonstrating the value of differences and emboldening them to change.

What was once a bundle
without colour or hue
was now a RAINBOW
vibrant and true.

From The Little Red Shed by Adam and Jennifer Young, illus. by Adam Young

From worry and despair through compassion and hope and finally self-appreciation and diversity, The Little Red Shed offers a lesson for young children to accept themselves as they are, not as others decide they should be. It's an important lesson but a difficult one, as the little red shed realizes, first being ashamed for her differences and exiling herself to avoid the discrimination she feels. Newfoundlanders' Adam and Jennifer Young make sure the text is minimal, enough to carry a story, choosing words that are absolute in their power and naturalness. From declaring the little red shed to be "wrong" to her feeling "sad and alone" to something that is "beautiful" and finally being given the moniker of the "brave little shed" when she is no longer distinguished by her colour. The voice of the story is ideal for young children, helping them understand that differences are not a curse but a gift.

With Adam Young's bold and colourful art, the story is carried from the darkness and despair of stormy blues through the hope of green and ending with the vibrancy of the rainbow of sheds and water and landscape. There is so much movement and emotion in Adam Young's illustrations that the story of the little red shed becomes an odyssey of self-discovery and colour that every reader can and will appreciate.